Camy Tang's Blog, page 83
June 27, 2018
The King's Daughter #shortstory #romance
Here’s another short story inspired by a picture writing prompt:
I’m not sure why, but I’m coming up with a lot of paranormal stuff from these writing prompts. It’s fun because it’s so different from what I’ve been writing for the past few years.
The King’s Daughter
The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The king had hired a charmer to fill the trees with pixies of different species, and so they flitted in the branches, streaks of various colors like iridescent starlight. The water garden looked even more enchanting than it normally did, but it was mostly empty at this time of night, because most of the guest were at the Pavilion for the speeches for the king's birthday.
One figure skimmed the edge of the glass lake, skirting the low round bushes, until she reached the jagged line of half sunken boulders that led to the small man-made island in the middle of the lake. There were pixies swirling in the trees on this island also, but they flew less frantically, the lights swirling in lazy circles that encouraged one to stop under the wooden trellis, sink onto the worn wooden bench, and contemplate life. The figure did sit on the bench, but it was not to contemplate life—she picked up a stone at her feet and tossed it to the lake, watching it disrupt the perfect mirror of the fairy lights in the trees.
The girl was dressed extravagantly, in a gown of brocade, decorated with real jewels sewn into the neckline and the edges of the sleeves. Slashes in the skirt showed glimpses of rose pink silk, and the neckline was just open enough to not be immodest, but to show off the heavyset necklace of pink sapphires set in silver. She had a pink silk mask on her face, cleverly pinned to her dark brown hair, which had been piled on top of her head and allowed to drape down one shoulder in glossy ringlets. However, the girl impatiently brushed the ringlets from her shoulders because they itched. She tugged on the mask, but she couldn't remove it without undoing the pins that her maid had used to secure it in place, and the one thing she must do was make sure her mask was in place when she returned to the party.
She let out a very unladylike, gusty sigh which would make her maids and her mother scold her. But there was no one here except for the wisteria that thickly covered the terrace roof and drape down the sides, forming a partial screen from the party. Even from here, she could hear the music and the cheering from the Pavilion on the other side of the lake, rising up like a golden, multitiered birthday cake, with the King’s sigil at the top of the spike that rose from the center. It was a beautiful sight from the island, that tower nestled among pixie-lit trees, but the girl turned away from it all in disgust.
She could somehow breathe easier here, without the eyes of everyone on her. The waters of the lake were completely still, without even a breeze to ruffle the surface, and here she could enjoy the pixie trees without looking too much like a country bumpkin. Strangely, although she was alone here, she had felt more lonely in the midst of the crowd at the birthday party. No one there had known her, and no one had really wanted to know who she was. All they saw was the king's daughter. Most of them wanted something from her, and it was often too difficult to try to separate the people who might genuinely want to get to know her just for herself. Not that it mattered tonight, because none of the people here wanted to know her, that much she knew.
She heard the soft scuff of leather against stone, and realized someone else was crossing the stone boulder bridge to the island. She grit her teeth in frustration. She had hoped for a little more time alone, but someone had found her out already. She schooled her face into a calm, dignified mask, ironic since most of her face was covered with pink silk. She turned to look at the visitor, but the fairy lights were behind him, and all she saw was a man's silhouette.
He was not tall, but he was broad shouldered and yet lean in the hip. He walked with an easy, athletic grace, but it looked like a work-earned strength rather than the artificial fitness that other men of the court developed through games and sports. As he came closer, she could see that he was dressed properly in dark colors, and the fabric was fine although not as sumptuous as some of the other guests. His face was almost completely covered by a black and gold mask that only showed his bottom lip and chin. His hair was dark, and had been slicked back and tied into a tight queue with a black ribbon.
“This is a strange place to find a princess,” he said.
“Only if the princess wished to be found.” She couldn't hope that this would chase him away, but she couldn't help the tart reply. After all, she had chosen this remote spot in order to be alone, and it seemed the man had been looking for her, as opposed to simply stumbling upon her.
“I thought princesses liked being in the spotlight.”
She hated men like this, who assumed all kinds of things about princesses and people in general. “Even princesses can only drink so much wine before needing some air.”
“Well, it's a beautiful place to breathe some air.” He glanced out toward the lake shore and the twinkling pixie lights in the trees. Strangely, he looked out on the opposite shore from the Pavilion where the party. Most people assumed that the best view on the lake was of the Pavilion, but she had always enjoyed the trees instead.
She didn't answer him, and sat there staring out at the trees. She wondered if her silence would be enough to make him leave, but instead the aggravating man came and sat down next to her. She caught a whiff of rosemary and sandalwood. She suddenly knew who this was. It was Jackson, senior presence to the royal blacksmith. She had been friends with him since they were children.
She sank back in her anonymity, and she relaxed a little, not just because he didn't know who she was, but also because she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't a tedious conversationalist. She at least wouldn't have to listen to him try to flirt with her like some of the other lords at the party had done. All the same, she wished he would go away.
“You look very beautiful tonight, even though it's not how you usually dress.”
He would never have said this to her if it weren't for the dress, the mask, and the magical night with the pixies in the trees. And yet, she couldn't help a small, pleased warmth that flowed to her chest, warming even the cold sapphires at her throat. “Thank you.”
After another long silence, he said, “You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“Why should I make anything easy for you? Do I owe you anything?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I wanted this chance to speak to you.”
He saw her every week, and yet he never sought her out like this, wanting to speak to her alone. It made her a little sad, and and yet she tried to remember who she was tonight. “What did you wish to speak to me about?” If she got it out of the way quickly, maybe he would leave her alone sooner.
“Nothing much, I just barely get a chance to speak to you like this.”
“There's a reason for that, isn't there? A blacksmith apprentice wouldn't normally speak to the king's daughter.”
“But tonight, you're not the king's daughter. You’re a woman alone among pixie trees with a young man who admires you.”
She was shocked that he had confessed himself so easily. “There are great many men who admire me.” Maybe that would make him back off.
“But they don't know you like I do.”
“Are you saying you really know me? That's rather arrogant of you.”
“I think I know you even better than you know yourself.”
“That's even more arrogant. It is a woman's prerogative to both know herself and to change her mind whenever she wants.”
“That's true, so I'm hoping you will change your mind now.”
“About what?”
“About me.” His voice was deep and soft.
She finally turned to look at him, and she could see his eyes behind his mask, thick lashed and dark. She could only see his bottom lip, but it seemed as if he was smiling faintly. “I am realizing I don't really know you at all.” He was sitting close to her, and his presence made her heart flutter, but at the same time it caused her great deal of pain. He didn't know her and all he saw was a fantasy.
“You know me. In fact, I think you're the only one who really knows me.”
How would the king’s daughter know a blacksmith’s apprentice? “What are you talking about—”
But before she could finish her sentence, his head blocked out the colored lights and he was kissing her. His mouth was firm and yet sweet, as if she was something he desired and at the same time held infinitely precious. She didn't realize she was crying until she felt a tear soak the edge of her mask and trickle down to her jaw. He didn't know who he was kissing. She didn't know if she should feel happy about that or disappointed.
