Tag Archives: drink

David’s Tea

It’s flu season. Enough said, right?

Whether or not you are battling the flu, strep throat, post nasal drip, a cold, etc. etc. I promise you that David’s Tea will have some sort of herbal mixture that will help soothe your winter sickness and discomfort. Please notice I did not say it will “cure” anything — but it will help ease the pain.

tea for a sore throat

I bought The Cold Survival Kit the other weekend because I felt a load of sniffles coming on. In the kit you’ll find a bag of Bravissimo — also known as my current sore throat savior. Made up of licorice root, chamomile, rosehip, goji berries, orange peel and peppermint — this mixture is sweet enough so you won’t have to add anything to your tea after it steeps. After your first sip, you’ll feel the tea soothe your throat immediately. It’s decaffeinated and is the perfect way to warm up before getting some much needed rest.

Of course I’m fighting off my cold with some meds, but I swear Bravissimo is helping BIG time. I don’t know how I fought colds in the past without it!

My Obsession Over Green Tea


I wish I could be one of those people that doesn’t need caffeine. My boyfriend who works crazy hours doesn’t drink a drop of coffee — I often think, “good for him!” but most times I think he’s crazy. I have no clue how he functions, I certainly know I couldn’t function without it.
Starbucks cafes are every where in New York City, practically on every single corner actually. Even though I have a weakness for their Salted Caramel Mocha, I haven’t actually been to a Starbucks in over 6 months! (I’m proud!) A few months ago, I made the switch over to Green Tea. I figured this: it’s free in the office, there’s caffeine in it, and it has zero calories. Starbucks coffees can add up and they butcher your wallet. And even though your wallet might be lighter, your body eventually won’t be — the calories in Starbuck’s beverages really adds up!
There are so many reasons why everyone should be drinking Green Tea… I saw this photograph on Tumblr and I figured I would share it with you all (it’s prettier to look at than my list of reasons why you should make the switch over to this drink!)

The Filling Station in The Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market WaterfallMy very good friend from PSU came to visit me the day before Thanksgiving and I was so happy to be able to spend some time with her. She’s a smart cookie — she’s getting her Doctorate at Penn State… She’s been a Penn Stater since the beginning — it’s where she did her undergrad (with me) as well as her graduate degree. So it’s nice when she is able to take some time to hang out with friends and enjoy some time to herself. She loves going to the Chelsea Market when she comes into the city (and of course, I love it too)… So naturally we headed right to Chelsea Market when she arrived. We both got some holiday goodies and we even ate dinner at the Green Table — a restaurant in the market.

A new discovery made in the Chelsea Market was a stand/shop called The Filling Station. This stand has different types of salts (just like my favorite store called The Meadow in the West Village) as well as many different types of olive oil. There are tons of olive oils that are flavored, so my friend Leah and I took a sample of a few and discovered this one flavor called Tuscan Herb. We both loved this so much because you would never need to season your olive oil or buy fancy bread ever again because this oil is seasoned with some of the best herbs… rosemary, oregano, basil, and of course some garlic are what make the oil so flavorful. I actually bought a bottle of this for my dad for Christmas. There isn’t anything better than having a nice glass of wine with a tasty snack. I can see him dipping some classic Italian style bread into this Tuscan Herb olive oil!

Stay tuned for more on our food adventures in the Chelsea Market before we left for Thanksgiving! (More to come this week!)

The Best Italian Wine

While traveling in Italy, my family and I would have wine with every dinner and some times lunch too. I typically enjoy red wine the most and I love medium to full body wine. When I am out to dinner here in New York City, I usually order my favorite type of red wine — Malbec. When it comes to buying wine to drink with dinner at home I feel like it’s a waste because I can never afford the wine I would love to drink and I get frustrated because dinner sometimes feels incomplete without a glass of wine.

While in Italy I tried a delicious bottle of red wine called Santa Cristina. It was only about 5 euros in a wine shop! It’s so hard for me to describe to you the way this wine tasted because I am far from a sommelier. When I arrived home and went to a wine shop, I was so excited to see that it only cost me $12 to buy a bottle of this wine! (And that’s a New York City price, so I am sure it’s cheaper outside of the city.)

Give this red wine a try and tell me what you think!

Birra Moretti & Prosecco

First of all, drinking obviously isn’t done in an obnoxious way in Italy. A glass of wine, a beer, champagne — whatever it is you are drinking, it’s there to compliment the meal.

I have loads of photos to share with you of all of the bottles of wine we drank while touring the country. But I’ll save those for another day! Below are a few photos of a couple drinks that I really enjoyed. I typically drink Peroni, but one afternoon I introduced my dad to Birra Moretti, and he enjoyed it! It’s kind of like the “cheaper” beer over in Italy, but it’s nice and light and refreshing. The other drink I enjoyed was a small individual-sized bottle of Prosecco — an Italian champagne.

The funny part about these two drinks is I wasn’t drinking them at a restaurant or in our hotel room… In Italy you can purchase a drink and sip it while you walk the streets. (Don’t ever think about doing that in the U.S…) So on the way to dinner, some nights we would grab a drink and enjoy it on the way to the restaurant!

When Life Gives You Lemons…

It’s common knowledge that the Italians know how to make Limoncello. (It’s also common knowledge that they know how to do everything else — from building breathtakingly beautiful buildings, to painting, sculpting, and drawing the most influential artwork of all time, to knowing how to cook-up the most important foods that have ever been put on this earth: pizza, pasta, and everything else that has carbs.)
So naturally, if life gives the Italians lemons… they know exactly what to do with it!
I recently spent almost 2 weeks in Italy, and I have over 150 photos of different types of food to share with you. But lets just start with the basics, shall we?
I’ve been cooking with lemons for years! And it wasn’t that long ago that I discovered all of the fabulous things you can do with lemon rind. Since then, I have been zesting away! On top of salads, into my pasta dishes… whatever I do with it, lemon zest makes my food taste like it’s, well, awake! It’s not sour, it’s a fresh and lively flavor.
So when I saw the gorgeous lemons that Italy can grow, my jaw naturally dropped in awe. Not only are lemons abundant in Italy, they grow 4 or even 5 times larger than the typical lemon we see at the grocery store in the U.S. No wonder why they can make loads of Limoncello, they have plenty of lemons to go around!
Take a look at how gigantic some of the lemons on Capri are… The photo below is a picture of a lemon and I had to hold my hand next to it so you could see how HUGE they actually are!

While visiting Pompeii (not too far from Naples, which is where my family and I caught our boat to Capri), we couldn’t help but sip on a fresh lemon slushy made at a food cart outside of the entrance to Pompeii. Even though it was a bit too sour, the lemon slush hit the spot on an insanely hot day. (I didn’t notice until I posted these photos that the guy preparing our lemon ice slushes also happened to be smoking a cigarette at the same time. Kind of gross, but then again … we were in Italy!)