Music: What I've Been Listening To Lately

Replay, replay, replay...

Having easy days have really affected my music choices. Being addicted to pilates and yoga classes the last month, it has introduced me to tunes that really match my days lately. Per usual, once I make a playlist, it will be on repeat...for days, weeks, and probably months. 

As mentioned in my July favourites blogpost, my ears are filled with Bon Iver, especially his self-titled album "Bon Iver". I absolutely love the vagueness in his lyrics that allows his listeners to all interpret his songs in a different way; making it possible for their listeners to relate their own experiences with the lyrics. The whole album is great, but my definite listens will be for Perth, Holocene, Wash., and Calgary. Also, the last song of the album, Beth/Rest, is a twist to the album - a total different tune compared to the other 9 songs. 

During one of my pilates class, the instructor played a song that really caught my attention. Of course, I would do things the harder way around and attempt to find the song myself instead of just asking the instructor about it. Took me a few hours, but it's found! Higher Love by James Vincent McMorrow was a perfect song for the ending of a pilates/yoga class. With just piano as an instrumental to this song, I'm obsessed with the simplicity of it and his voice along with it.

Been preoccupying my days with pilates and volunteer work, missing someone still takes up a big part of my thoughts. The summer separates my boyfriend and I as we grew up in different cities - and that sucks. Long story short, we spent a lot of time together during the school year and hardly seeing each other for the four month long summer does make me sad. Kind of ironic to me when I found another Schuyler Fisk's song in my recommended for you section of Youtube and it perfectly describes how I was feeling the last few weeks. Fall Apart Today is a perfect love song.

Heading back to some oldies - I've been re-loving and re-obsessing over Coldplay once again. Out of the list that I've been playing, Fix You is hands down my favourite the last week. 

I hope y'all are interested in checking these tunes out. I know...it's a pretty slow and mellow list, but it's what I've been feeding my ears lately! 

<3

Susan

Beauty: Pure + Simple visit and skincare change!

Pure + Simple is a spa that was born in Toronto 13 years ago and has expanded since then. Through reading great reviews about the spa, I have been wanting to try this place for some time now. Oddly, my skin never had big concerns for the last few years, except for this summer when it decided to flare out on me. Breakout, breakouts, and more breakouts became very common the last three months. Severely congested and dry skin, with the emphasis in my T-zone area has not been fun. So, I found it was about time to give the place a visit.

Booking myself my first ever facial in my life - I really didn't know what to expect. But, to keep this blog from becoming a huge story about my facial, here is the lowdown of my whole experience (I tried my best to condense it):

• My aesthetician was very friendly and it made me comfortable right when I met her. Before starting the actual facial, she cleansed my skin and analyzed it. She was extremely knowledgable and explained about my face concerns throughout the whole facial. I learnt a lot about how to care for my skin and why my skin was acting the way it was. And best part, no awkward silences! 
• When you have your mask on, you get a massage.
• She explained what products she was using and why.
• Extractions did not hurt and she explained how the aestheticians at Pure + Simple will never extract something that isn't ready to come out. No purging skin afterwards!
• Definitely a facial that should be planned for a day or night that you are not planning to do anything afterwards. With the use of natural oils during massage (shoulders, neck, face, and sculpt), you'll definitely want to wash your hair afterwards. 
• Very nice decor and colour choice in the facial room. Very welcoming. 
• Never push about their products. Will most likely give you samples instead to try. My aesthetician gave me three samples after my facial. 

Overall, this experience was a pleasant one and will definitely come back to treat myself for more facials in the future!

On another hand, I've been running low on my face products and decided to seek out for a natural skin care regime. I came across REN Skincare and did my research - I finally came to order it on Sephora online. Didn't cross my mind at the time of ordering that it will take a minimum of 2 weeks just to get here...and my toner came to an end this morning (product review in the works!). Didn't know what to do, I've debated with just going to my drugstore and picking up a new skincare regime for a short period of time until I get my order or if I should just go to a Sephora and pick up a trial size skincare set in the meantime. After a whole morning of debating what to do, I remember that I really enjoyed the samples I received after my facial and that I should start my natural skincare regime now!

Made a detour to a pure + simple store today and I picked up two products - the pure + simple sensitive skin face wash and holistic vanity healing immortelle skin tonic. 

