How to make shop-style bubble tea

The day before yesterday my mum took me to Camden to satisfy a bubble tea craving. Well, really, it was mainly to see Camden but buying bubble tea was part of the attraction. I tried honeydew melon flavour for the first time and was pleasantly surprised to find how real it tasted. I was a bit worried at first because I know it's always risky when you buy fruit-flavour items (As opposed to real fruit items) so it was cool that it tasted real.

Then, yesterday after my art class I persuaded my dad to stop by a bubble tea shop so I could spend my money on another one. It was a shop I'd never been to before so I went with what I call, "safe" : a hot taro flavour. I chose passionfruit flavour popping boba - one of my favourites. There was some kind of offer, but you couldn't have popping boba if you went with it, so I didn't buy it.

That's the first time I've ever had bubble tea two days in a row and I don't regret it since I really like the drink. Unfortunately, if I want REAL, "AUTHENTIC" bubble tea I always have to wait till we go out -  'cos when I try to make it at home it seldom tastes like the real thing. Here's why:

1. They use powdered milk, which I don't have.
2. They use powdered flavouring, which I don't have because you can only buy it in bulk - and you have to spend like twelve pounds.
3. I don't have popping boba. I don't know where to buy it.

SO I HAVE FOUND OUT A WAY TO MAKE IT TASTE MORE LIKE THE REAL THING. Without those ingredients.

Here's what you can use instead: Strawberry Nesquik.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1. Normal tea/ Rooibos
2. Water
3. Milk
4. Nesquik powder (Strawberry flavour)
5. Cooked boba
6. Wide straws (Optional)
7. Sugar

Directions:
Brew the tea in a mug/ cup for a minute or so (Not as long as usual because it's not meant to be strong.) Also don't fill it as high as usual because it's meant to be quite milky; you need to leave space for the milk. Next, pour in some... milk, enough to fill it to the top. Stir in two heaped teaspoons of strawberry Nesquik powder, and one or two of sugar - depending on how you like it. Add the boba and you're done!

This is as close to the real thing as I have ever got; it doesn't taste exactly the same - obviously but it's pretty good. The Nesquik is a good substitute for the powdered flavouring that you can only buy in bulk, and it also contains powdered milk, one of the ingredients for, "real," bubble tea.


Related posts:

- Mooboo
- Making bubble tea

Poffertjes - Part 2

Since we enjoyed our stall-bought poffertjes so much, my sister and I decided to make some at home. My dad had to find a recipe for us, since most of them required buckwheat flour and yeast, which we didn't have. In the end he found one that seemed similar to normal pancakes except it was thicker, the kind that forms bubbles and of course you needed the special mold.

Since we didn't have the mold-pan, my dad got out this really old kuih chara pan from the cupboard, which was egg-shaped, but worked anyway. We didn't fill it to the top since poffertjes are smaller than kuih chara.

The result was a lot like the real thing, but only when we kept the poffertjes small. They were maybe a bit more dense than the stall-bought ones, but tasty all the same. I think the best sweet topping for them is butter + icing sugar (Those are the essentials for all sweet poffs) + nutella + fruit. You need at least one fruit otherwise the nutella is just too sweet and smothers the other flavours. I haven't yet tried savoury poffs.

Though I haven't tried it, I'm pretty sure you can make poffertjes with a normal frying pan. They'll be a little flat, but they'll probably taste the same. And the bubbles will make them puff up anyway.

Poffertjes - Part 1

While I was strolling with my sister in Brick Lane yesterday, we walked past a stall selling poffertjes. We tried them, and my sister liked them so much ("They're so yummy! Daddy, please can we get some?") that we decided to buy some. I'd seen something similar in Camden Lock market, and also in Westfield, but they'd always been overpriced. I think they were about £5 for eight! I have to admit, the poffertjes did look a bit bigger in those places, but not so big that they should cost that much. In Brick lane they cost £3 for fifteen, with 50p added for each additional topping. I thought that wasn't so bad.



At this point I should probably explain what poffertjes are. A lot of people think say they're, "mini pancakes," which is actually a pretty good explanation, except if you make mini pancakes, they aren't automatically called, "poffertjes" because they're small. What I'm trying to say is, poffertjes are a kind of small pancake, but not all small pancakes are poffertjes. Got it?

