The Joy of Tea

Some people like beer. 

Some people like wine.  

Some people like coffee, all the time.  

There's just no comparing the essence of thee, 

my wonderful, elegant, glorious tea! KR

 

Hot Plum Tea with Pine Nuts

For the sake of clarity, when I speak of tea, I am referring to not only the wonderful liquid produced after brewing leaves from the tea family.  I'm also including hot and cold concoctions created from an infusion of herbs or roots, flowers, and/or fruits and berries with honey, marmalade or other natural preservatives. 

This road leads to tea- Insadong, South Korea.

The Old Tea Shop in Insadong- One of my favorite stops for Korean Honey Tea.

Inside The Old Tea Shop, People leave messages on the walls, tables and anywhere else they can find a spot.  I read a few and left a few.

At The Old Tea Shop, I found a message from a girl who wondered if the world would end in 2012.  I took a scan of it with my pmp and will post it here later, if I can find it.  I've taken many of my Korean friends here for their first visit.  

Ah, this is the table that holds my message.

Tea with friends.  Traditional Korean Snacks.

Korea is home to one of the best tea plantations in Asia- Boseong!  I visited Boseong again last summer and it was incredible- miles and miles of rolling hills of tea.  I almost climbed to the top of the highest hill......almost.  I formally introduce to you, Boseong Tea Plantation.  Ta Daaa! 

A sign near the entrance of Boseong.  Notice the cute mud houses?  I did and I love them!

Then, there is Sangsoo's Herbland outside of Daejeon.  There were many herbal tea concoctions to sample down there.  Take a look at Sangoo Herbland:

A Truly Serene Space-The Wishing Well

I have so many pictures from Sangsoo (and other tea locations) but currently, they're on my dear Macbook which has been (sniff, sniff) com.....pro.....mised! :(   (Pray for her.)


If there's tea, I will find it!  These are pics from various tea locations around town, including my place.

Koren Honey Teas at The Old Tea Shop

The Iron pot on the top shelf on the left- I inquired about it and (Gulp) it was $3,000!  Seriously? Mmm, I don't mind paying for tea and tea essentials.  This is where I will splurge but seriously?  No, I don't think so.

Traditional Korean Tea House but honestly, I wish the chairs were more friendly. No, the bottom of me  was not pleased. The tea was delicious though. :D

A quaint little pot of tea in a tiny shop located in Gangnam, South Korea.

This is what my work area looked like when I worked on weekends.  I no longer take work home but I think my desk kind of looks something like this now......

They thought they were a coffee house until I arrived.....now, they serve a descent cup of tea- I'm having Rosemary.

The same shop as above.

The transformed tea house. :D

Earl Grey Chai- I was happy.

While Salerno restaurant doesn't do loose leaf tea, they had a descent selection of teabags. 

The Perfect winter herbal tea -1 tbsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 sml candy cane (These herbs are great at fighting infection and reducing inflammation.)

This is Chrysanthemum. I made this at home as I was a little under the weather. It's very light and mellow. 

Ginger Tea with Pine Nuts and Pear Slithers- Not bad at all.

Iced Punch Tea- You could call it Punch but it's not.  It's made from dried fruits and herbs.

A very robust punch tea but it was a tad too bitter on the end. Tea with an unpleasant after taste, not good but it's pretty. 

AaaHA!  I found you! A Chinese version of my dream pot.  It's not $3,000 either. It's $65.  I know, I know but it's made in Chiiiiiiiii naaaaa.  So what?  The Chinese know more about tea and making pots than the rest of the world.  They've been doing it longer than anyone!

I like the earthiness of this tiny booth.  The seats were comfy too.

Just a picture. For some reason,  I had no desire to enter this place.

Buddah in the tea house window.  Notice the ladies having lunch and tea inside.  They were kind enough to share a wonderful blend with us. :D

This is the tea or shall a say, Meishi.  Supposedly it was fermented for several years.  I know about plum tea but, after it ferments for that long, isn't it more like, say, ...........wine?  Mmm........

Oh, I thought I'd just throw this in. It's no tea house but I thought about having a cup of tea here.  This is a shot from my drive out to Provence last week.

Provence in April.  There is a light show going on so everything's aglow.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday in Korea so there was a dinner and gifts and well wishes and such.  I'm grateful.  However, my thoughts are always somewhere else when people are doing what they think they should do for me on my birthday.  I no longer complain. I simply accept their gestures with a smile and try to enjoy myself.  Birthdays, at least mine, have always been a day of reflection, gratitude and reconnection to my deepest most spiritual self.  I like to spend time assessing where I've been, where I am and where I'd like to go. I've been this way all my life. Even when I was a child, I couldn't wait for everyone to leave so that I could spend some time with myself, then with my closet friends. So, now that I'm here, I get the best of both worlds, I can celebrate with friends on my birthday, while reserving my U.S. and official birthday for myself on the following day. Yeh!  The Quieter scenes from yesterday:

Entrance to Shell Restaurant

My trusty but tired car takes in the sunset while patiently waiting for me.

Traditional Korean Pancake.

Shell Restaurant wall display- many small jars filled with decorative sea shells.

I love salads!

Comfortable Seating

Beautiful Shell table.

The Main Course and Sides-Too bad I couldn't eat the pasta-there was shellfish, of course.

Then there was tea.

Affordable Off-Grid Portable Tub

My tub finally arrived! Actually, it only took 2 days from ordering.  I was going to get the fancy 200 buck one but instead, I purchased the a little green half tub that fits me just fine. It was about $60.  While it was light enough to carry up the stairs, it's quite sturdy.  

Now my laundry room is a bathroom! Even though this apartment is not off-grid, this kind of tub would be perfect for an off-grid cabin.

Small Apartment Living for Off-Grid Prep

My off-grid move is now less than a year away and I've been doing many things to get us ready to take the plunge.  Mainly, an awful lot of research but also, I moved into a small Korean apartment in which I've been taking note of things I might want to incorporate into my off-grid abode.  Here are a few pics of the place both furnished and unfurnished. 

(Above) From the entrance, you can see my bedroom to the left.  It's about 78 sq ft. which is small but it's quite sunny.  It's really all I need as I can comfortably fit my bed, a closet, desk and shelf. I also added a small bedside table.

(left) It really helps that the door is a glass and sliding as it really opens the room up.

As you can see, the kitchen is quite small-only 25 sq ft. I've found though, that it has been more than enough space for me.  I never thought I could be so comfortable with such a small kitchen, it helps that it's not closed in but open to the living room area.                                                                                

The space was much more functional after moving the fridge outside the kitchen into the living area.  That way, I had enough room for my oven rack which holds an electric oven (big enough for cooking a turkey), a microwave and toaster, my wood steamer, wooden bowls, trays and cutting board. I've been thinking about how I'm going to replace all of my appliances when off-grid and I've come up with a few ideas that I'll discuss in a future post.

The door to the left of the oven rack leads to a shower/toilet room. In Korea, usually, these rooms are totally wet and the water simply goes down a drain on the floor.  This is actually, the second bathroom. 

This hallway is part of the living room.  The small hallway on the right, leads to the entrance and straight ahead, is my bedroom.  The area of the hallway is about 3 sq ft.

This is my private bath which is located inside my bedroom.  As you can see, it's simply a wet room- sink, toilet and hose for taking a shower. The bathroom is a little over 9 sq ft.

This room was meant to be a laundry/drying room but since there is a small washing machine in the kitchen, I'm going to make this room a bath room. I've already found a nice plastic portable tub online. I'll post pics of it when it's all set up.  This room goes from the living room to my bedroom. It's approximately 14 sq ft.

View from my bedroom into the living room.