tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7535894271195412382024-03-05T06:46:46.395+00:00The Half-DipperHobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.comBlogger1173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-29868532905047115942018-07-30T13:26:00.000+01:002018-07-30T13:44:13.551+01:00Thoughts on AgingLike the ouroboros, I am turning in on myself and drinking a lot of my own cakes of late. This seems almost indecent, after a recent lifetime of continually trying new tea, and continually buying new cakes. However, sufficient time has passed that the game is afoot! Changes are apace.
This article is about two things: (i) cash money, and (ii) aging cakes.
If you've been here Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-18910059217671145782018-07-26T03:40:00.003+01:002018-07-26T05:21:44.041+01:00Ahoy ThereAvast, Gentle Reader!
Good grief, it has been a long time, has it not? To be precise, it has been, checking the sidebar, at least one year since the previous post here at the ol' Half Dipper. Perhaps it is not long in the life of a cake of potent, pugilistic pu'ercha, but it seems significant in duration for mere homo sapiens.
It's been so long, in fact, that I received a message Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-87727401132224259392017-07-03T10:00:00.000+01:002017-07-03T11:12:58.188+01:00Wuliang ClanGentle Reader, before we get down to our mutual camellia sinensis addiction, it would probably be helpful to give you the background to how I approached today's tea. The one informs the other, and it would be giving you a partial assessment were I to attempt to separate the two.
Imagine, if you will bear with me, that you have been born and raised in a cold country. Imagine Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-4328013792261262232017-06-28T11:02:00.001+01:002017-06-28T11:02:25.690+01:00Fructis Ventris Tui...the figurative Tea-Womb of Mr. Essence, that is.
Let us indulge in a little exercise in tea obstetrics. Let us part the tea-labia of Essence of Tea, and deliver the fine pu'ercha from within. Thence, quivering and perhaps still covered in (figurative) amniotic fluids from the birthing process, we examine this fine, new-born cake.
This is the 2017 "Secret Forest Wild".
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-38233483651588747582017-06-19T16:55:00.000+01:002017-06-20T11:16:11.639+01:00Going Out with an Yibang (2017, EoT)Greetings, Heroes. How's 2017 treating all y'all?
Trump (hnng), Brexit (hnnnrghn), Theresa May (hhrrrnnnngghh) - everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.
*Sith lightning*
After all of the (really) bad news, I was super-thrilled to be in correspondence with Mr. Essence, who offered me a ray of light. And a mighty package. Never one to shy from a mighty package, I was delighted Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-39809656015091847212017-01-20T12:36:00.002+00:002017-01-20T14:28:42.124+00:00Everybody Darths, SometimeI've heard people talk about me, when they think I'm not nearby. "He's more machine now, than man", they'll say, with a wistful tone and a distant gaze.
You may fire up the kettle when ready, commander.
Is it because of my Sith chamber, pictured above?
Perhaps my favoured drinking spot could be considered to be a little austere, but I think that it's a comfortable place to take my tea - Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-38947014198548292682017-01-16T10:45:00.002+00:002017-01-20T12:09:02.569+00:00Congregation of VapoursI have of late, but wherefore I know not... lost all my mirth. Foregone all custom of exercise.
And, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the Earth, seems to me... a sterile promontory.
However, what better way to desterilise one's promontory than with some EoT?
This little baby has been sitting in a box, on a shelf, in my office, calling to me. Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-78631293386958281432016-12-31T11:56:00.000+00:002017-01-12T11:30:37.241+00:00Twenty SixteenI
drinking my coffee
before the interview
making it last
II
buying a ticket
to buckingham palace -
yes, a return please
III
the old lady's dog
watching the ambulance
drive away
IV
kneeling in chapel
before made my offering
were those lamps lit?
V
there goes a cupboard -
old kitchen burns quickly
in the garden stove
VI
surprise visit -
coming home early to
the Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-81302320306258347322016-08-03T16:54:00.001+01:002016-08-03T16:54:34.845+01:00Today's Agenda
Today's agenda: got the shengpu up in the Sentra.
