Sewing. Motherhood. Domestic Engineering.

I recently found out that cafeine reduces iron intake in the body. And for someone who is frequently iron deficitient and drinking between 5 and 10 cups of tea each day this is probably an important point to concider. So I went on an internet hunt to find decafeinated tea. I found Twinings and a few other overseas brands but the two main brands I found in Australia were Lipton and Tetley. Difficult to trach down in the grocery store, but luckily tracked down some Lipton Devaffeinated tea. I had previously been told that it's not too different to normal tea so I wasn't to worried about it not tasting right. To my suprise they taste like normal tea, maybe a bit like a homebrand tea and it's smells ever so slightly odd but still easy to drink. I'm sure it's the sort of thing that takes a few weeks to be come 'normal'. As a decaf tea, although I don't have anything to compair it to, I give Lipton 4/5 and in the scheme of all teas I give it 3/5. I don...

About $11 from BWS, we gave this a go just recently after having done a wine tasting and discovering that there are actually wines that taste good and even great. Interesting Wine Fact: Colder grapes have higher sugar levels. So wine makers try to harvest the grapes when they are frozen (great in places like Germany where they can have grapes frozen on the vine) or cold - at dawn before the sun comes up and makes them warm (. Cass - 6/10 - Sufficiently sweet, still a bit rough, which seemed to get stronger as we got through the bottle (could just be me). Still nice and clean, went down easy. Bede - 6.5/10 - Not bad for a pinot grigio but not amazing. Looks like water...

We got a couple of Frank's Alcoholic Ginger Beer's to try as they were on special at BWS. Mega fail on the ginger beer front. I rate this ginger beer 1/5 stars - it was flat, lifeless and very light on the ginger. Similar to a weak cordial experience - just sad and disappointing. Bede gave this 2.5/5 stars with pretty well the same description. Just not a very good ginger beer, sorry Frank :P

Travelled to Mt Tamborine to celebrate a special occasion and during our travels we visited the MT Brewery and samples their unique selection of beers. As you will see from the reviews below the beers are not like your normal Aussie beers that are on tap. You will also notice that Bede is a man of adventure when it comes to beer and I am a more... simple. Glad we samples and didn't just get take-aways - I would have straight way gone for a six pack of the larger when in fact I preferred the ale, which is very unusual. Beyond the beers, the pub had a great atmosphere, the staff were proficient and friendly AND you can see into the brewing room.     Moderation Golden Ale - 3/5 stars (Bede & Cass) - Fruity aroma, super smooth, mango/tropical flavours. Rainforest Larger - 2.5/5 stars (Bede & Cass) - smells like a dirty larger, clear and very pale, subtly sweet, rather hoppy. Black Cockatoo Dark Larger - 2.5/5 stars (Bede), 0/5 stars (Cass) - ...

The number one, best ginger beer right now is... Matso's Ginger Beer! What a winner, it is sooooo good that I'm not only blogging about it but I'm also adding it to my 5/5ers selection (things that are too amazing - check it out in the menu to the right). Founds this while I was looking for a beer and gave it a punt. The perfect balance of flavours and super refreshing AND to top it all off and make it just that little bit more amazing... Matso's is Australian - Broome, Western Australia . This ginger beer definitely replaces the fallen Stone's [old] Ginger Beer as my number one favourite. But in my quest to find a great ginger beer I also come across Hollows Ginger Beer which is the runner up in second place. This is a British ginger beer with an interesting story with it.

Stone's, I'm sure you will agree, used to be an amazing ginger beer and a winner for the market but some of you may have noticed that a few years back the flavour changed and it wasn't as good any more. Well ages ago I sent an email to the company asking what the go was, thinking that I might have got a dodgy batch. But what they told me was way more disappointing... Due to the Australian Federal Government introducing the "alcopop tax" (taxes on premix alcoholic drinks) the cost of producing Stone's ginger beer had a fairly big increase due to this and would have filtered down to the consumer. So to avoid the drink from being labelled an alcopop, which is partly based on the amount of sugars in the drink, they changed the recipe to avoid the tax in hopes of keeping costs down and the customers happy. Unfortunately they have failed and produced a really crap ginger beer :( Since, I have never bought Stone's Ginger Beer again although I do occasionally get ...

