Sunday, October 28, 2007

Awesome Green Tea, Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've been under the weather since Friday. :( That means a lot of bland food and liquids. BUT, I thought this would be a great time for me to talk about my favorite tea, Fuji Green Tea.

Quite simply, this stuff is awesome. I had been reading a lot about the benefits of green tea, and tried many different brands in hopes of getting "into" it, but they all tasted nasty... until I tried Fuji Green Tea. Now, you could call me a tea snob because I won't drink any other green tea except this stuff.

My favorites are the premium sencha and genmai matcha. The toasted brown rice in the latter gives it a more robust flavor... a kind of more manly green tea? (Hey, my fiance is a fan of it!)

I believe you can only order this tea online from the Web site. But don't worry if you're not a fan of online shopping; this company's customer service is top notch. Once, when they ran out of a tea I ordered, they sent me a note saying they were sending it directly from Japan! And sure enough, I got a priority package from them containing my tea. They've also thrown in freebies of different flavors for me to try. And if that's not enough, once a year they notify their customers of a buy-one-get-one sale that cannot be beat.

If you've been wanting to be a fan of green tea, try Fuji Green Tea. This stuff is the bomb, I swear! I've given friends tea bags to try and every one of them has loved it.

Now on to muffins...

I saw this recipe for chocolate chip muffins on My Life as a Vegan. Even though I've been sick, I had a craving for chocolate, especially after reading Kumudha's fabulous post about vegan chocolate on her blog. I had all the ingredients in my cupboard for the muffins, so I mustered up my strength to whip 'em up. The recipe was easy--I only had half a package of chocolate chips though, which were left over from my attempt at the Vegan Magic Cookie Bars, so I substituted some chopped hazelnuts for the difference. They came out looking fabulous, as you can see from the photo in this post. However, I thought they kinda lacked flavor. I felt all the taste came from the chocolate chips. I wish the muffin batter itself had been a little more flavorful.

I also should mention that I ran out to get some over-the-counter meds yesterday and popped into the bookstore next door to see if they had the new issue of Paste magazine; my favorite artist--Ryan Adams--is supposed to be the new cover boy. The store still had last months issue, but while I was there, I couldn't resist drooling over some of the newer cookbooks, namely Veganomicon and Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I've heard so many wonderful things about them... it was tempting to splurge on one, whisk it home as fast as I could and start cooking like a mad woman. But the fact that I was warm and light-headed while looking at the books reminded me that I just needed to get back home and rest so that I could fight this cold. *sigh* I've been a good girl this year, so hopefully Santa will find it in his heart to gift me with one (or both!) book, LOL.

Have a good rest of the weekend!

8 comments:

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

The muffins looks good! But, poor you, hope you are feeling better soon!

Jackie said...

The muffins look wonderful. Get better soon. Have added you to my blog's links.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

PLEASE feel better!!! :0( by the way, those muffins look STELLAR - but I'd have to make mine carob chip muffins, of course :0D

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

*Sending good health your way!*

Jess K said...

looks very yummy!!!! chocholate muffin...i like drink tea too..but i like oolong tea from www.teacuppa.com i would have to say rougui oolong is my fav now..havent try thier green yet

Unknown said...

The muffins look great! I rarely have time for baking, but always have time to squeeze in a cup of tea. I saw from your blog that you like a high grade sencha. Have you tried
gyokuro
? This is an excellent Japanese green tea that is grown under the shade. This tea has a heavenly spring-honey undertone that makes it an excellent tea any time of the day.

SaraJane said...

I was just going to say something about green tea, then whatever it was went completely out of my mind. Ryan Adams is also my favorite musical artist! If he were a girl, I would sooo have a crush on him. :D

Anonymous said...

Getting a topaz ring as links london jewellery jewelry gifts from better-half is no lower than an awesome joy. discount links of london bracelets Many ladies do admire such jewelry sparkling through charms links of london their fingers. If you may get to own one as gift, links of london silver watches you will definitely appreciate such beauty and elegance for high class cheap links of london necklaces type of jewelry. Those who know what the actual worth of gemstones will links london pendants certainly love to have one added into their collection.