En Garde. Fencing Practice:...A fun family sport

Gale force winds took their toll; Installed new posts and rails plus a handful of new boards  

Projects around the house... Kitchen UPDATE 12/13/20

Kitchen: small project in process.... NB  just added update, now complete.

Storage Shed: Upgrade Complete....

"Where is it?" ... "It's in THE drawer!"

Afternoon Tea ...

Fresh load of Shu-Pu in the pot:

Wrapper Off and Ready to Open

Tea-Brick Booklet ... Tea Horse Road

1,000 Gram Brick .. Shu Pu-Erh

Tea production, April 2007;  Cooked Pu-Erh 

From: Shu Ang Jiang Hong Jun Cha Chang Rong Yu Chu Pin:

Twin River Red Army Tea Factory Honorable reputation Produced Product.

Now it's time to open and enjoy (anticipation) NB: This is first of two

Book Review: A SONG for the DARK TIMES; by: Ian Rankin

Bottom Line: A disappointing book ... never thought I'd say this about a Rebus novel! Felt as here was a different hand on the typewriter at times ?

UPDATE: 10-30-20  An audiobook version has been uploaded to YouTube .. No fault with the audiobook. Easy listening, well presented. Good voices and pleasing pace. Same conclusions on story and writing.

Rebus the retired copper is moving apartments in the opening of the story to a ground floor flat, due to ill health, assisted by trusted friend Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke.

With a dog named Brillo to mind and boxes — including stacks of old case files — to unpack. The murder of a wealthy Saudi student in Edinburgh, followed by a mysterious missing person case, one with a close family connection to Rebus, has him heading to the Scotland Highlands to investigate.

Rankin’s plot jumps between the two cases, like a Scottish gale, with Clarke and team investigating the murder — the case touches on recent real-world events such as Brexit, anti-immigrant violence and the murder of Adnan Khashoggi. Rebus, meanwhile, attempts to mend fences with his partially estranged daughter, Samantha, as he searches for her missing partner and probes possible links to a local commune and an abandoned World War Two internment camp.

The Rebus of “A Song for the Dark Times” is a slightly diminished one — he is drinking less, nor do we find him sparring with local Edinburgh gangster Big Ger Cafferty, though he does play a role in the drama. The retired detective is a wee bit less enjoyable to read, but he is a familiar character with whom the reader will feel comfortable.  Rebus is still the dogged investigator, able to make intuitive leaps about the dark places that inhabit the human soul and lead some to commit murder, whether in the distant past or in more recent times.

The "professional pundits" provided high praise reviews ....  see various web sites.

New Dust Jackets: Oct.12th. Update

 Oct. 12th. Book Arrived ... :-) 

New Book on Order .. Release Oct 2020 (USA Dust Jacket artwork will differ)

Kiroku Tea Garden: Rare teas in: WAZUKA, KYOTO Prefecture

Japan’s history with tea goes back 1,200 years, when it is believed the monk Saicho brought back the first tea seeds from China at the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-906). Kyoto, Japan’s first major tea-producing region and the spiritual heart of Japanese tea ceremony, is still famed as one of the finest tea-growing areas in the country. Its southern Wazuka region, nestled next to Uji, accounts for approximately 50 percent of the prefecture’s tea production.

Wazuka is well known for its mountain tea fields, whose terraced slopes and fog make for the perfect conditions for growth. Someone who knows the town’s centuries-long history better than most is Megumi Hori, the fifth-generation owner of; Kiroku Tea Garden: “Almost 100 years ago, my great-grandfather came to the mountains here in Wazuka and cleared the forest for our farm. Back then there were no cars or machinery. Early every morning he would walk to the mountain to clear it by hand. It took him five years,” Hori says.

Sourdough .. Home Baked ...

Very OLD story:  

Why do Bakers knead the dough? "Because they need the doe."

A "Peerless" "甲 天 下" Session

"Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake: On Line Review

You-Tube review by:

Scott & Xiao Yao Drink the 2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9lCm8g7mE&t=0s

New Tea Arrived:....

2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake

Japanese brewed with some tea-tinged idioms

Due to decades of お茶離れ (ocha-banare, a departure from tea) thanks to the popularity of coffee, I’m worried that us お茶好き (ocha-zuki, tea lovers) are becoming a minority.

Still, no matter the numbers, お茶 (ocha, tea) has seeped into the broader Japanese culture. So much so that we call it 日本茶 (Nihoncha, Japanese tea). For example, I reckon that most people know that now is the time for 新茶 (shincha, tea leaves from this year’s earliest harvest), a seasonal delicacy that appears in tea stores between May and July.

