Sticky Rice Oolong

I’m doing Tea Tuesday on a Wednesday.

I picked my boyfriend’s favourite tea – Sticky Rice Oolong. It smells exactly like sticky rice. It tastes amazing!

This is the mug I picked for today. It’s a Cheshire the Cat mug from Alice in Wonderland.

When the cup is hot, Cheshire begins to disappear. Leaving just his smile.

The other side of my mug.

I enjoy this tea with milk, and it makes it that much more delicious.

Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea. It is semi-oxidized tea, and is withered under the sun. It is then twisted and rolled. Oolong tea used to be called Black Dragon Tea since it was long and curly.

It has many great benefits similar to black and green tea benefits since it comes from the same plant as green and black tea. Drinking Oolong teas can help boost your metabolism, decrease your risk in getting type 2 diabetes, decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke. It also strengthens teeth and bone density. I would definitely recommend trying Oolong tea not just for the great benefits, but for the great taste, too.

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Top Ten Tuesdays #5

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

The rules are simple:Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.

This week is Top Ten is Favourite Book Quotes (from books, or any bookish quote in general).

10. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”
-George R. R. Martin

9. “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it can.”
-Nicholas Sparks, At First Sight

8. “Just remember that sometimes, the way you think about a person isn’t the way they actually are.”
-Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

7. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
-Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

6. “Sometimes you have to be apart from people you love, but that doesn’t make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more.”
-Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

5. “I had diverged, digressed, wandered, and become wild.”
-Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

4. “You’re wishing too much, baby. You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughta be.”
-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

3. “So Matilda’s strong young mind contributed to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
-Roald Dahl, Matilda (1988)

2. “Dumdledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
“After all this time?”
“Always,” said Snape.”
-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows (2007)

1. “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
   -Roald Dahl, The Minpins (1991)

This one was a lot of fun! I love these ideas. I posted a lot of authors that has impacted in some way. My early childhood memories (and my mid 20s) is filled with Roald Dahl’s books and movies. As well as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and movies. My early high school days I read a lot of Nicholas Sparks books and watched a lot of movies. I enjoy the life lessons that are in each of his books. I was in grade 10 when I first read To Kill a Mockingbird. I still read that book from time to time. I have always loved Eat, Pray, Love and Wild. I enjoy the woman’s journey of finding themselves.

I enjoy reading and all of the things they have to offer the universe. I make it a habit to read everyday. 🙂

Day 99 of 192

This has been a wonderful journey. I highly recommend people declutter their possessions. I am so proud of my accomplishments! Even you just get rid of 10 items, I believe you will start to see the difference in your life.

Today’s item is this jewelry holder, or at least that is what my sister and I used it as. It had contained all of that tangled jewelry from yesterday.

I no longer have a purpose of this anymore since I already have a jewelry box. I am going to see if my sister wants this back, since it was hers at one point. And if she doesn’t like it, maybe we can set it aside for my niece for when she is older. It’s really beautiful, but I no longer have a purpose for it.

Daisies – Katy Perry

I apologize for posting this late. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, but I am feeling better today.

I love Katy Perry, and I finally caught up and listened to her album not too long ago. It was really beautiful. I am so happy for her and Orlando Bloom, with the sweet arrival of their daughter Daisy. I love that name. 🙂

This is the perfect song for my blog.

“They told me I was out there
Tried to knock me down
Took those sticks and stones
Showed ’em I could build a house
They tell me that I’m crazy
But I’ll never let ’em change me
‘Til they cover me in daisies”

-Katy Perry, Daisies

Magic

Something I have learned is I should never hide who I am, my quirks is what makes me unique. I should embrace everything that makes me, as should everyone else. If we hide who we truly are, than we are not ourselves. The universe needs us, not the selves we conceal from the world, but our true selves.

I hope everyone has an amazing week ahead. And don’t forget to be you. You won’t regret it. 🙂 ❤

Day 98 of 192

I just noticed that I had a keying error and yesterday was actually Day 97, not Day 98 like I had typed out.

So, without further ado, let’s talk about the actual 98th Day of decluttering. Today marks my fourteenth week since I started this journey. I am beyond proud of myself. I definitely feel lighter now.

I have noticed a lot of positive changes in my life. I stopped shopping and adding things to my life. I am starting to feel less stressed out by slowly removing things that no longer brings me happiness. I am able to save up more money since I’m not shopping like I used to. All in all, I am starting to feel so much better.

