White Chocolate Cranberry Coffee Cake

The holidays are over! I feel quite sad as Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. Alas, it seems forever until the next one. Sigh. Thankfully, I still had some remnants of the holidays. A pack of cranberries, half a pack of white chocolate chips and a holiday bundt pan which went on sale so I had no choice but to buy it! That was my excuse anyway. So what does a girl do with these? Naturally, I thought about cake - a delicious sweet treat that I can enjoy with coffee.

Fresh Ginger Tea with Honey (Salabat) to help cure Cold, Cough and Flu

Generally speaking, we the Pinoys (Filipinos) are not huge tea drinkers. In fact, if someone visits your house and you offer him or her some tea instead of coffee that person would respond by saying, "I am feeling well, thank you" or "But I am not sick." It is because tea in the Philippines is often taken only when someone is not feeling well. You can expect a mom with a sick child (old enough to drink tea) to say, "Drink some tea so you feel better."

Green Tea Yogurt Cake

*These products were given to us free to sample as members of the Chobani Parents Club. All opinions are my own.

En route to Manila last year to visit my family in the Philippines, I had a lay-over in Tokyo. My flight was delayed so I had to stay in the airport for a few hours. I wasn't really distressed at all because I actually like the Tokyo airport (though I admit I prayed that I would still make my connecting flight to Guam - yup, it's a cheaper ticket so that means I have to go around the world before I reach my final destination). We've been to the airport several times already so it was familiar to me and I knew I could do a little shopping while there.

Irish Soda Bread

I have often been intimidated by yeast breads so more often than not I make cakes or quick breads instead. I feel like I can tackle the latter with more ease and confidence. I know I need to overcome this fear and attempt to make even an ordinary loaf soon - definitely before summer comes as it would be intolerable to turn the oven on during the warmer months. 

Amazing Green Tea Cake

 

It's March and all the recipes I see so far on the  blogging world are green - could it be be because it's almost spring, or perhaps Lenten season is getting near or it could be the Irish celebration of St. Patrick's Day.... I thought once I see green all over - it's time to experiment and make my Green Tea Cake!

This is my first attempt at making a Green Tea Cake. I have a can of Matcha Green Tea that's been sitting on our cupboard for awhile now and been waiting for me to use it for something, anything.... I thought a Green cake might be nice and so here it is...

Chai Tea

I love Chai Tea! I was first introduced to Chai Tea in December 2003 during our honeymoon in New Zealand. A friend of Mark is married to a lovely Indian lady and we stayed with them while in New Zealand. She brought us to one of the tea shops in Christchurch and convinced us to try Chai Tea. I have been hooked eversince.

Here's a photo of myself in Christchurch in 2003 and many pounds ago!

Since then till recently, I never learned how to prepare my own Chai. So more often than not, I end up buying from Starbucks or getting a prepared mix from the grocery. While they taste ok, I find them to be so sugary.

Finally, last July our friend Samuel B. from India came to visit us. Not only did we have a lovely time with him, he taught me how to make Chai Tea! The authentic way and with only 1 major ingredient - Cardamom pods. Wow! It was the best Chai I have ever had! I think the reason why I never tried to make it was the thought of having to mix or grind many spices. I was so wrong. It is quite easy to make. Thanks to Sam I no longer need to spend money to make my own authentic Chai Tea right in our own home.

Here's what a cardamom pod looks like.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia by Sanjay Ach.

While cardamom is the most essential spice to any Chai Tea, sometimes I experiment by adding a cinnamon stick, star anise or fennel seeds to the mix. I make about 2-3 cups worth 'cause I like to have one in the morning (as replacement for coffee) and one in the afternoon, to keep me alive!

So enjoy your homemade Chai Tea! Have it with ice in the Summer and serve hot during Fall and Winter!


Ingredients

6 cardamom pods, crushed or split open
1 stick cinnamon (optional)
2 Chinese star anise  or 1/4 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
2 cups water
1/2 - 1 cup milk (use more if you want it creamy)
2-3 tsp black tea leaves (or 2-3 black tea bags)
Sugar, to taste


Procedure 

Place the cardamom pods and the other spices (if using) in the sauce pan (big enough to accomodate about 3 cups of liquid). Pour in 2 cups of water.

Using medium high heat, bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil lower the heat to medium and continue to boil for another 2 minutes to extract more flavor. Add  the milk and wait till it boils again. Once the liquid starts to boil and the milk is starting to foam well, add the black tea.

Cover and remove from the heat and brew for 3-5 minutes depending on how strong you want your tea to be.


Strain then transfer the remaining tea to a mug or tea cup. Add some sugar, to taste.

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But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 1 Timothy 6:6-7