Really liked the samples, so hopefully I'll enjoy using these products in the meantime. I do know that the REN skincare line didn't have a toner - just the cleanser and lotion, so hopefully I'll really like the immortelle skin tonic to continue using it along with the REN products that I'll get in the mail soon.

I'll definitely do a skincare routine when I get everything and figure out what's best for my skin. 

If you guys would like a more proper review on the products mentioned above, let me know! 

Until then, my face is excited to be using these new products! 

-Susan

Tea: Sweetened Tea!?

sugar, honey, agave...the list can go on with what you can sweeten your tea with. But, some teas, is already sweetened for you.

And...this is the case for Creamy Caramel by Tealish Teas. 

This was one of the first teas that begin in my tea collection. It's an oolong tea that smells exactly like the name. It has caramel pieces that are in place to satisfy your sweet tooth. Of course, those with an extreme case of sweet tooth, may need to add additional sweetening to the tea. But, for me, it's just enough.

It's a delightful smell and it is definitely one of those misleading teas. Once you take a sniff of the dry tea leaves, the smell of caramel is pretty distinct...even after you brew it, the smell still lingers. But, of course, the taste is no where near the pure caramel smell. It has a very subtle taste.

This tea is definitely an easy loveable one. But, sadly, this tea just screams the quote about how good things never last. 

One - this is going to be my last brew of this tea...probably ever. I have nothing left except the empty package.

Two - tealish teas have actually discontinued this tea. I just tried to search on their website to link the tea, but I kept getting "No products match your search criteria, please try again". 

Sorry for those who were curious to try this tea. But, to give y'all some hope, tealish has a whole section on their website dedicated to dessert teas. Hopefully, I can find another sweet favourite! 

But, for tonight...

This is my last cup of creamy caramel tea...ever. 

<3 

Susan 

Favourites: Goodbye July, Hello August

Dark Horse Espresso Bar in Toronto (Queen West location)

I have my arms wide open for August. Having summer school come to an end for me last week was a great relief and I still can't believe that pretty much burned up 3 months out of the 4 of my summer. With today being August 1, I've decided to make it a productive month. But, before I jump onto that, I would love to share what I've found myself loving in the month of JULY. For the 7th month of the year, I have 7 things that I absolutely loved: 

1. Where can I begin with dark chocolate? I always find myself purchasing a new bar of dark chocolate every couple of days. It was not friendly to my wallet, but my tummy (and PMS) was surely a happy one. I always ended up buying the Lindt Excellence brand of dark chocolate since it was the most closely and readily available around me. My most favourite ones must be the Intense Mint (that contains 47% of dark cocoa)and the one that is straight up 90% dark cocoa.

2. Water with lemon, more lemon, and some lime. Just trying to make things a little different for me as I tried to just pass my summer courses, my daily consumption of lemon slices in my water became an addiction. And to make things even fancier, adding a slide of lime made all the difference. In fact, drinking warm lemon water is a great way to kick start for your day!

3.Getting toned with PILATES and YOGA.I really didn't do much in between the days that I didn't have any class. This summer I began running - I haven't done this type of running since high school phys ed. class. I found out my heart was really weak and after running just two blocks, it would be the most uncomfortable pain in my chest. I know, I know - it should get better after a while. But, with so many pilates/yoga studios all around Toronto, I took advantage and did many of the studio's intro. offers. Now, it's a regular practice of mine - probably find me at the mat for at least 4-5 days a week. 

4. The lovely green fruit. Avocados have always been a great favourite of mine and it has re-entered my life again on a consistent basis. I just love eating it with my sandwiches and burgers...mmmm. Fun fact - during the first year of university, how I became great friends with my current boyfriend was through splitting an avocado every night. I know - we're weird. But, it was great to find someone who was willing to eat an avocado straight up with you on a regular (almost daily, but not yet) consistent basis.

5. As much as I am a tea lover, I found myself crawling back for iced coffee for the warm weather. Dark horse espresso has several locations throughout Toronto and I always find myself near one of their locations. They got me HOOKED on their iced mocha with soy! And they recently implemented a point system that you can bank up! That is definitely bringing me back! 

6. Smelling good is always a nice thing to do for yourself and to those hanging around you. Tocca Giulietta was the one scent that I used all month. I actually own the rollerball for it, so it was easy to carry it around with me when I need to quickly re-apply it. It's a very light scent - I promise, it won't be overwhelming. I don't think I'll be changing this scent any time soon either.  