Today’s item is about all of these odd pieces of jewelry that I have kept from Christmases and birthdays. I am going to be sorting through more of my jewelry later. I only want to keep a few possessions so that way the items I do keep will be that more meaningful to me. But as embarrassing as this is, I have tried to wear these pieces of jewelry, and it would turn my skin green. I definitely don’t need to worry about that anymore.

I didn’t even bother to detangle any of this, because I know I wouldn’t wear any of it anyway.

Day 97 of 192

I have no idea as to why I insisted on keeping all of these belongings that I have kept. I am so happy to go through with it.

I have reached a point in my life where I am no longer wooed by items, especially trendy items that are just going to turn into clutter. I am buying less things to own.

I feel really good about myself.

This is some bracelet that I have kept from my childhood for whatever reason. I am glad that I can depart from it now.

Day 96 of 192

This is more miscellaneous stuff from the container I had carelessly set aside some of my belongings into a container. Clearly not a lot of thought was put into this. To be fair, I was pressed for time to pack up my room.

I often wondered why I allowed myself to be weighed down by all of these unnecessary objects.

Digital Declutter: I am making it a habit to spend ten minutes organizing and deleting my photos from my laptop.

French Onion Soup

As promised, I am posted a recipe that I made not too long ago. And since it’s Autumn, which is Soup Season! I’ll be posting some soup recipes in the upcoming weeks. This season I vow to make and eat new soup recipes. I love trying new foods.

Here is my chicken noodle soup recipe, threeyellowdaisies.ca/2020/06/16/chicken-noodle-soup-4/

French Onion soup is a really easy recipe. What I like about making it, is a lot of ingredients are already on hand. I always have onions and spices it requires.

Ingredients
8-10 small onions, or 6 large ones
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of thyme
2 teaspoons of basil
2 teaspoons of parsley
2 teaspoons of oregano
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
6 beef bouillon cubes
12 cups of water
1 cup of Sherry (optional)
Bay Leaves
French baguette
Gruyere cheese, shredded

Directions
1. Slice the onions in circular shapes
2. In large pot, or in your crock pot bring to melt the butter
3. Once melted, add the onions. Make sure your onions caramelized, usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes to become a golden brown
4. If you like to cook this in a crock pot, now is the time to transfer everything into your crock pot
5. Once everything has transferred into your crock pot, you can start making the broth
6. By using the same pot you had used to caramelize your onions, you help deglaze your pot, ensuring you have all of the amazing flavours of the spices in your soup.
7. Bring the 12 cups of water to a boil
8. Add all of your spices
9. Once the water is boiled, add your beef bouillons
10. Once dissolved you can transfer the broth to the crock pot
11. You can allow this to cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or on high for 5 hours, although this is the best soup to slow cook, so I always prefer to slow cook
12. When the soup is ready to be served, you can begin to shred some cheese to place on your baguette. I like to butter the baguette with garlic butter
13. If you have any ovenproof bowls, you can serve your soup in that, and place your baguette on top. Allow it to broil for 3-4 minutes.
14. If you don’t have any ovenproof bowls you can let the baguette broil on a baking sheet. Cut in portions to place on top of the soup.

Chopped onions

Onions with the spices

Final product of the soup.

My crock pot has a setting that lets me sautee and brown my ingredients, so I don’t necessarily have to use another pot to cook my meats, or sautee anything and then transfer everything over into my crock pot.

I am so happy because next time I make this again, I will be able to use my French Onion Soup Bowls that my mama gave me. I am so excited! 🙂

Freeing Yourself

Every Friday I write a passage from Eckhart Tolle’s book. He is a world famous spiritual teacher and he encourages us to be present.

“You may think that you need more time to understand the past or become free of it, in other words, that the future will eventually free you of the past. That is a delusion. Only the present can free you of the past.”

-Eckhart Tolle

In this paragraph of his book, Practicing the Power of Now, he is talking about the only way you can free yourself from the past, is to be present. I would like to think that he wrote this by being inspired from Buddha. Buddha describes enlightenment of ending all suffering. So whenever you find yourself in the present, you are able to find enlightenment. Which you may feel enlightened, although other people may feel it faster than others, and that’s okay. The important thing is, is to not give up. Always bring yourself back to the present moment.