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Last year, my former roommates & I took many trips down Sawtelle to get our boba fix, which often took up more time than we’d anticipate thanks to the magnificent beast that is LA traffic. I’d search the local Japanese grocery store for tapioca pearls to make boba in the comforts of our own apartment, but never found any. Since I’ve moved back to Orange County, I’ve finally found boba at a Japanese grocery store not too far from my home. So, now that my pantry is armed with a large bag of tapioca pearls, I’m posting two new boba recipes for you to be inspired to try new flavors or create your own boba at home. Tapioca pearls are surprisingly cheap as a pound of it will hover just under $5—which is generally how much a boba drink costs anyway—& you can make any type of tea you’ve got in your cupboard with some freshly brewed boba! Here’s hoping you’ll love these two new recipes & a bunch of pictures from Joshua Tree & Long Beach.
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I’m currently on holiday with Josh in Florida as he settles into his new apartment for his new job & while I’m writing this in the comfort of a nicely air conditioned apartment, stepping outside into the Floridian heat for more than 5 minutes makes me wish I had one of these boba recipes in hand. These drinks are refreshing, naturally sweetened, & packed with antioxidants thanks to the usage of fresh fruits & tea!
Honeydew Green Tea Smoothie with Boba
Hopefully all of you have seen Disney’s Frozen at least twice by now so you’ll know who Olaf is. You know, that adorable little snowman with a carrot for a nose? Well, I may have been born in the spring, but my body prefers the winter. As I was walking around outside at night–Florida’s temperature doesn’t fluctuate throughout the day like it does in California, so when it’s hot outside at 3 PM it’s still going to be hot outside at 10 PM–with Josh, I couldn’t help but feel like I was Olaf in the summer. I yearned for Queen Elsa to pop up out of nowhere to give me a snow cloud to float over my head to prevent my body from further melting. Since I’m such a baby about the heat, I had to think of something refreshing to keep my complaints at a minimum & to keep from annoying Josh.
What did I imagine was in my hand while I was crying/melting on the inside? Why, a Mango Black Tea with Boba of course!
Mango Black Tea Smoothie with Boba
If you’ve never heard of “boba” before, maybe you’ve heard some of its other monikers such as bubble or pearl tea. Boba refers to the small tapioca balls that are commonly used in Asian desserts &/or drinks. Boba originated in Taiwan & comes in various sizes, shapes, & colors! It’s so loved amongst many Asian cultures that you’ll often find it in a Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Thai restaurant! I’m not the biggest fan of slushies as they tend to harden the chewiness of the boba, so I went with a nice smoothie recipe instead. Once you’ve found a package of tapioca balls in an Asian grocery store, you’ll find that making boba is so easy. Craving some regular milk tea instead of a smoothie? Use sweetened almond or coconut milk with some of your brewed tea & you’ve got yourself a tea shop quality boba drink!
Adventure Time!
Josh had this huge bucket-list of things to do in California before he left for Florida, so while he didn’t get everything checked off, it doesn’t mean he won’t be coming back to finish that list. Here are two things that were on his list: a snazzy event in Long Beach with food & live music & a camping trip to Joshua Tree.
Dinner in Long Beach
Joshua Tree
In my last post, I mentioned how I was really itching to take pictures of the night sky & I finally did! I did a bit of practice in my heavily light polluted backyard to get the hang of it, so I was completely excited to travel 168 miles from our friend Ben’s house in LA to an area with little light pollution. However, Ben & I did not anticipate the moon being so bright so we couldn’t photograph the Milky Way Galaxy very clearly. I forgot that the moon was a few days from its full moon phase so, we got some star pics, but they’re not as beautiful as we would’ve liked.
Fun story: as we were driving toward the Jumbo Rocks campsite after stopping by a 7-Eleven to grab firewood, something had brusquely interrupted the tranquility of our ride. Ben brought his girlfriend’s dog, Tiger Lily, with us & was adoring the way she was looking at his Google Maps on his phone as though she was an explorer. Maintaining equanimity, Ben announced that there was a large cockroach on his hand that was now creepily crawling about my car. Josh immediately pulled the car over while we all abandoned ship to find the critter. If you’ve got a bug-phobia & want nightmares for days, look up the pine sawyer beetle. It was about a good 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) long & disappeared from my car so it’s either under a seat waiting to attack or flew out while we were trying to figure out how to get it out. Be sure to check out the albums below to see more pictures of our adventures!
