Conversation Hearts and Granny: A Sweet, Sweet Contest
By April on Feb 9 Filed In Blog Love, Sweet Contests 66 Comments
It’s the time of year when the pink and red decorations come out and love feels like it’s bursting from the seams. Doesn’t it just make you thirsty?
Well, we know how much all of you love Sweet Leaf Tea and contests, so we’re offering you a chance to show it by writing a little haiku about your feelings for some Homemade Goodness in a Bottle.
Background: Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. Haiku poems consist of 3 lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7. The lines rarely rhyme. Example by yours truly:
Valentines day tea
Minty fresh or lemon yo
it’s sweet and good.
(I’m willing to bet that your haiku will be much better than mine and personally, I endorse this challenge.)
Rules: Post your tea-infused haiku in the comments section of this blog post between February 9th and February 14th and we’ll announce the lovely winner on Tuesday February 15th. We decided to give you a little longer than originally planned because there is always a chance that you’ll get hit by Cupid’s arrow and start feeling all lovey-dovey and inspired to write sweet, sweet poetry about your favorite beverage.
Great, but what do I win? I’m glad you asked! Besides a delicious 6-pack of uber-romantic, Raspberry Tea (OR your favorite flavor), Our friends at @WholeFoodsATX have offered to sweeten the deal by sharing some Whole Foods Market Organic Chocolate Truffles, massage stones from HimalaRose, and massage oil and body lotion from HUGO Naturals. Does it get much better than sweet tea, chocolate, and massage goodies? I think not and I’m slightly jealous of the winner!
So crack open a bottle of your favorite tea and the let the love feel your belly and your soul. Surely that will inspire a gem of a haiku.
Lost? Look West!
By April on Aug 23 Filed In Live Music, Mile High Festival Add a Comment
Thursday the 12th I skipped the sacred Thursday Night Social Ride to hop on a plane instead. I was whisked away to Denver Colorado, home of GREAT summer weather, beautiful mountains, lots of great bike trails and Mile High Music Festival. The whole weekend I lived by my friend Jeff’s advice: if I get lost, look for the mountains; they are always west. Every time I was lucky enough to face them, I smiled.
I flew in Thursday night so I could spend Friday rolling about the greater Denver area on two-wheels, soaking in the town before hanging out and jammin’ to music Saturday and Sunday. My goal was to leave the cute little city of Wheat Ridge and head into downtown Denver, hop onto the Cherry Creek trail and then do the Cherry Creek Reservoir Loop, but once you get rolling through strange territory, anything can happen!
I met the nice folks over at Wheatridge Cyclery for some essentials and then headed on my merry way to cruise through town. The ride was deliciously flat and I couldn’t help but smile the whole way to downtown Denver. All of a sudden I was there and there were bike lanes, bike signs, riders and even the beginning of a trail system that went all over the place. I took some pictures and then headed along the trail. I realized that I had no idea how to get on the Cherry Creek Trail and threw caution to the wind and just headed on a trail hoping for the best. I wrapped around an amusement park that was like Six Flags and then Mile High Stadium and then I got a flat tire. No big deal, as I was prepared..but then a dude rolled up and like a pit boss, changed my back tire in seconds flat. He directed me to the correct trail and I was off again and, “POP!” it blew, again. Womp-womp! I started changing it myself and blew the C02 cartridge up in my hand and that was all the C02 that I had. A nice guy rolled up in a Parks and Rec truck and took me and Joel’s bike to Salvagetti to get a new tube. I got all fixed up, and rolled back out on my jaunt to the reservoir. I got about 8 miles from my destination and decided that I needed to cool off in the creek and then decided to forgo the reservoir ride (I was already over an hour off schedule to hang out with my buddy in Boulder) to hit up Snarf’s Sub Shop since I hadn’t had lunch yet and it came so highly recommended. Met more cool people on my way there, including the guy working at the counter named Cameron who is from Austin and can’t wait to come say hi during ACL and share a Mint & Honey Green Tea with me. Gotta love connecting with cool peeps!
