I mean, whenever I visit friends and family, if offered coffee, I would take it, no problems.

But at home, it is not automatic for me to have coffee in any drinking liquid form on a daily basis. I prefer hot chocolate, juice, plain water and on occasion, tea.

So, with some trepidation, I stealthily inquired my best friend, Stella on what makes her coffee tick. Yes, tick or tickle her pink, whichever applicable. And through our casual chat over the phone, I managed a small list without giving any of the upcoming surprise away. I was sincerely hoping so, of course.

Next, I had to combine that list of criteria with the environment and life she is living.

By that, I was thinking of
a) the size of her kitchen and counter top, where she would most likely place the espresso machine,
b) the number of coffee drinkers in her household, so that the number of cups the machine provides on a single run is enough to cope with the daily demands of the household,
c) how frequent she throws a get-together for friends and family, even how often I came to her house and notice her taking a cuppa.

I also know, based on my observations, that she seems to prefer specialty pods on our outside meets, she’s not a coffee purist (purists would most probably have their very own system of grinding coffee to unleash the UTMOST best from a coffee bean, and have an exact system of extraction, beating the current scientific method), her coffee machine is aging at home, and now that her sons are going of to college, the tendency is to just have a cup on her own leisure.

Well, I am finally glad to say after all the research of my target “market”, I was happy with the purchase I made, and Stella was extremely ecstatic and practically over the moon with the one-cup espresso machine I had gotten based on the many feedbacks from Amazon. Hurray!

Recently I looked into the subject of green tea and got so bored with reading all things about drinking the green tea, it’s health benefits and so on.  And I started wondering how else could one use green tea apart from having it in ice cream, cake and so on.

Immediately I thought of Cooking with Green Tea and discovered to my pleasant surprise that there is actually a book by the same name, authored by Ying Chang Compestine.

So, I just went off and practically devoured the information in the book.  It really was a great way of learning how to treat (for a better

Green Tea Anyone?

word compared to ‘use’) this ingredient called tea, be it for drinking or cooking.

If I were to choose the one information that makes the most impact to cooking green tea from this book, it would be the tips imparted regarding the way we brew the tea; ie. the optimal temperatures required for different types of tea to draw the best flavor out of every cup for drinking or cooking.  Knowing different types and forms of green tea is also important so that we know which would be best for cooking.

Next would be the wholesome tas-tea recipes.  I love the fact that I could use green tea in cooking as a seasoning (just like salt, pepper or paprika) or something like a base stock.  My favorite menu incorporating green tea is in soup form and the green tea rice, not forgetting the spring roll.

So to start our culinary journey using Green Tea, we should get them out of the bag so to speak, and into bottles as you would with other seasoning ingredients.

Recently, I read an article in the health and fitness niche on the importance of having a good easy-to-digest carb food immediately after a workout session, in order to build muscles. And bananas fit the bill and was specifically mentioned.

Apparently, if you do not eat a fast-digesting carb like bananas, your muscle tissues will break down to fulfill the energy required by your body, post a good workout.

I remembered thinking to myself – what a good way to start the day with a workout session followed by a banana milkshake. Well, we do need plenty of liquid after a tiring workout, right?

After reviewing all the milkshake recipes I had, I settled on a strawberry banana one as strawberries are in season right now. Furthermore, the combination of both strawberries and banana seemed to give the taste bud a packing punch.

Here is my recipe:

Strawberry Banana Milkshake

2 bananas
1 box frozen strawberries, partially thawed
2 cups milk
2 pints Strawberry yogurt (for the creamier version, use strawberry ice cream instead)

Directions

Combine sliced bananas, strawberries, milk and 1 pint of the yogurt in blender. You may need to use a large blender, as the whizzing action may splash some out if the container is too small. If not, blend in batches.
Blend until smooth. Top with scoop of remaining yogurt.

To your toned muscles!