Newest Additions
- Honeydew Green Tea Smoothie with Boba
- Mango Black Tea Smoothie with Boba
- Dinner in Long Beach
- Joshua Tree
HOMG. Your bubble teas look so good. I bought. It’s making me want to make my own bubble teas now! I can get tapioca pearls in the International Markets here, so obtaining those will be easily feasible . . .
Also, those star photos? Amazing. Being in Seoul, I haven’t seen a night sky like that. In fact, even when I was in the Korean countryside, I don’t recall seeing that many stars. Those photos look simply breathtaking!
Haha, I wish you the best on your trip to the international market to find a bag of tapioca pearls! It’s really easy to make boba & you’ll save money too!
Thank you!! 🙂 I’m totally determined to find more places with little light pollution to get some more star pics! Stars will be difficult to see if there are clouds or a full moon. The best time is when the moon is pretty much about to disappear & when you’re in an area that has little light pollution. It’s so beautiful to see!
My tapioca pearls are so white. I didn’t even know that those pearls could be black. I’ve see bubble teas around in the city but I did not associated its pearls to tapioca. Today I’ve learnt a few things by reading your post! Pictures of the stars are absolutely AMAZING. What? You’re not happy about it? Oh you should be proud of them. I’ve smitten with these pictures, they are award-worthy.
Take care and stay cool!
Haha yep! Boba can come in all sorts of colors, but you can also dye them if you feel festive. You know, Christmas time boba could be red & green, a British holiday comes around & you could dye them red & blue, get creative! These were readily brown though. It’s nice that you learned something from my post! Always a goal of mine. 🙂
I’m definitely happy with my star pictures hahaha, but they could’ve been even better if the moon weren’t nearing its full moon phase. Thank you so much for the compliment, Daniela!! 😀
A bubble tea place has recently opened in Liverpool but I haven’t been yet. After seeing your pictures I know want to give it a go. 🙂
I developed an addiction to mango this summer. I’m constantly craving my favourite mango and passion fruit ice drink that I get from Costa Coffee. Such a lovely tasting fruit.
I hope you are having a good time in Florida. The star pictures from your camping trip look beautiful!
I’ve had that drink before from Costa!! It’s so good. I can see how you’re constantly craving it haha. I hope the boba shop near you is really good! Some places can really mess up boba when it’s not even hard to make.
Thanks for the compliment on my star pics! I stayed up until 3 AM trying to get good ones haha
The honeydew boba drink looks really good. I’m thinking about making some kind of honeydew drink next week. Even though I am Taiwanese, and yes I have drank boba before, I don’t really care for it. I had some boba at home that I used to make, but I don’t think it tastes as good as the ones in Taiwan. That being said, I do like tapioca. There’s this place in San Gabriel Valley called Phoenix that serves the most amazing coconut milk, white tapioca and fruit drinks.
And don’t get me started on roaches. Sometimes one or two of them find their way into our house, and it freaks me out every time. Last time, my brother’s idea of getting rid of the roach was not to kill it, but to just scare it. I was like, “That doesn’t do anything!” Because as we all know it will come out again. And I’m terrified of one of those things finding their way into my ear, or my nose.
For some time, it was discovered that boba from Taiwan had traces of a toxic chemical in it, so it’s probably not all that great after all! You may not be preparing the boba correctly because every time I’ve made my batches of boba, they turn out to be better than the ones I get at tea shops. You could also try making boba from scratch too!
I’ve been to Phoenix before. It’s a chain scattered throughout California, so I’m pretty familiar with it. I really like their savory foods & some of their desserts a lot!
LA Traffic is horrible.. That’s why I try to stay away from anything west of the 5 freeway @_@. If I knew, I’d send you this huge tapioca pearl bag I have in the fridge! If you’re ever in the LA area looking for huge bags of tapioca pearl, LAX-C in Chinatown has them (it’s a wholesale for restaurants). Considering the ingredient prices of boba, these boba shops must make a fortune selling drinks!