Saturday morning I went to meet up with a friend that I hadn’t seen since the 11th grade and we headed to Mile High Fest. Whole Food Market’s Rocky Mountain Region Marketing Goddess, Lauren Craig hooked SLT up by having our products in the artist lounge back-stage in a little make-shift grocery store. You could get free EO Hand Sanitizer, fresh fruit, mini Lara Bars, Sweet Leaf Tea and more! It was awesome! There is nothing like being at a festival and getting to eat fresh peaches, apples and oranges instead of craptacular concert food. Since Granny was not the Belle of the Ball, (cus other brands were the actual sponsors) I had to dump a little bit out and order shots of vodka (sadly, not Tito’s) to pour into my bottle. Come on, it’s a festival, and my vacation, so don’t judge!
Band-wise, I was stoked to see The Constellations (lead singer has a little bit of Jim Morrison in him and I suspect we’ll be hearing more good things about this band in the future), Cypress Hill (these guys have not mellowed with age and I must say that I enjoyed myself immensely from my perch on the side stage), Steve Miller (who was sort of disappointing and I’ve seen him like 3 other times), Phoenix (who played the one song by them that I really dig, “Funky Squaredance”) and I attended the after-party much later that night at the Larimer Lounge to see Boombox spin a DJ set. It was a one awesome dance party in that little joint. I had a great time but it was time to get to bed for another day of music fun that was set to include my buddies Ozomatli and my super-secret boy friend, Lorin from Bassnectar.
PHOENIX : FUNKY SQUARE DANCE LIVE FRANCOFOLIES LA ROCHELLE
Uploaded by artemis181. – Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
Sunday’s musical offerings included fun sets by Drive by Truckers, Ozomatli (I am not sure if anyone in the music biz can out run these guys. They might even beat the Energizer Bunny!), Boombox, the legendary Jimmy Cliff, My Morning Jacket (listened to these guys from the media tent while the bright-Colorado sun was starting to droop and the breeze started to kick up. It was pretty blissful.), Bassnectar (Lorin never disappoints and this set was no different. The crowd went nuts for them! The bass in your face and in your ear holes is always a beautiful thing.) and the one band I was planning to avoid who I enjoyed a little of was Dave Matthews Band. DMB’s jammy stuff was pretty cool, and since Denver was being hit by a wind and lightening storm at that time, sitting on a hill, alone behind the stage listening was absolutely amazing.
Lia Holland getting the beach balls ready for the launch during Bassnectar.
After the show, Jeff and I hit Steuben’s for a late meal thanks to Joel and his buddy John for suggesting it to us (seeing their food truck at the festival helped too.) because their menu of upscale comfort food and fancy cocktails was exactly what I needed after 2 days of music, and a wonderful vacation.
What a great way to end the festival and one incredible weekend. Did you go to Mile High Fest? If so, what were YOUR highlights?
Summertime #TeaSnacky: Panzanella with Sliced Beef Sirloin
By April on Jun 24 Filed In Food & Beverage, recipes, teasnacky 2 Comments
I decided that I needed to get back on the “eat right train” that I’ve been on until the last 6 months or so and what better time to do it than in the summer when it’s just too hot to want to eat your standard comfort food fare. Insert brainiac idea to make myself a tasty bread salad with sliced sirloin on top. Don’t worry about what drink to pair it with, just grab a bottle of sparkling water and your favorite flavor of Sweet Leaf Tea, (Citrus, Half & Half, or Mint & Honey perhaps?) and mix it up. Curious about the exact ratio? Here’s my best guess: 3/4 tea to 1/4 water-ish, but feel free to experiment and comment on what the best ratio is. You could also add some fruit juice to really make it exciting!
Anyways, for my super-easy panzanella (meant to be made with day-old bread and fresh veggies), I cheated and bought some of what I needed off of the Whole Foods Market salad bar and bought bread, that became a couple of days old by the time I used it. I like a variety of tasty stuff on my salad, so I grabbed a variety of veggies (b-b-b-beets, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, local cherry tomatoes, diced red bell pepper, black olives, artichoke hearts, mixed heirloom lettuce, spinach and cucumbers), fresh mozzarella (the Specialty Team Members at the Lamar store make some INCREDIBLE cheese), sharp cheddar, Black Forest bacon (get it from the meat counter, you’ll be glad you did), part of a crusty baguette, a balsamic dressing and a succulent petite sirloin and threw it all into a bowl and tossed.
All that's missing is the sirloin!
