Real mint: smells a lot better than it tastes

I was so excited. So freaking excited. After a long while, my mom had finally bought me some spearmint tea!

I don't think I've mentioned that I love the flavour of mint. That is, the kind you get in little tins. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the taste of real mint.

I thought it would be fantastic. It smelled good. The tea bags. They smelled delicious.

What a rude awakening. They tasted NOTHING like the "mint" flavour that I loved so much. NOTHING. Clearly my sugar levels are much too high.

I hope that I'll like the taste better when I get used to it. It doesn't taste BAD, just...unexpected. Plus, you catch a whiff of the smell as you drink, so it gives you the illusion of mint leaves, which taste reasonable.  Spearmint tea has a lot of benefits: as well has containing a high amount of antioxidants (those lower your risk of cancer), it also lowers the levels of the male hormone androgen in your body, which causes facial hair growth.

Other foods that are high in antioxidants include:

• blueberries
• cranberries
• dried prunes (yum!)
• pecans
• apples

Luckily they all taste good.

Also, the spearmint tea makes my throat feel pretty fresh, which is awesome.

Anyways, I've got a truckload of homework to get working on. Bye.

7 Reasons Chocolate Should Have Its Own God

Lots of religions have gods for multiple things. They all have different names, of course, but they are essentially god of the same things. There are gods of love: Venus, Aphrodite, Kama, Hathor, etc. There are gods of the sun: Apollo, Surya, Ra. But what about gods of chocolate? I'll give you 7 reasons that chocolate should have its own god.

1. It is essential to life. Seriously, who can live without chocolate?
2. It is a topic of research. People are trying to find out more.
3. It is a controversial subject. Just like love!
4. It tastes good. Water tastes good, and it has its own god.
5. It is found in many different forms. Bars, shakes, smoothies, coffees, syrups.
6. It looks awesome. Doesn't it? 
7. It's chocolate. Isn't that technically reason enough?

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Cookies

I was browsing ohmysugarhigh.com, and guess what I found? A recipe for cookie heaven!! My one weakness is chocolate-chip cookies. I cannot resist! I just had to post the recipe here.

INGREDIENTS

yield: 4-6 dozen, depending upon size.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2-3)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick or old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

DIRECTION

1. Preheat oven to 375° degrees F.
2. In medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In large bowl beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add brown sugar and then beat additional 2 minutes. Beat in banana, eggs and vanilla, just until combined.
4. Stir in flour mixture.
5. Stir in oats, nuts and chocolate chunks.
6. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for one minute before moving to wire rack to cool completely.

All credit to ohmysugarhigh.com.

Miniature Foods

Wow, and I thought I was good at clay. This is fantastic. Sculpted by Shay Aaron.

Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Bowl

I know I said this is a photoblog, but hey, these are photos, right? :) I LOVE chocolate. I'm a hardcore chocoholic. But anyways, this cookie recipe is to DIE for. And it only takes about five minutes. Ready?

Looks delicious! 

First, equip yourself with these ingredients. 

Place all the sugars and butters in a two cup bowl. Use a fork to combine the ingredients.

Add two tablespoons of egg yolk to the mixture. Add the vanilla also. Stir.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir again.

Finally--the chocolate! Stir in the chips. :)

Put a few on the top, too.

Microwave for about 2 minutes.

Top off with some vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Yum.

(Adapted from picky-palate.com)