Tea a tea

Since the new year started, I've been pretty busy at work and yoga and weekends are my only escape. Back at the secret garden, we replanted flowers and weeded the chilli patches. D is busy laying the grounds for new pipes that'd bring water to the other end of the garden, so we don't have to wheelbarrel buckets of water or waste time dragging the water hose over.

We're also pleased with 2 additions to the team - the cheerful W and her precocious 10 year-old daughter S - both in matching yellow boots. S guessed that I was 20 (good guess, babe ;) while W sighed in jest that she's turning 40. S nonchalantly replied: 'But mom, they say that women are in their prime at 40.' We giggled. Hallelueh.

Just over the weekend, W organised a birthday party for S at the garden and it was a delightful picnic attended by her friends and family. Donald gave a tour of the mangroves while the rest of the volunteers took up different assignments that please us. I busied myself with trimming the four mulberry trees, which will help them to flourish further.

Left with a big pile of leaves, I lugged them home and was inspired to turn them into tea. It's not entirely impossible, I imagined, as I had seen and tasted mulberry tea at an organic farm in Laos. So I looked up its website and true enough, there were basic descriptions on making tea out of the freshly-plucked leaves (except they left out how long one needs to boil the leaves, or how fine one should cut them). Anyway as a first-time recipe tester, I experimented with the steps and got it right the first time! Yipeee. Here goes:

Carla's Marvelous Mulberry Tea (organic)

Ingredients:
Fresh mulberry leaves

Method:
1. Wash the freshly picked leaves thoroughly.
2. After washing, cut them into thin slices (remove the stalky bits) and then simmer them in water over low heat for 6-7mins, just enough to soften the leaves.
3. Rinse the leaves in cold water and strain / remove any excess water gently without crushing leaves.
4. Dry or 'fire' the leaves in small batches by carefully stirring and separating them by hand over low heat to ensure even heating. **I found that using the hands, as opposed to using chopsticks, to handfire the leaves also allows me to feel the texture of the leaves as they slowly crisp and turn dark green.
5. Allow to cool before storing in airtight containers. To serve, pour hot water over a tablespoon heap of leaves and let it steep for at least 5mins. **I like my marvelous mulberry tea with raw sugar or honey, yums!

Mulberry tea is very healthy and contains lots of antioxidants to fight cancer, prevent diabetes and heart disease. Like green tea, it also has slimming effects. For your dose, you know where to find me :)

New Zeal Land

I can't think of a better way to kickstart the new year. The 12 days in New Zealand were incredible; it's much more beautiful than I could imagine. A kind of raw ancient natural beauty that touches the soul. The Golden Light Celebration was an apt way to explore the country on our spiritual journey together and open up our hearts to download light and love during meditations at different sacred sites. At times, it feels like the journey is a movie in the making - a mixed bag of characters with each unique gifts to bring to the mission.

There were our spiritual guides and tour organisers - the lovely inspiring Yvette (3 weeks from delivery!), her effervescent and loving husband Barney, his best friend 'man-of'the-land' Karlos (nicknamed Jesus cos of his resemblance), Mic, Yin, Sista, me (all from Spore), L. Yen (Malaysia), Def (Turkey), her husband Crist aka Christ (Germany/ USA), Chika, Izu, her son JY and her sis M (all from Japan).

We started from the wonderful Auckland - aka the City of Sails - and packed in a host of activities and sights touring the North Central Island, from Hamilton to the sulphur town of Rotorua, to the gorgeous Bay of Plenty.

We swam in lakes and bays, gawked at majestic volcanoes and gushing rivers, dipped in thermal mud baths, hot springs and waterfalls - and felt the magic of nature in all these places. NZ is simply too big; it'd take 1 to 2 months to explore it thoroughly. Even B who lives there hasn't explored the whole country. Many people said the South Island is more stunning and majestic with its mountainous range. But locals said the 2 islands' beauty just differs in mere degrees. In any case I know I will be back soon with L. He's extremely envious from looking at my foto but is equally spurred to plan a trip to NZ.