It's Tea Time!

I've been on a tea odyssey.  During the colder months of the year, I am drawn to drinking hot tea.  Maybe it's because I need to warm up after going to the bus stop with the kids.  Or perhaps it's because I crave the taste.  Either way I wanted to find a better tea to drink.

Lately, I had been buying the Tazo tea bags like Calm (Chamomile) or African Red Bush (Rooibos).  I also tried tea bags by Two Leaves and a Bud.  They sell a hibiscus tea, Alpine Berry which is delicious and fruity but not too sweet.  I also bought their Pomi-berry which is a luscious chamomile-pomigranite blend.

On my tea hunt, I decided I wanted to go bag-less so I could save a few bucks and be more environmentally conscious.  Thankfully, I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they reviewed tea pots.  The ingenuiTEA by Adagio Teas was their only recommended pot and  I thought why not try it.   Adagio Teas sells it for $19 and gives you a four tea sampler with a guide to tea book.  The pot is a plastic container with a lid and a filter located at the bottom.  To release the filtered tea, a teacup must be placed under the pot.  How ingenious.  I chose the herbal collection which includes chamomile, blood orange, spearmint and rooibos.  Adagio even threw in a sample of Gemini Tea (because of my birth date).

My journey didn't stop there.  At my local organic foods market, Mustard Seed Market and Cafe, I had seen a Provence Rooibos tea.  It's a red bush tea with lavender and Mustard was sold out.  I decided to look online and found it at The Tea Table.  They sell an Organic Roman Provence Rooibos that contains rooibos with lavender, rose petals, elderberry and currants.  I bought 8 ounces.

After waiting a week, my packages started arriving in the mail.  I was impressed with Adagio Teas.  They ship their teas in pretty green tins and list the brewing instructions on the outside label for each type.  I already had an electric kettle by Chef's Choice, to boil my water.  Adagio recommends using 180 degree water which means hot but not boiling.  Likewise, herbal teas require a longer steep time.  The first tea that I brewed was Gemini tea.  I infused the tea for seven minutes and then placed the empty cup under the ingenuiTEA.  The Gemini tea was aromatic with fruity notes.  That was the first time I had white tea and learned that I like it.  I prefer green tea but white tea is a nice change from a grassy taste.

I sampled blood orange tea later that day.  It smelled so good coming out of the tin.  If you like Red Zinger from Celestial Seasonings, you will love blood orange.  The tea has a citrusy flavor that isn't overly cloying.   I like a little bitterness to accompany sweetness of a tea.  I typically drink my tea straight up with no honey, sugar or lemon.

The next tea I brewed was chamomile.  When I spooned the tea out from the tin, I was surprised to see actual buds from chamomile flowers.  Chamomile actually is from the Greek word chamaimelon which means 'earth apple.'  After filtering the tea, I detected an herbal scent right away.  The chamomile tea had a pleasant taste of apple with a refreshing grassy tang.

I decided try each tea that first day.  My next sample was the Organic Roman Provence Rooibos.  It smelled so good right out of the bag.  I love the lavender scent.  Mike brought back from a vial of Haute-Provence Lavender essential oil from France.  I usually put the oil in my bath because it relaxes me.  Lavender actually comes from the Latin word, lavare which means 'to wash.'  The Romans supposedly used lavender in their bath water.  Now I found out about rooibos tea while reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexcander McCall Smith. The main character, Precious Ramotswe enjoys drinking red bush tea.  I wanted to find out first hand what the tea tastes like.  It turns out that rooibos tea is grown only in South Africa and was used as an alternative to expensive black tea.  I am partial to the flavor of red bush tea because it is slightly sweet with a nut-like taste.  The Roman Provence Rooibos was all I expected and more.  It had a honeyed flavor with a floral aroma.  I could sit and drink this tea all day because it not only has a arresting fragrance, it has a superb taste.

The final tea I evaluated was spearmint.  For those of you that like Sleepytime tea, spearmint tea is a satisfying alternative.  I cannot drink any caffeine past 5 p.m or I end staying up past my bed time.  The spearmint tea is an effective signal for my body to get ready to crash.  I love mint tea because it smells refreshing and makes me feel calm.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my tea odyssey.  I acquired a lot of information about tea and discovered I could learn even more.  I haven't had a chance yet to savor oolong or black tea.  I'll save that for another blog post.  In the meantime, fire up that kettle and brew yourself a nice cup of tea.

The Family That Plays Together...

I confess I have a problem.  I am a Rock Band junkie now.  I didn't intend for it to happen, but it did.  Rock Band is a music/rhythm game for the Wii.  Ben got  The Beatles:  Rock Band and Lego:  Rock Band for Christmas.  It includes the drum kit, a microphone with stand and a Paul McCartney's Hofner violin bass controller.  Santa also brought Ben a John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 guitar controller.

I was skeptical of the game.  Why would anyone want to pretend he or she can sing or play music?  I watched Ben, Natalie and Tim start to play the game.  Or should I say heard.  Our Wii console is in the basement.  The first few mornings after Ben got his present, he would wake up at the crack of dawn and go downstairs.  Mike and I could hear him belting out "The Final Countdown" or "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" at 6:30 a.m.

Mike began playing the guitar on some of the songs.  I tried the drums which is not easy for me.  Mike sang "Accidentally in Love" while I played drums and Ben played guitar.   That is Mike's favorite song on Lego: Rock Band.    In Lego:  Rock Band, the focus is to keep performing songs and collect Lego bricks.  The kids can build cool vehicles from the bricks and move onto hipper venues.  The Beatles:  Rock Band has a similar goal.  Band members play Beatles' songs to rack up points.  As your band becomes more competent, the game takes you to historic Beatles venues.  The band also can make landmark records like the Beatles did.

I attempted singing "Let's Dance" which was tough for me because of an upper respiratory infection.  The drums also weren't working out for me.  I am rhythmical but not coordinated for drums.  I decided to switch to bass.  Thankfully, Rock Band lets you play left-handed.  After I took a stab at the game, it became a breeze.  Of course, I had to do the tutorial a few times with Iggy Pop.

Since Lego: Rock Band and The Beatles: Rock Band didn't have all of the songs we liked, Mike ordered  Rock Band 2 for us to play.  We decided that we would "tour" after the kids went to bed.  Mike and I created the Treacherous Goons for our world tour.  He's the guitarist and I'm the bassist.  Granted we are missing a few other members but the game lets you play with just two players.

I was playing at the Easy level while Mike started on the Medium level.  Each guitar has a color coded fret board from green to orange.  There also is a strum bar which is this little white lever that you "strum" with your fingers.  Oh and there is a way cool, whammy bar that you can use to distort notes.  On the easy level, a guitarist has plenty of time to change fingers on the fret board.  The game only expects the easy level guitarist to play one or two colored notes at a time.  The medium level is obviously harder.  The guitarist is expected to play one, two or three notes at a time at a faster pace.

The game has your band start out poor and under-promoted.  As you play more increasingly difficult songs and reach greater than 70% proficiency, the game awards you fans and money.  As the band earns more cash, you can hire promoters, roadies and managers.  You also can change your musician's appearance.  The game lets you spend your cash for attire in various garbs from punk to rock.  Tattoos are an option along with diverse, almost freaky hair styles.  Oh and you can buy new instruments.

The bizare thing that Rock Band 2 does is let you create an online character.  The intention is to have you buy "merchandise" for your band.  The Rock Band website lets you create a "photo shoot" which transfers images to t-shirts, posters, stickers and keychains.  That seems a bit much to me.  I know some people are really into their online persona.  Come on!  It's just a game.

We started our tour in New York city and had to play songs like "De-Luxe" by Lush
or "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins.  We then moved onto Chicago and got to play songs like "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads
and "Give It Away" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.  We were cruising during most of our gigs with Mike and I scoring in the 90's for most of our songs.

I got more confident and decided I would move up onto the Medium level.  Oooh, that hurt!  With bass, the musician doesn't play two notes simultaneously very often.  I still had a hard time keeping up with the pace.  The one song that confounded me was "Let Be There Rock" by AC/DC.
The bass playing in that song is fast and relentless.  I started "practicing" in the afternoons while the kids were at school.  In the practice mode, a player can choose the speed of the song.  You can ratchet it down to 50 percent if you like.  I had to slow down the AC/DC song until I could master the notes.

After about a week of practice almost every afternoon, I got a handle on the Medium level.  Mike and I were able to move on to L.A. then London and finally Spain.  Rock Band 2 kept throwing harder and harder songs at us.  I felt sorry for Mike when he had to play "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D.  The guitar notes are wicked and the bass doesn't kick in until half way through the song.