Then he drew his head back, and he whispered her name. “Ellie.”
She jerked back. “How did you know it was me?”
She could see his eyes go stormy even with the mask. “Did you really think I would kiss the princess? After all the things I said about how I felt about you?”
“I thought you thought you were talking to the king's daughter, moron.” She tried to hide her embarrassment behind their comfortable childhood insults.
But instead of firing insults back at her, Jackson leaned closer and invaded her private space. It excited her, and yet it was also unfamiliar and a little frightening. This was a Jackson she didn't really think she knew, just like she had said to him before.
“I was kissing you, Ellie. I came out here specifically to find you. At the party, as soon as I saw you in Theodora's dress, I knew something must've happened to Theodora. So I spent some time talking to some of the servants I knew, until I found out that Theodora eloped with your stepbrother Alexander tonight.”
Ellie was dismayed. “Oh, no, if you found out, that means other people will find out, too.”
“Why are you masquerading as your cousin? You had to know there would be some people you wouldn't be able to fool.”
“That's what I told the King, but he wouldn't listen to me. It's hard to say no when your uncle asks you to pose as your cousin until he can figure out what to do. He sent soldiers after them tonight.”
“I knew that with the two of them gone, this was my chance. I'm sorry for not being more concerned about your cousin, but I wanted to take advantage of this chance to speak to you.”
“That's what you said before, but you see me all the time. Why now?”
“I have been commissioned to make a magic sword in the Forveria kingdom. I leave in a month.”
“This means you are starting off as a master blacksmith? Congratulations, Jackson.” She tried to make her voice cheerful and encouraging, but there was a shrinking in her heart at the thought of him leaving her.
“Ellie, I want you to come with me.”
At first, she thought she hadn't heard him properly. There was a long moment of silence between them, broken only by the muted sound from the party, and occasional joyous tweets and twiddles from the pixies, when they spoke up loud enough to be heard. She stared at him until he finally burst out, “Aren't you going to say something?” His voice sounded a little panicked.
“Give a girl a chance to absorb the reality when you spring a question like that on her.”
Jackson both annoyed her and pleased her when he laughed. “I couldn't speak before now because your brother threatened me if I approached you, but now that he has disgraced himself, I can take you with me the way I have always wanted to.”
So that explained why he had seemed so distant in the past few weeks.
“So? What's your answer? It means you have to leave the castle, and the king.”
What other answer was there? She flung herself at him, drowning him in brocade and pink silk. “Yes, Jackson. Of course I'll come with you.”
And for a long time all that was heard were the sounds from the party and the pixies, who suddenly seemed to be celebrating something.
I’m not sure why, but I’m coming up with a lot of paranormal stuff from these writing prompts. It’s fun because it’s so different from what I’ve been writing for the past few years.
The King’s Daughter
The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The king had hired a charmer to fill the trees with pixies of different species, and so they flitted in the branches, streaks of various colors like iridescent starlight. The water garden looked even more enchanting than it normally did, but it was mostly empty at this time of night, because most of the guest were at the Pavilion for the speeches for the king's birthday.
One figure skimmed the edge of the glass lake, skirting the low round bushes, until she reached the jagged line of half sunken boulders that led to the small man-made island in the middle of the lake. There were pixies swirling in the trees on this island also, but they flew less frantically, the lights swirling in lazy circles that encouraged one to stop under the wooden trellis, sink onto the worn wooden bench, and contemplate life. The figure did sit on the bench, but it was not to contemplate life—she picked up a stone at her feet and tossed it to the lake, watching it disrupt the perfect mirror of the fairy lights in the trees.
The girl was dressed extravagantly, in a gown of brocade, decorated with real jewels sewn into the neckline and the edges of the sleeves. Slashes in the skirt showed glimpses of rose pink silk, and the neckline was just open enough to not be immodest, but to show off the heavyset necklace of pink sapphires set in silver. She had a pink silk mask on her face, cleverly pinned to her dark brown hair, which had been piled on top of her head and allowed to drape down one shoulder in glossy ringlets. However, the girl impatiently brushed the ringlets from her shoulders because they itched. She tugged on the mask, but she couldn't remove it without undoing the pins that her maid had used to secure it in place, and the one thing she must do was make sure her mask was in place when she returned to the party.
She let out a very unladylike, gusty sigh which would make her maids and her mother scold her. But there was no one here except for the wisteria that thickly covered the terrace roof and drape down the sides, forming a partial screen from the party. Even from here, she could hear the music and the cheering from the Pavilion on the other side of the lake, rising up like a golden, multitiered birthday cake, with the King’s sigil at the top of the spike that rose from the center. It was a beautiful sight from the island, that tower nestled among pixie-lit trees, but the girl turned away from it all in disgust.
She could somehow breathe easier here, without the eyes of everyone on her. The waters of the lake were completely still, without even a breeze to ruffle the surface, and here she could enjoy the pixie trees without looking too much like a country bumpkin. Strangely, although she was alone here, she had felt more lonely in the midst of the crowd at the birthday party. No one there had known her, and no one had really wanted to know who she was. All they saw was the king's daughter. Most of them wanted something from her, and it was often too difficult to try to separate the people who might genuinely want to get to know her just for herself. Not that it mattered tonight, because none of the people here wanted to know her, that much she knew.
She heard the soft scuff of leather against stone, and realized someone else was crossing the stone boulder bridge to the island. She grit her teeth in frustration. She had hoped for a little more time alone, but someone had found her out already. She schooled her face into a calm, dignified mask, ironic since most of her face was covered with pink silk. She turned to look at the visitor, but the fairy lights were behind him, and all she saw was a man's silhouette.
He was not tall, but he was broad shouldered and yet lean in the hip. He walked with an easy, athletic grace, but it looked like a work-earned strength rather than the artificial fitness that other men of the court developed through games and sports. As he came closer, she could see that he was dressed properly in dark colors, and the fabric was fine although not as sumptuous as some of the other guests. His face was almost completely covered by a black and gold mask that only showed his bottom lip and chin. His hair was dark, and had been slicked back and tied into a tight queue with a black ribbon.
“This is a strange place to find a princess,” he said.
“Only if the princess wished to be found.” She couldn't hope that this would chase him away, but she couldn't help the tart reply. After all, she had chosen this remote spot in order to be alone, and it seemed the man had been looking for her, as opposed to simply stumbling upon her.
“I thought princesses liked being in the spotlight.”
She hated men like this, who assumed all kinds of things about princesses and people in general. “Even princesses can only drink so much wine before needing some air.”
“Well, it's a beautiful place to breathe some air.” He glanced out toward the lake shore and the twinkling pixie lights in the trees. Strangely, he looked out on the opposite shore from the Pavilion where the party. Most people assumed that the best view on the lake was of the Pavilion, but she had always enjoyed the trees instead.
She didn't answer him, and sat there staring out at the trees. She wondered if her silence would be enough to make him leave, but instead the aggravating man came and sat down next to her. She caught a whiff of rosemary and sandalwood. She suddenly knew who this was. It was Jackson, senior presence to the royal blacksmith. She had been friends with him since they were children.
