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

Coffee, canned soup, blood sugar and budgets

I did buy a few odds and ends at Target last week so we could make it to pay day, and I didn't record it here because life got hectic. On Wednesday last week, I had a 'blood sugar episode' that ended in an indulgent dinner out. That was the day my daughter went to the ENT and received the news that she is getting tubes in her ears Nov. 2.

My husband made scrambled eggs that morning, while I packed my daughter lunch. When the adults sat down to lunch, we had pop tarts and coffee and my husband made himself peanut butter crackers. I promised to eat something later.

I forgot.

So my blood sugar dropped to 90 and with no appropriate fuel in my body I started to shake-- from my hands to my knees. And I ate a bowl of soup, but my daughter took half. (chunky chicken-broccoli soup transformed into a corn chowder with a can of creamed corn, soy milk and curry.)

My husband took me out to dinner. We went to Delahanty's where daughter ate half my jalapeño poppers... She had a jr burger with cheese, bacon and fries. Husband had fettucine Alfredo with bacon and peas. I had a beef and sour sandwich. We all had dessert, and I added a Weyerbacher imperial pumpkin ale for the season and we spent, with tip $62.

Moral of the story: Eating is necessary. And I still don't understand how people can send kids to school with a breakfast of cereal, pop tarts or, as I witnessed last week, Twinkies...

Good news is: Even with this dinner, and my scattered shopping trips, our budget remains in tact. Thus far in October, we have spent: almost 20% of our income thus far this month on food. Gulp. $125 on dining out and $115 on groceries. Hmmm... That leaves $10 for the next two weeks. I'll aim for $50, which will keep the total food expense for the month under $300.

One of the terms of our current budget is NO FANCY COFFEE. But I cashiered last night and discovered many varieties of Archer Farms coffee on sale for $3.50 for the 12 oz bag which is normally $6.99. My favorite tea (Tazo rest) was on sale for $2.79. (I have one 32-ounce mug most mornings and use one tea bag.) And I grabbed a cheap 28-ounce jar of peanut butter.

I bought in total:

- Market Pantry peanut butter, $3.49
- Archer Farms coffee, 4 bags at $3.50 each
- 3 boxes Tazo Rest tea, $2.79 each

Subtotal: $25.86
Team Member Discount: - $2.59
Red Card discount: -$1.16
No tax
Total: $22.11

A favorite Mommy breakfast

This has become one of my favorite instant breakfasts: one morningstar breakfast patty on a slice of Archer Farm Apple Fritter bread with a BIG mug of Tazo herbal tea. My favorite tea is Tazo Rest, but I think it's been discontinued. On this particular day, I replaced it with Tazo Passion. Very fruity.