Have You Tried Boba Tea?

From what I understand, boba tea, or bubble tea, is this tea drink made from tea, fruit, and small pieces of tapioca. This sounds both amazingly delicious and disgusting, depending upon how you visualize it; after doing a quick search and looking at the photos, I’m inclined to think they just might be the former.

What I’d like to know is if anyone has ever tasted a boba tea and if they are as good as the reviews I’ve read make them seem. I love tea and I absolutely love fruit drinks, but I’m not a big tapioca fan. So would I like this type of drink? I ask because we apparently have a specialty shop that sells them up in St. Louis (it’s in The Loop, so it would be a drive for me), and I really want to try them, but if it’s not worth the trip (gas and cost of the drinks!) I’d be better off getting something delicious at my favorite local place, Katie’s.

Can you ask for the drink without the tapioca (and if so, is it still considered a boba)? Does it even really taste like tapioca? I’m one of those people who hates certain foods—say, onions and tomatoes—with a passion but once they are transformed (crispy, thin onion rings, or ketchup) I really enjoy them, so if the tea changes the taste of the tapioca, then maybe I would like it.

Also, I’ve really only had cheap vanilla tapioca pudding, so who knows? Maybe this kind of tapioca is different and tasty. I’d love to read some reviews and suggestions for types to try for the first time.

Capri Sun and the Juice Box

Our understanding of what it meant for something to be a "nutritional food" changed a lot in the 1980s. It was enough, then, for a beverage to call itself a "fruit juice" for parents to be convinced that it was healthy for their children. A healthy alternative to soda, even!

This is also the era when fat in foods was demonized. I remember laughing at a package of Gummi Bears that proudly declared itself "A fat free food."

And finally, the 1980s were when we began to put a high price on take-away convenience. This was the time of power suits, latchkey kids, and Super Moms. We didn't have time to sit down at the kitchen table and pour a nice glass of juice and sit there and drink it (perhaps while reading the morning paper). We were a nation on the go!

Looking back, it was almost inevitable that Capri Sun and juice boxes would both soar to prominence during this time. Both of these things simply repackaged something that already existed - juice drinks. And when I say "juice drinks" I mean "a beverage which has only a passing familiarity with anything resembling an actual fruit." Most of these drinks had exactly zero percent real fruit juice. If anything they contained a bit of pear juice, which lends beverages a neutral but fruity flavor.

Mostly what they had was sugar, artificial flavors, and artificial colors. And lots of all three!

Capri Sun was more awesome than the juice box, because Capri Sun looked like The Future. Its triangular shape, its shiny foil wrapper, the way it folded flat when you had finished all of your juice - these were all the attributes of something you would find in The Future. We loved The Future in the 1980s. Capri Sun looked like something they would drink on the Space Shuttle. And if memory serves, they had one of many "extreme" ad campaigns. Some business about kids drinking Capri Sun while skateboarding.

The juice box, meanwhile, was a much more prosaic container. Little kids loved juice boxes - or rather, parents loved giving juice boxes to their little kids, because they were virtually un-spill-able. In contrast to Capri Sun, which was its own branded object, the juice box became ubiquitous, with every beverage line having its own juice box version.

Both of these packages supplanted the little cubic plastic milk jugs. These jugs had plastic caps, and were used for beverages from milk to that weird green Kool-Aid-like sugary fluid. The best thing about these jugs (if you were a kid) was that after you finished drinking it, you could put the cap back on, set it on its side on the ground, and stomp on it. POW!!!!

(If you were smart, you did this in the parking lot, where your school principal wouldn't make you mop up the sticky splatters. Or you ran like hell after you did it.)

Both Capri Sun and juice boxes still exist today, in practically their original forms, which is more than we can say from most other products of the 1980s. All hail the power of sugar water!

Photo credit: Flickr/Damien Cox

Alcohol, Hookups, and Date Rape

Stop Yelling About How Drunk You Are

I’d like to give a little bit of a wake-up call to drunk girls everywhere who don’t necessarily want to be date-raped: Do not go around the dorms, campus, the frat house down the street, or the local bar screaming how drunk you are.

We all know the joke about sorority girls, right?

 

Q:  What’s a sorority girl's mating call?

A: I’m so wasted!

The joke about sorority girls (which could apply to girls in the dorms, too) is actually not that funny when you consider that a high number of “hookups”  and approximately 75% of date rapes involve alcohol.

One contributing factor to drunk hookups is that when you are drinking, you are clouding your judgment and putting on your beer goggles to mask the guys’ lesser qualities—which may include the fact that the guy is a total douchebag. A contributing factor to date rape (and no, I’m not blaming the victim) is that when you are obviously drunk and are telling people you are drunk, you are putting yourself at risk. The guys who know they wouldn’t have a chance with you sober are hoping to hook up with you. While that might not be so bad, other guys (who also have extremely clouded judgment when they’re completely wasted) lose their ability to tell right from wrong and are more capable of date rape and of sleeping with a passed out girl when they are drunk.

I know it’s completely unrealistic to expect college students to stop drinking, but there are a few guidelines to follow when drinking to help prevent date rape.

1.     Use a code work for when you are feeling drunk. Instead of yelling, “I’m so wasted!” or “I’m so fucked up!”, try saying you’re happy. Or make up a silly word to use with your friends. (Read HERE how you can use this strategy in your relationships.)

2.     Use the buddy system. Try to drink with friends you trust. Help each other watch out for guys who are on the prowl for wasted girls to prey upon. Alert your friends to any possible douchebags you might spot.

3.     Pace your drinking. Drink less. For each beer you drink, drink a glass of water. Drink lighter beer. Pretend to take drinks during drinking games. (The only guys that are really going to mind if you cheat at drinking games are the same douchebags who you should be watching out for anyway.) The less drunk you are, the less likely you are to make bad decisions about who to talk to.

4.     Have your phone with you at all times, so you can call for help if you need to.

For more info on hookups, drinking, and college sex, read THIS.

The Lush's Hangover Cure

As a lush I try to advise my friends against doing things with alcohol that will make them miserable the next day. I attempt to dissuade them from mixing drinks that will compete with one another, pounding cocktails with high sugar content and going through a night of partying on an empty stomach. But that's the rub with drunk people: They don't listen. We all have nights when we do ill-advised things, no matter how practiced we are at the art of drinking. That's why it's important to have a plan for those likely, though not inevitable, hangovers. Here's my loose collection of best practices for recovering from a night of liver abuse.

1. Hair of the Dog is a Terrible Idea

Treating low-level alcohol poisoning and dehydration (which is what a hangover really is) with more alcohol is a recipe for two things which do not always occur together but are not mutually exclusive: Alcoholism and vomiting. The latter is more likely, especially if you down fool concoctions like Beer and Tomato Juice or anything with a freaking raw egg in it. Even the classic Bloody Mary won't make you feel any better, it'll just further dehydrate you and put long-term stress on your organs. Don't be an idiot. Steer clear of booze when you're hung-over.

 

2. Trust Your Cravings

Some folks will tell you that you'll want to eat greasy food with a hangover. Others will recommend mild, bland things like oatmeal. Everybody's got a different idea of proper hangover food because everybody craves something different when they've got one. Listen to your body on that brutal day after. If it wants a cheap burger from the stand down the street, that's what's for lunch. If it wants a bowl of grapes, then Concords it is. You'll be functioning at a lower level than usual, so it's better to go for instincts over intellect.

 

3. Electrolytes=Friends

Water is all fine and dandy. In fact, if you were smart you would have had a few tall glasses of the stuff before you went to sleep after drinking. But water is only one part of hydration. You're going to need electrolytes, those chemicals that facilitate the transfer of fluids in and out of your body's cells, to make that water count. Just chugging a gallon of H2O isn't going to fix your hangover. You're going to want to go after three of the easier-to-find electrolytes: Sodium, Calcium and Potassium. This is why breakfast is important. Sodium, most commonly found in table salt, goes with everything and can be found in sports drinks, though you'll want to be careful with the Gatorade because of the sugars. Calcium is most easily consumed through milk and is usually added to milk substitutes like soy or nut milk. For Potassium, a banana should do the trick.

 

4. Bed Rest

There's no magic in treating a hangover. You abused your body, so now you need to let it recover. Sleep in, take a midday nap and avoid strenuous activity if at all possible.

 

5. A Shower and Fresh Clothes

This one is mostly for psychological benefit, but there's something about shedding the grime of the night before that makes the road to recovery a lot smoother. If nothing else, being clean will reduce your level of stress and discomfort, which should allow your body to address more pressing issues like over-worked kidneys and imbalanced stomach lining.

Visit Every _____ In Your _____

I recently learned about Vermont 251, which is a club that celebrates people who have visited, or are attempting to visit, all 251 towns in Vermont. The idea was first proposed by a writer for Vermont Life Magazine in the summer of 1954, and it has been going strong ever since.

You don't win anything when you complete your 251. Except for bragging rights, of course! And aside from the warm glow of a difficult job well accomplished, people who complete Vermont 251 have seen everything their state has to offer.

I know someone who is only about 30 towns shy of making her 251. Every few weeks when the weather is nice, she and her boyfriend pack a lunch, a thermos of coffee, and a map of the state and head out to knock another one off her list. She takes photos to document her trips, and posts them to her Flickr stream. Most likely she will finish her task by the end of this year, and what a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Most of us, of course, live in states which are larger or more populated - or both. I live in Washington, one of those big huge squares on the left-hand side of the map. And let me tell you, with the price of gas, there is no way I'm going to try to visit every town in this state. Half of them are on the other side of a rather arduous mountain range, for one thing! And the farthest town, Walla Walla, is about a six hour drive. Each way!

That's a project I'd like to do if I was retired, and either had tons of money, or the price of gas drops considerably. But I'll tell you a goal that's more realistic: visiting every town in my county.

According to Wikipedia, my county has eight incorporated cities and towns, ten census-recognized communities, and 28 "Other communities." Looking over the list I can see at least two "other communities," Fishtown and Skagit City, which are off the list, since they no longer exist. And their former locations are now private property, so that's out. (I like this project, but not enough to get shot for it.)

44 towns is a good number, enough to provide fodder for day trips for at least two years of traveling seasons, personal schedules and weather reports being what they are.

If I still lived in Seattle, I would probably draw my lines closer still. I often idly thought about visiting every neighborhood in Seattle, but I never quite got around to it. Which is a pity because even though I lived in Seattle for over fifteen years, there are still neighborhoods that I have never visited!

That's the main goal of a project like this, of course. We spend so much time treading the same paths back and forth. How easy it can be to overlook the nearby attractions, and what better way to more fully appreciate what's all around us every day.

Rules of a Bar Crawl

A long time ago in the very first city, a walled outcropping of stone long lost to history, someone had the bright idea to start selling alcohol out of a particular building. This was the first bar. Then, somewhere else in the city, somebody else had the same idea and opened up the second bar. People either went to one or the other, whether by proximity or preference, and it went this way for a long time. Then, on a particularly inspired night, a patron at one of the bars convinced his friends to walk with him to the other. This was the first bar crawl. Since then, it has been a time-honored tradition that has transcended culture to make a night of going from one alcohol-serving establishment to another in search of, if nothing else, variety. It is an understatement to say that many mistakes have been made throughout history in this practice. Don't make the mistakes of your forebears. Follow these rules to have a safe, satisfying bar crawl experience.

1. Don't Crawl Blind

Not all bars are created equal. These days, liquor vendors vary greatly in price, atmosphere, clientele and products served, so going in without a plan of attack can lead to some confusion and ugliness. At least one participant in the bar crawl should know the city well enough to navigate the party toward the right establishments and far, far away from the wrong ones. Which leads us to the necessity of...

 

2. Choosing The Right Places

Do not include your favorite bar in your crawl. Do not include your second-favorite. Hell, make a list of your top ten favorite bars in the city and then do everything you can to avoid them on the night of the crawl because you absolutely don't want to drag places that respect you into what is practically guaranteed to be a less than respectable night. Go to bars you've never been to before, go to dives you don't care about, even throw in a bar you absolutely hate so nothing will be lost if your drunk, wandering behavior gets you thrown out.

 

3. Travel With Trust

You may have a lot of people you like to drink with, but that doesn't mean you have a lot of people you should trust in a crawl. The party needs to be composed of (mostly) trustworthy folks who can rely on one another to keep the whole group safe. Remember, you're not just wiling away the night in the confines of a single, stable atmosphere, you're venturing out into the night in progressively deeper states of drunkenness. The last thing you want is a leak in the boat. Also, don't bring a date. They'll want to spend more time with you than with your friends, which will force you to choose between them.

 

4. Stick To One Drink

Just because you're looking for variety in people and places doesn't mean you should be looking for variety in libations. Your ideas are bound to get worse as the night draws on, so do your stomach and your friends' shoes a favor by choosing a drink you like and committing to it for the duration.

 

5. For Heaven's Sake, Eat Something

It doesn't matter when, just that you put something other than alcohol in your stomach some time over the course of the crawl. At the end is usually the best time, as it's clear by that point who's going to get sick and who's going to handle their stuff. Find an all-night diner, an after hours pizza place or even just a convenient hotdog stand and let the party decompress around the timeless satisfaction of comfort food.

Whiskey Me Away

Erin Go Braugh (Drinking, anyway)!

If a pint of Guinness will just not cut it this upcoming St. Patrick's Day, perhaps this fabulous green concoction will be able to keep you in the Irish mood (but who isn't always in the mood to drink anyway?). The Whiskey Me Away (AKA the Irelan-tini) is easy to make when you are already hammered, too, as it consists of only 3 ingredients:

Irish Whiskey (any brand but it better be from Ireland!)

Sour Apple Schnapps (feel free to "cheap out" here)

White Cranberry Juice

Just mix these up in any manner you think tastes the best (2*1*2 ratio seems to be a crowd pleaser), serve, and enjoy!

Bed Bath & Beyond: Beer-by-the-Yard 16-Ounce Glass and Holder - $9.99

FREE Shipping!

Bed Bath & Beyond is offering this awesome, clearance priced, Beer-by-the-Yard 16-Ounce Glass and Holder for only $9.99 with FREE shipping. You could turn your home into a mini-Las Vegas with one of these bad boys and they will be perfect for St. Patricks day, too!

DON'T FORGET: You can also get 2% cash back on this and all of your Bed Bath & Beyond purchases by shopping through MrRebates when placing your order. If you are not already a member of MrRebates it is free to join (you will actually get $5 just for signing up). You can get money back on all of your purchases you place online when using the service. Just make sure to click from MrRebates to the store you want to shop at (there is a list and a search on the site) and watch that cash build up.

Perfect for entertaining, this beer-by-the-yard glass will be a real hit at your next party. This two-piece set will showcase the appearance and provide a generously sized brew. Includes 16-ounce glass in a black wood holder. Hand wash.

Oscar Gold - the drink.

Delicious Academy Awards Punch!

Do you need a really fun Oscar-worthy drink for your fabulous soiree, but, you also don't want to spend a ton of cash? I have got just the drink - the Oscar Gold! This fun drink is as easy to make as it is inexpensive and will almost certainly be a hit! This drink is served much like punch and can be made in advance so you can spend more time drinking with your friends, instead of making drinks for your friends.

To serve 6 single drinks you will need (if you need more than 6 just double or triple everything):

1 bottle of Champagne (the cheap stuff is just fine)

1 can orange juice concentrate (pulp? no pulp? you decide!)

2 - 3 cups tequila to taste (you are so going to be taking off your top tonight!)

Lemon slices (not wedges) to garnish

To prepare: mix all of the ingredients together in a punch bowl or pitchers, serve chilled. Enjoy!

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