A few weeks ago I kindly got sent a box full to the brim of gorgeous teas from The London Tea Company and these past few weeks I've been going through all the flavours and drinking them but lately the weather has been warm and I've been favoring chilled drinks.

Confession time - I'm not actually a big tea drinker even though my blog is called Nerdy Tea Girl. I like iced tea & green tea though & drink them regularly. So I guess I do drink tea, just not every day. I just prefer a glass of iced water. :)
From time to time I do like a cup of fruity herbal tea and this box was jam packed full of sweet smelling teas. It was absolutely gorgeous. Of course there were black teas & green teas as well. 

Lets start with the two boxes. White Tea Pear Tatin & London Breakfast.
London Breakfast is my favorite drink out of the entire box of teas. It really is a classic tea and tastes better than PG Tips. When I want that rare cup of tea, I reach for a bag of this. You can sweeten it with sugar and a dash of milk and ooh la la, the perfect brew. London Breakfast starts from £2.20 on their website.
Pear Tatin is a White Tea with a hint of ginger. Now I'm not fond of ginger in teas, it's far too strong of a smell but I had a great time trying out this flavour. I must admit I'm adventurous with food but not with teas.
Sencha Green Tea is a lovely tea to drink. I'm quite the Green Tea drinker, so I approve of this one. ;)

Vanilla Chai is one of these teas that have a very strong smell. A smell that made me not want to try this at all. It's a black tea so you are able to put sugar & milk in the cup too and that's exactly what I did. And I must admit, it was rather tasty. The smell was still abit weird for me but it was really nice with 2 sugars and some milk. I suggest you try this.
I drank Raspberry Inferno and left most of it. I wasn't feeling this cup of tea at all. Which is a shame as it has such a lovely smell. It has a tiny kick of chilli which isn't too strong and I was surprised by this, I went head in thinking it was going to burn my mouth! Pure Rooibos is a beautiful tea. You may add milk if you wish as well, which I think I will try next time around. You must try a cup of this!
    

Peach and Rhubarb is a tea which can be drank ice cold. Perfect for a summers day. Fruity & light and perfect for me. :D I'm a green tea drinker & this tea was right up my alley. I love feeling healthy after drinking a cup of this & it has a hint of pineapple & mango. Delicious. Earl Grey. What can I say about this. It's Earl Grey. I love a cup of this in the evening.
     
The Peach and Rhubarb packet was suppose to be Chamomile tea! Wuups, I made a photo mistake. 
I must admit, I still need to try these teas out. I'm not the biggest fan of all three flavours. But don't knock something until you've tried it! :D
I would like to thank London Tea Company for making such wonderful teas. You can buy their range here

The London Tea Company have given me a 20% discount code for you lovely readers. use londontea on your first order. Please note that this is not redeemable against discounted or sale items.

London Tea Company - Twitter | Facebook | Shop

Ta-Ra

Jess

Casa Antonio

Ciao Blogger-rinos.
I was invited to celebrate a birthday at Casa Antonio. An italian resturant in Benton. I've been here before, many years ago whle working at my very first job for the council and it was beautiful then as it is now. I wish I could have gotten better photos of my food but I was too busy enjoying it as well as the atmosphere and beautiful decor.
The decor was a range of deep shades of green, red, yellow and brown. With pieces of Italy dotted around the place and pretty printed leaves running up the walls, it really felt like I had been transported to Italy for a day. A place I would love to visit one day. I'm a lover of Pasta, the accent & the italian renaissance. Ooft.

We had the 3 course meal special which was £6.95. Which included a starter of soup or potato skins & both are delicious by the way. I chose Minestrone soup & my partner had potato skins. The main meal was a choice between a pasta or pizza ,anything else and it was £1 etc on top. I chose a Tomato Meatball dish with tagliatelle it was veramente buono and for dessert was ice cream. I chose chocolate of course as that's my favorite flavor out of Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate. I should have asked for a combo of Chocolate & Vanilla Swiiiiiirrrrrl. Boo-ya. ( Hehe, Orange is the new black reference there for you) For drinks I had water with ice & a orange squash. I don't like anything fizzy while I'm eating and always prefer my drinks icy.

