Scholastic's Summer Reading Challenge

Great reading all laid out for you. Scholastic Canada this summer is getting kids(of all ages) ready to READ FOR THE WORLD RECORD. This is a summer reading challenge where every minute counts, every minute that you read that is. Young readers can sign up now and do practice runs. Looks like a great opportunity and challenge. The reading list for different ages look amazing. So check them out and join the challenge. The current world record was set in 2009 when 35,846,094 minutes were logged and the top school had 683,057 minutes. The website has lots of information on the past few years challenges.

There are Reading lists for different age groups and for the older groups categories.

Ages 3-5 84-9
Ages 5-7 139-11
Ages 8-10 People and Places 29-3
Ages 8-10 Thrills & Chills 20-2
Ages 8-10 Friends & Fun 52-2
Ages 8-10 Fantasy & Adventure 34-2
Ages 10-12 People and Places 31-2
Ages 10-12 Thrills & Chills 32-3
Ages 10-12 Friends & Fun 44-2
Ages 10-12 Fantasy & Adventure 52-6
Young Adult People and Places 24-2
Young Adult Thrills & Chills 31-1
Young Adult Friends & Fun 37-3
Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure 34-5

(The first number is the total books in this category the second is how many I have read.) Some books appear in more than one category or a few even in more than one age group. But these look like awesome reading lists. I am going to try and double my numbers in each category by September.

My Favourite Teas

My Favourite Teas

This will be my thirteenth and final article on tea, for the time being. In each of my previous and specific tea articles I rated my favorite teas based on their type, Red, White, Green, Black, Mate, Fruit Blends, Wellness Blends and herbal. This article will list my top ten favorite teas that I keep around all the time and why. It was really hard narrowing it down to a list of just 10. Below the name of the tea is a description from the company's website, or catalogue.

1. Wonderful White - Teaopia - 10
White tea is a combination of White Tea, apple pieces, orange peel, ginger bits, cinnamon, lemongrass, coconut flakes, pistachio, red peppercorns, and corn flower blossoms.

2. Superberry White - Teaopia - 10
Superberry White Tea is a mixture of White Tea, apple pieces, schisandra berries, cranberries, goji berries, bilberries, and mallow flower blossoms. The combination of incredibly healthy White Tea with these true `super` berries makes a tea that everyone will want to have in their tea collection. This tea is high in antioxidants and helps strengthen the immune system.

3. Desert Sage - Republic of Tea - 10
Indigenous Herbs from the Deserts of the World Indigenous, Naturally Caffeine-Free Herbs from Desert Regions including rooibos, white sage, orange bergamot, mint, and lemon grass. The heady aroma of white sage evokes images of the high desert. Full-bodied rooibos and cool mint are added for a satisfying and complex brew.

4. Double Bergamot Earl Grey - Stash Tea - 10
In the Double Bergamot Earl Grey tea, the black tea base still serves as a solid foundation for this blend, but the oil of bergamot takes wing and soars to new unprecedented heights. The flavour is quite pronounced but not at all soapy or bitter which would happen with low grade oils. Is the flavour too strong? For a conservative drinker, maybe yes, but more adventurous types really seem to like it.

5. Goji Green - Teaopia - 10
Green Tea consists of organic sencha shokai, goji berries, schisandra berries, pomegranate flower blossoms and an all natural strawberry aroma. Get the benefits of Goji berries and Green Tea with this amazing blend.

6. Monk's Blend Tea - Teaopia - 10
Monk's Blend is a dramatic combination of Ceylon Black Tea, vanilla and grenadine. This flavoured tea has a mysterious background, as it is believed to have been developed by monks to fulfill their life's desires and used by Franciscan monks to keep them awake during periods of meditation. While we may not know the true history of Monk's blend, we do know that this tea is delicious and much desired by vanilla lovers.

7. Irish Breakfast - Twinings - 10
As its name suggests this combination of Assam broken and Sumatra teas is the perfect accompaniment to a morning breakfast. This full bodied, strong and malty tea provides a colourful cup with a defined flavour perfect any time of day for tea lovers.

8. Yerba Mate - Teaopia - 10
Yerba Mate is the beverage of choice in South American countries due to its well-balanced flavour and health benefits. This drink is high in anti-oxidants, essential minerals and vitamins, making it an extremely nutritious choice for health-conscious consumers. It should be noted that Yerba Mate is the only herbal blend that is naturally caffeinated, which makes it great for those trying to make the switch from coffee to a healthy alternative since it provides energy without side effects such as jittering and muscle tension.

