Tea-se Me

I am just getting over a rather nasty cold (hopefully the last one of the winter!), but it's such a beautiful day, I thought, even if I'm homebound with the sun shining outside, I can bring a little lovely spring to me!
I have had a bag with Lychee Jasmine flower "performing flower tea" in the tea cupboard, waiting for just such a day.
Argie has had this kind of tea before, at a bubble tea place up in Markham, so I've seen it in action, but that doesnt mean it wasn't as cool doing it at home.
When you put the tea in your cup (I recommend a see-through cup so you can see the action), its a small, dense ball. Slowly it blossoms, and the aroma is lovely as it expands in your cup!
We got this particular kind at a local tea shop in Waterloo, Distinctly Tea.

Spice up your home cookin'

Argie and I live in an apartment building, but we are lucky enough to have a relatively large balcony with our unit (much larger than our TO digs, anyways). This is the time of year I like to start thinking about what I want to have in our balcony garden.
For the most part, we plant edibles, because, well, we're obsessed with food. Its nice to have some flowers in your garden, but to me there's nothing sweeter than the sight of a tiny yellow tomato blossom!
Balcony gardening is challenging, you have to think about space, lighting and keeping things organized. Luckily there are plenty of resources out there that give plenty of advice and inspiration!
There is a definite trend toward greening small urban spaces, and for some ideas on how to get started, check out BalconyGardener ; Urban Gardening ; for the international urban greening movement: City Farmer
For us I like to keep things simple, and fairly low maintenance. My usual balcony suspects are cherry tomatoes, basil, lemonbalm, and mint (although last year we also had bell peppers and even and eggplant!)
Use your imagination then get dirty! The best tomato you will ever taste is the one you grow yourself :)