The game continued to up the ante with various challenges like the Mystery Set List.  Rock Band 2 would throw at us three different songs usually with one simple and two difficult.  We can also made our own set list and earned more fans.  Right now we are "invited" to play a Rolling Stone Rock Immortal set list in Shanghai.  The first song was "Battery" by Metallica
and it was a doosey.  Both Mike and I failed out of it since we were below 70% of mastery.  Now our difficult task it to become proficient in the Metallica song.  Unfortunately, "Battery" is not available yet in our practice list.  I'm not sure how we are going to lick this song.

Needless to say, you will find me "practicing" in our basement the next week or two or three.  Yes, I'm a Rock Band devotee.  It's a fun winter pursuit that whole family can enjoy.  Rock on out !--Janis Joplin.

Time to Get Fit?

For Christmas, I put Wii Active:  More Workouts on my wish-list.  If you check my earlier post about Wii Active, you will know how much I love their fitness platform.  Santa brought me More Workouts and it is even better than its predecessor.

More Workouts is a perfect accompaniment to any person's workout routine.  I usually use exercise DVDs or outdoor walking to supplement my Wii training.  It's hard to believe that a video game platform could make me sweat.  Wii Active is the only video game that kicks my butt every time.

Why do I like More Workouts?  It still uses the resistant band training but has added new strength and aerobic exercises.  The game also added a warm up and cool down session to each workout.  Unfortunately, that is the game's weakest link.  I am not an exercise specialist but I would have liked more upper body stretches along with the hamstring extensions.

Kudos to EA Sports for needed changes within the game.  I can now select dominant hand preferences for the sport activities like squash.  The overall game requires right hand holding of the Wii remote but I won't quibble with that.  More Workouts in addition allows calendar changes for the six week challenge.  I failed the thirty day challenge with Wii Active because of an illness.  Now I won't have that with More Workouts.

Another feature that I love about More Workouts is the multiplayer function.  Ben, Natalie or Tim can now join me in water skiing or running an obstacle course.  I believe that companionship is beneficial to a successful fitness program.  Time seems to pass faster while exercising with another person.

I could go on further about More Workouts but I wanted to save space for Wii Fit Plus.  Ben got a copy for Christmas.  I was skeptical playing this fitness game because of the disappointing prior game.  This new game doesn't make me sweat as much but has some nice features.  Nintendo must have paid attention to complaints from users.

I like the fact that Fit Plus incorporates the Wii board in almost all of its exercises.  More Workouts only uses the board in select activities.  Fit Plus does a Body Test every session which use to be laborious in the earlier version.  Nintendo now gives the user the option of doing a quick test to gauge weight.  More Workouts also uses the Wii board to measure weight but only does it weekly.  I'm not sure which game does a better job with weight measurement.  I might side with Fit Plus because the game gives you the option of setting the weight of your clothes you are wearing.

Fit Plus has a chart that tracks the user's progress.  I was able to log in my waist size and the steps I took from my pedometer's measurement.  Since my weight is in the low 140's now, I have a BMI around 24.  Fit Plus suggested to a set a new goal with a BMI of 23 or 22.  Whether or not that is realistic is another story.  The CDC sets the normal healthy weight at a BMI from 18.5 up to less than 25.   Losing another ten pounds would be harder to do and  I'll have to let you know what happens.

Under the setting My Fit Plus, the game offers a calorie goal for the day.   The user selects a food item which lists the calories needed to burn for eating that treat.  The game keeps track of all the calories burned from your activities on Fit Plus.  Another function of My Fit Plus is customizing your workout.  Under Lifestyle, Youth, Health and Form, the games allows the user to choose his or her type of workout.  Separate workouts can be combined into one routine.  Nice feature, Nintendo!

The other advantage to Fit Plus is its multiplayer mode.  So far my kids favorite shared activity is snowball fights.  Fit Plus uses the Wii board and remote to simulating snowball fights.  The activity is done with each player taking his or her turn by hitting as many Miis with snowballs while evading theirs.  More Workouts is different because it has simultaneous activities that players can view side by side.  Fit Plus can't do that because of the one Wii board.

Overall I am pleased with both More Workouts and Fit Plus.  Both games have improved and added flexibility to their platforms.  I only hope this has inspired you to try them and get fit.

My Plan for 2010

I looked at my intentions for 2009 to see how faithful I was.  I know most people make resolutions and don't keep them.  Amazingly, I adhered to most of my pledges.

I meditate almost every day for twenty to thirty minutes.  I use a couple of methods for my meditation.  I pop in Yoga Zone--Meditation and follow Alan Finger's instructions.  He has two foci to help facilitate meditation; alternative nostril breathing and chakra guided imagery.  I always feel refreshed and centered after completing my session with Finger.

Another meditation aid that I found was by Max Highstein.  He has a guided imagery selection for meditation and I downloaded Healing Waterfall.  It has a soothing female voice that leads the listener through a series of natural settings.  I highly recommend it if you need rejuvenation or are battling an illness.

As for my resolution to relax,  I have been entertaining myself more now that I have time off from school.  I wasn't always as faithful in taking breaks from homework.  My physics class took up a lot of my personal timeI did read a lot of books this fall.  My favorites were:  Sag Harbor:  A Novel,  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie,  Zeitoun, and  Juliet, Naked.

I was successful at reducing my portion sizes for meals.  By Michael purchasing luncheon plates and small bowls,  I did reach my goal weight.  It was tough learning not to snack between meals and cut out second helpings.  My typical meal consists of half a plate of vegetables with one quarter protein and one quarter starch.  If I am exceptionally hungry, I will take seconds on vegetables only.

I pledge to change the following behaviors for 2010:  continue the new behaviors I acquired in 2009,  read more to my children, and increase my volunteering at school or church.  I will let you know how those resolutions stick at the end of 2010.

I hope that your year has been fruitful and enjoyable.  I wish you peace, health and happiness for the new year.  May you aspire for change and be successful in 2010.

Got a Second Life?

As the year 2009 draws to a close, I have a few passing thoughts for the International Year of Astronomy.  I am an astronomy devotee.  This year I found some really sophisticated toys to enhance the viewing of stars.

For iPod touch or iPhone users, I ardently encourage you to purchase the Star Walk application.  Vito Technology has done a wonderful job with the star viewer.  The App has a night viewing function (the screen turns black and red), time machine function, and a Digital Compass for the 3Gs phones.  I used this App continuously while taking Astronomy this past Spring.  Star Walk even sends photos of the day to your device, which are spectacular.

The next gadget I got this year was a Galileoscope.  Volunteers for the International Year of Astronomy have been packaging and sending these replica telescopes to stargazers around the world.  It is a $20 kit that has 20X to 50X refractor lenses similar to what Galileo used to view the surface of the moon.  After using this telescope one frigid night with Michael, the experience made me appreciate Galileo's feat.  We were unable to view Jupiter clearly but Galileo saw four of Jupiter's moons with this type of device.  If you are just the least bit curious, order one of these telescopes.

The last plaything that I found this year was actually an avatar (a digital alter ego).  I listen to Astronomy Cast on my way to and from school.   In of the podcasts, Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay mentioned Second Life.   They were talking about how to enhance knowledge of astronomy with the internet.  Second Life is a virtual world started in 2003 by Linden Lab.  Each user over 18 gets to create an avatar which represents a vision of him or herself.  I'll tell you, it is a time waster.  You can spend many hours perfecting everything from your physical features to your clothing.  However, if you like simulation games, you'll love Second Life.

How does this tie into astronomy?  Once a user designs his or her digital body, he or she can teleport.  There are slurl's (Second Life links) that aid in travel to locations within Second Life.  The International Year of Astronomy has locations on Explorer Island that share astronomy facts with the public.  It is a futuristic looking world (see photo at the top).

The well designed part of Explorer Island has avatars participating in real world launches and presentation at places like NASA or the Adler Planetarium.  This is way cool.  I hope to have more time to experience these events.

Well, I hope I opened your eyes and minds toward the final days of the International Year of Astronomy.    Now that the nights are clearer and full of stars, think about looking to the heavens.  If your night is not so clear, consider checking in with Explorer Island.  It might be time to get a Second Life.

Let the Games Begin

Winter brings the gamer out in me.  I can't help it.  I love puzzles, strategy and competition.  I wanted to find new amusements to keep Michael and I busy these cold and winter nights.  A person can only watch so much television or read a certain number of books.  The mind needs a different type of stimulation every once in a while.  However, most of the games I have played in the past are old standbys like Scrabble, Monopoly and Uno.  It was time for an different diversion.

I currently have a subscription to Games magazine.  It's my favorite magazine because it includes crosswords, logic puzzles and most of all, game reviews.   Games has a year end evaluation of card, board and video entertainment.  Their reviews are a great source for finding new products from single player to party games.  I wanted to find a card game that I could play with Mike.

