It's official: Maple Macchiatos make Mondays better.
After seeing numerous posts on Instagram with the #maplemacchiato tag, I decided to finally try out the exclusively Canadian Starbucks concoction while taking advantage of the "Buy 1 Drink, Get a Pastry for Free" Monday Madness deal. And while unable to be seen, contained within the realms of the adjacent lovely pale pink paper bag was my Banana Loaf.
It might surprising that this was actually my first hot drink cup of the year with the La Boulange sleeve, but then again, I tend to get iced drinks despite the outside temperatures. (The cups are also the most durable plastic ones I've even come across!)

I'm not afraid to admit it: I was instantly hooked after only a day of testing out the maple flavour.
Two days later, I found myself making it a mission to drop by Starbucks to obtain an iced version of the patriotic-sounding drink. It was equally mind-bogglingly amazing, if not even more so.

And as my cravings for a freshly-baked pineapple bun from the day before had yet to be satisfied, several were purchased from Akko during an errand run. In addition to the traditional, plain pineapple bun, I noticed that they were also selling variations with custard and red bean fillings. I've yet to taste the red bean type, but the custard one was a flawless marriage of sweet, milky custard and a crisp, slightly sweet pineapple top, both accompanied by a soft, chewy bun.

I think it's become quite evident at this point that my phone photos rarely veer from the category of food photography.
But something that I find quite interesting about these food randoms is that there will more than likely always be a story associated with each one.


As class had ended early on Monday, I decided to take advantage of the TGIM deals happening at Starbucks every Monday in March. This past week's special happened to be two teas for the price of one. The lineup at the 24-h location is always pretty long, but the staff are usually experienced enough to get my order to me in a pretty satisfactory amount of time. I've never had issues with an incorrect order or rude behaviour from the employees before either. But this particular Monday proved to be different.

The girl at the cashier seemed alright at first, but her attitude quickly changed. It had been fine when I initially inquired about the  type of pastry the Almond Blossom was, but it took a rapid turn as soon as I asked about the Tea for Two deal.

Although the emails that I had received had already clearly stated that the deal would be applicable to both hot and iced teas, she simply spat the words, "It only works for hot teas." in my face when I proceeded to order two iced ones. I asked for a Peach Green Tea Lemonade as well as an iced Earl Grey at first, but then she told me that the second one couldn't be done. "We can only make the tea pouches as hot tea.", or so I was told. (Funny thing is, the smaller location across from campus had absolutely no issues whatsover making an iced Peach Blossoming Tea Latte for me when I requested it. Yes, I do understand that one is tea and syrup and the other is tea and milk. But the fact that tea can be made both hot and cold doesn't change.)
I then asked which teas could be made into cold teas, and was glared upon while being impatiently told that only black and green teas could be converted. And so I asked for green tea with milk and handed her my card politely while asking, "So this works for the deal, correct?". I see her punch in "Add milk - $0.60" and handing the cups over to the barista. Without even glancing back up at me, she slides my card through the machine swiftly (and somewhat angrily) before replying with a snarky "Well, we're going to see."

"..."

In my head, I'm thinking, "So first of all, you didn't tell me that adding milk to tea costs an extra 60 cents. I thought it was free given that iced coffee comes with milk. Secondly, you hand the barista my drink cups without knowing whether the BOGO tea deal would work or not - HOW DID YOU KNOW I WASN'T GOING TO CANCEL MY ORDER IF THE DEAL DIDN'T WORK?"

Back to reality, the deal went through, as the email had stated, and so I received my card back and the girl with condescending attitude directed me to stand towards the end of the bar.

To be honest, all the other employees that day had seemed to be in a good mood. The lineup wasn't nearly as long as the morning or afternoon rushes (there was only one more person behind me in line), and the even the barista who made my drink was a super sweetie. I didn't know that inquiring about teas was such a sin.
(Oh and for those that are wondering, this is referring to the girl who was working at cashier on Monday March 16, 2015 at the 24-hour Starbucks at Square One around 3:20 pm.)



Onto the second photo, I have to say that the story associated with my reduced sugar Lait's Go (the French name for the drink) isn't nearly as long or exciting as the previous one. I simply included it since the lighting had been interesting that day, there was still time before the bus arrived, and the chances of me repurchasing a bottled drink when it's not on sale are pretty low.
(Side note: Did you know that "Reduced Sugar" in French is "Faible en sucre"? This literally means "weak in sugar" haha.)

First off, I'd like to announce something important.

For those that have exchanged a non-academic conversation with me lasting longer than five minutes in the past two weeks will know that I am currently eagerly engaged in an Android game called TsumTsum created by LINE.
And for those that have known me for a while may be aware of my love for Sulley and his blue-fur-with-purple-polka-dot-y goodness.
Combine these two points and you'll understand why obtaining the Sulley Tsum was such an amazing moment for me /insert heart emoji here/.

But I suppose we can move onto visuals now.
My latest two tea-based creations include an Iced Coffee Pu'erh Latte (previously mentioned in my last post) and a Green Tea Green Bean Frappuccino with Grass Jelly (say what?! Yes, Green Tea and Green Bean. It may sound odd at first, but it really is quite innovative, even if I do say so myself).

Has it really been two weeks since I've last updated this space?!?! Apparently so.

If I haven't already passively-aggressively informed this blog's viewers to an exceptional degree about the unfathomably copious amounts of schoolwork we receive, I suppose you'll have the pleasure of hearing me complain once more.
But, in all seriousness, the last two weeks have been much more hectic than I would've imagined. This consequently induced a haggard mind incapable of conjuring up content without falling asleep in the midst of drafting.


Somewhere between those days, though, I was able to squeeze in a quick tea inventory restocking. After a few brews of Jumpy Monkey and Organic The Skinny, I decided to get adventurous at DAVIDsTEA.

As I am never one to arrive unprepared, I had already prepared a list of blends I intended on smelling based on the descriptions provided on the website. So with my list of teas in tow, I engages in a thorough sniff-through upon arriving, and finally narrowed down my choices to five teas: Long Life Oolong, Chocolate Rocket, Assam Banaspaty (my new tried-and-trusted blend for milk teas!), Cherry Blossom, and Coffee Pu'erh.