How Do I Love Thee? | ||
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
How Do I Love Thee?
Saturday, 5 December 2009
The Miracle of Green Tea
Better to be deprived of food for three days, than green tea for one day
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Saturday, 21 November 2009
The First Day of Winter
Today was the first day of winter
Sunday, 8 November 2009
The Mystic Sea
The Mystic Sea | |
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The smell of the sea in my nostrils, by Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Thursday, 5 November 2009
A trip to Marjan Island
In the centre is a tower in the shape of the coral and one can climb up the winding stairs to get a 360 degree view from the top.
There is no restaurant, so pack up a stack of your own ration. However, there is a tuck shop , commonly known as boofiya. If you chance to come here, try the cone icecream.... slurp
The Sleeping Muse
It has been a long time since my last post. Infact about 4 months gone by and the "I" in me has... rather hopefully had disappeared.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Cinnamon and cardamom
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Chinar Cottages- Flipping through Past Pages
Morning | |
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The mist has left the greening plain, By: Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Dreams
Dreams | ||
by Langston Hughes | ||
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.
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Learning to ride the waves
I am a little boat.
Looking for a big adventure
I get tossed in the wind
I get towed by the current
I get farther and farther away from my home
The excitement fills me
The fear thrills me
I yearn for my comforting bed
I long for a warm bread
But I cannot go back now
I am made to ride the ocean
I am made to sail the seas
But for now, just this present,
I am still learning to ride the waves
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Alight! Flipping through past pages
While flipping through my travels to the northern areas of Pakistan, I selected this beautiful chandelier in a mosque in Rawalpindi.
Olive Garden
Saturday, 30 May 2009
A Wooden Secret
I fell in love with this piece of furniture. It seems to smile, just a simple smile with a twinkle in the eye saying, "I can hide things beautifully".
Saudi Champagne
When I first came to Saudia, I was hyped up about this drink by my husband. He kept it all hushed up and didnt reveal the contents till we went out and had our very first drink.
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
How Pakistani's Have Tea
All throughout Pakistan, we have variants in how to make tea. I am listing three below:
- 1 tsp. Loose Tea
- 4 Cardamom Pods (Choti Ilaichi) (bruised)
- 1 small Cinnamon Stick (Dal Cheeni) (broken upin half)
- A pinch of Saffron Threads (Zaffron) (this gives the tea the pink color.)
- 4 cups Water
- 2 tbsp. Almonds (Baadaam) (finely powdered)
- Honey (Shehed) (to taste)
Add a teaspoon of almonds in the bottom of each cup for serving and pour the hot tea over. Sweeten with honey to taste before serving.
Origins and Myths of the Mystic Tea
The history of tea is around 5000 years old, so its beginnings are steeped in legend. The most prominent one being about the Chinese emporer and herbalist Sheng Nung. Worshipped as a god for the many gifts he gave to China, the discovery of tea is attributed to him and dated to 2737 B.C.He was apparently sitting near a tree shrub, boiling his drinking water, when leaves from the shrub fell into his water and he enjoyed the resulting 'brew'.
Laozi (ca. 600-517 BC), the classical Chinese philosopher, described tea as "the froth of the liquid jade" and named it an indispensable ingredient to the elixir of life.By the third century, the Chinese had the symbol "ch'a" for tea, so it's popularity was growing. Another legend is about Prince Bodhidharma from India who lived during the sixth century. A converted Buddhist, he traveled to China and started chewing tea leaves to keep himself awake during meditation and prayer. Another story has the Bodhidharma cutting off his eyelids because of his frustration of falling asleep during meditation - and, you've guessed it - the discarded eyelids grew into the first tea plant! The Chinese and later the Japanese developed many traditions around their green tea - including the famous tea ceremony.
Catherine of Braganza brought tea to Britain when she married Charles II. Now the history of tea took another route. The British soon loved their tea, which was by then fermented black tea. It was ridiculously expensive though, so the rich enjoyed it 'black', the middle class added milk (which was cheap), and the poor had a dash of tea in a cup of milk. As the British conquered much of the world, their taste for tea went with them and many of these countries in the British Empire began drinking tea. The Boston Tea Party is a tribute to how much Britain valued their tea - insisting on imposing tea taxes to the American colonies. As we know, this resulted in the 'new Americans' throwing chests of tea from British freighters into the Boston harbor.
So whilst today, the British still love their cuppa, the Americans are basically coffee drinkers but iced tea being popular (particularly in the south). The Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans all enjoy tea. Indeed it is the second most popular drink on the planet - the first being water.
Shamelessly Copy Pasted from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea
http://www.about-tea.com/
http://www.teamuse.com
My Person or My Kindred Spirit
I am a child of the subcontinent. The remnant if the British Colony and been handed over their custom of drinking a hot cup of chai twice a day... or so all the old folks say.
Tea
Green tea skips the oxidizing step. It is simply withered and then dried (sometimes roasted). It has a more delicate taste and is pale green / golden in color.
Oolong tea, popular in China, Taiwan and Japan, is withered, partially fermented (between 30% and 70%), and dried. Oolong is a cross between black and green tea in color and taste.
White tea is the least processed. A very rare tea from China, White tea is not oxidized or rolled, but simply withered and dried by steaming.
The main chemical substances in tea are essential oils, caffeine, and polyphenols (mistakenly known by many people as tannins). The essential oils give us the aroma of the tea, the caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, and the polyphenols account for the much publicized antioxidant and anti-disease properties.
Tea is not to be confused with herbal infusions. Herbal infusions are packaged like tea, infused like tea, and enjoyed like tea, however the herbs do not come from the camellia sinensis bush and therefore are not teas (see previous article). Herbal infusions are made of grasses like lemongrass, barks like cinnamon, fruits like orange peel, flowers like chamomile and hibiscus, and many other botanicals.