Tapioca pudding

My dentist canceled my appt for today, which means no crown for my back molar until it's rescheduled and nothing crunchy any time in the foreseeable future.

So I tried my hand at tapioca pudding.

The Kraft minute tapioca recipe is as follows:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons minute tapioca
- 2 3/4 cups milk
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients but vanilla in medium saucepan. Let stand five minutes.

Bring mixture to a rapid bowl on medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Stir and serve.

But I never follow directions. So my ingredients look like this:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons minute tapioca
- 2 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg well beaten
Combine as directed. Let stand.
Before heating, add one cup diced strawberries.
After boiling, add 1 teaspoon almond extract instead of vanilla and a pinch of nutmeg.

Yum! Oh, this is delightful.

Bubble Chai

My friend Gayle went to a Chinese New Year's celebration and tried "Bubble Tea" which she enjoyed and thought I would enjoy too.

She found a basic recipe online and emailed it to me:

1/2 cup chilled, cooked large tapioca pearls (if substituting smaller tapioca, use 1/3 cup)*
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup very strong chilled black tea (or orange pekoe tea or Lichee tea)
1 cup milk or to taste
Honey or granulated sugar to taste

I bought precooked tapioca last night at Target so this and homemade pudding top my list.

In my blender, I soaked
- 1/3 cup tapioca
In
- 1/2 cup very vanilla soy milk
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon local honey (all I have left)

While that soaks, I have one
- organic chai tea bag by Tazo
Steeping in
- 1 cup boiling water

Now I'm going to add
- 1 cup small ice cubes
To my blender and crush the ice

Once the tea gets really dark, I'll combine them