9. Cactus Fig - Teaopia - 9
This flavoured tea is the perfect blend of Green Sencha, fig pieces, aloe vera, sandalwood and orange flowers. The combination provides an earthy yet sweet taste and aroma that is perfect any time of day.

10. Fit Active and Rise and Shine- Teaopia - 8
This Wellness Blend is a combination of apple pieces, rose hip peel, strawberry and raspberry leaves, elderberries, bramble berries, sunflower petals, vitamin C from the acerola cherry, and safflower and cornflower petals. This tea is a must have for all tea drinkers as it helps prevent the common cold and is very rich in vitamin C. Keep this Wellness Blend as part of your collection and watch how the health benefits transform your life.
A perfect combination of lapacho, honeybush, Yerba Mate, apple pieces, cinnamon bits, green Mate, chrysanthemum flowers, guarana powder, cola nut, pomegranate blossoms, marigold and aroma. This blend is considered a great stimulant without the side effects of coffee, which makes it wonderful for those trying to make the switch to tea.

I hope you have enjoyed my series on tea; I have enjoyed your many comments on facebook and my blog, I look forward to trying some of the teas you have suggested.

Articles in this Series:
0. Tea Tea Everywhere - Teaopia Mad Hatter Tea Party
1. Tea an Overview
2. Red Teas
3. Green Teas
4. White Teas
5. Black Teas
6. Matcha Tea
7. Yerba Mate
8. Fruit Blends
9. Wellness Blends
10. Herbal Teas
11. Purveyors of Fine Tea (my preferences.)
12. Custom Blending
13. My Favourite Teas

Links:
Teaopia
Republic of Tea
Twinings Canada
Twinings UK
Stash Tea

The Wrong Book - Nick Bland

The Wrong Book
Nick Bland
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545980340

I really love Nick Bland's diversity as both an author and illustrator. This new book is no exception. It is the story of Nicholas Ickle, or at least the story Nicholas is trying to tell, but he keeps being interrupted by others, including an elephant, monsters, a pirate and a queen and even rats. Bland's illustrations are wonderful and amusing; the book will be fun for your family time and time again.

Custom Blending Teas

Custom Blending Teas

As much as I love teas, and this being a twelfth article in a series on tea, it can attest, I also enjoy experimenting. I have been called a MacGyver in the kitchen, and I extend that experimentation to teas also. I love to try new things, and combine things I like. Here are some of my favourite custom blends. Each is made by combining equal parts, either by the cup or whole tin all from Teaopia.

Yerba Mate and Fit Active
Fit Active and Rise and Shine
Autumn Breeze and Natural Rooibos
Goji Green and Pomegranate Green
Super Berry White and Fit Active
Mate Citrus Buzz and Mate Sweet Energy
Cactus Fig and Mate Sweet Energy
Mate Citrus Buzz and Earl Grey Rooibos

The top three I keep mixed in tins and ready to go. The others I do often to give more variety to my tea drinking experience. It's like having more teas on hand. But a little caution needs to be taken with mixing custom blends and herbal teas. We must always remember we are dealing with chemical compounds in the form of plants and fruits for all teas. These teas can interact with each other or with other medicines a person is taking. Here are a few links to articles on medical caution:

Tea and Health
Herbalism - Wikipedia
Herb Drug Interactions

So please do use caution especially if you are on prescription medicine or already using herbal medicines. But enjoy yourself, experiment, try something new and have some fun. Come back and drop me a line with your favourite combinations, and what you have found that you think others should try. You might also extend your tea budget by extending flavoured teas by adding more of the base ingredient, which is often cheaper. For example I extend Mate Citrus Buzz by mixing with plain Yerba Mate. You get twice the tea and nearly the same taste for about a third less in cost. Or maybe you like the taste but find it a little too much - either way experiment and have fun with your tea consumption.

Articles in this Series:
0. Tea Tea Everywhere - Teaopia Mad Hatter Tea Party
1. Tea an Overview
2. Red Teas
3. Green Teas
4. White Teas
5. Black Teas
6. Matcha Tea
7. Yerba Mate
8. Fruit Blends
9. Wellness Blends
10. Herbal Teas
11. Purveyors of Fine Tea (my preferences.)
12. Custom Blending
13. My Favourite Teas

Links:
Tea Blending - Wikipedia
Wellness Tea
Teaopia
Republic of Tea
Twinings Canada
Twinings UK
Jackson of Piccadilly
Distinctly Tea
Stash Tea
Tazo

Purveyors of Fine Tea

Purveyors of Fine Tea

To quote C.S. Lewis again "You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." I truly do love tea, in many of its varieties and forms. I love a nice big mug of hot tea or an iced tea to cool things down. Most of the time I drink my tea neat, but occasionally with honey. But until recently finding high quality loose leaf teas in Ontario was often a challenge. It was usually small independent sellers, or retailers who imported a few varieties from different purveyors. Yet with that said, here are my favourite manufacturers of tea in a very specific order. I will provide some history and info on each.

