A New Tea Kettle

Posted on December 14, 2017 by vanbraman

Today I picked up another new tea kettle on the way home from work.

I had actually ordered the tea kettle almost two weeks ago and have been patiently waiting for it to arrive at the store.

Electronic tea kettle, gourmia, programable tea kettleThe tea kettle is by Gormia and is programmable so that I can select the right temperature I need for different types of tea. Of course it could also be used for other things like soup or hot chocolate. Basically, anything that needs hot water.

Fresh, hot water, temperature, tea potI like putting a kettle on and waiting for it to start whistling. However, it is also nice to get exactly the temperature you need to steep tea.programmable tea pot, temperature, glass tea potHere you can see the new kettle. It is nice that I can see the level of water so that I can make decisions as to whether I need more.

The kettle sits on a detachable base, so it is easy to disconnect the kettle when the water is hot.

For some reason the kettle came without any instructions so I had to do a bit of googleing to figure out a few things.

heating water, tea, kettle, brewingWhile the water is heating up there is a row of blue lights that turn on just above the base.

This picture is interesting as it shows the water as being blue also. It really isn’t blue 🙂

setting temperature, tea steeping adjustmentsThe water temperature is displayed on the handle of the kettle. You can press the Keep Warm button and select what temperature you want to maintain.

This is very important as some teas require a lower steeping heat.

Tonight I set it to 195 as I was having oolong tea.  If you do not set a temperature it will shut off at 212 degrees.

oolong tea, steeping tea, tea leavesHere are some oolong tea leaves in my small tea cup. This is High Mountain Tea from Taiwan and is very good.

The Keep Warm setting is really nice as you can keep the water at a temperature that you need for your next cup of tea.

A cup of tea was nice after what should be my last day in the classroom of the year. I am ready for a little break.

Steven

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Holiday Party

Posted on December 13, 2017 by vanbraman

Tonight we had a holiday party for work.

I am home late so just a few pictures to give an impression of the night.Livermore Winery, Holiday Party, Event CenterThe party was held at the event center at one of the Livermore wineries.

Livermore winery, event center, Holiday partyThe event center was really nice. I really liked this fireplace. Such cool patterns and some nice heat on a cold evening.

beef ribs, party foodOf course you know that I had to take pictures of the food from the party. There were several choices including these delicious beef short ribs with mashed potatoes. All the food items were in small containers that were easy to handle.

Salmon with soba noodles, fun food, party food, standup foodThese little boxes were filled with nice pieces of grilled salmon place on a bed of soba noodles. I had to have two of these 🙂

I also had some boneless fried chicken with mac and cheese. All nice little bites and easy to eat while standing up talking to others.

Photo Booth, Party, Fun PicturesI mostly hung out with my friends from our clinical party. They took a really nice photo booth picture. I also ended up in several group photo booth shots. It was a lot of fun.

donuts and ice cream, dessertsThey also had a few desserts. I ended up sharing a flambe donut with ice cream on top with a friend. We both thought it was delicious.

It was a fun evening, but I think I will be a tired teacher tomorrow. My students were also at the party, so I think we will all be tired 🙂

Now for some sleep.

Steven

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