Author Archives: sarahvbowling

Chai on my mind

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What’s not to love about a great chai tea?  Most coffee shops make chai tea with similar ingredients, one specifically-chai concentrate.  Chai concentrate makes for creating a delicious chai tea quickly.  It contains a blend of teas accented with sweet cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and vanilla.  After it is combined with steamed milk, it creates a hard to beat combination-or so I thought.

Here in Kenya, they make their chai just a little differently.  It seems to be a staple throughout the country.  Dormans Coffee for one, provides chai tea for a morning and afternoon teatime every day for all employees.  It is made in massive amounts and no one misses it when teatime rolls around.

Although chai concentrate makes a killer chai, I personally believe the fresher the better.  If you want to try the Kenyan way at home, check out this recipe (this is a large batch and from one of the amazing women who makes it at Dormans):

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups water
  • 7 teaspoons tea leaves (or five bags)  black tea
  • 6 cups milk
  • 10-15 teaspoons sugar (to taste)

Directions:

  1. Heat together water and tea leaves in a saucepan.
  2. Boil 10 minutes and add milk.  Heat to near boiling.
  3. Strain leaves.
  4. Add sugar to taste.

Teatime Chai at Dormans

Maybe you can drink  it with the  Chai Shortbread Cookies with Pink Salt recipe H recently posted.

xoxo

-s

Giraffe Life

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Yesterday I went to a place just outside Nairobi called the Giraffe Center.  It was a beautiful place with many giraffes roaming around to see.  If you google “Giraffe Center”, you will find many pictures of people’s up close and personal contact with the giraffes.  I admit, after doing some research and seeing pictures of people getting their faces licked by giraffes, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get that same opportunity.  There were a lot of people there, so the giraffes needed a lot of coaxing to come close.  Although I didn’t get my face licked, I did get to feed a 7 month old giraffe named Abraham.  It was pretty amazing being so close to these creatures, I think they are truly amazing.

Feeding Abraham

Beautiful area for the giraffes to roam

There were warthogs too, but they aren’t quite as breathtaking as the giraffes…

I love this picture with the shadow of the giraffe

xoxo

-s

 

 

 

Being the New Girl

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I started work here in Kenya on Monday and am already learning so much about the coffee industry.  Like all new jobs, the first week starts the same; meeting, greeting and following.  It’s always overwhelming to meet so many people at once and remember their names.  In the meantime, you get shown around and fed with a firehouse of information which you try you’re hardest to retain as fast as possible.  The facility that I will be working in is incredible and I want to bring in my camera to take pictures soon.

I have already started working on some process flows for the roasting and packaging areas and look forward to what else there is to come for me while here.

Changes

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As H mentioned, I have ventured to Nairobi, Kenya.  I arrived just a few hours ago and the current time is 1:35am.  The thirty hours of traveling and ten hour time change has left me severely jet-lagged and unable to sleep.

This year has brought a lot of change for me.  I think that if you would have asked me this time last year what I was going to do after graduation, I never would have said moving to Kenya for the Fall.  This opportunity sprung on me, so I took it.  Unaware that when the time came to actually go, I would be shaking in my boots.  I can tell you that four hours into my three month stay I have felt an array of things; mostly scared and lonely, but also very excited.

I will keep everyone updated, especially when I see this place in the daylight.

xoxo

-s

Weekends at The Gorge

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The first time I ever visited The Gorge, I was five and there for the Steve Miller Band concert.  Fortunately, Steve is a close family friend so we got the whole backstage experience and from what I remember…it was awesome.  I can’t imagine why it took me seventeen years to go back.

This summer I spent the opening and closing weekends of summer there, which was epic.  Memorial Day Weekend I stayed four nights and saw over twenty concerts.  Labor Day Weekend I stayed one night and saw one concert.  Although the weekends are incomparable, they were equally spectacular.  The perfect combination of great people, music and scenery seems to make for an unbeatable weekend every time.

It’s hard to believe that a place where the standard rules of society don’t apply is only a three hour drive from the city.

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from my time there this summer…

Best view in the house – Memorial Day Weekend

Lighting hot air balloons – Memorial Day Weekend

Rachel and me at the campground- Labor Day Weekend (Photo Cred: Rachel’s FB)

DMB aftermath – Labor Day Weekend

See you next summer, Gorge Amphitheater, right where I left you.

xoxo

-s


Designer Tuesday

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In Lieu of our usual Tuesday Shoesday, I thought I would highlight a designer purse that I have been coveting.  Dooney and Bourke reminds me of my mom because when we were kids she had this classic Dooney green purse with a matching wallet and coin purse that my dad had given her one Christmas.  At the time I didn’t realize that it was a timeless beauty, but I liked the duck emblem.