She sank back in her anonymity, and she relaxed a little, not just because he didn't know who she was, but also because she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't a tedious conversationalist. She at least wouldn't have to listen to him try to flirt with her like some of the other lords at the party had done. All the same, she wished he would go away.
“You look very beautiful tonight, even though it's not how you usually dress.”
He would never have said this to her if it weren't for the dress, the mask, and the magical night with the pixies in the trees. And yet, she couldn't help a small, pleased warmth that flowed to her chest, warming even the cold sapphires at her throat. “Thank you.”
After another long silence, he said, “You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“Why should I make anything easy for you? Do I owe you anything?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I wanted this chance to speak to you.”
He saw her every week, and yet he never sought her out like this, wanting to speak to her alone. It made her a little sad, and and yet she tried to remember who she was tonight. “What did you wish to speak to me about?” If she got it out of the way quickly, maybe he would leave her alone sooner.
“Nothing much, I just barely get a chance to speak to you like this.”
“There's a reason for that, isn't there? A blacksmith apprentice wouldn't normally speak to the king's daughter.”
“But tonight, you're not the king's daughter. You’re a woman alone among pixie trees with a young man who admires you.”
She was shocked that he had confessed himself so easily. “There are great many men who admire me.” Maybe that would make him back off.
“But they don't know you like I do.”
“Are you saying you really know me? That's rather arrogant of you.”
“I think I know you even better than you know yourself.”
“That's even more arrogant. It is a woman's prerogative to both know herself and to change her mind whenever she wants.”
“That's true, so I'm hoping you will change your mind now.”
“About what?”
“About me.” His voice was deep and soft.
She finally turned to look at him, and she could see his eyes behind his mask, thick lashed and dark. She could only see his bottom lip, but it seemed as if he was smiling faintly. “I am realizing I don't really know you at all.” He was sitting close to her, and his presence made her heart flutter, but at the same time it caused her great deal of pain. He didn't know her and all he saw was a fantasy.
“You know me. In fact, I think you're the only one who really knows me.”
How would the king’s daughter know a blacksmith’s apprentice? “What are you talking about—”
But before she could finish her sentence, his head blocked out the colored lights and he was kissing her. His mouth was firm and yet sweet, as if she was something he desired and at the same time held infinitely precious. She didn't realize she was crying until she felt a tear soak the edge of her mask and trickle down to her jaw. He didn't know who he was kissing. She didn't know if she should feel happy about that or disappointed.
Then he drew his head back, and he whispered her name. “Ellie.”
She jerked back. “How did you know it was me?”
She could see his eyes go stormy even with the mask. “Did you really think I would kiss the princess? After all the things I said about how I felt about you?”
“I thought you thought you were talking to the king's daughter, moron.” She tried to hide her embarrassment behind their comfortable childhood insults.
But instead of firing insults back at her, Jackson leaned closer and invaded her private space. It excited her, and yet it was also unfamiliar and a little frightening. This was a Jackson she didn't really think she knew, just like she had said to him before.
“I was kissing you, Ellie. I came out here specifically to find you. At the party, as soon as I saw you in Theodora's dress, I knew something must've happened to Theodora. So I spent some time talking to some of the servants I knew, until I found out that Theodora eloped with your stepbrother Alexander tonight.”
Ellie was dismayed. “Oh, no, if you found out, that means other people will find out, too.”
“Why are you masquerading as your cousin? You had to know there would be some people you wouldn't be able to fool.”
“That's what I told the King, but he wouldn't listen to me. It's hard to say no when your uncle asks you to pose as your cousin until he can figure out what to do. He sent soldiers after them tonight.”
“I knew that with the two of them gone, this was my chance. I'm sorry for not being more concerned about your cousin, but I wanted to take advantage of this chance to speak to you.”
“That's what you said before, but you see me all the time. Why now?”
“I have been commissioned to make a magic sword in the Forveria kingdom. I leave in a month.”
“This means you are starting off as a master blacksmith? Congratulations, Jackson.” She tried to make her voice cheerful and encouraging, but there was a shrinking in her heart at the thought of him leaving her.
“Ellie, I want you to come with me.”
At first, she thought she hadn't heard him properly. There was a long moment of silence between them, broken only by the muted sound from the party, and occasional joyous tweets and twiddles from the pixies, when they spoke up loud enough to be heard. She stared at him until he finally burst out, “Aren't you going to say something?” His voice sounded a little panicked.
“Give a girl a chance to absorb the reality when you spring a question like that on her.”
Jackson both annoyed her and pleased her when he laughed. “I couldn't speak before now because your brother threatened me if I approached you, but now that he has disgraced himself, I can take you with me the way I have always wanted to.”
So that explained why he had seemed so distant in the past few weeks.
“So? What's your answer? It means you have to leave the castle, and the king.”
What other answer was there? She flung herself at him, drowning him in brocade and pink silk. “Yes, Jackson. Of course I'll come with you.”
And for a long time all that was heard were the sounds from the party and the pixies, who suddenly seemed to be celebrating something.
June 20, 2018
How can I pray for you? #prayer requests
Photo credit: lalalime.blogspot.comHow can I pray for you? I will try to remember to post this at least once a month so I can pray for you.Prayer requests can sometimes be private things, so to keep your privacy, I’ve made a form you can fill out that will keep your requests just between you and me. Also please be sure to fill out the form again to update me if you sent me a prayer request in the past. I’d love to hear how you’re doing.
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June 18, 2018
Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto
I suffered a pretty severe writer’s block for the past several months (I think I’m still a bit blocked), and one suggestion was to write short fiction, which I hadn’t done in a long time. Someone on the r/writing subreddit mentioned that if you write a short story a week, it’s impossible to write 52 stories that are ALL bad, at least some of them will be decent. So I decided to give it a shot. I might post some mediocre stories, but hopefully this will help get my creativity juices flowing.
My favorite writing prompts are pictures, so I went onto Reddit and found some really great ones on the r/learnjapanese subreddit.
This one picture spoke to me:
Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017
As soon as I saw this photo, I immediately had the idea to write this short fluffy piece. Feel inspired? Write something yourself and post a link in the comments!
Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto
There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like.
They were small, and had wings, and their bodies were faintly humanoid. They were different colors, muted colors and pastels, so that they blended into the greenery in the garden with ease. But there was a faint pearlescent sheen to their skin, not quite a glow or a sparkle, but something that made them look like colored starlight flitting through the trees, dipping their toes in the running stream, hopping from stone to stone. They had dragonfly wings, and the pearlescence of their wings was a little brighter than the pearlescence of their skin.
Their limbs were extra long, and extra thin, with their hands and feet being a little bigger than normal. Their faces were different shapes, with some being around, some pointed, some long and thin while others were wide. Their hair was long, and yet it floated about their body like they were in zero gravity, defying the fact that they were in the garden here on earth. The hair strands were not fine, but rather like thin, uneven strands of seaweed, with kinks and bends, and slightly flattened shape and texture. Their hair color was also muted colors, like their skin, but their hair did not always match their skin color. Sometimes the colors were complementary, like forest green hair and a light moss green skin color. Other times the colors clashed, like yellow and dark purple with orange streaks through their hair.
