My History of Loving Tea

"For someone like me who is living alone, stress and anxiety can come and go any time of the day. So, coping with them is something that I take seriously."

Some of my friends when they first met me asked how I was able to keep up with life while living alone. And my answer has always been as simple as "I find ways to keep myself grounded". Since my first job, I learned how to cope with stress and anxiety in a way that my body and mind can easily reconnect to my reality. One of my coping mechanisms is having tea while reading, writing, or doing nothing at all.

I started to have tea in my day-to-day life when a friend, from the university organization that I was once a member of and I talked about our morning and night routines. She told me that whenever she had difficulty falling asleep at night, she would drink at least a cup of hot Chamomile tea.

Also, that time was the start of the milk tea craze in my area, and my best friends and I used to hang out in different milk tea shops near our university. We even came to a point where we were researching different teas that could taste great together. We also had milk teas that represented the three of us. There were also instances, maybe three days before exams, when we would stay in one of our two favorite shops for at least two hours to compare and review our notes.

Before, I used to buy boxes of tea packed in individual bags but when I realized that those bags were just another waste in my bin, I decided to buy loose leaf packed in reusable tin and glass containers. I have a couple of online sellers from whom I buy my supplies. They have very good customer service and their teas are just as good as what I expect them to be. They even give me samples of the other teas that they sell. But for now, I'm enjoying Chamomile, Jasmine, Hibiscus, and Assam.

Whenever my friends go out of the country and ask me for something that I want, aside from the go-to "I LOVE" shirt and ref magnets, tea is always my answer. And yes, whenever I give gifts, most of the time, it has something to do with tea, either the tea itself or some tea wares.

The next things on my list that I want to do in my tea adventure are to develop food recipes that involve tea and to grow my tea. So watch out for that in this post and my coming posts.

Sautéed Glass Noodles

"I came up with this recipe because I wanted something that's hot, with soup, and sardines that were not directly coming from a can going straight to my plate."

My body naturally craves for something hot and spicy whenever it's raining. As I'm not so used to ordering food in the middle of the night, I had to look for any ingredients that I could cook into something that's hot and spicy. The following are what I found during my cupboard-and-fridge shopping.

• 2 bundles of glass noodles (sotanghon)

• 1 can of small sardines in tomato sauce with chili

• some chopped Chinese cabbage, separate the stalks from the leaves (any greens will do)

I also used the following cooking staples:

• 2 cups of water

• 1 teaspoonful of olive oil

• 1 small chopped red onion

• 2 cloves of chopped garlic

• ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt to taste

In a pot, I sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil. I added the chopped stalks of the Chinese cabbage when the onion was already translucent.

Once I smelled the distinct scent of Chinese cabbage, I waited for another two minutes before adding the sardines. I let the sardines to cook for at most two minutes before adding the two cups of water. To make sure that I got every drop of the tomato sauce from the can, I wash its insides with water and poured it back to the pot.

Once I saw bubbles popping on the surface of the mixture, I added the leaves of the Chinese cabbage. After a minute, I added the glass noodles. Glass noodles cook very fast, at most two minutes, and absorb a lot of water. If you want more liquid, you can add another two cups of water.

After a minute of having the noodles in the mixture, I added the ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt.

I turned off the heat after two minutes and served it immediately. You may also pair it with garlic bread or some white bread slices and dip them to the hot noodle soup.

#BetterTasteTip: Since glass noodles absorb a lot of water, you may want to add another cup of hot water if ever you will want to have another serving. Also, don't forget to add more ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt according to your taste.