Hi friends! I am the type of person where the only two things I drink are water and tea. I am not the biggest fan of carbonation, so soda and seltzers have never been in the picture for me. I will have the occasional kombucha or glass of wine, but otherwise, you’ll only catch me with my emotional support water bottle or a glass of home-brewed sweet ice tea.

Two of my favorite tea drinks are iced chai and matcha. These are something I’ll get as a treat for myself from local coffee shops after running errands. But lately, I have been more conscious about where my money is going (I have some big goals for the future), and can’t justify spending five or so dollars for the drinks.

I first got the idea to make chai at home when Kevin Wilson (@crossculturechristian) came across my fyp on tiktok (yes I am a millennial on tiktok, we don’t have to talk about that though). It made me excited because we all know how much I like making things from scratch. I downloaded his free recipe ebook and started scouring thrift stores for a mortar and pestle. I had no idea if I would ever be able to find one second-hand. I wanted to put in the work of grinding up all the spices myself, however, so it was a necessity for me. I didn’t end up finding one, but the wonderful person that is my girlfriend got me one for valentine’s day! I was set. I went to the store to pick up the spices I was missing, grabbed some oat milk, and started testing different spice ratios.

I like this drink cold, so I would make a “chai base” as I thought of it, and then would cool it in the fridge overnight to be mixed with the oat milk the next day. The first couple batches I made smelled like I remember it tasting, but the flavor was off. I felt like something was missing and I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then I realized, I wasn’t adding any sugar to it! That was the thing I was missing. The next batch I made after that revelation was stunning. I will never buy this made for me again and might add making a chai base to my Sunday routine so I can have it to drink throughout the week.

My sidequest this week was some cute little bird feeders I made. I had some scrapings of peanut butter left on a bunch of jars, empty paper towel rolls, and birdseed lying around. To make the feeders, I covered the tube in peanut butter and rolled them in birdseed, and strung a piece of string through the hole to hang outside. I haven’t seen any birds yet so far, but I’m keeping an eye out. Also, I want to mention I made these delicious Mexican Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. I would highly recommend this if you are looking to change things up a bit. It was an interesting twist on traditional taco-esque flavors and I enjoyed it very much.
(Update: So I went outside on Tuesday to check the status of my feeders, and they were gone. It was like they hadn’t even been there in the first place! I witnessed no activity near them myself, so I don’t know if there was a lot of wind, or if I made some squirrels happy…who knows? This shall be a mystery that will never be solved.)