I would love to come here again and take more photos of the decor. It's priced really well. For two of us it was £17. And the staff there are just lovely. :)

If your ever in the North East - Newcastle, check out Casa Antonio in Benton. :)

Arrivederci!

Jess

July Goals

It's July?! Where the heck did June go? This year seems to be going quite quickly. Maybe's it's because this year has been full of events that I'm not use to doing. Next month is my wedding and the month after that I'm off to Eurogamer in London. Exciting stuff. As you know from an old post, I like to set personal goals each month for myself. Sometime's it turns into a To-Do list rather than a set goal list.
I also keep a notebook handy for checklists. I'm a list girl. And I bet you are too.

June wasn't that eventful. I celebrated a few birthdays, checked a few items off my Wedding list & played games for most of the month. July is all about finishing wedding planning, losing weight & making the most of summer.

Lose Weight
My biggest goal right now is to shed a few more pounds before the wedding in August. My dress fits but it's a bit too snug in some areas. Today starts the day of my soup diet. I love soup and I could live on veggie soup for days. The plan is to eat a healthy breakfast, soup for dinner and snack on fruit or have a light salad. Of course I went out and bought a ton of soup, from Mushroom to Beef & Veggies to Minestrone. And half a week's worth cost only £2. Not only am I trying to slim down but I'm also saving money by not buying junk food & takeaways. I hardly drink alcohol, so my calories don't come from that. But I used to snack alot. Whether it was chocolate or sandwiches. It was always the wrong foods. I did snack on fruit occasionally but this time I'm sticking to it. Perhaps after this month of dieting will change how I eat food.

Go Outside
This also ties in with eating healthy. I need to put down that playstation controller, turn the laptop off as I can watch Pretty Little Liars anytime and just go outside. Take a walk. Photograph the place around me. Go to the beach,  Anything as long as I'm outside and hopefully with the weather heating up this will tempt me to go outside more. I've vowed that even on the days I don't wanna get out of bed. I will make myself get dressed and go for a walk. The exercise will do me good. Hopefully I can get into a good routine. (There is a likely chance this will never happen, I'll give it a go)

Finish Getting Wedding Stuff
There is still work left to do and this is the month to finish off loose ends to do with my wedding.
Food needs to be bought for the buffet, Tony's ring & suits needs buying. I need someone to do my hair, I need to make two flower bouquets. I also need an underskirt and a bolero to cover up my spotty scarred arms. I need to finish paying off the wedding & get a venue for the party as well as decorations. This should be done within in the next two weeks. Fingers crossed.

Decorate Passageway
I've lived here for almost a year and the only room that's been painted is the bathroom. I'm quite sick of the last tenants grubby magnolia walls. We need to finish off the passageway, paint the bedrooms & redecorate the living room. It's time consuming & I usually don't have the money to get finishing touches and the paint. So my goal this month is to completely finish the passageway. From fixing those bullet holes (long story) to freshening up the paint. I will make this a home to be proud of.

Clean Clean Clean
I'm quite lazy when it comes to cleaning. I leave Tony to do most of it. So my goal of this month is to take charge and clean the house everyday and not tell myself "It can wait till tomorrow" because it never gets done. Let's give this house a spring clean. :D

Read Read Read
I told myself I would read 3 books a month a few blog posts ago. And this never happened. In fact I've read about a chapter of Will Grayson, Will Grayson and then started to read manga book Attack on Titan.
I have tons of books. I need to just sit outside in the park across my house and enjoy the sunny weather with a good book & a drink.




And these are my main goals for this month. Of course there will be little goals here and there but I think this is enough for one month.

Do you have any goals this month?

Let me know in the comments :)

Ta Ra

Jess