Bloom Tea Giveaway!!!!!!

I have been sampling a new brand of tea (well, new to me, anyway)- Bloom Tea. Look at the pretty tea bags:

Bloom Tea is a 5 step “Tea Treatment plan” with different tea’s for different times of the day. You can read about it on their website, and I have some information here too:

  • Step 1: A Breakfast Tea Treatment (ideal at breakfast)

Reawakening ingredients (Sri Lankan Uva, Indian Assam, Kenyan tea) help kick start metabolism first thing in the morning (a result of the synergy between caffeine and theanine).

  • Step 2: A Green Tea Treatment (ideal for morning)

Muscle relaxing ingredients (green tea, jasmine, rose petals, echinacea) help you de-stress and maintain mental sharpness so you can work better.

  • Step 3: A White Tea Treatment (ideal at noon)

Stomach cleansing ingredients (white tea, peppermint, fennel, aniseed) help you digest your lunch so you can feel refreshed and light on your feet.

  • Step 4: An Earl Grey Tea Treatment (ideal for afternoon)

Energizing ingredients (black tea, natural bergamot oil, lemon and orange peels, cornflowers) help you fight fatigue and restore concentration late afternoon.

  • Step 5: A Rooibos Tea Treatment (ideal for evening)

Detoxifying ingredients (naturally caffeine free rooibos, vanilla, elderflowers, liquorice) help you relax into the evening and boost immunity.

So far I have tried the Earl Grey (this was delicious and light).

And the Rooibos with Vanilla.

Which was amazing- it tasted like Teapigs creme caramel tea- love it! (Full review will be coming up later). I cannot wait to try the other teas.

I also have some extra information from their press pack:

  • Tea is a simple way to get vital antioxidants, which complement any health and beauty regime
  • Tea choices are better suited to your needs (e.g. Step 4: energizing ingredients fight afternoon fatigue)
  • Handcrafted in England from 100% all natural ingredients’
  • As tea is 99% water, this program helps with regular hydration which can also reduce water retention
  • Tea is zero calories if taken without milk and sweetener
    • Tea improves concentration and decreases fatigue without experiencing ‘caffeinism’
  • Enjoyed separately or altogether as a 5-step Plan with added benefits (e.g. lower cholesterol)
  • Add ice after brewing for a refreshing ice tea or fresh fruit for a nutritional summer ‘Mocktail’

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Caffeine levels in tea are typically a third of coffee, take 60min to fully absorb and also controlled by an amino acid (theanine), which promotes calmness and relaxed awareness’ – unlike coffee’s jitters!
  • Moderate caffeine intake stimulates the central nervous system, which increases alertness, concentration, performance and decreases fatigue.
  • Caffeine in tea does not have a diuretic effect unless you consume more than 6 cups in 1 sitting and The Food Standards Agency recommends pregnant women limit their daily intake to 4 cups. Rooibos is a caffeine-free herbal alternative.

Anyway, Craig (the founder of Bloom Tea) has offered a prize for one lucky reader (from the UK), which consists of 5 boxes of  Bloom Tea (one of each type), valued at £18.

So, in order for a chance to win, comment on this post by saying which type of Bloom tea you like the look of the most. Remember it is UK entries only.

You can also have an extra entry if you link to the giveaway from your blog and post another comment here telling me that you have done this.

I will choose a random winner (names in a hat) on Sunday 26th June, after 8pm,  so it will close at 8pm UK time.

So get commenting guys 🙂 And good luck!

Stay tuned people…..

Because over the weekend I will have some news of a giveaway! How exciting!

But first, man I have been busy at work, and when I got home I needed a boost before body pump.

Some Earl Grey tea, coz that is how the English roll.

Then it was body pump time! Woo! It was not the new release, which I was quite relieved about. Better the devil you know! It was super hard though- I went back up to my pre marathon weights, and I am already paying for it now!

Then I had some lovely banana chocolate pudding (inspired by Jemma from Celery and Cupcakes):

Mashed banana with cocoa powder and pb, then topped with a pear and some strawberries (including some from my garden). 🙂 Looks like a mess, tastes like a dream.

I put the links onto the post form yesterday for the tofu bake and the raw chocolate brownie too, just in case you were wondering.

Also, a weird thing happened to me the other day when I was driving home. I was driving along a road, and a guy in a car pulled out across my lane to turn right. There was not much of a gap, and he had to put his foot down a bit, and as he pulled in front of me, he stuck his tongue out at me. Yes, you read that right. A fully grown man stuck his tongue out at me. Now, I did not beep or gesticulate or anything, so it was not in retaliation. So so weird. I was laughing in shock and looking around in case anyone else saw it. So, any weird car experiences?

Yay for the weekend (nearly)

🙂

Some food and whatnot

Hey all

It is another busy week at work, and yesterday by the time I got home I had missed aerobics so I went for a run instead. I found it really hard (but I think I was a bit dehydrated)- my legs were heavy, but I managed 3.2 miles in 33 mins, so I kept up a pretty good pace overall.

Some random pictures :

Cannelini bean, lentil and veg chilli with nutritional yeast. (Trying to empty the freezer a little).

Coconut chocolate cookies from the Vegan cookie book (these were amazing- you had to toast the coconut first, and also they used coconut butter in the recipe and melted with the chocolate). They were a hit at work 🙂

Lentil, tofu, pesto and vegetable bake with broccoli . Another freezer meal.

Raw pecan and date brownie with cherries and garden strawberries 🙂  Amazing!

