Some new items to play with
Honest, I do have some more posts written, but I wanted to take a break from them today to show off some new tea ware I got.
Hopefully you have read my blog long enough to recognize the tea box. I wanted a bigger one now that I know I like using them. I didn't take a picture of the other side of the box, but this one has a plastic drawer that slides in and out for collecting and disposing of water.
I also wanted to try a kyusu - a Japanese style tea pot with a handle that comes straight out the side. I was hoping to buy a set that included the tea pot, serving bowl, and cups. As it turns out, the full sets they had on Amazon were ugly. I mean REALLY ugly. I did find some Korean tea sets were similar, and looked nicer. I found that I would be able to save about 10% of what Amazon was charging and order directly from the seller in Canada to get one of those sets. I still had to pause though. It would be $50 with shipping, and I had never used one of these tea pots before. The website also came off as a little odd. All the reviews posted were from several years ago, and the Chinese tea ware section was basically all sold out. As an aside, they also had an absolutely beautiful Japanese kuysu tea set, but it was $250 plus shipping. NOT going to happen. Especially since work is talking about pay cuts and layoffs to deal with the financial impact of COVID-19. So, I decided to get a teapot of this style to try out.
Finally, you may have noticed that my tea pet family has expanded yet again. I wanted some small tea pets to use with my small tea box. I had thought about some of the smaller tea pet Buddhas, but they were expensive. The other candidates were the good luck pigs. Given where I live, the pigs seem appropriate.
I measured out the dimensions (in centimeters) for my new tea pot to figure out if it would be small enough for my hand. A lot of them are bigger, and you are supposed to pour these one handed by wrapping your fingers around the long handle, and placing the thumb of the same hand on the knob of the lid to keep it on and closed while pouring. When I got the tea pot and unwrapped it, it did look smaller than I expected, however it does hold a lot of water. The description says 200 ml which is a little over 3/4 cup. I find that my 8 oz bowls work well for sipping my tea.
What is the occasion for buying some new tea ware? Well, I'm turning the big 4-0. I had originally thought I should take a special trip somewhere to celebrate, but that was quickly changed by the pandemic. So, I decided to blow my money on tea ware instead.
Honest, I do have some more posts about how people drink tea around the world, and I will start posting them again, but I had to take a self indulgent diversion today. Now to get dressed and go to town because the art museum opened up again, and they held over the impressionism exhibit I wanted to see. Hopefully their mandatory mask policy is being followed!
Hopefully you have read my blog long enough to recognize the tea box. I wanted a bigger one now that I know I like using them. I didn't take a picture of the other side of the box, but this one has a plastic drawer that slides in and out for collecting and disposing of water.
I also wanted to try a kyusu - a Japanese style tea pot with a handle that comes straight out the side. I was hoping to buy a set that included the tea pot, serving bowl, and cups. As it turns out, the full sets they had on Amazon were ugly. I mean REALLY ugly. I did find some Korean tea sets were similar, and looked nicer. I found that I would be able to save about 10% of what Amazon was charging and order directly from the seller in Canada to get one of those sets. I still had to pause though. It would be $50 with shipping, and I had never used one of these tea pots before. The website also came off as a little odd. All the reviews posted were from several years ago, and the Chinese tea ware section was basically all sold out. As an aside, they also had an absolutely beautiful Japanese kuysu tea set, but it was $250 plus shipping. NOT going to happen. Especially since work is talking about pay cuts and layoffs to deal with the financial impact of COVID-19. So, I decided to get a teapot of this style to try out.
Finally, you may have noticed that my tea pet family has expanded yet again. I wanted some small tea pets to use with my small tea box. I had thought about some of the smaller tea pet Buddhas, but they were expensive. The other candidates were the good luck pigs. Given where I live, the pigs seem appropriate.
I measured out the dimensions (in centimeters) for my new tea pot to figure out if it would be small enough for my hand. A lot of them are bigger, and you are supposed to pour these one handed by wrapping your fingers around the long handle, and placing the thumb of the same hand on the knob of the lid to keep it on and closed while pouring. When I got the tea pot and unwrapped it, it did look smaller than I expected, however it does hold a lot of water. The description says 200 ml which is a little over 3/4 cup. I find that my 8 oz bowls work well for sipping my tea.
What is the occasion for buying some new tea ware? Well, I'm turning the big 4-0. I had originally thought I should take a special trip somewhere to celebrate, but that was quickly changed by the pandemic. So, I decided to blow my money on tea ware instead.
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| Since my apartment doesn't allow pets (and the landlord's wife is allergic to cats), I can't turn into the old cat lady, so I guess I'll have to turn into the old tea pet lady. At least I'm not drinking alone any more. I have a whole menagerie of tea pets for company now! |
Happy birthday! Sorry it didn't end up quite the way you hoped, but it's that kind of year.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is I'm terrible at planning trips, so it probably worked out for the better. I did get to see the impressionism exhibit at the art museum. The people working there were really impressed by my matching dress and mask.
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