Just finished off a tin of this stuff. I went through it faster than most and I now realize it’s because I chose this tea over the others in my collection more often than not.

The mixture of the green and white teas puts it at the right level of strength. The plum and strawberry flavors are a nice compliment. I usuallt don’t add any sugar or artificial sweeteners to my tea, so it’s possible that a large factor in the overall taste of this tea is the inclusion of stevia leaf. Stevia is a natural sweetener with zero calories. Another excellent aspect of this tea is that it is 100% organic. I’m a sucker for organic products.

I highly recommend picking up a tin of Ambrosia White Plum next time you are looking for a new tea to try out. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Top 10 Albums of 2008:

10. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple



This is a good album to listen to while working. It’s the first neo-soul album I’ve liked listening to the whole way through since Res’ 2001 album How I Do. Note: I haven’t listened to Gnarls Barkley’s first album, St. Elsewhere, yet. If it’s anything like this release, I’ll probably like it.

09. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology



I’m not sure it’s possible for Ryan Adams & The Cardinals to release a bad album. (Although, Ryan Adams sans The Cardinals has done it.) This is another solid alt-country album worth listening to.

08. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely



Once again, I played the heck out of a Raconteurs album for a week or two and then moved on to other things. It’s good ear candy, but it’s lacking carbs.

07. One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion



Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine) and Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta) made some pretty rough keyboard and drum socio-political tracks which I quite enjoyed.

06. Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison



They replaced their female singer and I couldn’t even tell the difference. This is a really solid synthpop album.

05. Coldplay - Viva la Vida



Coldplay got a little experimental and still successfully delivered an album full of memorable melodies.

04. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip



Best legally free album ever released (though Radiohead fans may disagree).

03. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux



Their most compelling album to date. The forays into other genres are more skillfully executed than on Infinity On High and Patrick Stump’s vocals are as dynamic as ever.

02. Xavier Rudd - Dark Shades of Blue



This is another album to listen to while working. A lot of the tracks are like a folksy Tool with more positive lyrics, others remind me of Sting, but they all have 100% more didgeridoo than either of those artists.

01. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)



Cloud Cult is one of my favorite bands and this album is as amazing as the previous two. I think it’s bands like this that make modern music an art rather than simply a money making machine.

Honorable Mentions:

The Parlor Mob - And You Were A Crow
More like Led Zeppelin than Wolfmother, but a voice just as high.

Pop Evil - Lipstick on the Mirror
Sounds like southern rock, though the band is from Michigan. Better than most modern post-grunge (such as Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd).

Biggest Disappointments:

Doomtree - Doomtree
Their last release, 2007’s False Hopes, was touted as a collection of songs that weren’t good enough to be on this self-titled album. I would argue that they got that description backwards.

King’s X - XV
This is one of my favorite bands, but they don’t get it right every single time. Ear Candy used to be my least favorite King’s X album, but I think it’s now in a tie with XV.

7.5/10

I was not expecting this film to be so morbid. It reminded me of Saw in some ways. I wouldn’t recommend it at all for children under 13, there were a few scenes and themes that were just too disturbing.

That being said, there were some really awesome action scenes. I would tell you what my favorite action parts were, but I don’t want to spoil them. Let’s just say one is a stunt with the Batpod and the other is at the end of Batman’s extraction of Lau. I also liked the cleverness of the Joker’s bank robbery and Batman’s plan to capture Lau.

Heath Ledger gave an amazingly demented performance as the Joker; you could hardly tell it was him. Maggie Gyllenhaal didn’t try to play the same Rachel character that Katie Holmes created in Batman Begins. Neither did she do well in conveying Rachel’s conflicted emotions. Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart were spot-on for their roles. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were enjoyable, as always.

Overall, I thought the story was too depressing and morbid, but the acting and action were great.

Molly and I went grocery shopping on Saturday and I came across this strange looking produce item. Called chayote (pronounced “cha-YO-teh") in the U.S. and Latin America, it is a fruit belonging to the gourd family.

There was an interesting recipe on the Dole packaging and, being in an adventurous mood, I decided to try it out. Following is the recipe I used:

• 2 chayote (seeds removed)
• 1 small onion
• 1 can Ro*Tel
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup water

Cut the chayote and onion into cubes. Put them in a saucepan with the water and salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add Ro*Tel and heat. Add cheese just before serving. It’s optional, but I poured it over a serving of rotini.

Pros

This is a healthy meal. The main ingredients are fruits and vegetables. Chayote is rich in amino acids and vitamin C; it has diuretic, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory properties.

This is a filling meal. I could barely finish my plate and most of the ingredients are low in calories.

Cons

The taste was kind of bland. I tried some chayote by itself before cooking it and I would describe the flavor as a cross between a potato and a not-so-sweet apple. If it wasn’t for the Ro*Tel and cheese, I fear this meal wouldn’t have had much flavor at all.

It took a long time to prepare. Chopping 2 chayote and an onion into small-to-medium size cubes took longer than I expected.

Summary

This recipe was interesting, but I wouldn’t make it again. It was too much preparation for too little flavor. Also, I doubt I will go looking for more chayote recipes because it’s a pretty bland fruit.

Molly and I finished watching through the first three Indiana Jones movies this weekend.

I: Raiders of the Lost Ark

4/10

• In the beginning, why did he bring along two morons that would turn on him when he was located so close to the river with the airplane on it?
• Having a snake in the cockpit of the plane was a dumb way to let us know Indy hates snakes.
• The girl is annoying.
• Why did she take Indy’s money and tell him to come back tomorrow?
• The pistols in the bar room fight sounded like cannons.
• The Asian guy in the bar slowly picked up the hot medallion, held it for a while, made a face, then finally dropped it.
• What is with the Asian guy anyway? He just randomly shows up in places and laughs like an idiot.
• When Indiana told Gimli that the girl was dead, he says something like “Oh well, get on with your life.”
• In the snake pit, Indy crashes through a wall that is dripping snakes out of it and there is a passageway to the outside. That is lame.
• How did snakes survive underground like that for so long anyway?

As you can see, I thought this movie was ridiculous. I had heard that the first was the best, so I was wary of watching the other two, but I trudged on…

 

II: The Temple of Doom

5/10

• The scene where they fall out of an airplane in an inflatable raft was laughable (and I don’t mean in a good way).
• There were way too many gross-out moments throughout the film.
• The “love scene” where Indy and the girl decide to have sex and then make each other mad and then decide to have sex again was hokey.
• Being burnt brings people out of a poison-induced trance?

I did enjoy the Short Round character and the action was more exciting.

The sequel wasn’t much better than the first.

 

III: The Last Crusade

7/10

It had the least amount of unbelievable action, which made every action scene more enjoyable for me. Henry Jones played off of Indy for a great balance of humor and drama. Marcus was also a good source of comedy.

This was, by far, the best of the three movies.