Kombucha

Kombucha? Anyone heard of this thing? Well I was at Everman the other day and I picked up what I thought was a cranberry flavored tea because I was thirsty and wanted something to drink at the office...

Well I shook it up and went to open it as it exploded all over the place. Then I took a smell of it and it smelled like alcohol. I wasn't sure what I had grabbed. So I looked it up online and found out it was fermented. I thought maybe it was made of mushrooms or something. Well here it is:


Kombucha is an effervescent tea-based beverage that is often consumed for its anecdotal health benefits or medicinal purposes. Kombucha is available commercially and can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible, solid mass of yeast and bacteria which forms the kombucha culture


It's definitely not made of mushrooms, it's not alcoholic and it's been around for many years. It's used in many countries and people drink it to prevent illness. i took a super tiny sip and didn't enjoy it. 


I would love to hear your thoughts on Kombucha...do you love it? Do you hate it? Have you heard of it before?

Juicing at the Office

Today for our team staff meeting we decided to spend some time building relationships and making juice! We set our regular agenda aside and spent some time in the kitchen. I brought my juicer, & a green juice recipe. Nat brought her super strong/amazing vita mix blender & her smoothie recipe. Robert brought his shake recipe & a some veggies to juice.

My Green Juice Recipe:
- 2 green apples
- 2 romaine leafs
- broccoli stem
- 1/2 an lemon

Natalie's Smoothie Recipe
- pinneapple
- apple
- banana
- oj
- yogurt
- I think that was it...let me know if I forgot something

Robert shared a recipe for a shake:

Unfortunately there were no blueberries and it wasn't cold...I'm sure it would've tasted better if it was cold & had the berries....as you can tell by my face I didn't care for the shake too much. Natalie thinks it's funny! ha!

We had a lot of fun. Trying new recipes and having fun in the office kitchen. The most fun part was sharing a cup of juice/smoothie with coworkers as they passed by. Some enjoyed the healthy beverages and some said in a very polite "no thanks I'm good" response.

Fair Trade

I headed off to a seminar on Fair Trade at Everman on Sunday night with my good friend Nat. I was uber excited to learn more about what fair trade is and the importance of it. We found the time for the event on Everman's Facebook page. It was scheduled for 6:30 pm. Nat & I showed up at 5:40 to walk around Everman and do some shopping while we waited for the event to start.

At 6pm we headed into the classroom and saw a bunch of people exiting the class. A guy let us know that they had to move the class up to 5:30 pm since Everman closes at 7pm. So we missed the seminar! How awful!  The worst part is that we were in the store at 5:40 and no one told us about it. I checked Facebook and saw they announced it at 5:24pm that they switched the time...we were bummed. The only silver lining is that we were in time for a meet and greet with a Kenyan coop coffee farmer named Raymond. It was so neat to hear from his heart what Fair Trade is and how it affects his life, and the life of other farmers in Kenya.

So what is Fair Trade? Basically products that are labeled FAIR TRADE are products that make sure that the workers are being treated fairly, they are getting paid minimum wage, no sweat shops, and there are equal rights for women.

www.fairtradeusa.org


It sounds like buying Fair Trade products means that you support treating others fairly. It sounds like the right/moral thing to do.

During the meeting I also found out that Pensacola is becoming at Fair Trade Town! We'll be working together to raise awareness of Fair Trade.
http://www.facebook.com/FairTradePensacola



After the meeting on Sunday I checked out the website to see what products are Fair Trade. I figured there wouldn't be a lot to choose from. In fact there are a TON of products that are labeled Fair Trade.  I was surprised to find that you can find Fair Trade coffee at dunkin donuts, starbucks and McDonalds. I guess its more common than I realized.