7. Having slow days, the only person to get me through was Bon Iver. An american indie band/singer, his tunes get me through the days. The two albums I been listening to nonstop - For Emma, Forever Ago and Bon Iver (self titled album) - are both around 30 minutes long. Great to listen to when I was taking a study break, getting ready for bed, or just internet surfing. 

Tons of food favourites - kind of expected from me! But, July has been a bumpy ride for me. Can't wait to see what August has for me. 

Talk to y'all soon,

-Susan 

Tea: What I'm eyeing on!

It's slowly becoming an accomplishment! With my (almost) daily tea and the help of my dad's daily tea, my tea stash has drastically decreased. But, this isn't going to last for long! I'm estimating by the end of summer, I'll be able to lift my tea ban and finally re-vamp my tea stash with some new ones! I've been eyeing on some new teas for a while now... so, I just wanted to share with you all what I'll be excited for when summer comes to an end.

TEALISH

• Apple Cinnamon Chamomile
• Sencha - Organic 
• Jasmine Dragon Pearls 

DAVID'S TEA

• Sweet Dreams - Organic
• Green Seduction - Organic
• Cinnamon Rooibos Chai - Organic

NOURISHTEA

• Cresting Cranes of Legend - Organic

From the look of this quick list, seems like I've been having my eyes on Organic teas lately! 

Of course, this is just a quick list of teas to smell when I go to the stores. But, tea is one expensive thing to love. I'll have to control myself and limit myself to only 3 new teas at the end of summer and then slowly build my new tea collection throughout the year. I'll definitely do a tea haul for you all when this day comes.

Until then, I'll still be steeping my tea collection away! 

-Susan

Food: Crepes filled with Cottage Cheese

Lately, I haven't made anything interesting to feel motivated to have it documented on my blog. When I was making crepes last week, a old memory hit me. Back when I was in high school, my friend brought crepes filled with cottage cheese as a snack and it was delicious. After finding a few recipes for it, I decided to modify it to how I wanted it to be. Thankfully, they turned out good and edible!

I began making the batter for crepes. You will need:

• 1 3/4 cup of flour (I used a mix of blending flour and all purpose flour since I was short of one of them)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of melted unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• a pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 cup of milk

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs till fully blended (yolk + whites). Add a pinch of salt and give it a quick mix. Add the milk and mix till well blended. 

Add the flour into the same bowl. Give it a quick mix.

Add the sugar and mix till you no longer see any of the dry ingredients. Add the melted unsalted butter and give it another quick mix. 

The batter should be a semi-watery consistency. There may be lumps, but that is okay. The batter is now ready! 

I used the measurement of approximately half a cup for each crepe. Do not flip the crepe over until you fully see bubbles all over the top of the crepe. Flip and keep checking to make sure it does not burn. 

As the crepes were in the works, I also alternated to make the filling. I used about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup of cottage cheese; 1/4 cup of sugar; and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. The end result should look something like the picture below. 

Put some filling onto the crepe and roll it up...And just like that, it's finished! 

This is definitely a sweeter treat - more like a dessert type. I hope you all enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comments below if you have made this or something similar! 

-Susan

Tea: Chocolate Chili Chai...say what?

Yeah, I know...the name already doesn't give this tea a good start. I came across many teas before that have chocolate thrown into them, which makes great sweeteners for your tea; but, chocolate and chilli peppers?!

David's Tea just simply describes this tea as "HOT, HOT, HOT"

I do agree that when you initially smell this tea, it reminds me of hot chocolate. Even during and after steeping, it has the same smell. What am I saying? This tea has a pretty concentrated smell that the kitchen will smell like hot chocolate once you begin steeping the tea!

Don't get misled by the name. This tea is not a chai tea, it's actually just a black tea. But, after steeping, it does give a chai tea kind of colour to the tea. 

David initially released this tea during the holiday season. I found it in my stash of tea and since I'm slowly trying to finish my stash before I buy any new teas, I'm going to have the winter holiday spirit in the middle of the summer. 

Good thing the weather today has cooled down drastically ending the week long heat wave we had last week.

So, this is my cup of tea today and it is perfect for this "chilly" summer evening. 

-Susan