But despite their unusual color and shape, it was their eyes that captivated her. Their eyes were large, kind of like the eyes of the aliens that she had seen in pictures, almond-shaped and dark. There was a depth to their gaze that pierced her like a spear through the heart. Their eyes were full of emotion, with different emotions in different pixies, and sometimes one pixie would cycle through a range of emotions. But each emotion was sharp and bright and dark and diffuse. Each emotion evoked something in her heart, every time she met the eyes of a pixie.
And taken as a whole, as she watched the pixies in the garden, there was a desperate, deep ache in her chest, like a heavy weight pressing on her. But it wasn't weight, it was a longing, an intangible reaching toward the garden, toward something that she was not, toward something outside of herself. The garden held her transfixed, and yet it also was pulling at her, pulling at her experiences, her memories, her pain and sorrow, at her joy and peace. It was pulling at her, and pulling all these things out of her, so that she felt like the garden was trying to pull her astral projection from her body.
It was a desire for her life to have more meaning, for her motivations to have more purpose. It was an ache for something more in her life, for something beautiful. Like colored starlight.
No one else saw the pixies. They saw the beautiful trees, the mix of blues and greens and moss, gray and white and brown of stone, the black and colorlessness of water. They saw the garden, cool and damp, infused with the peace of skillful landscaping, and the calming effect of running water and stone and trees. But all that was simply a backdrop to her of the fleeting life that darted around and through like graceful streamers in various colors.
She sat on the porch, sheltered by the roof, and breathed in the damp air. She imagined she could smell something fruity and flowery, despite the fact there were no fruit or flowers in the garden. She smelled a solid, metallic tang from the stone, and the earthy, musty smell of moss and mold. She could almost imagine that she could hear the trees whispering words in the midst of the sound of their leaves stirring in the breeze. She could almost imagine hearing words and the occasional groaning of the wood as the trunks swayed. The pixies made no sound, but their mouth moved as if they were speaking and laughing and shouting to each other.
She didn't know why they were there, or what they were doing. She didn't know why they congregated here, in this particular garden. All she knew was that she felt incredibly blessed to have seen them here, and she was fairly certain she would not see them again.
But she hoped that perhaps one day, in another garden, she might see streaks of colored starlight again.
My favorite writing prompts are pictures, so I went onto Reddit and found some really great ones on the r/learnjapanese subreddit.
This one picture spoke to me:
Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017
[OC] Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017 [1265x949]
As soon as I saw this photo, I immediately had the idea to write this short fluffy piece. Feel inspired? Write something yourself and post a link in the comments!
Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto
There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like.
They were small, and had wings, and their bodies were faintly humanoid. They were different colors, muted colors and pastels, so that they blended into the greenery in the garden with ease. But there was a faint pearlescent sheen to their skin, not quite a glow or a sparkle, but something that made them look like colored starlight flitting through the trees, dipping their toes in the running stream, hopping from stone to stone. They had dragonfly wings, and the pearlescence of their wings was a little brighter than the pearlescence of their skin.
Their limbs were extra long, and extra thin, with their hands and feet being a little bigger than normal. Their faces were different shapes, with some being around, some pointed, some long and thin while others were wide. Their hair was long, and yet it floated about their body like they were in zero gravity, defying the fact that they were in the garden here on earth. The hair strands were not fine, but rather like thin, uneven strands of seaweed, with kinks and bends, and slightly flattened shape and texture. Their hair color was also muted colors, like their skin, but their hair did not always match their skin color. Sometimes the colors were complementary, like forest green hair and a light moss green skin color. Other times the colors clashed, like yellow and dark purple with orange streaks through their hair.
But despite their unusual color and shape, it was their eyes that captivated her. Their eyes were large, kind of like the eyes of the aliens that she had seen in pictures, almond-shaped and dark. There was a depth to their gaze that pierced her like a spear through the heart. Their eyes were full of emotion, with different emotions in different pixies, and sometimes one pixie would cycle through a range of emotions. But each emotion was sharp and bright and dark and diffuse. Each emotion evoked something in her heart, every time she met the eyes of a pixie.
And taken as a whole, as she watched the pixies in the garden, there was a desperate, deep ache in her chest, like a heavy weight pressing on her. But it wasn't weight, it was a longing, an intangible reaching toward the garden, toward something that she was not, toward something outside of herself. The garden held her transfixed, and yet it also was pulling at her, pulling at her experiences, her memories, her pain and sorrow, at her joy and peace. It was pulling at her, and pulling all these things out of her, so that she felt like the garden was trying to pull her astral projection from her body.
It was a desire for her life to have more meaning, for her motivations to have more purpose. It was an ache for something more in her life, for something beautiful. Like colored starlight.
No one else saw the pixies. They saw the beautiful trees, the mix of blues and greens and moss, gray and white and brown of stone, the black and colorlessness of water. They saw the garden, cool and damp, infused with the peace of skillful landscaping, and the calming effect of running water and stone and trees. But all that was simply a backdrop to her of the fleeting life that darted around and through like graceful streamers in various colors.
She sat on the porch, sheltered by the roof, and breathed in the damp air. She imagined she could smell something fruity and flowery, despite the fact there were no fruit or flowers in the garden. She smelled a solid, metallic tang from the stone, and the earthy, musty smell of moss and mold. She could almost imagine that she could hear the trees whispering words in the midst of the sound of their leaves stirring in the breeze. She could almost imagine hearing words and the occasional groaning of the wood as the trunks swayed. The pixies made no sound, but their mouth moved as if they were speaking and laughing and shouting to each other.
She didn't know why they were there, or what they were doing. She didn't know why they congregated here, in this particular garden. All she knew was that she felt incredibly blessed to have seen them here, and she was fairly certain she would not see them again.
But she hoped that perhaps one day, in another garden, she might see streaks of colored starlight again.
November 14, 2017
Learning Japanese - having more fun
おはようございます！ I’ve been offline lately because I’ve been:
A) working on my book
B) being stuck on my book
C) praying a lot about my book
D) switching to a new book to write to try to jumpstart my creativity again
E) (re)learning Japanese in my spare time
The Japanese part has been inconsistent because, well, it can be boring. But I found a way to make it more fun!
My listening comprehension for my Japanese is not very good, so I watched Japanese anime with English subtitles. LearnJapanese subReddit group but many of the conversations are just too high a level for me yet. However, it’s a good place for me to ask questions (I got a quick answer for my question about how to pronounce the symbols you often see on Japanese novel titles).
What got me really excited was an app I discovered a few days ago, this Youtube video.
So far, I’ve been trying to read the posts from Japanese users. Sometimes the posts use more vocabulary and kanji than I understand, but sometimes they’re readable and I only have to look up a few words. HelloTalk also has a really nice feature where you can tap on a word and it’ll translate it for you in the app, but the free accounts are only limited to a few translations a day. You can instead look up unfamiliar words in a free online dictionary like Jisho.org but if you don’t know the pronounciation of the kanji, then you have to try to look it up by radicals.