And some dried peaches. I was a little alarmed when I opened it and they were quite black, but they taste like peach jam. Yum.

And now I am going to watch some of the apprentice. Night.

I am glad so many of you are hoarders too!

That is true.

After the epic post from yesterday, this is a very quick one, as we are going to watch a film. The plan was to watch it last night, after the Grand Prix, but then it rained and we watched it for 5 hours. Yes, 5 hours. It did have an exciting finish (yay Button).

So, after work today, I went on a run. I have been looking at my pace on Nike+ recently and it seems that I pick up speed towards the end, but a good few miles in. Today I decided not to look at my pace, but just the distance whilst running, and go on feeling. Well, the hills felt hard (of course) and I was very hot by the end- very dry mouth and I think I should have taken a drink with me. But, I did the 6.7 ish mile route in 1 hr 12 (last Sunday it took me 1hr20! But that was very slow!)- and when I just looked on Nike+ my miles were so consistent- 10.22, 10.24, 10.23, one at 10.37 (but I think I had about 3 roads to cross in one small section), 10.22 and 10.23. Hooray! So I can run at a constant speed. Now I just need to work on getting that average speed up a bit.

I am still looking at the Audiofuel options, and I think I have chosen a pack, but I wanted to wait another week or so, just so I am not tempted to go out there and hammer out a crazy fast run or something. No, that doesn’t sound like me at all. Maybe it is a different reason.

Oh, and guess what! I got two mentions on the latest marathon talk podcast! You can upload your race times onto facebook and they do a listener one, two, three for each race (girls and boys)- well no other female posted a time for Stockholm, so my very slow time was the winner! Plus a long email I sent about the fab South Cheshire 20 mile race that I did a while back. 🙂 Hooray!

Night

Hello, my name is Maria and I am a hoarder

Yes, I am a total hoarder.

This morning I decided to re-arrange my tea cupboard. Yes, first of all, you read that right. I have a whole cupboard for tea.

Yes, that really is all just tea. Or as Peter from Family Guy would say, “All the tea”.  Is that too much tea for two people?

Many various Teapigs teas, a lot of Equal Exchange Chai (it was cheaper to buy 6 boxes and we will drink it in the end), all the Whitards bargains. And hidden under all the boxes, a container for boring teabags!

One container for chai teabags (yes, we used to have only 2 containers for teabags, now we have a cupboard full). Three tins of loose leaf Whitards Christmas tea (one now contains Teapigs Assam loose leaf tea)- one was super cheap as it had a dent in the tin. Plus loads of other teas- Cosy teas from when I reviewed them, Twinnings, Rooibos chai, mint… Perhaps I should leave teaching and open a tearoom in my living room instead?

I was going to calculate how many cups it would all make, but then I didn’t.

Then I found some more. But I could not be bothered to get it all lined up again.

Random samples and yogi chai (which I find very strong smelling, kind of like aniseed, so I keep it in another cupboard so it doesn’t make the other tea smell like it).

I knew I liked tea, but I did not quite realise how much!

Then I realised I hoard other things too.

Cereal bars (what can I say, I like variety). If we had other Clif bar flavours over here you know I would have boxes and boxes of them!!

Nut and seed spreads. I also have some pumpkin seed butter which I found in my cupboard after too.

And lots of dried fruit varieties. Strawberries, cherries, mango, peach, apple, dates, cranberries, figs. I do not even eat dried fruit that much, but I love it in baking and every now and then. And porridge.

I like variety, and I never know what I will want, so I like to have a lot of different things to choose from. Only thing is, the best before date comes and goes….

Anyway, I have been using some of them up.

Today I had porridge and peaches in a peanut butter jar.

Yum. This was to warm me up before heading out to the St Albans half marathon (to cheer the children on and give out the medals). Bronagh I hope you got on OK and didn’t get too wet!.

I also made some little Katie inspired mint chocolate fudge babies- using up some of those dates and getting to use my new food processor still( the most important bit!).

This was 150g dates, 45g cashews, 2tbs cocoa and a drop of peppermint essence. Yum they are delicious. 🙂 (and 65 cals a piece according to WLR )although I think I would use a different nut next time as I was not so keen on the cashews- maybe almonds or brazils. The original recipe uses walnuts, but I don’t like them and I don’t have any, hence the cashews. I could go crazy with my dried fruit collection- I reckon brazil and cranberry with cocoa for rocky road ones would be good.

I also had a massive cup of Christmas tea when I got back from the run as I was so cold and wet (using up the tea you see).

Anything that you love to hoard? And why do you think you do it? I think it is because I am so indecisive, although in fact that makes it worse because I have to choose. Hmm.

Other news.

Yesterday I did a run- 8.5 mile in 1 hr30 (so I have got back to my normal ish speed, compared to last week where I think I did under 7 in 1hr 20)- I managed 4 miles at 10.23 pace near the end. I seem to take a good few miles to speed up, and then it seems I can maintain that speed for the rest of the run. Anyway, we went bowling after that (I for 45 for the first game- can anyone get lower than that??) which was fun, and then for a BBQ. Good times.

Finally, I know I do not go on about my weight on here, but I stepped on the scales yesterday. Since starting marathon training, I have put on 3lbs. Now, that does not seem like much, but as I am short I think it shows quite a lot. One pound on each arm and one on my stomach I think (I know that is not how it actually goes but that is where it shows on me). So, I am not going to post my weight on here, but I am going to be making a big effort over the next few weeks to keep up the exercise, and make healthy choices. I decided that putting it on here may give me a little more incentive.

Bye 🙂