Tea for you and Tea for me.

I love tea. I know I already said a lot about tea on coffee day, but hey, it's cold, I just scored a coffee-maker for free and I am drinking some hot, caffeinated tea. I feel fantastic.

Tea is made by steeping different bits and pieces of dried plants in hot water to create a beverage that has millions of flavors, but is unique all its own. There is no beverage on earth like tea that isn't tea. Unless its bad, then it's just like tea, but if no one drinks it, then does it make a taste? (I lost myself on that one.) Tea has been around for thousands of years, easily being the most influential drink of all time. Influential on history, not Friday nights... heh, heh. Eh? Yea? Heh.

Tea is water. It has no carbs, sugar, fat, cholesterol, or dopamine. (Aww...) But it does have caffeine the natural way. It may be the healthiest thing you can drink, because its as pure as water but contains many healthy, natural supplements such as the amino acid theanine, methylxanthines such as theobromine, and anti-oxidants if you're drinking green. Or white, but a lot less. All kinds of tea in the world today, from all over the world, have evolved from plants that originate in two distinct locations. Both are in China. One is the Yunnan province. The other is east and southeast China. These early adopters of tea cultivated what was eventually bred all around the world to create the most popular beverage since... well, I guess water. However, tea is much more trendy.

"In one popular Chinese legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China, inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine, was drinking a bowl of boiling water, some time around 2737 BC. The wind blew and a few leaves from a nearby tree fell into his water and began to change its color. The ever inquisitive and curious monarch took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and its restorative properties. A variant of the legend tells that the emperor tested the medical properties of various herbs on himself, some of them poisonous, and found tea to work as an antidote." (Wikipedia, beeyotch)

Yes, tea is good. Sent from the gods if you will. We can all come together in our love for tea. And how good it makes you feel on a cold, cloudy day (today). About that coffee-maker though. I scored a free one from a guy who moved out quite some time ago. Actually it was more I scored it from his former roommate who gave it to me because he found it left in the guy who moved out's closet. Anyway, I didn't coffee or filters. But I had tea. So I just stuck two bags in where the coffee usually goes, and minutes later I had a pot of strong white tea. Hit it!

A funny thing happened on the way out of Ford...

I was riding my bike down the sidewalk in front of Ford, and I saw a shiny red Motorola cellular telephone device face down on the cement. It was NOT a RAZR as shown above, but it was still red. Picking it up I exclaimed to my friend, "MONEY!" and then proceeded to send a text message to the owner's last called friend saying "tell whose phone this is that its at ford dining hall swipe table." I then proceeded to give it to the swipe lady just as she was locking up.

Anyone know someone who lost a phone outside Ford around 2 - 2:25 today? You can thank me later.

Just call me Mr. Good Samaritan.

The Journey

This past weekend I went to a new restaurant in Indianapolis called The Journey. It is a buffet consisting of seafood, prime rib, and sushi. Its located on 96th Street just before you get to Fishers.

I went there with my mom, my sister, myself and my son. The wait staff was very nice and the atmosphere was pretty cool. The restaurant seemed really big although with the ways the walls were set up you wouldn't notice it. The buffet had a little bit of everything on it. Some Chinese food, some American, some sushi, and a salad bar. The best part, however, had to be the chocolate fountain and the crepe station. They made the crepe fresh when you ordered it.

The price was pretty reasonable for a buffet, especially one including sushi and prime rib. For lunch on a Saturday, it was around $10 a person for all you can eat. For three people including hot tea to drink, our bill was just over $30. Not bad considering for a sushi meal alone would cost close to that per person.

I would probably go back and try this place again. However, the sushi is not labeled so if you don't know much about sushi rolls, you might want to take someone with you who does. But other than that, the experience was fun and tasty.

Warm and Cheesy

So it is freakin' cold here in Indiana today. I mean really really bone chilling cold. It was cold yesterday too. Since I was so cold today I wanted something warm to eat. To my delight I found that they were serving grilled cheese sandwiches today.

It was simply perfect, warm gooey melted cheese oozing out of the buttered and toasted bread. mmhhmm mmhhmmmmm. They also had tomato soup to accompany the sandwiches (I know many people enjoy dipping the sandwich into the soup, I prefer ketchup).

So Props to the food people at Purdue for picking a nice delicious warm treat for me today!

brrrrr I think I need to put a sweatshirt on....

Hmm... and I wonder.

My friend just made himself a massive burrito out of lunch meat. I mean, those tortillas are huge.

My friend also got some stir fry and couldn't finish it.

I said, get stir fry, wrap it up in a burrito, add some cheese and grill it.

Hmm... sounds good enough for him to want to try it. Thoughts? Ideas of your own?

Hit me up below.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Reese's is my favorite candy. The blend of chocolate and peanut butter is perfect and I crave them all the time. I had a whole pack here at school, and they were gone within a week. My next couple of blogs will be dedicated to different recipes with these peanut butter cups. One of my favorite recipes with them, along with many others, is Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. The official Hershey's website recipe calls for:

• About 42 REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1-1/2 cups crushed corn flakes

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from peanut butter cups.

2. Beat butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy; blend in egg. Stir together flour and baking soda; add to butter mixture. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Stir together egg white and water; beat with fork until foamy. Roll balls in egg white mixture, then in crushed cereal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; press with thumb or finger tips in center making an indentation.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are set. Remove from oven; immediately press peanut butter cup onto each cookie. Cool 1 minute; remove carefully from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 3-1/2 dozen cookies.

These cookies are inexpensive, and everything is usually found in the average household, except for maybe the Reese's. Remember not to back the Reese's with the cookie, as soon as the cookie comes out you press the Reese's into the middle of the soft inside. For chocolate lovers, some people have even made chocolate chip cookies and then put the Reese's in the middle, it adds more chocolate. The prep time is about 10 minutes and the cook time is the same, so these delicious cookies should be done in no time!

WAFFLE CONE BROWNIE SUNDAYS!!!!

I suggest you all put down what you are doing and go to Ford dining hall immediately!

Why you might ask? Because they have homemade waffle cones and brownies to which you can create your very own scrumptious sundae extravaganza!

I'm serious.......dead serious, superreal serious, so go, GO, GO NOW! and get make yourself a sundae. You will thank me.


Oh, one more thing: NO whining about it being cold outside and not in the "mood" for ice cream....your mind will change when you see the delicious spread of the desert dishes set up for you ice cream bonanza.

Why are you still reading this and not on your way to Ford?

Pizza Pizza Pie

Today I dined at the Purdue Memorial Union for lunch. I went to Villa Pizza and purchased a slice of their "neopolitan" which was pretty much a normal piece of pizza loaded with pepperoni. It was a big slice and very gooey and greasy, just the way I like it. I enjoyed every bit. The Union accepts cash, and boiler express. So it is another option for students besides the dining halls and small diners here on campus.

I have had Villa Pizza before when my floor went bowling. We ordered a bunch of pizzas and they were just as good as the fresh slice I had today. Besides pepperoni, we had sausage, cheese and pepper/onion/mushroom pizza. The pepper/onion/mushroom pizza was extremely good, all the vegetables were fresh and crunchy. DELICIOUS!

So if your looking for a quick slice of pizza, or another option besides standard dining fare, try Villa Pizza and other eateries under the Union.