Teaopia
Teaopia is a Canadian company founded by David Bellisario and all stores are currently corporately owned. Teaopia opened its first store at Erin Mills Town Centre (Mississauga, ON) in 2005 and have been opening up Teaopia locations across Canada ever since. Teaopia sells more than a 100 varieties of premium loose leaf tea, and herbal blends. Their famous teas and custom blends are perfect for any tea connoisseur or the first time tea drinker. One item that makes their teas so convenient is the Tea Master, which provides a simple and effective way of brewing any variety of tea, and rebrewing it a second or third time. One sales associate told me in store that some teas actually release more antioxidants on the second steeping. Teaopia really is committed to providing the best products at a reasonable price and with convenient locations. The staff seems to be knowledgeable and friendly. The only inconsistency I have noticed is the price of bar drinks, if you ask for extra Matcha or a custom blend. Also because the stores are so popular, I have yet to receive a stale product. The other great advantage is that with the chain expanding so quickly you can find a store near you and try a cup before you buy if you are uncertain about a specific tea; also every store I have been to has either 2 or 4 teas of the day brewing with free samples. Some even have more brewing right at the counter for you to try.

Republic of Tea
The Republic of Tea is a company that markets organic and exotic teas from around the world. The Republic of Tea was founded in 1992 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler with Bill Rosenzweig. The company is based in Novato, California, but with its major production facility in Nashville, Illinois. The founders of the company authored a book detailing their exchanges while conceiving the company. In 1994, the founders sold the company to Ron Rubin under whom the company has grown into a leader in specialty tea sales. Even if you do not purchase often, their mail order catalogues are wonderful.
The Republic of Tea designates its employees as ministers, customers as citizens and retail outlets as embassies. It was one of the first companies to specialize in retail varieties such as red tea, white tea, and tea seed oil to American consumers. I find that the teas from the Republic are wonderful but without mail ordering across the border harder to find in Canada. I have dealt with a few different retailers who carry them for a time, but all seem to stop. The other disadvantage is you have to buy full tins of either loose leaf or bagged tea, and if you don't like it, pass it on to someone else to try.

Stash Tea
The Stash Tea Company is a privately-held tea company which is now headquartered in Tigard, a suburb of Portland Oregon. Stash Tea originally operated out of a Victorian style house, and specialized in supplying loose herbal teas and herbs to natural food stores; it was founded by partners Stephen Lee and Tom Mesher. However in 1972, the company started to sell bagged teas and then began to market a full line of teas through an order catalog. Then in 1993, Stash was acquired by the Yamamotoyama Tea Company. Stash Tea has been enjoying steady growth and has become one of the largest specialty tea companies in the United States that markets its products through foodservice, grocery stores, tea and coffee shops, natural foods stores, mail order and over the Internet. It has a mail order catalog with more than 200 teas.


Twinings UK and Twinings Canada
For many years Twinings of London was my favourite purveyor of tea, but two factors changed that, and though I still really enjoy a few of their teas I do not go out of my way to get them or to try new offerings. First, finding their tea in a loose leaf format, other than 5 or 6 common varieties at the grocery store, has become harder and harder. Second, even though they state that some of their blends have not changed, many bloggers and commentators say they have; either that or their quality has eroded. But back to the Twinings Company. The founder of Twinings, Thomas Twining, opened the first known tea room, at 216 Strand, London, in 1706, which is still in operation today. The logo originally created in 1787 is one of the world's oldest in continuous use. Twinings is a holder of a Royal Warrant, and has been owned by Associated British Foods since 1964. Twinings sells a variety of regional and flavoured teas such as Irish Breakfast, Lady Grey and Darjeeling, as well as herbal infusions, coffee, and hot chocolate. It is claimed by the company that it was the first to blend Earl Grey in Britain during the premiership of Charles, 2nd. Earl Grey, however this is disputed by rival tea merchants Jacksons of Piccadilly, which is wholly owned by Twinings.

