A few things

[cleolinda]

So. Not feeling much better; spent the weekend in a very grim, self-pitying funk. But I'm going back to work ("work") today because you have to move on with life. I think I'm actually going through kind of a post-partum project-completion slump, what with the first e-book finished. The only problem is, I now have to finish the second one, which casts a sort of "Sorry, your princess is in another castle" pall over the whole thing. C'est la vie.

Also, I should probably get on this Twilight tea-tasting thing. (That's our godforsaken vampire-related beverage. I was not lucky enough to get any TruBlood--sadly, because I hear that stuff is actually really good, a blood orange-flavored soda or something.) Question: what's the best way to make hot tea? I usually drink iced tea, so I have no idea--water at an actual boil? Steep for five minutes? I don't even know, and I don't think these things came with instructions. I'm probably going to make all three samples at once and get it over with--swish and spit if it's really awful, I guess. God help us all. But especially me.

Meanwhile, a college friend of mine is a movie critic now, and he announced that he could get me a screener copy of The Twilight Porn (tagline: "When you can fuck forever... you can fuck everybody"). I've never even seen actual hardcore, and I don't think my embarrassment squick could handle starting with this, but I know of someone else who might be willing to take that bullet. We'll see. I know I keep trying Twilight products "for science," but I don't love nobody that much, least of all science. "Twilight porn" is an extremely uncomfortable phrase as it is; these are two words that do not want to be in the same sentence together. Twilight is huddled in the corner weeping, and porn is banging on the quotation marks trying to get out.

Also-also: The Sparkenpire is now available at Toys'R'Us. You can, in fact, see the actual sparkle coating if you zoom in. (It's getting to be the season for Twi-spam, isn't it? I'll corral those into separate entries after this, for convenience of avoidance.) In cheerfuller Barbie developments: Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, and Joan Jett dolls.

(In response to "Hello, my name is Twilight and I am a Dracula": I R not a Dracula!)

And finally: Tour of Terror II dates and locations have been announced. This time it's at various Hot Topics AND Nordstroms! I KNOW YOU ARE EXCITED. (All the replies to my link on Twitter were along the lines of "NOT MY CITY, OH GOD NOOOOOO.") The closest it gets to me is the ATL, which is still too damn close. (I don't know what Atlanta did to deserve this; it already got burnt to the ground once.) Invest in riot gear. You're going to need it.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Comments

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

Here's a link to a post I made a while ago - How to make Tea for One (http://iamshadow.dreamwidth.org/304501.html). Always meant to make another post talking about how to make pot tea, but I haven't yet.

[lyrangalia]

Oh GOD. They're coming to Houston.

Somebody hold me...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, these are tea bags (although I do have a tea ball. Well, it's more like a tea star).

[off_coloratura]

A general rule of thumb:

Black tea: boiling water, steep 3 minutes. Green tea, white tea and herbal tea: steaming water, five minutes.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I would totally be willing to take the bullet for Twilight porn. Any embarrassment squick I had over porn died a quick death a looooooong time ago.

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

Teabags don't tend to need to steep as long. How long you steep them depends a lot on personal taste and the variety of tea. Experiment! The tea should be a rich caramel colour, and not overly bitter. If it's bitter, it means you probably over-steeped it. Between two and four minutes, I'd say.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Uh... I'm not sure what all this is. Hm. Appears to be two black teas and one herbal/fruit.

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

What you said!

[marzikin.livejournal.com]

I'm squeeing myself at the thought of advising you on this one.

*ahem*

In order to make good tea, you need to use boilING, not boilED water, straight from the kettle, and if you want to be really picky, you should use the water the first time it's boiled, not the second (and so forth - it's something about boiling away all the oxygen or some such).