I’m going on a trip to Kenya in the fall and have been looking for the perfect natural colored bag to bring.  I can’t help but picture myself with this:

Dooney & Bourke ‘Florentine’ Vachetta Leather Satchel

Probably an inappropriate choice for my travels, but I’ve never been one to conform.

 

xoxo

-s

Tuesday Shoesday: Frye Flats

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Last week I was dinking around downtown waiting for a friend to get off work before we heading to the stadium for a ballgame. I popped into Nordstrom to peruse for 20 minutes or so. After a pass through the shoe department, I decided to try on a pair of $59.95 bp. flats. The kind sales person brought back a pair of $149.95 Frye Carson flats, explaining that they didn’t have my size in the shoe I originally requested. I know we have all been there, the sales person brings out a shoe more than twice your budget and you cringe, try it on and politely say that it doesn’t fit (aka: I can’t afford these).

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Lucky for the sales person, this tactic typically works on me and this time they got me again. They were comfortable, cute, versatile and are Frye, so they will last (see me justifying…). If you are in the market for some expensive, but very well made, leather flats – these are the ones. I went for the “silver multi”, but they come in black, cognac, violet, green, orange, white and bronze leather.

xoxo

-s

Tuesday Shoesday: Aren’t half sizes funny?

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A couple of weeks ago I woke up and performed my morning ritual – checking flash sale sites.  I’ve learned through the years that checking these sites in the morning, right after you wake up, is the worst time.  You’re disoriented, tired and capable of making really compulsive online purchases.  Okay I admit, I’m no stranger to online compulsive shopping, but this particular time takes the cake.  I found the Matisse Hendrix sandal on Hautelook.com for $34.  A shoe that sold for $140 when it first came out.  Unfortunately, the 8.5 was sold out.  In my delusional online shopping frantic state I put the 8 in my cart, and decided that the leather straps will maybe stretch.  The truth is, the only shoe I own in an 8 is an UGG Boot and any other size 8 shoe is a thing of my fifth grade past.  Still, I crossed my fingers with hope.  I could tell the second I pulled them from the box that I was pushing my limits.  Sure enough, too small.  Aren’t half sizes funny?

Lucky for H, they fit her and I didn’t have to deal with returning.

Matisse Hendrix Sandal

The Matisse Hendrix Sandal can currently be picked up in Black, Tobacco and Beige at endless.com for $89.05.   Endless offers free shipping and returns, so if you jump on these babies and order a half size wrong, Endless has you covered.

xoxo

-s

Tuesday Shoesday: Hunter Rain Boots

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This 5-day blurb in the weather has got us Washingtonians remembering where we are from.  Same as the population quadruples when the sun comes out, people skulk back into their homes at the first sight of rain.  I for one, have not forgotten my roots.  This morning I slipped on my Hunter Rainboots and wore them out of the house like I was walking the runway.  Although Hunter makes a variety of styles, my favorite is the Original Tall, which comes in a variety of colors, both matte and glossy.  I have the glossy black, which are perfect with almost any rainy day outfit.  I’ve seen them worn many ways, and a bright color with a dress for the summer’s warm rain is adorable.  They even sell Welly socks to go inside to keep your feet extra warm on cold days.  Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer these designer rain boots are a must for anyone living in the Northwest!  The Original Tall can be found at Nordstrom for $125, and the Welly sock inserts can also be found at Nordstrom for $30.

Hunter Original Tall Rain Boots

xoxo

-s

Bucket List

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This past weekend was “Back 2 Bellingham” or alumni weekend at Western.  With the sun shining and activities going on all over campus I started feeling pretty sentimental about graduating.  Okay…I’ve been feeling sentimental all quarter, but having the count to graduation slowly shift from months to weeks to days has really given me a shake.  The anxiety and concern that I didn’t do everything I should have before leaving college is increasing, so I have decided to create a bucket list to be completed before June 9th graduation.  So far it is rather short, but I’m looking for help.

1. Swim in the Red Square fountain

2. Climb Oyster Dome

3. Run Lake Padden

4. Watch the sunrise

I am asking Western or Non-Western students and graduates: What should I do before leaving?  What did you wish you would have done before leaving?

xoxo

-S