Tea and Sympatico

I'm back! It's been quite a long break from blogging as I prepped all my Mofo posts in advance in October. There were some gaps and I had hoped to do some more throughout the month but life kind of got in the way. I've started a new drug treatment for my hyper sensitive cough reflex syndrome. It's sort of the last resort in the drugs they give patients as I've tried everything else and nothing has worked. It's morphine therapy where I take a controlled low dose twice a day. So far it is having really good results with my cough being about 30% of what it usually is which is great news. I'm still in the stage of dealing with side effects (and hoping they wear off) so that's fatigue, brain fog, nausea, anxiety, headaches, stomach cramps and other fun things! I am trying to feel positive though and trying to incorporate self care practice into my day to day life more than ever. One of the things I'm doing is making sure I stay hydrated. Alcohol is o...

The first time I made a green smoothie was nearly my last! The lid flew off my blender and covered both me and my kitchen in what looked like green paint. I have since grown to love them though and add veggies such as kale, spinach, watercress and rocket for the green element. As someone who has had problems with iron levels in the last few years as well as taking a multi vitamin I try to eat plenty of naturally iron rich foods which are said to be better absorbed when combined with something rich in vitamin C. I therefore find mango a great partner for the greens in my smoothies as it's super sweet and balances the bitterness you can get from the green leaves. Matcha is a concentrated, powdered form of green tea, higher in anti-oxidants than a standard green tea bag. I usually whisk it up with my little battery operated whisk as a shot or add the shot to hot soya milk for a delicious green tea latte. I have a confession to make- green tea can make me feel incredi...

I spotted these on Goodness Direct and a few other places recently and thought they sounded interesting. Although I like Japanese food I've never really tried mochi but I love coconut based icecream and the flavours sounded really nice - strawberry, mango, vanilla, green tea, black sesame, chocolate and coconut. I had completely forgotten all about them though until the other week when I had a fruitless search scouring every Chinese supermarket in Manchester's Chinatown for agar powder. What every supermarket did have though was these. They all sold them in boxes of their individual flavours and in this mixed box.  They were cheapest in the last supermarket I went in at £3.15 and seeing as that was more or less what change I had in my purse I saw it as an omen to buy them! The verdict - well worth a try but I'm still not totally convinced by the mochi bit. This is the outer skin which is made from a sticky rice dough. I think it was a textural thing and I might grow...