Jackson of Piccadilly
Jackson of Piccadilly is owned by Twinings, but operated as a separate business line, much as Starbucks owns and operates Seattle's Best Coffee. Jacksons of Piccadilly is a longstanding London tea house, founded by Robert Jackson in 1815. It has earned an impressive collection of Royal Warrants, from Queen Victoria, King George V and various other royals through the 19th and 20th centuries. The company also claims to have invented the "original" recipe for Earl Grey tea. When I was at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, I frequented two shops for many of my tea purchases, Cooke's Old World Shop, and Tara's Health Foods. Both carried an impressive variety of bagged and loose leaf tea from manufacturers and custom blends. I especially like to keep on hand Russian Tea from Jackson's selection and often tried other varieties. I liked the tins and found the tea worth the time. I have not seen any of their loose tea in years. But it was once among my favourites.

Tazo
The Tazo Tea Company was founded in 1994 by Steve Smith (who retired from Tazo in 2006) along with his business partners Stephen Lee and Tom Mesher. It is stated that Smith used his corporate connections within the food services industry to convince many restaurants, food stores, and tea houses to carry the new Tazo Teas. Smith approached Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 1998, seeking further investment partners, and was very successful, for Tazo was purchased by Starbucks in 1999 for $8.10 million. In Canada Tazo teas are available at a variety of locations, Starbucks included. The interesting thing is Starbucks does not carry the full Tazo line, and some of the varieties carried at Starbucks are not available in other retail or grocery stores. About 5 years back Tazo was my favourite tea, even though it meant drinking mostly bagged tea. But 2 years ago right around the time I was introduced to Teaopia, I had numerous issues with Tazo teas including 4 bags bursting while steeping, in 2 days. I have not bought any of their teas since, except when in a location that serves it, so as much as I like their teas I just do not keep any at home or work anymore.

Articles in this Series:
0. Tea Tea Everywhere - Teaopia Mad Hatter Tea Party
1. Tea an Overview
2. Red Teas
3. Green Teas
4. White Teas
5. Black Teas
6. Matcha Tea
7. Yerba Mate
8. Fruit Blends
9. Wellness Blends
10. Herbal Teas
11. Purveyors of Fine Tea (my preferences.)
12. Custom Blending
13. My Favourite Teas

Links:
Tea Association of Canada
Teaopia
Republic of Tea
Twinings Canada
Twinings UK
Jackson of Piccadilly
Stash Tea
Tazo

Sunwing - Kenneth Oppel

Sunwing
Kenneth Oppel (blog)
Harper Collins
ISBN 9780006481713

The first book in this series, Silverwing, won 11 awards; this book won 8. It continues the saga of Shade a young silverwing bat. He has been in search of his father. He believes it is linked to the silver bands he has been tagged with and that his father was also tagged with. He discovers a mysterious forest inside a human building with plenty of bugs to eat, fresh water and thousands of bats. It is also a haven, free from the tyranny of birds, and especially owls. Yet his friends are not so sure it is the place to be.

He and his friends are soon swept up into a world they could never have imagined, transported to Latin America and the jungles. They soon become embroiled with the Vampyrum Spectrum bats and their king Goth. The little silverwing with heart, busts battle bats with 3 foot wing spans and other animals and creatures formerly unknown to him. Can Shade unite rats, small bats and even owl's in a battle against Goth who is trying to turn the world into eternal night? The story woven around mythology and legends and actual animal behaviour is wonderful to read - it is a page turner and you will not be able to put it down.

Silverwing
Sunwing
Firewing
Darkwing

Herbal Teas

Herbal Teas

Herbal Tea, defined as any tisane, or ptisan is an herbal infusion not made from the leaves of the tea bush. Therefore herbal tea is really a misnomer because it is the absence of tea that makes it herbal, but common usage has now made it acceptable. Herbal teas can be made from fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds, roots or fruits by pouring boiling water over the plant parts and letting it steep. Because of that a number of articles in this series are really about herbal teas, the articles on: Red Teas, Yerba Mate, Fruit Blends and Wellness Blends are really articles on specific kinds of herbal teas. So check them out for more specific information.

Articles in this Series:
0. Tea Tea Everywhere - Teaopia Mad Hatter Tea Party
1. Tea an Overview
2. Red Teas
3. Green Teas
4. White Teas
5. Black Teas
6. Matcha Tea
7. Yerba Mate
8. Fruit Blends
9. Wellness Blends
10. Herbal Teas
11. Purveyors of Fine Tea (my preferences.)
12. Custom Blending
13. My Favourite Teas

Links:
Herbal Tea - Wikipedia
Wellness Tea
Teaopia
Republic of Tea
Twinings Canada
Twinings UK
Jackson of Piccadilly
Distinctly Tea
Stash Tea
Tazo