Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a great day yesterday! I did, especially when I went to see my friend Julia and she gave me early birthday presents. But before I get to that, check out this messy pantry!

Last weekend my mom paid me to do some chores around the house, and today she paid me to tackle the pantry. Usually this would just be part of my usual required chores, but between my unpaid internship (that starts today!) and my shadowing, I’ll be busy 5 days a week without pay. I’m really greatful that she pays me. Any little bit of money helps!

I went through the pantry sorting through old food and reorganizing what we wanted to keep. There was some seriously gross stuff in there! Like this really old orange drink powder. For those who shop at Hannaford, check out the little monster! They haven’t used that logo in at least 10 years!

I also found some old “syrup”. The ingredients are absolutely disgusting! I can’t believe I used to eat that stuff.

It took about an hour and a half of tossing and organizing. There was so much old food to get rid of!

Nice and clean!

While sorting through the pantry, I realized we have a lot of tea. It was a little bit ridiculous!

This inspired me to make iced raspberry white tea. I made it the same way I made my iced blueberry green tea, except I substituted raspberries for blueberries and white tea for green tea.

Iced Raspberry White Tea

To make the raspberry syrup

In a saucepan, combine 1 cup frozen raspberries with 1 cup of water and bring to a boil

Once it is boiling, turn the heat down and let it simmer for 15 minutes

Save the liquids by straining the juice in a fine sieve. Set the solids aside, or throw out

Mix some lemon juice (1-2 tbsp) in with the liquids and transfer to a container to store in the fridge

To make the white tea:

Fill a 3 quart saucepan 3/4 full with water and let it boil

Once the water boils, turn the heat off and add 7-8 white tea bags

Set a timer for 15 minutes to let the tea steep. After 15 minutes, remove the tea bags and transfer the tea to a container

Mix the raspberry syrup with the tea and let it cool to your desired temperature. If you like your tea sweet, you may want to add some sugar or honey.

Enjoy!

As I said before, I went to my friend Julia’s this evening and she gave me early birthday presents! Even though she’s one of my best friends, I was still surprised she remembered my birthday. It’s not that I would expect her to forget, but I always get excited when anyone but my mom remembers my birthday

What would someone turning 21 want more for their birthday than this?!

Part 2 of my birthday present came unexpectedly for both of us. She heard me say something about how I don’t have a TV in my dorm room at school, and she gave me her old one! It’s a 20″ flatscreen, and even though it’s four years old, it looks brand new to me! It’s way better than the nonexistent TV I have now!

Time for my internship! I’m a regular 9-5′er now

If you went through your pantry, would you find a lot of old food?