Go to room 1-12,
tell 'em Miss Lin sent ya.
Please make your brewings clean, rinse up in between.
Rule #1 about me: I am pathologically contrary. If you tell me that I have to like something, or, even worse, that it is cool to like something, then I will almost certainly dislike it, on principle. This is not Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-67317235815716449652016-07-29T09:25:00.002+01:002016-07-29T11:33:59.586+01:002015 Green Shroom (w2t)Nothing helps a situation like a serious cup of tea.
Looming deadlines? Cup of tea.
Student trying to convince you to let them submit an unready doctoral thesis, while their primary supervisor has disappeared to South America? Cup of tea.
Electricity and water not working while the builders try their hardest to destroy what little remains of your sanity? Cup of tea.
No, you're right: Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-57884617722066333192016-07-04T05:44:00.000+01:002016-07-04T05:44:55.915+01:00Strange Days
Warriors, poets, and warrior-poets: I bid you welcome. I trust that all is well, with you and yours. These are strange days indeed, but first, let's fire up the trusty ol' tetsubin before we get down to business.
I'm up before the dawn chorus, this morning, which gives me the opportunity and the means: we have a 2010 Mansai cake from Essence of Tea (nee Nadacha) on the table. &Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-92188891079503420792016-04-25T07:00:00.000+01:002016-04-25T10:54:06.235+01:00Travel-Worn Satchel, I-VIII
I
safety video
plays while I watch
the jet of steam
II
phonecall from Shanghai
hello - I think your wife
took my suitcase
III
toddler chooses
the next track for our journey -
God is a DJ!
IV
all the questions
are provided in advance
Chinese press meeting
V
flapping in the breeze
the hem of her summer dress
caught by car door
VI
england, nether-lands
separated only
by clouds
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-14145851532360374352016-04-18T05:00:00.000+01:002016-04-18T05:00:00.833+01:00Cambridge Snow, I-VIII
I
cambridge snow
melts on contact with starbucks
and james brown
II
bacon espresso
orange clouds winter sky
train to cambridge
III
woman carefully
applying her eyeliner -
train hits a bump
IV
the speeches begin -
alone in the garden
with tea and scones
V
five miles of tunnel
the traffic jam hides my voice
singing Guns & Roses
VI
pines mountains snow
calm Lake Tahoe Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-63332970214391889542016-04-11T05:00:00.000+01:002016-04-11T11:11:07.328+01:00Academic Year, I - VIII
I
on my bicycle
from classroom to lab
eating my lunch
II
winter rain
running past another don
our gowns tangle
III
the New Year's eve
college quads are silent -
except for my boys
IV
governing body -
fifty gowns flapping
fifty opinions
V
on easter sunday
one does not simply walk
into Balliol
VI
teapot for two
beneath the old buttery
pear tree
VII
under the table
in my Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-20619469614167950212016-04-04T12:04:00.000+01:002016-04-05T05:55:10.823+01:00Beef and Cheese, I-VI
I
mealtime again -
massachusetts institute
of beef and cheese
II
changing timezones -
more tired at 8 a.m.
second time around
III
old cigarette ends -
disused flower garden of
the cancer ward
IV
never waste a snowdrift -
english footprints made deep in
american tyretracks
V
looking down on
the English, I take my place
among them
VI
two thighs
makes plenty of room
for Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-26584587004733379082016-01-18T05:52:00.003+00:002016-01-18T05:52:34.222+00:00Catching Oneself
every moment
is an opportunity -
turn it all around
sit up, back straight
shoulders back, head up -
pour the tea
when you brew yourself,
pour yourself, drink yourself -
this is zazen
I catch myself
writing about zazen -
steam from the teapot
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-71112401180929365602015-12-24T12:08:00.000+00:002015-12-24T12:20:43.459+00:00Be Careful What You Wish ForGentle Reader, as we look back at 2015, I am forced to conclude that one must be careful what one wishes for. You will notice that updates here at the ol' Half Dipper have been sparse since August.