You can also follow users you interact with and choose to see only the posts of the people you follow. It’s been a nice way to get to know other users through their posts.
I was pretty burned out on Facebook and I haven’t been on social media at all for the past year, but HelloTalk suddenly made me excited to be on social media again! I forced myself to respond to posts in Japanese, and to comment on other users’ posts in Japanese when I could. The nice thing is that I can stop and look up a vocabulary word before typing it in. I’ve used a lot more Japanese in the past few days than I have in several months of learning it. It really helps to be forced to recall the grammar I’ve learned and figure out what to use.
If you’re on HelloTalk, please email me to let me know! I’ll send you my HelloTalk ID.
A) working on my book
B) being stuck on my book
C) praying a lot about my book
D) switching to a new book to write to try to jumpstart my creativity again
E) (re)learning Japanese in my spare time
The Japanese part has been inconsistent because, well, it can be boring. But I found a way to make it more fun!
My listening comprehension for my Japanese is not very good, so I watched Japanese anime with English subtitles. LearnJapanese subReddit group but many of the conversations are just too high a level for me yet. However, it’s a good place for me to ask questions (I got a quick answer for my question about how to pronounce the symbols you often see on Japanese novel titles).
What got me really excited was an app I discovered a few days ago, this Youtube video.
So far, I’ve been trying to read the posts from Japanese users. Sometimes the posts use more vocabulary and kanji than I understand, but sometimes they’re readable and I only have to look up a few words. HelloTalk also has a really nice feature where you can tap on a word and it’ll translate it for you in the app, but the free accounts are only limited to a few translations a day. You can instead look up unfamiliar words in a free online dictionary like Jisho.org but if you don’t know the pronounciation of the kanji, then you have to try to look it up by radicals.
You can also follow users you interact with and choose to see only the posts of the people you follow. It’s been a nice way to get to know other users through their posts.
I was pretty burned out on Facebook and I haven’t been on social media at all for the past year, but HelloTalk suddenly made me excited to be on social media again! I forced myself to respond to posts in Japanese, and to comment on other users’ posts in Japanese when I could. The nice thing is that I can stop and look up a vocabulary word before typing it in. I’ve used a lot more Japanese in the past few days than I have in several months of learning it. It really helps to be forced to recall the grammar I’ve learned and figure out what to use.
If you’re on HelloTalk, please email me to let me know! I’ll send you my HelloTalk ID.
August 7, 2017
Cold Brew Adagio Iced Teas
A couple months ago, Adagio.com gave me a gift certificate in exchange for some social media love about their teas. I already like their teas, but I took the opportunity to order some teas I hadn’t tried yet.
TL;DR—Jasmine Silver Needle was the favorite, cold-brewed at 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water, and my second favorite was White Peach (loose-leaf, not iced tea pouches), cold-brewed at 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water.
Adagio sells loose leaf teas as well as teabags, but I bought some of their Iced Tea pouches. Basically, it’s their loose leaf teas pre-measured in a pouch that you can use to cold- or hot-brew iced tea.
I first tried their White Blueberry Iced Tea pouches. There’s approximately 3 tablespoons of tea in each pouch, and the instructions say that one pouch is for about 1 quart of iced tea. I cold-brewed the tea—I steeped a pouch in a quart of water in the fridge overnight. However, I found that the resulting tea was a bit strong for my taste, so I diluted it with 1 quart of water to make 2 quarts of tea.
The white tea in the pouch is really nice when cold-brewed—smooth and sweet. However I wasn’t nuts about the blueberry flavor until I added the juice of one lemon to the iced tea. Then suddenly the blueberry flavor seemed to really perk up. It reminded me of the lemon blueberry muffins I love to snarf on.
Next I cold-brewed the White Peach Iced Tea pouches. As with the Blueberry, there’s about 3 tablespoons of tea per pouch, and I found that one pouch in 1 quart of water is too strong, so I diluted it with 1 quart of water.
The peach flavor is super awesome! The white tea makes the peach flavor very pronounced.
Thirdly, I cold-brewed the White Peony white loose-leaf tea. I used 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water. It was a nice white tea, very mild in flavor. I tried using more tea, but it became more bitter rather than more flavorful, so I think the mild flavor is the norm.
Fourth, I cold-brewed the Jasmine Silver Needle white loose-leaf tea. This was by far my favorite out the teas I purchased. The Jasmine flavor was subtle without being too florally, and the white tea was mild and even a little sweet. The Silver Needle white tea was much smoother than the Jasmine Chun Hao green tea that I usually cold-brew. The Jasmine Silver Needle tea was especially refreshing when I added some lemon to it.
(On a side note, I was looking at the Adagio website and noticed a Jasmine Jin Hao green tea that I’ve never tried cold-brewing yet, so I will order that and try that sometime as a cold-brew.
Next, I cold-brewed the two Oolong teas I had ordered.
The Peach Oolong Iced Tea pouch was WAY too strong when I used one pouch in 2 quarts of water and cold-brewed it, so I cut open the pouch. I brewed 2 Tablespoons of the peach oolong tea in 2 quarts of water, and I also tried 1 Tablespoon of tea in 2 quarts of water, and I found that I preferred the more dilute cold-brew.
I’ve had the peach oolong as a hot-brewed tea before, but I tried it again here to compare with the cold-brewed tea. Hot-brewed, the peach oolong has a strong peach flavor and a rich tea flavor, not as malty as a traditional black tea but definitely a stronger tea flavor than a hot-brewed white tea.
Cold-brewed, the peach oolong becomes more floral and slightly malty in flavor, but with the same peach flavor. I think I prefer the cold-brewed white peach tea over the cold-brewed peach oolong tea, but it might also be dependent on my mood. I definitely prefer the hot-brewed peach oolong over the hot-brewed white peach tea.
Lastly, I cold-brewed the Jade Oolong Iced Tea pouch. Like the Peach Oolong, I found that I preferred to cold-brew 1 Tablespoon of tea (I cut open the pouch) in 2 quarts of water. The cold-brewed Oolong flavor was nice, a little malty, and not tannic at all. It especially tasted good when I added some lychee jelly (like the kind they put in boba tea) and a splash of milk.
Whew! That was a lot of tea. It takes me 2-3 days to finish a pitcher of tea, and I had tried different tea/water ratios for several of the teas, which was why it took me so long to write this review. Bottom line: I loved the Jasmine Silver Needle white tea and will definitely be trying that again. However, it was also one of the pricier teas. My second-favorite was the Peach White iced tea (they sell it loose-leaf, which is what I’d use rather than the iced tea pouches).
TL;DR—Jasmine Silver Needle was the favorite, cold-brewed at 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water, and my second favorite was White Peach (loose-leaf, not iced tea pouches), cold-brewed at 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water.
Adagio sells loose leaf teas as well as teabags, but I bought some of their Iced Tea pouches. Basically, it’s their loose leaf teas pre-measured in a pouch that you can use to cold- or hot-brew iced tea.
I first tried their White Blueberry Iced Tea pouches. There’s approximately 3 tablespoons of tea in each pouch, and the instructions say that one pouch is for about 1 quart of iced tea. I cold-brewed the tea—I steeped a pouch in a quart of water in the fridge overnight. However, I found that the resulting tea was a bit strong for my taste, so I diluted it with 1 quart of water to make 2 quarts of tea.The white tea in the pouch is really nice when cold-brewed—smooth and sweet. However I wasn’t nuts about the blueberry flavor until I added the juice of one lemon to the iced tea. Then suddenly the blueberry flavor seemed to really perk up. It reminded me of the lemon blueberry muffins I love to snarf on.
Next I cold-brewed the White Peach Iced Tea pouches. As with the Blueberry, there’s about 3 tablespoons of tea per pouch, and I found that one pouch in 1 quart of water is too strong, so I diluted it with 1 quart of water.The peach flavor is super awesome! The white tea makes the peach flavor very pronounced.
Thirdly, I cold-brewed the White Peony white loose-leaf tea. I used 2 heaping tablespoons per 2 quarts of water. It was a nice white tea, very mild in flavor. I tried using more tea, but it became more bitter rather than more flavorful, so I think the mild flavor is the norm.
Fourth, I cold-brewed the Jasmine Silver Needle white loose-leaf tea. This was by far my favorite out the teas I purchased. The Jasmine flavor was subtle without being too florally, and the white tea was mild and even a little sweet. The Silver Needle white tea was much smoother than the Jasmine Chun Hao green tea that I usually cold-brew. The Jasmine Silver Needle tea was especially refreshing when I added some lemon to it.(On a side note, I was looking at the Adagio website and noticed a Jasmine Jin Hao green tea that I’ve never tried cold-brewing yet, so I will order that and try that sometime as a cold-brew.
Next, I cold-brewed the two Oolong teas I had ordered.
The Peach Oolong Iced Tea pouch was WAY too strong when I used one pouch in 2 quarts of water and cold-brewed it, so I cut open the pouch. I brewed 2 Tablespoons of the peach oolong tea in 2 quarts of water, and I also tried 1 Tablespoon of tea in 2 quarts of water, and I found that I preferred the more dilute cold-brew.I’ve had the peach oolong as a hot-brewed tea before, but I tried it again here to compare with the cold-brewed tea. Hot-brewed, the peach oolong has a strong peach flavor and a rich tea flavor, not as malty as a traditional black tea but definitely a stronger tea flavor than a hot-brewed white tea.
Cold-brewed, the peach oolong becomes more floral and slightly malty in flavor, but with the same peach flavor. I think I prefer the cold-brewed white peach tea over the cold-brewed peach oolong tea, but it might also be dependent on my mood. I definitely prefer the hot-brewed peach oolong over the hot-brewed white peach tea.
Lastly, I cold-brewed the Jade Oolong Iced Tea pouch. Like the Peach Oolong, I found that I preferred to cold-brew 1 Tablespoon of tea (I cut open the pouch) in 2 quarts of water. The cold-brewed Oolong flavor was nice, a little malty, and not tannic at all. It especially tasted good when I added some lychee jelly (like the kind they put in boba tea) and a splash of milk.Whew! That was a lot of tea. It takes me 2-3 days to finish a pitcher of tea, and I had tried different tea/water ratios for several of the teas, which was why it took me so long to write this review. Bottom line: I loved the Jasmine Silver Needle white tea and will definitely be trying that again. However, it was also one of the pricier teas. My second-favorite was the Peach White iced tea (they sell it loose-leaf, which is what I’d use rather than the iced tea pouches).
June 26, 2017
"10,000 Reasons" in Japanese
It’s been a couple months since then, but I did the worship music for our church’s Good Friday service. The service is a combination of people from both the English-speaking and Japanese-speaking services, so the worship leader has to sing at least a few songs in Japanese.
I could do five songs, but I decided to sing all of them in Japanese while my other singer (in this case, Captain Caffeine) sang the lyrics in English at the same time. It’s a bit confusing, but I wanted the Japanese congregation to feel very included (which they don’t when the songs are in English).
The service went smoothly—well, I didn’t make any mistakes, at least! I had been practicing the songs in Japanese for weeks before the service.
One of the songs my pianist really likes is “10,000 Reasons”, and while it’s not really a Good Friday song, I thought it would be a good upbeat song to end the service with. So I had to search for the Japanese lyrics for the song and came across this version by Lauren Horii. Not only do the Japanese lyrics smoothly match the melody, but she has a really great voice.
The Japanese-speaking members of the congregation seemed to really like this song. One of the Japanese worship leaders even asked me for the link to the page where I got the lyrics and they sang it for the Japanese service a few weeks later.
We’re all used to hearing this song in English, but the Japanese lyrics struck a really strong chord in me (no pun intended). Lately God has been leading me to connect with my heritage more than I ever did when I was younger, and this song is part of that process.
Singing this song in Japanese made me really want to use all that I have to reach the Japanese people for Christ. Less than 1% of the population is Christian, and most have never heard the gospel except maybe in a religions study class. Their polytheistic culture can sometimes be very unforgiving and despairing. I can feel God’s burden for them, and it has become my burden, too.
So here’s the song on YouTube. Please pray for the non-Christians in Japan, that they will find the hope and salvation of Jesus.
I could do five songs, but I decided to sing all of them in Japanese while my other singer (in this case, Captain Caffeine) sang the lyrics in English at the same time. It’s a bit confusing, but I wanted the Japanese congregation to feel very included (which they don’t when the songs are in English).
The service went smoothly—well, I didn’t make any mistakes, at least! I had been practicing the songs in Japanese for weeks before the service.
One of the songs my pianist really likes is “10,000 Reasons”, and while it’s not really a Good Friday song, I thought it would be a good upbeat song to end the service with. So I had to search for the Japanese lyrics for the song and came across this version by Lauren Horii. Not only do the Japanese lyrics smoothly match the melody, but she has a really great voice.
The Japanese-speaking members of the congregation seemed to really like this song. One of the Japanese worship leaders even asked me for the link to the page where I got the lyrics and they sang it for the Japanese service a few weeks later.
We’re all used to hearing this song in English, but the Japanese lyrics struck a really strong chord in me (no pun intended). Lately God has been leading me to connect with my heritage more than I ever did when I was younger, and this song is part of that process.
Singing this song in Japanese made me really want to use all that I have to reach the Japanese people for Christ. Less than 1% of the population is Christian, and most have never heard the gospel except maybe in a religions study class. Their polytheistic culture can sometimes be very unforgiving and despairing. I can feel God’s burden for them, and it has become my burden, too.
So here’s the song on YouTube. Please pray for the non-Christians in Japan, that they will find the hope and salvation of Jesus.
