Biscuit of the Day - Tea Reviews

Today's Biscuit of the day is a tea review website from the UK.

They have an excellent archive of reviews. Most of them I agree with, especially their section on Taylors of Harrogate. Scottish Breakfast is wonderful yummy malty goodness in a cup!

Most of the reviews are very concise and to the point about getting the general impression of the tea across to the viewer. My favorite bad tea reviews compares Bigelow's Take a Break Herb Tea to cheap grade motor oil.


Enjoy!

-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Tea Dog

Today's Biscuit of the Day is Tea Dog, a really cute Chinese anime character.

He can be found here. Warning, site in Chinese dialect! Anime characters like these tend to have intricate little stories made up about their fictional lives, and it makes me wish I knew the language on this site so I could translate. However, it appears Tea Dog speaks the international language of cuteness, so that's all that really matters, right?

For the guys in the audience, the same toy company has this toy for you. After doing some research, these are replicas of huge insects called japanese stag beetles that are very popular to raise in Japan for children. All I can say is that my mom would have killed me if I brought one of those home as a little kid. :) Here's a picture of a real stag beetle.
Thanks to this stag beetle site for providing a link to this resource.

-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Puto Pao

Today's Biscuit of the Day is Puto Pao, Philippine-style steamed buns. I craved Asian food today and was looking for something different from the normal Chinese stir fry and Japanese sushi that is so readily available in my area. So I found something new to try, steamed buns! Step aside, Krispy Kremes!

Here are some links to general sites about Philippine culture and food.

Discover Philippines->Culture->Food
Evolution of Food Dishes in the Phillipines
Steamed Bun (Siopao) Recipe 1 (with pictures)
Asian Breads (includes Bibingka and Puto Bread)
Puto Pao Mix

There are a lot of great foods from the different parts of Asia that never see the light of day here in the US. I remember taking my diving certification and a sweet young Korean couple cooking stir fry from fresh ingredients they had brought with them for the trip. They kindly offered me some stir fry and sweet kimchi. I wasn't too sure what to expect with the kimchi (fermented cabbage), but I just kept in mind that it was basically Korean sauerkraut as I ate it. Sure enough, to my happy surprise, I really enjoyed it!

-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Carnivale

Today's Biscuit of the Day (in honor of summer school ending!) is the Venetian party tradition of Carnivale. Unlike some of the pictures you find of Mardi Gras in Lousiana, all these links are work and family safe. :)

Carnivale Origin and Traditions

Carnevale: Farewell to Meat, Hello to Fantasy - This site features the origins of Carnevale, as well as the meanings of some of the masks used during the parties.

Carnival season in Europe means fun - This link covers the origins of Carnivale and some of the traditions in other non-Italian countries in Europe.

Carnivale Galleries of Venetian Costumes
Light-fantastic: Carnival in Venice Tour - This link is a photo gallery of some of the beautiful and ornate costumes that can be seen during Carnivale time.


-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Mark Twain

Today's Biscuit of the Day is A Dog's Tale by Mark Twain. The full collection of short stories can be found here.

Urgh, it's been a busy week. I'm just about done with finals for the summer semester! Saw a beautiful Italian movie this week, Il Postino. It was pleasantly bittersweet, and the landscape of rural Italy was breathtaking. The lead actor, Massimo Troisi, literally gave his life to make the movie, as he passed away 12 hours from severe heart disease after all the shooting was done. He knew he needed treatment for his heart, but refused to go to the hospital, as he felt the movie was more important.

-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Frog Design

Today's Biscuit of the Day features a small company called Frog Design. Any of you in the audience who use the Dell website, who use Windows XP, or like the bleeps, bloops and beeps in OS 9 and OS X have these people to thank.

It's interesting to see how MS and Dell went after this company to do their design after Frog did work with OS 9. Monkey see, monkey do? ;)

-- Aeryth

An Extra Crumb....

Here's a neat quiz showing you what element you are. It's actually pretty fitting for me.

[Image omitted by Blogger]

Your Element is Night. You're a loner who is very
creative but never show your work to anyone.
You may smile a little but sadness or
loneliness surround you and other can feel it
when they're near you. You have a dark or
unusual beauty that makes you mysterious and
you probably have a lot of secrets that you've
never told anyone. You're beauty is intriguing
and unorthodox but the real thing that makes
you special is your eyes. Something in them
makes them like Diamonds in the Rough.


What's Your Element (girls)? (PICTURES)




-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Don Lorenzo

Today's Biscuit of the Day is a website by a British man who is transplanted into the lush landscape of southern Spain. He rents out vacation houses to travelers seeking a respite from the busy world.

He has a wonderful photo gallery of a Spanish gypsy betrothal, as can be seen here. At the bottom is a photo gallery showing how olives are harvested and transformed into the yummy goodness that is olive oil.

I've been extremely busy and haven't had much time to prepare dinner. So I've been busy buying crusty Italian and French bread and putting Lucini's olive oil on it. To make it really good, you can crack fresh peppercorns over it, although the Lucini's is high enough quality and has a bite of its own that that's not really necessary.

-- Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Oscar Wilde

Today's Biscuit of the Day is The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde. Many thanks to Short Stories for hosting this nice collection of Oscar Wilde short stories.

This is one of my favorite tales I remember from being little. Enjoy this with a nice stout Irish Breakfast tea in honor of Wilde's Eire roots.

-- Aeryth.