Alcohol Killer – A new drink on the market (from Austria) that claims to beat the side effects of alcohol. They encourage people to make it the last drink of the night before going to bed and then again in the morning if needed. Not only does it claim that it reduces hang over affects such as nausea vomiting, headache and all the other glamorous things that we experience after having a great night it also claims to reduce blood alcohol content (BAC). Interestingly the drink is currently being investigated by NZ Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to see if the drink complies with food legislation requirements ( Stuff , 2012 ). Eww I wouldn’t have bought it to try it but was able to get a free sample from a promotion they did at a public event. I did notice that a lot of people who had seen the stand were understandably very suspicious and were warning people that it might be dodgy. Anyway, everyone in my work group (not drinking, just curious) tried ...

GUEST REVIEWS by Bede and David Guest reviews by Bede and David on some British "beers" that were recommended by a Youtube beer fanatic. Online reviews for all the beers also indicated they would be a good sort but I don't think these guys were convinced.     St Peter's Ruby Red Ale Review From Bede - 2/5 - WAY TOO BITTER! Good ale but the after taste is...arse. From David - 0/5 - Vile.     Young's Double Chocolate Stout From Bede - 2/5 - Pretty bad after taste. Won't buy again. From David - 0.5/5 - Like cigarettes have been put out in the beer and then its been filtered through a vacuum cleaner bag...   Newcastle Brown Ale From Bede - 3.5/5 - Wouldn't call it mother's milk but pretty good. From David - 3/5 - First sip = very palatable, remainder of stubby = boring...

This is the only brand of tea that I will buy. I like the flavour, it’s Australian and it reminds me of my Nanna :) Just the classic ‘Blue Label’ is perfect for a cuppa, ‘Australian Breakfast’ is also good. Now that I have a tea pot I also get ‘Rounds’ which are stronger so that each cup gets the right brew. Tea is also very healthy to drink (if you don ’ t put sugar in it, which I don ’ t any more). It ’ s good for your heart and blood vessels, and is a great way to increase hydration. I ’ ve started having 3-4 cups a day at work and even more when I ’ m studying (I make tea during my pomodoro break). Take the  Bushells Tea Test online to see if you drink tea like an Aussie or a Brit. Bushells also have a great program called ‘ Driver Reviver ’. They have 220 sites across Australia that serve free tea to encourage drivers to “stop, revive, survive”. Learn how to do the Tim Tam Slam - Coming soon...

No, I'm not actually drinking all of these tonight. I reviewed them a while ago and it's time to share the wisdom... Summer Ginger Beer - 1/5 - A very watery ginger beer. Will not buy again. Broo - 2.5/5 - I don't remember getting excited about this one. Just a normal larger, but thumbs up for being a local brew! Cheeky Rascal Raspberry and Apple Cider - 3/5 - Bede quite liked this one. I'm not a huge fan of anything with apple in it so... Vodka Cruiser Rubi Rolla - 4/5 - Super sweet deliciousness and vodka, what every girl wants. Love most of the Cruiser range and this is no exception. WKD Original Iron Brew - 5/5 - This is one of my favourites. Tastes like a classic creaming soda and can hardly taste the vodka (can still feel it :P) Have been back for this one many times.

For all those Jager lovers out there it now comes in a premixed can!!! Raw is Jagermeister and Pulse (energy drink) tastes exactly like a Jager-bomb that has exploded. Ginger Lime is Raw with a bit of extra flavour. It reminded me of a Smirnoff Mule, so if you like Mule and you like Jager this is the ideal drink. Each can is 1.7 Australian Standard Drinks and 6.5% alcohol. I paid $5.50 a can, which is pretty expensive (Aussie premix drink tax didn't help) but I was excited to check them out. Bottoms up!   Other drinks reviews: Summer Ginger Beer, Broo, Cheeky Rascal, Rubi Rolla Cruizer & WKD Iron Brew St Peter's Ruby Red Ale, Young's Double Chocolate Stout & Newcastle Brown Ale