May 17, 2017
You are not alone -- "Hills and Valleys"
Lately I was really impacted by a song I happened to hear on Air1 Radio when we were driving to church. The song is “Hills and Valleys” by Tauren Wells. (Man that guy has an awesome voice!) I’m pretty sure I heard the song before Sunday, but this time the song was really catchy and stuck with me, so I bought it on iTunes right away.
The lyrics are simple but so powerful, especially because the one thing I want all my readers to know is that no matter what happens to you, no matter where you’ve gone, Jesus loves you and you are not alone.
I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to Heaven
From my lowest place
And I have held Your blessings
God, You give and take away
No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
And I am not alone
I've watched my dreams get broken
In You, I hope again
No matter what I know
I'm safe inside Your hands
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
And I am not alone
Father, You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all, You will remain
Over it all
Father, You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all, You will remain
Over it all
On the mountains, I will bow my life, yeah
In the valley, I will lift my eyes, yeah
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there (to the One who set me there)
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone (I'm not alone)
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (yeah)
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (You're the God of the hills)
And I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (yeah)
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (You're the God of the hills)
And I am not alone (God of the valleys)
And I will choose to say
Blessed be Your Name
And I am not alone
The lyrics are simple but so powerful, especially because the one thing I want all my readers to know is that no matter what happens to you, no matter where you’ve gone, Jesus loves you and you are not alone.
I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to Heaven
From my lowest place
And I have held Your blessings
God, You give and take away
No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
And I am not alone
I've watched my dreams get broken
In You, I hope again
No matter what I know
I'm safe inside Your hands
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys
And I am not alone
Father, You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all, You will remain
Over it all
Father, You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all, You will remain
Over it all
On the mountains, I will bow my life, yeah
In the valley, I will lift my eyes, yeah
On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there (to the One who set me there)
In the valley, I will lift my eyes
To the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain
I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley
I know I am not alone (I'm not alone)
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (yeah)
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (You're the God of the hills)
And I am not alone
You're God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (yeah)
Hi-hi-hills and valleys
God of the hi-hi-hills and valleys (You're the God of the hills)
And I am not alone (God of the valleys)
And I will choose to say
Blessed be Your Name
And I am not alone
May 4, 2017
Camy's Hot and Cold Brew Fruit Iced Tea
At first I thought this was a stupid recipe to post, but then I thought I’d just post it in case someone hadn’t thought of this and was interested in it.
Captain Caffeine has been known to remark that I’m very picky about my tea, although I don’t consider myself a real connoisseur. I don’t like tea that’s been made in a coffee carafe because I can taste the old coffee and it’s nasty, but I will not scoff at using a Lipton tea bag if there’s nothing else available.
However, as the weather has gotten hotter I’ve been searching for the perfect fruit iced tea to drink. I love those fruit flavored black teas like mango or peach or strawberry. However, I notice that in restaurants, especially, many times the tea is bitter because they oversleep it.
However, I’ve found that in order to get a strong fruit flavor, especially when steeping real dried fruit as opposed to just artificial fruit-flavored tea, I need to use hot water and a long steep time. It’s also generally recommended that you hot-steep fruit and herbal infusions to eliminate any possible bacteria since the fruit isn’t always heated during processing (it depends on the company who makes the infusion).
So I decided to combine hot and cold water steeping to create my perfect black iced tea for this summer.
I steep 2 tablespoons of black tea in 1 quart of cold water for at least 4 hours in the fridge. It can go even longer, 24 hours or longer, and still taste fine—I haven’t been able to oversteep a cold black tea yet. I use a mason jar and throw the tea leaves in directly so they have lots of room to float around.
I then steep 2 heaping tablespoons of my favorite fruit blend infusion in 1 quart of near-boiling water (205 degrees F) in a teapot or a tempered glass pitcher made specifically for steeping hot teas. These fruit infusion blends are non-caffeinated—my favorites are Mango Melange, Wild Strawberry, and Berry Blues from Adagio.com. (If you want a $5 gift certificate for Adagio, let me know and I can email it to you or message you on Facebook.)
I let the fruit infusion steep for at least 15 minutes, but usually closer to an hour since I tend to forget about it. (FYI, I’ve tried a quick rinse of boiling water and then a cold brew of fruit teas, but I just don’t get the bold flavor I like when doing a long hot water steep.)
Then I combine the cold brew tea and the fruit infusion in a pitcher. I typically add the juice of one lemon (to promote good kidney health) but that’s optional if you don’t like the flavor. I pour my cold brew tea from the mason jar through a strainer (to catch the loose leaves) into the pitcher. Then I pour the fruit infusion into the pitcher through the tea strainer. I then refrigerate for an hour or so before drinking.
Mango Melange iced tea with roses from my gardenI like this iced tea because the cold brew black tea is sweet and non-bitter, but with that nice tea flavor. And the fruit flavor is also strong and bold from the hot water steep.
Online articles say that the more expensive white and oolong teas are better for cold brewing, but I haven’t yet tried that. Adagio has actually offered me a gift certificate to buy some of their teas and blog about it, so I intend to try some white tea and blog about that later.
I’ve had decent results when I cold-brew David’s organic whole leaf Darjeeling black tea from Amazon. There’s a slight tannic taste to the tea, but it’s more mild than other cheaper black teas.
I like Adagio’s Ooooh Darjeeling (an unusual oolong tea from Darjeeling) as an iced tea also, but I tend to like the oolong flavor better when I instead hot brew that for 3 minutes and then cool it in the fridge, and I don’t drink that with fruit infusions.
A random note: Another cold brew infusion I really like is Mugicha, which is roasted barley. It’s non-caffeinated, and I buy that on Amazon and enjoy that all summer long.
Captain Caffeine has been known to remark that I’m very picky about my tea, although I don’t consider myself a real connoisseur. I don’t like tea that’s been made in a coffee carafe because I can taste the old coffee and it’s nasty, but I will not scoff at using a Lipton tea bag if there’s nothing else available.
However, as the weather has gotten hotter I’ve been searching for the perfect fruit iced tea to drink. I love those fruit flavored black teas like mango or peach or strawberry. However, I notice that in restaurants, especially, many times the tea is bitter because they oversleep it.
However, I’ve found that in order to get a strong fruit flavor, especially when steeping real dried fruit as opposed to just artificial fruit-flavored tea, I need to use hot water and a long steep time. It’s also generally recommended that you hot-steep fruit and herbal infusions to eliminate any possible bacteria since the fruit isn’t always heated during processing (it depends on the company who makes the infusion).
So I decided to combine hot and cold water steeping to create my perfect black iced tea for this summer.
I steep 2 tablespoons of black tea in 1 quart of cold water for at least 4 hours in the fridge. It can go even longer, 24 hours or longer, and still taste fine—I haven’t been able to oversteep a cold black tea yet. I use a mason jar and throw the tea leaves in directly so they have lots of room to float around.
I then steep 2 heaping tablespoons of my favorite fruit blend infusion in 1 quart of near-boiling water (205 degrees F) in a teapot or a tempered glass pitcher made specifically for steeping hot teas. These fruit infusion blends are non-caffeinated—my favorites are Mango Melange, Wild Strawberry, and Berry Blues from Adagio.com. (If you want a $5 gift certificate for Adagio, let me know and I can email it to you or message you on Facebook.)