After browsing through the lists of card games, I found one that intrigued me.  It's a two-player game called Lost Cities.  The adventure game requires the players to start of expeditions through the rain forest, desert and mountains while looking for abandoned cities.  The challenge is that each player has a limited number of movements to make.  Each expedition must be made sequentially and any uncompleted explorations are penalized.  The player with the most points wins.  The game's strategy involves a balance between aggressive exploration and conservative expansion.  I admit, I haven't won against Michael yet.  He is a very good strategist.

Michael requested the game, Carcassonne, which I thought was because he is a Francophile.  I found out that the tile-laying, two-player game is engaging and I can win against him.  Carcassonne is based on the medieval city in France.  Players get the chance to build cities, roads, cloisters and farms.  The key to the game is that each person has a limited number of pawns to deploy.  The pawns represent thieves, monks, knights and farmers.  Each playing piece when positioned properly adds points to the developer.  Once all the tiles have been played,  each player's score it tallied.  The winner has the most points.  Winning the game does demand some luck but also requires foresight in how the land  can be developed.

The last card game I discovered was a fluke.  I was on the Funagain.com website ordering Lost Cities and Carcassonne.  I found a inexpensive card game, Solo for one dollar.  What a deal!  The only catch was that the cards were written in Scandinavian (hunh?).  They included instructions in English so I thought, 'what the hey!'  It was a fun, diverting card game.  Way better than the American pasttime, Uno.  Solo is based on the Crazy Eights format but has special action cards.  Along with the change direction and color cards is a swap hands or change all hands action card.  Plus, it's fun to remember what the cards mean since they are in Scandinavian.  Ben had the best time playing Solo with Michael and I.  I highly recommend it for your next family gathering.

I hope I have motivated you to consider playing with your loved ones tonight while it's cold and dark outside.  If you don't own a favorite card or board game, it might be time to look for one of the games I have listed.   Turn the TV off, close that book and let the games begin!

Smaller Plate to Smaller Weight

I just lost ten pounds in four weeks.  Guess what?  I didn't do any extra exercise to lose it.  I am recovering from minor surgery and can't perform my normal activites.  It was strange for me not to walk or do strength training since I am used to exercising almost every day.


I had to figure out a way to keep my weight down while I was convalescing. I decided to read another weight control book after finishing "The End to Overeating" by David Kessler.  "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" by Brian Wansink was a slight departure from Kessler's book but not by much.  Wansink has a knack for describing our eating behaviors.  In his research he found eaters have a hard time judging food portions because of oversized containers.  Wansink also determined that Americans overeat because of easy access and overabundance of choices with food.

I believe the food industry needs shoulder some of the blame, yet we have to be accountable for our own wayward habits.  As I mentioned before, I was an active member of the "Clean Your Plate" club.  I would finish eating whatever was on my plate.  I would tune out my taste buds and just ladle in the food.  Unfortunately, this meant I would eat foods that I didn't really enjoy.

I decided to do something about this.  Michael was willing to purchase smaller plates and bowls.  The kids at first were scratching their heads over this.  They asked, 'why do we have to eat on baby plates?' or 'weren't the old plates still good to use?'  I knew this confused our kids but I hoped they would get accustomed to it.  Wansink's research showed that test subjects ate 28% more food when their plates were bigger.  For some reason, using scaled down plates helps us feel full with less food.

Wansink also found that larger groups at the table cause people to eat faster.  This is the food scarcity syndrome.  Large families only have so much food to go around so each family member needs to consume their meal quickly before all the food disappears.  This conflicts with sensing satiety.  It takes about twenty minutes for our brain to sense that our stomach is full, so it is important to eat slowly.  Wansink recommends being the last person at the table to start eating.  He also suggests to pace yourself with the slowest eater at the table.  Natalie is a poky eater so I try to eat as slow as she does.

He also recommends leaving food on your plate.  Making small changes, by eating less food can add up to large weight loss.  I have to admit, I eat less protein now.  I do consume more vegetables (at least half my plate) and less starches.  I do like feeling pleasantly satisfied without feeling stuffed.

My next challenge is to be consciously aware while eating.  I think I tend to focus on filling my stomach rather than tasting my food.  I found another book that centers on mindful eating.  I'll let you know how that helps me.  Till then, I will keep an eye on my share of food.

Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink