| | Hi! You've found me. This is kind of an experimental / placeholder journal, since the way LiveJournal has been changing recently worries me. You can find me there under the username m03m. That's m-zero-three-m. Since I'm (for now) primarily an LJ user, these entries have been copied from there. Some have even been copied from MySpace first! That causes some problems with linkage. And if there's something about site changes and other ongoing events that makes you go 'huh?' because it doesn't seem to make any sense, it's probably about LiveJournal, not Scribbld. I apologize for any confusion and other kinds of inconvenience. Oh, and copying the entries from elsewhere means losing all comments, as well.
| I found another tea mug exactly like mine... after ![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif) gummihuhn took the trouble of going to a very good Chinese shop in Amsterdam and was told they were sold out, and not going to get any new ones in stock! That may well have been true, as I couldn't find any in the wholesale store of the same chain, either. Why yes, I do have a card for the wholesale instant noodle soup store... The one I found was in a shop in Nijmegen, where I went yesterday because of a BookCrossing meeting... always a good reason. This mug is slightly darker, the characters stand out a bit less.. on the other hand, the glazing is thicker (which may well cause the other two differences, yes) which results in a lovely craquelé pattern. Anyway, I'm happy. Bcuz tea r srs bsniz. Here it is.  click makes big | |
|
| That's sad as it was a lovely mug. Very large, covered in dark blue Chinese squiggles on a soft, friendly green background. And it had a lid. Well, it still does, but it no longer has an ear. I use this mug at least twice every day: first thing in the morning (big mug of very strong Pu Erh tea) and right after dinner (the same). If I'm spending the day at home, the mug is never far from where I am and often full. This is not my mug but a very similar white one,
that I made green to give you an impression of what my mug looks like. The good news: it's replacable. gummihuhn works fairly close to the excellent Chinese shop where I bought it, and is willing to get me another, one of these days. It's good to have friends. | |
|
| Lights are back on since yesterday.
We seem to have lost a silver tipped tetra, and maybe an otocinclus, but everyone else seems fine. Mike the frog is in good shape, as Mikes tend to be.
The algae have certainly taken a beating. There are definitely less of them, and some of them now look brown and lifeless. The plants are unfazed and even seem to have grown a little while lights were off.
I just gave the tank a 10% water change, cleaned the filter sponge (by squeezing it a few times in the bucket of old water) and added the peat to the filter. The water is now being filtered over sponge, then peat pellets, then charcoal. Sounds rather scientific, doesn't it?
I've been told that the peat may turn the water tea-coloured (the charcoal may, however, lessen that side effect or eliminate it altogether) but no one told me whether to expect Earl Grey, Ceylon or Pu-Erh.
While I'm waiting to find out, I might as well have a cuppa! | |
|
| There's no doubt about it: BookCrossers are the salt of the earth. One of them happens to live in the same city as the seller of the teapot does, and kindly offered to go and collect it for me! | |
|
| I found one. Some of you may remember this entry about my Goblin Teasmade. (The rest of you may just smile and nod and pretend they do.) It's a teawaker, a wonderfully British contraption that came forth from the unholy union of a teapot, a kettle, an alarm clock and a bedside lamp. Here's a pic of mine. Click makes big.  Now here's the thing: the teapot is badly cracked. In fact so badly that it leaks. So I went looking for a replacement teapot. But where would I find one? Ah, on E-bay of course! Since I myself do not E-bay, gummihuhn did me an enormous favour by bidding on this one for me, and winning the auction for ten pounds fifty. *insert happy dance here* So I found one! Now, how do I get it here, in the Netherlands? Of course, I can ask the seller to send it by mail, and if I can't think of anything else that is what I'll end up doing. But honestly I'm a bit afraid it will break on the way and I'll end up with two leaky teapots. So I'm using my network (yes, you!) to see if there's anyone around who can lend a hand. I'm thinking of coming over to the UK next september. It would be great if someone could collect it for me in Bournemouth, Dorset. I can pay for it by PayPal, so no money would have to change hands. Just my precious teapot. I'm just throwing this out there, to see if anything will come up. LJ is a big world. You never know.  My present teapot. Click makes big. Yes, it is badly cracked. | |
|
| Morning: wakes me up
Evening: puts my soul to rest
Tea. Always on time. | |
|
| [Error: unknown template 'qotd']No coffee for me thanks. I'm a tea drinker. And I guess you could call me a tea heretic, because I use tea bags.
I use the bags-for-a-cup, and a very large mug (for you Americans out there: a fairly small mug), let the tea get nice and strong and don't add any sugar, sweetener or what have you. A hardcore tea heretic, that's me.
Another fun fact: I'm among the few who not only drink Pu-Erh tea, but actually enjoy it, too.
In fact I'm not sure that I ever met a tea that I didn't like (I like most herbal teas, too), with the possible exception of those artificially flavoured fruity teas. But then, that's not really tea; that's an abomination in drinkable form.
I think I'll put the kettle on. | |
|
| (Originally posted on MySpace)Time for some shameless showing off here! Yesterday we went to visit my aunt who had invited us for a family tea & tapas party. Good news all by itself as she has excellent taste in food. A good time was had by all. Just before we left, she asked me if I'd like something really silly. Of course I said yes. Silly is good. And then she presented me with something I'd been secretly desiring for years: her Goblin Teasmade! Click makes big.Isn't it gorgeous? Go on, say yes. You know you want to! But what is it? It's an icon of Britishness: a teawaker. It's an alarm clock that brews tea and then wakes you up when it's done. Lovely, innit? The kettle and the tea pot are on a little scale, and when the water is transferred from the kettle to the tea pot the scale is tipped, and that switches off the heat and makes the buzzer sound. This one is from the fifties or early sixties, it comes with its own tray in bakelite. It's supposed to be in working order, too. I can't wait to give it a really nice spot in the living room and try it. It'll have to be the living room and not the bedroom, though. The thing is said to be rather noisy. I've read the sound of the water boiling and being forced through the tube into the tea pot will always wake you up before the buzzer does. Who cares? I was going to show it off anyway. Here's another piccie of the model I have:
You may all start envying me now.
| |
|
|