Like many of us, I live my life according to the teachings of the films of Jerry Bruckheimer. For example, in the Parable of the Top Gun, we are taught that
"Losers always whine about Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-59525268386978281332015-10-07T12:11:00.003+01:002015-10-07T12:11:39.437+01:00Milan, I-V
I
rotating smoothly
gracefully but so slowly
Milano loo-seat
II
Milan mosquitos:
do the humans taste better
in five-star hotels?
III
grand opera house
wearing their best t-shirts
the americans
IV
Mimi la Boheme
despite her poverty
is not malnourished
V
the scent of cologne
made fresh again by a tear
at the opera
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-8130950656187014622015-08-10T05:30:00.000+01:002015-08-10T05:30:01.020+01:00Pairing Tea
We have known one another for so long, Gentle Reader, that I feel as if I can confide in you. Among the veritable plethora of "things that yank my chain", up there near the top is "pairing tea".
Don't get me wrong. Everyone should be free to do as they wish in the comfort of one's own home. However, if you are pairing TEA and FOOD, and you choose to write about it, then I am Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-50867307444445160052015-08-03T05:30:00.000+01:002015-08-03T05:30:00.696+01:00The Circle is Overcomplete
The Peacock of Bulang went well, last week, and thus emboldened, I dug through some of my old samples to find a bit more Dayi: the 8582-805.
First of all, this is a sample kindly provided (many years ago, in fact) by Terje; the tea-leaves have been relaxing in the splendour of their polythene bag for a number of years. I have written previously about a cake that I own in some quantity, the Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-12903578668936969832015-07-27T05:30:00.000+01:002015-07-27T05:30:00.563+01:00The Circle is CompletePeacocks. Sure, they look pretty - until they open their mouths. GRAAAARKKK! They sound like the eternal damned.
There is a very pretty pub in this city, by the river. Everything nice, everything routine. Bridge, running water, old buildings. Also, it has a bunch of peacocks strutting around. GRRAAAKKEEK! It's not a peaceful place.
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-68001914990049276442015-07-18T05:30:00.000+01:002015-07-18T08:13:32.376+01:00Purple Haze
Gentle Reader, I hope that you are easing pleasantly into the summer, in whichever way you ease best. The end of the academic year here feels like the climax to a bad movie: more, and more, and more pressure / examinations / socials... and then pop! Sudden silence.
All that remains is the high-pressured whine of the accumulated guilt of that huge pile of papers that Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-9431426503721342642015-07-13T11:39:00.001+01:002015-07-17T16:15:16.180+01:00ICML, I-IV
I
many sandals
many backpacks many beards
- ICML
II
is it fair
to blame Nicholas Cage
for all those deaths?
III
this is where you stand
to tell all those scientists
about your science
IV
after the dinner
the balloon roadrunner runs
home with the young boy
Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-57676475806030624722015-06-15T05:30:00.000+01:002015-07-17T15:54:20.752+01:00TripsWilliam of Bannacha has lain tea thricely upon us. When a man married to JINGMAI LADIES (probably in the singular) sends you Jingmai tea, you take it seriously.
These are, it would seem, the first 2015 teas that I have written about on this humble web-site; I have to create a "2015" tag for the occasion. Let's drink some twenty-fifteen!
You know the drill by now: in tea, Hobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-753589427119541238.post-32333555778194383582015-06-08T05:30:00.000+01:002015-06-08T13:28:38.085+01:00Rolling the Dice, Playing Croquet with MJOLNIREvery time drink the pu'ercha, you're rolling the dice - let alone before buying the darned stuff with the hope of it aging nicely. We are, therefore, no strangers to risk. We are not risk-averse. Indeed, there can be little chance of reward without risk. It's all about playing the probabilities. You gotsta play the numbers, as the wise man once said.
I've beenHobbeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10719619695211038389noreply@blogger.com1