A poffertje is a kind of Dutch mini pancake, with a circumference about the size of a watch's face. Or the size of an old-style penny coin. They're puffy - in fact, the guy at the stall told me that, "poffertjes," literally translate to, "little puffs." The puffiness is because of little holes in the pancakes. They're traditionally made with buckwheat flour  and yeast, and cooked on a pan with little pofferje-shaped holes/ moulds. The batter is poured into the moulds and turned after a few minutes, once it's solidified.

We had to wait a while for the poffertjes to cook, and then the guy at the stall put them on a plate with butter and icing sugar - which don't count as a topping, seeing as everyone has that. Then we chose nutella as our topping, and strawberries as our additional topping. There were these little toothpicks that we were given to eat with, which I think is quite cute.

After eating a full pofferje each, my sister and I concluded that they were "AMAZING." My parents tried them too, and didn't seem to think they were amazing, but they liked them too and my dad suggested we make some when we got home. So we're going to make some pofferttjes today.

Drumming update (For like the millionth time)

Still doing drumming - just three times a week now. As you know about why I quit Batala Why I stopped going to Batala, I don't have to explain about that. So I'll just give you an update about the rest of my drumming. 

Drum kit suddenly got harder. I'm learning more about actually reading the notes. I'm learning new symbols and how to read those. Obviously I can't play like Ginger Baker or Jen Ledger, but you know, I'm getting there... :-) ...

Djembe... I'm pretty sure I said this before, but I'm now doing teenage drumming on Wednesday, and also, "normal" drumming on Friday. "Teenage drumming," isn't really some special exclusive drumming group for adolescents! It's actually a really funny name, "Teenage drumming." It's just a small, focused drum group, mainly with 12 - 16 year-olds. But you learn a lot there, like a lot.

Right now in teenage drumming we're doing a rhythm called, "Macrou." You can google it for more info. I know that's really mean of me, like telling you abut this drum rhythm and then suddenly making you google it yourself, but the truth is, I don't know much about the rhythm myself! I mean I know how to play it, but I've forgotten the background story that my teacher told me about it! Also, if you want to hear how it sounds, you can google it.

ER... yeah, that's about it.

Seeya!

Why I didn't enter a Lucozade competition

I bought a bottle of Lucozade and was excited to see that on the bottle there was some kind of competition. I wanted to enter, and apparently you needed a code from the bottle so I peeled off the label to find it.

Then, obviously, I went onto their website to enter the code. Next, I had to enter my e-mail address - that was fine; they needed to email me to let me know if I'd won! After that I had to, "Confirm e-mail address," still fine. I clicked, "Next." But then, a whole list of other information that you had to give them appeared on the screen: title (miss, mr, mrs etc.) telephone number, first name, surname, gender, date of birth, what Lucozade flavour you bought and finally the, "Verification code," to make sure you're not a robot. Typical. They'd obviously made it appear after the e-mail address on purpose, so you wouldn't be put off by the long, "Form," you'd have to fill in. But, because you'd entered your e-mail address, you'd think, "I've already entered my e-mail address, I might as well carry on." Clever, but really irritating. Then, of course it refused to let me enter because I'm under sixteen. I'm not angry about that, because it had said that on the bottle (In small print though) and I had forgotten - that's why I'd tried to enter. At the bottom of the page were these two tiny tick boxes:

a) I agree to receive exciting news and offers via email from Lucozade and the Lucozade Shop.
b) I have read and accept Lucozade's Terms of use and Privacy policy*

*These bits are required.

So basically, it was all to get your e-mail address so they can send you adverts. I should have expected that, and I'm sure it's not just Lucozade who do that, it's most other companies too.

In case you want to enter the competition, here's my code: AHU F2M H9S

I won't be entering it.

An awkward moment

I often find that telling people about embarrassing moments makes them less embarrassing. I also find that other people usually find the moments less awkward than I do when they hear about them.

Anyway, here's an awkward moment that happened to me a few days ago in Camden. It's not that bad but at the time it made me cringe.

My sister and the other person I was in Camden with were queuing for the ATM. I was pretty bored and I didn't fancy pointlessly standing in a line, so I decided to check out this amber shop next to the ATM. Walked in, and it seemed really nice, you know, beautiful stones everywhere. I was looking around in the shop, admiring the amber necklaces and things, when the woman who probably owned it walked in. We greeted each other and then she said something that at first I thought was, "We've got lovely amber here." But she said it sort of quietly, so I wasn't sure. So I said, "Sorry?" and she said something that sounded like, "You've go lovely hair." But then it could have been, "We've got lovely amber here." The problem was, I wasn't sure which it was. It sounded more like,"You've got lovely hair," but it would be SO embarrassing if I had said, "Thanks," and she'd been talking about the amber. I knew I had to say something, or show some kind of reaction - soon. I couldn't ask because that would be awkward. There wasn't much time to think about how to react, and of course in a normal situation you don't think about how to react you, you just say what comes naturally. So at first I just smiled, and then I sort of let out a laugh that was a mixture between a grunt of, "Yes," (In case she was talking about the amber) and an appreciative smile (In case she was complimenting me on my hair.) I figured I couldn't go wrong with that, since it had many meanings and it was generally a positive reaction. She seemed a bit confused, as anyone would be, and said, "Yes, you know?" I just smiled again, sort of nodded slightly, in case she was talking about the amber. She just said, "You know? You already know this?" I shrugged, still smiling. By this point I was 80% sure she'd said she liked my hair but if I said,"Thanks," and it turned out that the other 20% was correct I'd feel like an idiot. So I said good bye with a smile still and walked hurriedly out the shop. I'm sure I left her pretty confused.

Now you should know that my hair wasn't particularly nice that day. In fact, it was a bit messy, but someone had recently told me I had nice hair so I wasn't sure. If it turns out she wasn't talking about my hair, this blog post is a lot more embarrassing than what happened then.

Skillet

I could probably do a really long post about Skillet, but it would be boring for both of us, so I'll try to keep it short.

The current members of the band are:

• Seth Morrison
• Korey Cooper
• Jen Ledger
• John Cooper

Seth is the lead guitarist. John Cooper is the lead singer and probably the most famous person in he band. He also plays guitar. Korey is John's wife. She plays the keyboard and sings in some of the songs too, but does keyboard more. Jen Ledger is the drummer, and she also sings in some of the songs. She did the drawings for the music video for, "Rise."

Skillet formed in 1996.

Everyone in Skillet is American except for Jen, who's British.
 

Music I like...

Here are some songs/ bands/ singers I would recommend to you :-)

•  I've just discovered, "The Glitch Mob." You've probably heard of them but (If you like them) you need to make sure you hear them. Their music is, "Glitch," as it's obvious from the title. The Glitch Mob is electronic, like a more energetic version of daft punk.
•  Skillet is my favourite band. Their music is really cool, but then of course everyone says that about their favourite band. So they might not be your idea of nice to listen to but I like them :-) Their music is CCM or Christian rock. My favourite albums are, "Rise," "Awake," and, "Comatose comes alive."
• Imagine Dragons. I don't listen to them that much, actually, but I like, "It's Time," and, "Radioactive."
• The Wanted. This band, I really don't listen to that much, but I've started listening to them lately and they're ok! My favourite song by them (Or the one I've listened to most) is, "Chasing The Sun."
• Nirvana (Even though I only know their three most famous songs)
• I really like some old rock/ heavy metal bands like, "Iron Maiden," "Metallica," and, "Black Sabbath."
• The Beatles. I'd heard their songs before but never  purposely listened to many of them, until recently. I actually think they're better than I thought they were a few years ago. Sort of calm and catchy.
• Speaking of calm and catchy, I used to really like, "Jason Mraz." I don't listen to him as much now but I still enjoy his songs.
• Also, George Barnett. I saw him singing at HESFES and I think I went to his music workshop (I think because I don't remember exactly who ran it but it was probably him.)
• Go West. It's a really sweet, catchy song and my mum likes it too.
• Smoke On The Water. It's the only song by Deep Purple that I like.
• Slipknot (Yeah, I know exactly what you're thinking but don't say it to my face.)
• Uptown Girl
• Eye Of The Tiger. Top motivational song.
• Daft punk
• Avicii

You can post your favourites in the comments section? :-)

Why I Stopped Going To Batala

Okay, so as you know, I stopped going to Batala drum classes a while ago. Here are the reasons why:

1. Limited number of drums
There weren't many drums/ knee pads/ drum straps/ drumsticks, so everyone was scrabbling to get there first. Some of the other people going there would help me, but sometimes if you didn't manage to get the equipment you'd just have to watch. Luckily that never happened to me; unluckily the other option was having to play the type of drum I hadn't been practicing the other weeks, so I ended up with a bunch of different drum parts in my head, not always being able to continue with what I'd done the previous week.

2. Disorganized
Well, I've already implied that it was disorganized in my last paragraph but I don't think you understand to what extent it was; one day, a potential solution to the drum shortage came: we tried assembling our own drums. Of course, I was pretty relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about not having a drum for the next few weeks, but it turned out that I didn't even get to assemble the kind of drum that I wanted! Okay, let me explain in more detail: So we - me and my mum - got there (Walked all the way from the station and through a complicated set of doors/ corridors like usual) and it turned out we were meant to make the drums outdoors. Most of us got there on time, but we still had to wait around 1 1/2 hours before we started; the drum pieces hadn't been set up properly. I knew which type of drum piece I wanted, and stood by it for a while to, "book," it. But when we didn't start for a long time I sat back down.

When we finally started, the teachers didn't properly explain how to make the drums, so me and my mum had to rely on help from people we asked. Also, as you know, I didn't get the right type of drum - the one I'd practiced the most, the one I could play the best, the one I'd wanted to get! I got a bigger drum (Hard to carry) that was meant to be covered in leather. Guess what? There was no leather to cover the plastic top with. So it sounded like the kind of drum I had wanted (Which wasn't how it was meant to sound) but it wasn't the right size/ shape to be the kind of drum I'd wanted. It took about two hours to make with no-one in charge telling me what to do. 

When I thought back, it wasn't just that day I hadn't been given adequate instruction.

3. A hassle
The drum was bloody bulky, and heavy too - and to have to carry it on the tube (Snagging on people's clothes) with no case all the way to Elephant & Castle... well, it just wasn't worth it. And what was irritating was that when I walked past with it people would stare/ get annoyed (Probably)/ ask what it was/ tap it as I walked past (This only happened to me twice but it made me so angry and apparently it wasn't just me it happened to. Once even when I tried to move away the drum they still insisted on tapping it; I'm talking grown men here not little kids.)

4. Irritating adults
Okay, I know I talk about a lot of people as, "Irritating," or, "Annoying," but I have a proper reason; I promise I wouldn't complain for the sake of it. There was this woman who came up to me after Batala and asked first, how old I was, next, whether my parents took me, and after that, to speak to my father. So, I got my dad to talk to her and found out she wanted to address the under-age issue (I was the only person under 18 and we were occasionally going to be playing in night clubs.) Now, when the woman was talking to my dad, she kept repeating herself, which was starting to get to my nerves but I wasn't that affected by it. The next week or maybe two weeks later my dad talked to the other teacher about it and they established that it was ok, you know, as long as my parents came along as well + I had their permission + I accepted that sometimes I wouldn't be able to play with them, like at strict clubs. So it was ok, sorted. I think the woman might have talked to my dad about it again, I'm not sure. But then a few weeks later, she went up to my mum to talk to her about it as well! So that's like two or three times we'd talked about it already and she still had to go up to my mum for a, "chat," again. And it wasn't a really quick talk with my mum.

So this woman wasn't a proper reason for leaving batala, but one of the benefits of leaving was that I wouldn't have to see her/ my parents wouldn't have to have endless talks with her.

5. My drum kit teacher left
My drum kit teacher also went to Batala for a while and he left after like three weeks. He didn't have a good feeling about it and that backed up my reasons for wanting to leave.



So I think I have covered most of my reasons. There are different Batala troupes, so who knows? Maybe I'll want to join another one some day. Although the leader of that troupe wasn't so organized, he was still pretty good at teaching the actual rhythms themselves. So it wasn't all bad. And I met some nice people there. Maybe I didn't feel it was the right place for me but that doesn't mean other people won't like it. You just have to choose the right place for yourself, and everyone is different.

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for not posting in a long time!

Just a quick update:

1. I stopped going to Batala a while ago
2. I still like sushi
3. I'm on Twitter (JamilaJJ)
4. I've started another blog with my sister (I'm not abandoning this one though.)
5. The Chaos Walking trilogy is still my favourite trilogy
6. Right now I'm listening to Gregorian chants