If it's teabags, it's advisable to dunk them up and down, rather than/as well as stirring. If it's leaf tea, stir and let steep. Then I'd go on taste. Again, if you want to be picky, warm your cup with a swill of water from the kettle, pour it away, then pour in a little of the tea to taste. : ) Do this until you get to a strength you like. This isn't official advice, but it's what seems logical to me. : ) Different teas need to be steeped for different lengths of time (I've had some herbal teas that need seven, but with typical bog standard tea, I don't even leave it to steep, I swirl, dunk, squeeze, repeat, and take the bag out, and everyone seems to like it... > >)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I only have one sample of each kind, so there's not a lot of room to experiment, is the problem. Because if you think I'm putting down money for more of this stuff, you have another thing coming.

[bexone.livejournal.com]

ahahaha, i see that the RIOT last time has not discouraged them from bringing the tour of terror back to stonestown. note to self: stay far, far away from the city on november 11.

[mokeyhokey.livejournal.com]

Both black and herbal teas need boiling water, except you're supposed to steep them for five minutes. Green tea you steep for three.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is... complicated. And it looks like two blacks and a fruit/herbal, so it's not like this is going to be easy and consistent. Tea is hard, y'all.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, snap, SF? That was the one where the girl actually got slammed into the front door, wasn't it? And the other girl fainted?

[off_coloratura]

Just use boiling water for all three, and let the herbal steep a little longer than the black, till it smells nice. Don't stress too much about it.

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

If it's a Twilight-related tea product, it's probably not a high-caliber tea? So I wouldn't worry about it.

I would totally watch Twilight porn for science. Well, lolz. But I could pretend it was science.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's really not. It's only difficult if you're going the purist, complicated route.

I boil some water, drop a teabag in, dip it a few times and come back in a few minutes (2-3) when the color's spread throughout the water. Then you put your seasoning of choice in and it's good to go.

I've heard numerous other "best" ways to make tea, but I'm not convinced it really makes a difference. I would steep green tea longer just because it tends to be a weaker flavor than black tea. That's really about it, though.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Question: what's the best way to make hot tea?

Is it tea bags? If so, you boil water, let it cool a bit (should still be hot, but not boiling anymore), pour it in your mug and leave the tea bag in for around 2 to 3 minutes if you want it to be energizing, and up to 5 minutes if you want it to be calming. If it is flavoured, it's probably going to be pretty strong, so I'd advice to stick with 2 to 3 minutes. (Also, make sure your tea bag is for a mug and not for a pot - unless you want to make a whole pot of tea, of course.)

[marzikin.livejournal.com]

Aah, but if you leave green tea TOO long, it turns bitter.

Actually, lots of teas do that.

Tea is serious business, you know? x3

But the purist/snob route is such fuuun.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thing is--I have no idea how much the bag is for. It's a bookseller merchandising sample--I have absolutely no idea. I guess I could poke around the tea's official site and try to figure it out? Or drink some really freakin' strong tea.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

If it's a sample it's probably for a cup/mug.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I think I may be "helped" by the fact that my taste buds/palette is not developed at all. Subtle blends in flavors in food? I can't actually taste those. I can taste the difference between an Earl Grey or a basic Lipton black tea, but the difference between Irish and English breakfast? Not really. So if things are a little bitter... well, that's probably covered up by the sugar or honey I put in. (For black tea. Putting sugar in green is just weird.)

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

Hot tea is my saving grace. Boil water, then steep the bag for five minutes. I usually add a touch of sugar to whatever I'm drinking. Lemon is a bonus if I have it and am sick.

Sparklepire Barbie? Uh, no. The hair is hideous. Or else I'd be tempted. I just bought my fourth Barbie in a year and the girls need some shelfian male companions. (Damn TLE for making me gain a somewhat soft spot for Edwardian-types.)

And thank the gods...Miami is as close as that hell is coming to me. (I'm in Sarasota.) I am already dreading the on-slaught of teenies at the mall the nanosecond the movie opens. *shudder*

[swordmage.livejournal.com]

If I wasn't fairly sure my husband would be horrified, I would consider suggesting going to Phoenix to watch the madness..

[divadeanna.livejournal.com]

"Twilight porn" is an extremely uncomfortable phrase as it is; these are two words that do not want to be in the same sentence together. Twilight is huddled in the corner weeping, and porn is banging on the quotation marks trying to get out.

Tears in my eyes, I'm laughing so hard. lol