an iced tea Summer adventure

Greetings all,

I'm new to tea drinking.  I loathed the smell of my mummy's can't-get-out-of-bed-without-English-Breakfast morning cup of tea, so when i decided to start drinking tea last Summer, aged 36, i wanted it to be fresh, tastey, organic, caffeine free & without milk.  So i went into T2 for ideas, bought a couple of their iced tea jugs & started experimenting.  I like it weak, i like in a glass stuffed with fresh herbs & i like it icey cold.  Very different to what i thought 'drinking tea' was all about. 

 Best of all, my children enjoy it too - coloured water to them - they play around making ice blocks with cold brewed tea, brilliant!!  Now T2 teas are the expensive trendy option, so to reduce the cost of my drink adventure, i bought some Twinings tea bags (Raspberry, Strawberry & Loganberry to be precise) & popped a tea bag in a tap-water-filled 1L bottle, gave it a swirl & popped it straight into the fridge.  After a few minutes i removed the tea bag (to my sheer delight, it slid on out) & left it to chill.  It was delicious & how simple??!!  25c baby.  Use two bags if you want a stronger flavour, then toss tea to the hens.  

So our Summer afternoons look a bit like this - cold grapes, fresh mangoes, iced tea & homemade iced tea blocks.  FYI ice tea doesn't stain white laminate kitchen counters like food colouring does!!  

I take jugs of iced tea to the pool, i would never buy iced tea (more sugar than coca cola, are you kidding me??!!) & have a neat little picnic while escaping with a home lifestyle magazine, almost every day.  We usually drink it with a straw too, so no teeth staining.  I learnt that from The Hills - thanks gorgeous girls!!  Love Posie

PS i used to sell these ice block makers in my on line store, they sold out quickly every time i restocked, i do have the rocket ship version, on special for a song!!

hello Summer

Greetings all,

Welcome to Summer in Australia.  It's hot & dry, stormy & humid, where we all hang out for those Southerly changes with a cool breeze blowing off Antarctica.  

The smell of Summer . . . mangoes - when we lived in tropical Darwin, we had mangoes falling in our backgarden.  A local road side fruit stall was stocked full of mangoes, so i loaded up with 4 punnets of strawberries, 9 mangoes ($1 each, bliss) passionfruit (3 for $1) avocado, tomatoes & the world's biggest capsicum (50c each!!) 

 The colour of Summer . . . blooming flowers - incredible & vibrant.  

 The skies of Summer . . . stormy - vast blue skies are swept away with amazing storms & lightening displays, the humidity builds & the rain brings cool relief. 

 The taste of Summer . . . pavlova - i have been making the BEST pavlovas since we've been raising chickens, the egg whites in the meringue are like nothing i've seen or tasted before.  Says a lot about egg whites being FRESH!!  My 3rd daughter (aged 11) decorated this pavlova, she made the meringue, whipped the cream, chopped the strawberries & flicked the passionfruit.  

 The heat of Summer . . . escape - i have no idea how feathered friends stand the heat, there have been a lot of random dirt nests dug up around the garden this week.   

 The benefits of Summer . . . produce - our tomatoes are on their way, 3 different varieties this year, mixed in with chillies, all growing wild with this heat.

I love Summer, the way the washing dries so quickly, the general feeling of light happiness inside, endless days by the pool & soaking up the holidays.  I can't wait until the children finish school, as always, my eldest breaks up first, it's treasured one on one time with my first born.  Love Posie  

PS don't forget the current giveaways - good luck, Duplo Lego ends tomorrow!!

top of the morning to you

Greetings all,

Happy New Year!!  As my piggie calendar tells me it's 1.1.11 so a top of the morning to you all.

 Truth be told, i've had a migraine for past 3 days, but blogging & housework in small doses was possible.  What a joy to wake up to a 90% migraine free head + all these wonderful, meaningful comments - you guys are the greatest, i've never thought of myself as 'inspirational' i'm just an Army wife & mummy who sews a lot!!

 My chipper handsome soldier is making pancakes for the children . . .

 & i should start removing the upsidedown birds from the Christmas tree.

 It's hard to put away super fun decorations like this Oxfam reindeer from our gorgeous friends Rob & Lisa (thanks you two!!)

 But the recycling needs to go out, 'twas a good Christmas (says me, the non drinker & starting today . . . non chocolate eater).

So if you're in Australia, no doubt you're having a scorcher today or humid blast of hot Summer rain, we're swimming our cares away!!  Wishing you all the best in 2011, love Posie