Besides appearing in the nation’s pots and cups, お茶 pops up in the language all the time. For example, 日常茶飯事 (nichijō sahanji, everyday occurrence) uses the kanji for both 茶 (cha) and 飯 (han, rice), both iconic staples of the Japanese diet. We might say, そんなことは日常茶飯事です (sonna koto wa nichijō sahanji desu, such a thing happens every day) to reassure a friend that something is no big deal as it happens all the time.

The phrase お茶の子さいさい (ocha no ko sai-sai) is a cute way of saying something is a “piece of cake,” while 臍で茶を沸かす (heso de cha o wakasu, brewing tea on one’s navel) is a way to describe something that’s utter nonsense: 8月までに10キロ痩せるなんて臍で茶を沸かすような話だ (Hachi-gatsu made ni jukkiro yaseru nante heso de cha o wakasu yōna hanashi da, It’s nonsense that you think you can lose 10 kilograms by August.)

お茶を濁す (Ocha o nigosu, to cloud the tea) means to deflect the focus of an argument by making vague remarks, and is often used to describe the goings on of politicians: 政治家はお茶を濁すのが上手い (Seijika wa ocha o nigosu no ga umai, Politicians are adept at clouding the tea) is definitely not a compliment.

More of a compliment would be if someone were to ask you a formal “お茶を飲みませんか？” (“ocha o nomimasen ka,” “would you like to have tea with me?”) or a casual “お茶でもどう？” (“ocha demo dō,” “how about some tea?”), both of which were standard pick-up lines in the latter half of the 20th century. Of course, many of the men who asked women this question were after more than tea — unless it was asked by a お茶男子 (ocha danshi, a tea boy).

According to modern media outlets, the お茶男子 is the kind of guy who asks his partner if they would care for tea. It’s quite a role-reversal in Japan, considering that for the longest time women were expected to take care of お茶汲み (ocha-kumi) — meaning they’d make the tea for the men at the office. It is thanks to this tradition that practically every floor of a Japanese office building has a 給湯室 (kyūtōshitsu, office kitchenette).

However, お茶淹れ (ocha-ire, the making of tea) was once the realm of those most alpha of Japanese, the samurai. The ability to do it properly was part of the 武士の嗜み (bushi no tashinami), the necessary accomplishments of a samurai. Maybe that’s why I always felt Japan’s corporate samurai were slightly lacking when compared to the real thing.

Times have changed, though, and these days “お茶しましょう” (“ocha shimashō,” “let’s do tea”) is more likely an invitation to join someone on a walk to the 自動販売機 (jidōhanbaiki, vending machine) than an order to serve the menfolk.

Speaking of which, the Japanese were the first in the world to package 緑茶 (ryokucha, green tea) in disposable containers such as cans (in the 1980s) and PET bottles (in the ’90s) and sell them from 自動販売機. Some nutritionists claim that loading the machines up with 緑茶 instead of soda has helped Japan keep obesity at bay — though studies have shown that the bottled kind is high in additives and calories so it is still wise to control your intake.

Made fresh, however, and 緑茶 is endowed with a host of benefits, such as 体内浄化 (tainai jōka, internal purification) or, in other words, your own personal detox. The drink is also filled with 酸化防止剤 (sanka bōshizai, antioxidants) and is said to 免疫を強化する (men’eki o kyōka suru, strengthen one’s immunity). Not bad during a pandemic.

At the height of summer, 冷茶 (reicha, cold green tea) is a treat, especially in the mornings. In fact, there’s a phrase, 朝茶は七里帰ってでも飲め (asacha wa shichi-ri kaette demo nome), which translates loosely as “it’s worth walking back home seven ‘ri’ to drink your morning tea.” 七里 (shichi-ri) equals out to an astounding 27 kilometers — but seeing as though 緑茶 is so healthy, I reckon it’s doable.

Two similar teas BUT differing taste reactions ... added an UPDATE

Based on my palate/tastes, these two teas provided differing reactions.  Both yield good colour after cumulative infusions. 
The Gong Ting is my choice .. the dry leaves have a pleasing slightly smooth feel. No overt olfactory reactions.  The all important taste: very pleasing with a long pleasing mouth feel in the after-taste. 
The Te Ji falls short with a sour after taste on the middle/front of the tongue. Also the dry leaves have a very dry woody feel.

UPDATE:    Reviewing past tasting notes, I decided on a couple of brewing-blending experiments.  My preference, very satisfactory result is a 1:1 / 50-50 mix of the dry teas and my standard brewing process for loose leaf Shu-Pu ... Now very happy with approx. 80 grams of a custom blend. 

New day.. New Brew

50grm. Sample Two of Two: