I have been rather quiet about my Sayama teas recently because of all the other teas that I’ve been getting, but I recently cracked open the Yutakamidori cultivar’s sencha and black tea versions and thought it might be fun to do a comparison! I’ve been doing reviews of the cultivars for a bit so I… Read More Tea Comparisons: Yutakamidori’s Sencha vs Black Tea Versions
While I was looking up Japanese history quite a while back, I came across the Shimane Kodai Bunka centre and its small online library. Apparently, the prefecture of Shimane provides a free PDF ebook (link to download page) called いずも神話/Izumo Shinwa and it’s perfect for people who are learning Japanese and/or who know Japanese and… Read More Reading in Japanese: いずも神話 Izumo Shinwa
I’m not sure if it’s possible but I am somewhat rushing my teas for the last third of this month because December is close and that means CHRISTMAS TEAS! I’m not sure if I’ll get my advent calendar in time, but I am looking forward to drowning in teas. In the meantime, I’m trying to… Read More Lupicia Quick Tea Reviews #8
I’ve been recommended this book a few times but never got around to it until I was in the library and found a copy! While I enjoyed this book, I do think that it’s a pity it was marketed slightly differently. Billed as a “retelling inspired by the Mid Autumn legend”, Daughter of the Moon… Read More Book Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
I’ve heard about this classic children’s novel for a while and decided to finally pick it up! Swallows and Amazons is the story of two groups of children who are both very good sailors. The book opens with the Walkers, who have received permission to sail to, and camp on, a nearby island for the… Read More Book Review: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
I don’t know why but I’m currently facing a lot of inertia for blogging! The nice thing is that I managed to write quite a few posts in advance, which are what you are reading this week but I’m hoping I embrace the blogging and the blog-hopping again soon. Anyway, I realised it’s been a… Read More Quick Chinese Tea Reviews #4
And we are back with another book in the Chrestomanci series! Unlike the previous books, Mixed Magic isn’t one long standalone story, but rather consists of four stories set in the world of Chrestomanci, with three that revolve around the Chrestomanci – both the current one and Cat, the next Chrestomanci. Warlock at the Wheel,… Read More Book Review: Mixed Magics by Diana Wynn Jones
I bought this tea when I bought my 30 Chinese tea samples, but I’ve just been so busy with those and I never even thought about cracking open the Tieguanyin. But I had some time the past week and thought it was time to finally drink and review it! From what I can tell, this… Read More Tea Review: Tieguanyin by 老茶农
I can’t quite remember why this was on my TBR list (perhaps I heard of an adaptation of the book?) but it was on hold and I’m not going to turn down the opportunity to read a Christie when it arises. The Pale Horse is a standalone Christie mystery, belonging neither to the Poirot nor… Read More Book Review: The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
And at last, we come to the end of the Dark is Rising sequence. It’s pretty interesting to look back at the first book and see how Cooper infused the whole series with Arthurian and Welsh mythology, as well as to see the change in tone as the book matures and develops. The first few… Read More Book Review: Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper
