I was at a secondhand book fair when I saw this and despite the fact that it’s been six years since I read The Mysterious Benedict Society, I remembered enjoying the first book enough to pick up the prequel. Plus, there’s something fitting about the fact that I found both books at second hand stores… Read More The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
This was one of the tea brands that was at the Singapore Tea Festival! They’re also in the VIP bag, but their teas sold out really fast and the only one that I managed to buy (and hence have enough to properly taste and review) would be their Scarlet Roasted Tea. Arinobu Tea is a… Read More Tasting Scarlet Roasted Tea by Arinobu Tea
In June, I managed to meet one of my AC friends – a really fun meeting, even accounting for the fact that we had to catch up on about 8 years of news in two hours. And during the meeting, he recommended me two books. One of them was Soul Mountain. To be honest, if… Read More Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
This year seems to be the year of oolongs (at least in terms of workshops). I attended an oolong workshop that focuses on Taiwanese oolongs last Saturday and learnt so much. The workshop was hosted by Kenny, one of the tea practitioners in Singapore that I admire, and was chock-full of information. I took over… Read More Taiwanese Oolong Workshop by Kenny Leong
This is another timely book that, oddly enough, helped me to further develop the ideas sparked by Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. In The Year of Less, Cait Flanders embarks on an ambitious project: Not to buy anything outside what is approved. This doesn’t just impact her savings, it helped her to identify triggers for her… Read More The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
The first week of my smartphone detox is over and it’s been interesting. I don’t know if there’s a term for this – smartphone tic? – but I’ve picked up and put down my phone so many times. Thankfully, I’m starting to stop myself, but the habit of looking at my phone whenever I feel… Read More Breaking the Smartphone Addiction: Week One
I had a moment of panic when I googled York and found out that despite my self-proclaimed sweet tooth, I didn’t even know that York had the title of “chocolate city”. I didn’t even know that there was an attraction named York’s Chocolate Story. But once I heard of this attraction, I knew that we… Read More My Visit to York’s Chocolate Story
I’ve had this on my TBR list for quite some time, and like so many books recently, borrowed it because of it’s a novel set in Medieval England and I’m trying to prolong the post-vacation high as long as I can. But to my surprise, I was hooked the minute I started reading Shadow on… Read More Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell
My stomach periodically gets a little antsy (long-running gastric thing) so my house is always filled with ginger tea. But, I am always open to trying new things so when I needed something soothing and found The Digester, I decided to give it a shot. Tea Review: The Digester From the description on Bird &… Read More Trying The Digester + My Visit to Bird & Blend Tea Co. in Manchester
I found this while searching for How Not to Fall Apart in Overdrive and the book sounded pretty intriguing so I picked it up. I’m not quite sure how to classify it – it’s not self-help and I’m not sure if it’s memoir because at least half the book consists of her interviews with others… Read More The Art of Not Falling Apart by Christina Patterson