I let the fruit infusion steep for at least 15 minutes, but usually closer to an hour since I tend to forget about it. (FYI, I’ve tried a quick rinse of boiling water and then a cold brew of fruit teas, but I just don’t get the bold flavor I like when doing a long hot water steep.)
Then I combine the cold brew tea and the fruit infusion in a pitcher. I typically add the juice of one lemon (to promote good kidney health) but that’s optional if you don’t like the flavor. I pour my cold brew tea from the mason jar through a strainer (to catch the loose leaves) into the pitcher. Then I pour the fruit infusion into the pitcher through the tea strainer. I then refrigerate for an hour or so before drinking.
Mango Melange iced tea with roses from my gardenI like this iced tea because the cold brew black tea is sweet and non-bitter, but with that nice tea flavor. And the fruit flavor is also strong and bold from the hot water steep.Online articles say that the more expensive white and oolong teas are better for cold brewing, but I haven’t yet tried that. Adagio has actually offered me a gift certificate to buy some of their teas and blog about it, so I intend to try some white tea and blog about that later.
I’ve had decent results when I cold-brew David’s organic whole leaf Darjeeling black tea from Amazon. There’s a slight tannic taste to the tea, but it’s more mild than other cheaper black teas.
I like Adagio’s Ooooh Darjeeling (an unusual oolong tea from Darjeeling) as an iced tea also, but I tend to like the oolong flavor better when I instead hot brew that for 3 minutes and then cool it in the fridge, and I don’t drink that with fruit infusions.
A random note: Another cold brew infusion I really like is Mugicha, which is roasted barley. It’s non-caffeinated, and I buy that on Amazon and enjoy that all summer long.
February 27, 2017
"Mr. Darcy Would Be Appalled" White Soup
I made Regency-era White Soup again, this time an easier way than the original 1811 recipe. It is almost nothing like the elegant cream soup Mr. Darcy would have been used to—it turned out more like a hearty blonde stew. However, I thought it was very tasty.1 package of beef neck (1 pound) and 1 (cooked) chicken carcass or equivalent (cooked) chicken bones
OR
1 quart beef stock and 1 quart chicken stock
2.5 pounds raw chicken (I used thighs)
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 pound rice (the original recipe called for 1/4 pound, but I added extra rice to make it more hearty)
2 anchovy fillets, minced
5-6 peppercorns
2 Tb minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 large onion, diced
1 bunch of celery, chopped
(Optional) 2-3 cups of chopped veggies, whatever you have in the fridge. I added 2 cups of chopped kale
1/4 - 1/2 pound raw almonds, pounded fine (I used a Ziplock bag and my meat pounder, and I ended up putting 1/2 pound in, but the original recipe only had 1/4 pound)
(Optional) 1 egg yolk
(Optional) 1 cup half-and-half (The original recipe called for cream, but I thought it was a bit too heavy when I used the cream last time, so I used half-and-half this time. I think I could have even used whole milk and it would have tasted fine, although perhaps without as much richness in mouth-feel as with the half-and-half.)
The last time I made this, I tried to follow the original recipe and simmered it for 4 hours. The recipe had you strain out the solids and only serve the liquid, but I added the solids back in (everything except the bones) to make it more hearty. However, the long simmering had made the chicken and vegetables overcooked. This time, I made stock in the pressure cooker so that I wouldn’t have to simmer the chicken and vegetables so long and they wouldn’t be overcooked.
I made stock in my pressure cooker with the beef neck and the chicken carcass. I’m afraid I didn’t measure the water, I just put the solids in and filled it to the max liquid line. I boiled the water first so I could skim off all the scum from the beef neck, then put the cover on. When the rocker started shaking, I lowered the heat and let it go at a gentle rocking motion for a full 90 minutes. The resulting stock was full of gelatinous goodness. I removed the meat from the beef neck and shredded it into the stock, then stuck the stock in the fridge overnight. Surprisingly, the overnight cooling did not reveal much fat in the stock, barely a scraping layer on top, so while I made the white soup/stew the next day, but I probably could have made it the same day and skipped the overnight in the fridge.
If you use packaged stock, you unfortunately won’t have the meat from the beef neck unless you cook it separately. However, even if you parboil the beef neck in a separate pot to skim off the scum, then rinse it and add it to the soup with the stock, I’m not sure if the cooking time is long enough to make the meat tender enough to eat.
I fried the bacon to release the fat, then sautéed the onion for a couple minutes. I browned the chicken thighs skin side down for a few minutes, then added the other ingredients except for the egg and cream. (If you are adding extra vegetables and want them crisper, omit them at this point and add them later to cook them just until crisp-tender.) I brought the soup to a boil and then let it simmer for one hour, covered. I ended up adding a little more water when it got too thick near the end.
In hindsight, I should have just used a crockpot. While on the stove, I had to stir it every 15 minutes or so (especially near the end) to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom and burning. In a crockpot on low, it would have taken longer but I wouldn’t have had to stir so often, and the chicken would have come out very tender.
I whisked the egg yolk, then tempered it by adding hot soup a little at a time, whisking in between until the yolk was hot enough, then whisked the egg into the soup. Then I stirred in the half and half and added salt and ground pepper to taste.
I tasted it before adding the egg and half-and-half (it was already extremely thick), and thought it actually tasted rather good without them. But I added the last ingredients anyway. I couldn’t tell much of a difference after I added the egg, but the half-and-half added a very decadent, rich finish to the soup. If you’d like, you can omit both and it’ll still be a good stew, and lower in fat.
When eating it for dinner that night, I realized the stew was very similar to Minnesota Wild Rice soup, sans the wild rice. This version was good for wintertime—the wind and rain were howling outside the dining room windows while we ate, and it seemed to taste even better that way.
February 21, 2017
Chihayafuru is available in English!
My absolute favorite manga series is now officially licensed in English and available on Kindle and iBooks! I first saw Chihayafuru the anime series (watch it free on Crunchyroll) and fell in love with the storyline and characters.There was a combo English/Japanese print version of volumes 1 and 2 that came out earlier, but it was rather confusing to read (but I still bought them). This, which was just released, is an English language-only version on ebook.
Here’s the blurb:
Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game. Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss the first volume in this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways.
Camy here: I hadn’t heard of karuta until watching the anime and reading the manga series, but it’s really fascinating. It requires immense mental stamina and memorization skills as well as a physically demanding aspect in terms of quick, accurate reflexes. The series also highlights a key cultural component, the beauty of these extremely old Japanese poems.
If you’re not sure if you’d enjoy this series, watch the anime on Crunchyroll first (it animates the storyline up to about volume 9). I was hooked immediately and have been buying the Japanese-language manga series ever since (it’s still ongoing in Japan), even though I don’t understand Japanese all that well yet. There are illegal translations online, so I’m really glad to finally be able to support the author by buying the official English translation version.
