Kombucha Scoby Follow-Up

For all of those who have been interested in my Kombucha Scoby tea, I have some pics. 

We gave it a try yesterday.

The recipe says to let it work 7-14 days. If you prefer a sweeter tea go for shorter time and everyone knows what a sweet tooth I have. 

So..8 days it was.

I have been peeking at it every day. The curiosity has been building also.

My directions said it would get bubbly or fizzy. It did some but not quite what I was expecting but of course I changed the directions and bought flavored black tea. 

Here we go!

Here's the mother scoby and maybe a baby starting?

I'll be honest the look on the old man's(hubby) face was worth the whole adventure and I too was wondering what am I in for.

Oh..I think there's more scoby in there...gotta fish that out..

I wasn't brave. I started with a sip.

It wasn't at all slimy or anything.

The flavor wasn't horrible it just isn't a taste I'm inclined to like.

The Old Man gave it a taste. He gave it a nod and "it's alright."

We decided we might like it better on ice. That's how I usually drink tea. 

It was better. Jack, my six year old came in and wanted in on it. 

He took a taste and grinned and said he liked it.

My fifteen year old came in and also agreed to taste it.

She made quite a face and shook her head in a  less than approving way.

She is also a southern sweet tea lover like me.

I wasn't willing to settle with a one shot deal so I started me another batch. This time I'm just using the orange pekoe and black tea bags that I use with my ice tea. Maybe the flavor will be more what I'm use to. It may also be fizzier and bubble more. 

My daughter that gave me the recipe said the tea she had tried was flavored with ginger and maybe lemon. I think that might please me better also. If I flavor the second batch I'll do it after the fact.

Since starting my kombucha tea, I was also advice to use green tea and flavor with fruit juice after my tea is done. I'm willing to try that out too. I steered clear of the green tea because I really don't love it. I am positive that it also has many health benefits too but I haven't had any that I enjoyed. 

It hasn't been long enough for me to feel any health benefits but I'll throw a little post up when the next batch is done. Then we'll see!

Thanks for stopping by

BE BLESSED!

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$2 for 2 Scarfs

So....

What am I doing today?

I'm making a couple of scarfs.

You can see that my work area is usually three basic places..

the floor, my bed, and the kitchen table.

The past few months me and my girls have been on a scarf craze. They are all crazy about them. I am too but usually on other people besides me. I'm on of those accessory challenged people but I've been trying to overcome some of my challenges.

I do love the look of scarfs. My biggest problem is I really didn't have but three two were ones that were my grandma's and one was one that came with a set of gloves. I also didn't know how to get them to look cute the way everyone else seemed to.

When I had chose to try and wear them I would ask my girls to show me some cute way to wear it; which usually followed by them helping me and also giving me some eye rolls.(mmm..those eye rolls)

I finally had the light come on and decided to look it up on the computer. I found the cutest video every  and  now I'm loving the scarfs. 

I also figured out that the scarfs I had weren't big enough. Grandma wore hers tide around her highly teased hair. 

So, I was on the quest for some bigger scarfs. 

Mind you I am also cheap and I just didn't won't to pay what the were priced at. I decided to look in the markdown fabric section and 

Viola! 

I found a beautiful Burgundy clothe; $.75 for 2 yards.

Now..

At least one of my girls is borrowing my scarf. We need more material and more scarfs. So back to the markdown fabric I go. This time the deal wasn't quite as good but it wasn't bad. 

$1 a yard ain't bad.

I laid it in the floor and cut the two yards in half.

Then I picked a stitch to sew around the edge just to make it look finished.

These are one of those times I want to kick myself for not buying a surger.

The material was thin and had a little stretch in it and got hung in my feeddogs  a couple of times. 

A little trial and era and everything worked out fine.

I can't wait to see Alisha wear hers. She has a black peacoat that it will go great with.

I can't wait to wear mine.

Now the only eye roll will be if I come out trying to wear mine the same day she wears hers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for taking a peek at my little project.

and as always

Be Blessed.

p.s. here's the link to the best little video for 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf.

         

Kombucha SCOBY

What a title! Right? 

Today I'm working on my Kombucha Scoby. My daughter gave me a starter and a recipe for Christmas. My wonderful educated and enlightened girl has decided to share her food adventures with me; her coffee and sweet tea mama. 

She told me her story of how she came to try it and how much she like it. She also told me of all the various health benefits. I was so pleased she would think of me. I was included in her adventures.

 I gave her a big 

Kiss..on the cheek.

Now the question in my mind is

What is Kombucha SCOBY?

 This is something I have never even heard of. I wondered how many other  people where like me. 

I thought it might be of interest to you too.

Kombucha tea is a fermented drink made with tea, sugar, bacteria, and yeast. The product of this combination is a vinegary, tea containing vitamin B and some other chemical compounds. From what I can gather from my search on the Internet, there isn't any real documented proof to support the various proclaimed health benefits. Some health claims are stimulation of the immune system, cancer prevention, and improvements in digestive and liver function. My daughter also suggested I not drink but one glass a day to begin because it works you sort of like a probiotic.

She gave me the Kombucha Scoby culture and some black tea leaves to get started. She told me the times she had drank it it was flavored and she really enjoyed it. Later she told me a friend that also drinks it said they didn't prefer it unless it was flavored. That made me a little unsure of the whole thing. My daughter suggested flavoring it with ginger.
so..
I decided to pick up some flavored black tea. I chose Celestial Tea with exotic India spices. I followed the instruction and got my concoction started. It is a seven day process so now the wait is on.

Here are a few links for more information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/kombucha-tea-risks-and-benefits

http://www.kombuchakamp.com/health-benefits-of-kombucha

Thanks for stopping by
I wish you a
Blessed Day

Ramble On/Good-bye 2012..Hello 2013

I can't believe it as taken me almost a week to put down some line. 

Are you one of the folks that make resolution?

Are you able to keep them?

There have been years I tried to make some simple resolution. Most of them ended in failure. Then I was one of those people who said, " Aww...resolution..I don't do 'em."  

but...

On December 31, 2010; I made one sort of my accident. I was driving into work very close to midnight. My drive takes me past a church that has a announcement board where they post their times and often a little message. A lot of the time I'm not impressed with the way to cutie cute messages that are on almost every church your drive by. I'm not judging the churches that do this but basically even though I'm a believer I can be terribly cynical. (I've been trying to work on that one) The sign read:

2011 Resolution: To Know God Better.

When I read it I said out loud to myself," Well there's a good one and the only one worth making. That will be my resolution for the year." 

What a resolution it was! 

I had one of the most trying years of my life but I also had a most joyous year. I am positive that God heard my words. 

When time came to ring in 2012, I was sure to be careful of my words and I continue not to prefer resolutions. For me a resolution not kept is much like a broken promise. It's better to not promise at all than to promise and then be untrue. So instead of a resolution I set 10 Goals for 2012. These were personal goals. I also wanted to pick worthy goals that I prayed over. I also reminded myself, these were my goals and not necessarily God's goals.

Out of 10, I met 6. 

Now I'm trying to find my 10 Goals for 2013.

Again, these will be personal goals. Here are a few questions I've been asking myself:

1. Would this be a goal that God would be pleased with?
2. Have I prayed about my goals?
3. Am I going dedicate time to work on these goals?

Do you make resolution or do you set goals?

There are a few key words that keep shouting out to me as I think about 2013.

Those words are time and faith. 

What words do you think of for 2013?

I want to thank for stopping by.

I want to wish you a truly

Blessed Day

& 

A Wonderfully Prosperous New Year!