Black Forest bacon in mah oven
I think it’d be cool to see what YOU end up throwing in your panzanella salad. Make your own dressing, use veggies from your own garden, the sky is the limit and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
**Below you’ll find a recipe from Alton Brown that will get your culinary creative juices flowing.**
Alton Brown’s Panzanella Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups French bread cut into 1-inch cubes and dried overnight
- 6 slices bacon, cooked, chopped, drippings reserved
- 2 cups halved grape tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons oil, for searing
- 2 cups halved yellow pear tomatoes or roughly chopped heirloom tomatoes
- 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chiffonade mint
- 1 tablespoon chiffonade basil
Directions
Toss bread cubes in the bacon drippings. Sear the halved grape tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of oil, cut side down, until caramelized about 5 minutes, set aside.
Combine red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl, slowly whisk in olive oil in a thin stream until emulsified.
Combine all tomatoes, bread, bacon, and lettuce and dress with vinaigrette, toss well, garnish with mint and basil and serve.
How I Turned Trash into Fashion (Trashion)
By Guest on Apr 29 Filed In Uncategorized 1 Comment
| 2 months prior to April 22, 2010 Earth Day Show | I started coming up with sketches that would incorporate labels (thanks to Sweet Leaf Tea) and the aluminum tops (thank you friends for drinking all of those). |
| 1 month prior | Figured out how many labels (give or take some) I would need to make a full dress.
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| 3 weeks prior | Drink lots of Sweet Leaf Tea!
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| 1-2 weeks prior | Picked up the labels from April and Ashley! Figuring out what to do with the new aluminum can that I got from April. I’ll think of something. Measured an actual dress and took the outline to start making the SLT Dress.I took about half of the smaller and half of the larger SLT labels and cut the mission statement and nutrition facts off of each label so I can use them individually. May take more work but I think the detail will be clear.Figured out what to do with the can! Belt buckle. I started finishing the actual design (specifics). I want it to be very clear the difference in top and bottom of the dress so I took the “mission statement” off the small labels and made the entire top of the dress out of those and the face of Granny as the skirt portion. |
| Less than 1 week | Finished the majority of the dress! Made a belt out of the white, diet tea labels (hopefully it’s different enough in color it’ll stand out).I have way more labels than expected—overestimation :/ . Maybe I’ll make a shirt? Or men’s outfit?Checked with the Whole Foods Market Prepared Foods Green Mission rep and got another outfit approved! Let’s just hope this works out as well as the dress does.Cut up a t-shirt and lined it with smaller labels (the full label, not cut up at all) and estimated shorts and started taping together the large labels.
Now the final part of this project is utilizing the aluminum tops—straps for the dress and enough for a belt for the men’s outfit! I’m using a screw driver and hammer and pushing through the metal and taking threaded tape (duct tape) and cutting it into small pieces and threading it through and tying it. Hopefully it works!
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| April 22, 2 | The belt and straps both held! Thank goodness. I have a few more labels left that I could use to make some shoes but I’m not exactly sure how.I found some I can cover! Men’s slippers-they’ll hopefully look like topsiders though. I’ve stapled larger labels to the back and used clear tape to finish the rest. I took a small label face of granny and put it on the top as a flap.
Post by Sarrah Moore, Whole Foods Market Lamar Team Member |
Trash Turns to Trashion at Whole Foods Market Flagship Store
By April on Apr 22 Filed In Austin, Texas, Events, earth day 3 Comments
Sarrah Thompson works for the Whole Foods Market Flagship store here in Austin TX in the Prepared Foods department. She recently contacted me because she wanted some of our labels to create a dress for their Earth Day Trashion Show and as a slave to fashion (in my own mind) I couldn’t say “no”! Sarrah and some other folks in her department have been collecting bottle caps to help create the perfect dress, so all she needed was some of our labels to really create the perfect Granny-approved dress.
If you are going to do any shopping at Whole Foods Market this Thursday, be sure to check out their Earth Day Celebration they are throwing too! They will have folks from Urban Roots, Sustainable Food Center, Hondo Green, EnviroInks, and more.
The Trashion Show starts at 5:00PM so come see the Sweet Leaf Tea dress on a real live model, Thursday April 22nd in Austin TX. I’ll be there taking pictures because I can’t wait to see it!!
Stay tuned for a step by step blog post by Sarrah too! Do you create everyday items, clothing or accessories with recycled products or packaging? We’d love to hear about it! Be sure to comment!
(Here’s a teaser for now…)
Drawings and concept by Sarrah Thompson
