I'm skipping way ahead with this one because I'm drinking it right now, at the right temperature because I have a temperature controlled kettle, and it's gooooood.

Tea and the Gang have their blends as characters for the most part (the new ones aren't yet branded, including the Strawberry Daiquiri I had a while back.) This one's descriptions is Jasmine Dragon Pearls, which are basically instead of tea as loose leaves, the green tea is curled up into little balls and infused in jasmine. Jasmine tea is a love, so I had high hopes for this one.

Also, I just showed it to my mother and that was a nice bonding moment because she just went back to her home country for a holiday, and she bought some jasmine dragon pearls before she left to give to a Buddhist teacher she knew.

Ingredients: Green tea infused in jasmine flowers

Brewing notes: 80°C for 3 mins on the first cup.

Tasting notes:
Verdict: I said last time that jasmine tea was the only green tea I'd found that was more than the sum of its parts. That's still true, and I still adore it - it's so soothing.
Lessons Learned: Jasmine tea still very good.

I preface this by saying that I've never tried sangria, so I have no point of comparison.

Ingredients: Hibiscus, Apple Pieces, Rosehip, Orange Peel, Cardamom, Lime Peel, Natural Flavouring

Brewing notes: Definitely drank this over a series of 4 hot cups. 100°C, because I had a temperature control kettle at the time.

Tasting notes:
Verdict: The spice came through alongside the fruit. It was... probably better if the weather was colder, because it was still quite warm when I was drinking this, but it was very warming. Despite my low spice tolerance in general (see incoming Ginger Beer 'nope nope nope' review), it was a good one!.
Lessons Learned: Spice is... sometimes warming and good. Cardamom is warming and not that bad. Also, sangria is not something I want to try in alcohol, but okay in tea.

It has been... a while since I actually drank this tea, so we get things through the haze of memory (I really should start doing them when I drink them, lol. I was good about it until I wasn't! But I want to keep a record, at least.)

Ingredients: Apple Pieces, Hibiscus, Rosehip, Air-Dried Pineapple (Pineapple, Sugar), Orange Peel, Natural Flavouring

Tasting notes: I think I drank this one hot once and then cold brewed the rest of it. Added a bit of sugar both times.
Verdict: T'was perfectly fine. Didn't hate it, didn't love it, but mostly fine.
Lessons Learned: Most fruit teas are good enough, and some of them are stronger than others, but most of them are basically just fine. Also, I'm getting used to the tart taste of hibiscus.

she who brings the sun (3976 words) by scientistsinistral
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tartaglia | Childe/Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact), Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact) & Original Child Character(s)
Characters: Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact), Original Child Character(s)
Additional Tags: Parents Tartaglia | Childe and Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact), Newborn Children, Domestic Fluff, Soft Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), Tartaglia | Childe Loves Tartaglia | Childe's Family (Genshin Impact)
Summary:

Tartaglia sits beside Lumine as he holds his newborn daughter for the first time.
He promptly becomes an emotional puddle on the floor, and comes to some realisations about how his life is going to be from now on.

warmth (3013 words) by scientistsinistral
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kamisato Ayato/Thoma
Characters: Kamisato Ayato, Thoma (Genshin Impact)
Additional Tags: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Old Age, Old Married Couple, Cuddling & Snuggling, Feeding, (non sexual ayato's just old and wants thoma to literally feed him his breakfast), rated m because ayato also kept making nsfw references
Summary:

As Ayato grows old, he finds there seems nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of breakfast made specially by an equally warm and tender husband.

(or, two old men having a moment in the morning, before the day begins and they can just be together.)

I haven't uploaded publicly to AO3 in a month and it's because all my fic efforts are hidden for exchanges. But I wanted my first Genshin fic to mark for my 100 fandom and 100 ships challenges to be for Ayato/Thoma, because I do adore them.

Rated M because my brain's hung up on the last thing I wrote, and old man!Ayato kept making innuendos when he talked on page.

This one was a case of fruit tisanes actually having some flavour!

Ingredients: Strawberry pieces, kiwi pieces, apple pieces, hibiscus, rose hip, orange, lemon, flavouring.

Brewing notes
I cold brewed this first, actually, using up most of the pack to get a good flavour. Because of the large pieces, I could just put it in a covered jug with water and then strain out the fruit pieces when it came to drink.

I also hot brewed it at 100 degrees to see if that would be nice as well.

Tasting notes:
Verdict: Either way, it was quite nice - still smelled sweeter than it tasted, so I ended up putting sugar in both tests, which didn't really work with the cold brew since it didn't dissolve and just sat at the bottom of the cup. A subdued but still present fruit flavour, with both the strawberry and kiwi being tastable.

Lessons Learned: Give fruit tisanes a shot both ways?

This was the week I got a bit bored with the films, and started watching more television series instead. Which isn't a bad thing! It's nice to switch things up.

( Yuri!! on Ice )

( Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood )

( I Medici )

( Pinocchio (1940) )

swift strike (288 words) by scientistsinistral
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hermes (Hades Video Game)
Additional Tags: Character Study
Summary:

your attack is faster.
Hermes is known for his speed - it comes handy in a pinch - so he'd like for his cousin to have the same blessing.

Apparently 'god of swiftness' means writing the shortest one yet. What can I say; Hermes doesn't seem to be one to mince his words.

This one took me three attempts to get right.
Ingredients: Sri Lankan black tea, white chocolate, cacao peel, vanilla pieces, dried beetroot, pomegranate flowers, sunflowers, marigold flowers, flavouring (contains dairy).


The first time I brewed it straight and then fell asleep. It doesn't taste very nice when cold.
Despite this, the next time I brewed it at 80 degrees and then added half a cup of milk, which tasted alright, but from the colour I could tell it wasn't strong enough.
The third time, brewed it straight at 100 degrees, added a little bit of milk and sugar, and that was very nice. Kinda like a three bears situation.

Tasting notes:
Verdict: Once I did get it right, it was very nice. Could taste the richness of the black, with the sweetness and taste of the cocoa underneath.

Lessons Learned: Don't substitute the temperature for blacks, 100 degrees and milk is the way to go because if you do 80, it won't infuse strong enough.

You know what, I'm nixing the 'Would I drink it again?' category, because let's be real, I have so much tea that most things are not getting repeat bought unless they're literal nectar. If I call it nice, assume I've probably finished the packet.

It's been a couple of weeks! I went on holiday with no Internet, then immediately came home and got sick again, so haven't felt like posting. But I've watched a few things in that time!

Tolkien (film)
Been meaning to watch this one for a while, since it came out a few years ago, so when I saw it on the TV on holiday, I spent an afternoon watching it. I really enjoyed the parts about Tolkien's youth and friendship with the TCBS - the group had a wonderful brotherhood dynamic. Less impressed by the romance and the war scenes - which is odd, because I normally really like war films.

The True History of the Kelly Gang (film)
Tolkien set me on a Nicholas Hoult kick, because this always happens when an actor is attractive. So next, I watched The True History of the Kelly Gang, which I'd seen around after getting into 1917 but never seen. It... was a bit too gritty for my liking, which I should have known from the outset, but I do understand the complexity and the appeal.

Rebel in the Rye
Another Nicholas Hoult film, this one is a biopic of the life of JD Salinger, the reclusive author famous for his novel Catcher in the Rye. I studied that book at age 14 in school, and like most books studied in school, I didn't really like it. (Also the fact that that book is the epitome of the teenage male experience, or so I am told by every boy I've ever talked to about it, and I was in a class of 14/15 year old girls who just thought Holden was a twat.)

The biopic itself was... subpar? It has its moments, and it also has its long stretches where nothing much happened and I found myself drifting away. It was interesting to know a bit more about Salinger's life, though my opinion of the man himself from that is also rather subpar.

Equals (2015 film)
The last of the Nicholas Hoult Watching (for this week, because I do have Mad Max: Fury Road queued up to watch at some point.) This film is about a futuristic world where no one has emotions, and having emotions is seen as a disease and treated in stages like cancer, and people who have it tend to be isolated and ostracized and eventually taken to a facility where they're 'treated'/secluded. This was 2015, but after COVID I'm mostly just laughing at the whole premise, because it's a) overdone and b) seems off given the seven years since it released. But they didn't have the foresight back then, so...

It's about a guy who falls in love with a girl he works with despite everything, and how they have to deal with that. Which is fine, if the chemistry wasn't very eh. The aesthetics of the film were also the greyest, whitest thing I've ever seen, which works thematically but does not make for interesting watching.

There's also letterboxd review that says that they made Kristen Stewart play a M/F relationship whilst giving her the queerest haircut, which isn't wrong.

Medici: Masters of Florence - 1x06
Continuing with this! More political drama in Florence, and relationship drama for the Medicis. At this point, I'm mostly watching for the pretty costumes. And Piero & Lucrezia, the former of which is just Trying His Best Even Though He Fails 99% of the Time, and the latter of whom got trapped in a tricky situation with her mother-in-law because of her father-in-law which she didn't deserve because it wasn't her fault at all.

Still gonna finish the series though, beacuse the aesthetics are still gorgeous and I want to watch the other two seasons after this.