Sadly, this is the last of the teas I’m reviewing for MastersTeas.com. It’s been so fun to taste the different teas, especially since they’re such high quality and have such complex flavors. Today I’m reviewing Shincha Genmaicha . From the website: Our 2020 Genmai Cha is a lovely early spring version, with fine roasted and puffed rice perfectly in balance with the sweet, tender young leaves. The nuttiness of the rice accentuates the soft umami notes of the tea with hints of crispness in the finish. Unlike the affordable luxury it has become today, historically, tea was a pricey commodity. The Japanese peasants found it difficult to afford much tea and would mix it with roasted rice, which was abundant and cheap. Thus, they were able to squeeze more cups from the same amount of leaves. A recipe born of poverty, Genmai Cha has acquired an uptown chic and is now a favorite of urban dwellers in Japan and the West. This tea contains a moderate level of caffeine Steep at 170° for...

Photo credit: lalalime.blogspot.com I asked God to make me a prayer warrior, and I realized I was missing out on the chance to pray for all of you, my online friends! So how can I pray for you? I will try to remember to post this at least once a month so I can pray for you. Prayer requests can sometimes be private things, so to keep your privacy, I’ve made a form you can fill out that will keep your requests just between you and me. Also please be sure to fill out the form again to update me if you sent me a prayer request in the past. I’d love to hear how you’re doing. Loading…

I’ve been reviewing some tea samples I got from MastersTeas.com and I’m finally getting to the two Japanese green teas. I’m so excited! Today I’m reviewing Shincha Sencha . From the website: The very first plucking of the first harvest of the year is known as Shincha and is highly prized in Japan. While Sencha has a tendency to be quite brothy with strong umami notes the earliest harvests can be much lighter with hints of sweetgrass. Our 2020 Shincha Sencha is a light, layered cup. The nutty notes of umami hit your mid-palate, while delicate apricot lingers on in the finish. Elegant and lovely. In the Japanese tea tradition, the texture of the tea itself is extremely important. At the end of the tea making process, the tea master will carefully blend in tiny, broken up 'tea dust' to give the finished cup more body and richness. You can actually see these particles when you scoop out your tea. You also see them in your cup - Sencha should have a lovely, slightly cloudy ...

Just a reminder, the prices of Who I Want to Be ebook and print book go up again next week Wednesday! For a limited time, my Matthew devotional book,  Who I Want to Be , is only $0.99 for the ebook and $3.94 for the print book, which is the minimum marketplace price! Buy  Who I Want To Be  in  Kindle ,  iBooks , and  Kobo  ebook formats, and buy print books on  Amazon . If you already bought the ebook, the ebook versions now have my pastor's foreword, so be sure to update your copies from wherever you bought them. The print version already has the foreword. This sale is in celebration of the Japanese language version of the devotional, titled  本当の私に , which just released. I am very excited to have my devotional translated into Japanese and available to Japanese women who may be interested in Jesus Christ. If you know anyone who might be interested in this devotional book in Japanese, please do point them to the  Japanese section o...

My friend Audrey Appenzeller is friends with some missionaries in Japan. They told her about this podcast, which she passed on to me: ”They also mentioned that a fellow Pioneers worker to Japan is currently in the US and started a Christian lifestyle podcast in Japanese. If you know people who might be interested, feel free to pass along the link below. This person is planning to release a new episode every Tuesday.” The website is https://anchor.fm/teatimewithuspod Here’s a (cleaned up) translation of the home page (thanks to Deepl): Welcome to the “Teatime with us” podcast. “Teatime with us” is where Jessica, an American, and Nao, a Japanese, discuss a variety of everyday topics during teatime. It's a Christian Lifestyle Podcast to chat in a casual atmosphere like ☕ ️Whenever you're on your way to work or school, while cleaning up, or maybe during your 3 o'clock teatime, feel free to listen to try it. We will see you at our next teatime! This would be great for a...

I made my original Comfortable Cotton Skirt with a simple eyelet round at the bottom, but this one has a simple antique garter stitch lace edging, “Edging to Trim the Body and Sleeves” on page 43 of the book New Guide to Knitting and Crochet , published in 1847. You can download a free ebook copy of the book here . The edging was originally to trim a Baby’s Knit Body, but I have no idea what that is. :P If you do, please do leave a comment. I also changed the hip increases to 4 distinct darts rather than 8 sections, but if you prefer the hip increases from my original Comfortable Cotton skirt, you can substitute that. Like the original Comfortable skirt, this one is cotton for summer, and loose for casual wear. It has a little positive ease and is only slightly flared. The waist is drawstring rather than elastic so that I can loosen it on my fat days or after pigging out at my favorite restaurant. This pattern/recipe is for my size, but there are instructions at the bottom for...

Okay, full disclosure, Sawano Hiroyuki is my #1 favorite composer, so I buy almost everything he’s released, even if I have to order the CDs from Amazon Japan. But his RE/MEMBER album is actually on iTunes, which I was pretty stoked about. This song, Remember , is what I’ve been listening to a lot the past couple weeks. There’s something just really upbeat and happy about it that’s made me feel great while I’m working. It’s a combination of English and Japanese lyrics. 手を止めた一秒で変わるはずないと 気を緩めた後ろで連れ添う音が逃げていく oh, oh 君は黙って見ていた 破けたページの所為で先が読めないように このまま一つの物語抱いて エンドロール見返してても人が過ぎていくだけ 大人の言い訳にもたれ掛かる前に remember Let it shine! I will never give it up All the spirit is gonna let it fly 強がった日の言葉が錆びた夢の体をまだ支えている Running circles around what is mine I'm getting closer as I move in time Wow-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, wow-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Let' em know! Oh, let it shine! Oh, let it shine my friend! そう 誰の弱さも前に繋げる You remember, purest heart? And the beauty of the colors Wow-oh-oh-oh-oh-...