Your honeydew boba makes me want to give honeydew another shot because it looks that good. I had one once from Lollicup (in Arcadia) and it was beyond disappointment. I like how boba can be in a large variety of drinks like watermelon, coffee, and tea.
Josh looks really classy! The stars at Joshua Tree are amazing x 9001~ The ‘glowy’ effects from the rocks give it a more naturey look too. I would’ve been paranoid about the bug the whole ride if it happened to me ;~;. Especially if it’s that kind of beetle! Hopefully it’s gone by now ;o
Yeah, California definitely dropped the ball on public transportation. We chose to support the American car industry instead of the railroads so….voila, traffic.
I’d like to think they’d make some great money too, given that they’ve got a lot of traffic in their shop!
Sorry to hear that your honeydew experience wasn’t great! It’s most likely because the honeydew they use is a powdered mix, so it tastes fake, versus my recipe which uses real fruit haha. The real thing is always better!!
Josh was very happy with your comment haha. He used to hash tag some of his Instagram photos as “drdapper” bahaha. Thanks for the photo compliments! Joshua Tree at night was ethereal, so I did my best to edit my photos to emulate what I saw. The beetle flew out when we lost track of it, thankfully. That thing was HUGE. HUGE, I tell ya!
I want copies of the Joshua tree pics!!!!!!!!!! Major FOMO happening over here.
Girrrrlll, email me which ones you want & I can send you the 6000 by 4000 px ones hahah.
nggghh *makes dragon noises* all your photographs are always so gorgeous. your housewife photos (i’m gonna start using this label lolol) are always so muted and beautiful TTATT imma cry at your photos TTATT
i like boba *o* i used to looooove it so much but now that i’ve lessened my consumption on bubble tea (too much sugar is bad, right?), i just enjoy it but not so crazy over it anymore. come to think of it, i haven’t drank bubble teas in like 2 months ++! wow. my mother who is sort of diabetic loves bubble teas and especially the boba so i’m restraining her and be all talkative when she starts asking me to buy her bubble tea. sigh. so far she hasn’t drank it for months which is good.
i’ve heard about tapioca pearls being dangerous, seems like they contain dangerous chemical or something that shouldn’t have been included in food. i wonder if that’s true? my father is wary about that so he’s happy that his wife and daughter aren’t buying bubble teas anymore nowadays haha. my cousin told me that taiwan is like bubble tea heaven :))
this may sound weird but i love all your utensils and props djekhflwk *O*
i love your blender~ and your glass *o* your stuff is always so nice looking T-T and the way you cut open the honeydew is so neat and beautifully done too (;w;) and and the idea of using smoothie/juice is also a good alternative. it’s healthier than those high calorie, sugar teasing milk teas 😉 you should post more smoothie recipe! because then i can try mixing various fruits <3 my favorite has got to be pineapple-banana and strawberries-blueberries-banana 🙂 orange-lemon-mint is good too!
i love honeydew but sometimes it's hard to get a good quality one and by good quality i mean honeydew that's sweet. my mother always buys honeydew but it's like once in a blue moon that we get the sweet one. i wonder why? 🙁 have you ever tried winter melon? i wonder if winter melon is naturally sweeter than honeydew hmm…
like you, i hate heat too! i can't stand the heat and warm temperature even though i don't live in a country with 4 season. hence i always stay indoor with my air conditioner on lol i mean, pfft there's a reason why i like calling myself winterchild 😛
i love your star shots 🙂 they're pretty cool. believe me when i say i've seen worse night sky shots done by people and their excessive abuse of filter usage. i don't see many stars often in here; it's like pollution has tainted the sky to the point where there's barely any star left during night time! i think you did a pretty cool job with the shots 🙂 as always. your photographs are growing and i can see they'e getting better and better <3
i envy your road trip so much! i wanna experience that and take photos in empty street like you do too 🙁 unfortunately i don't think there's such place here…or maybe there is but it's really far.
…wow holy burgers there's a beetle in your car. x__x if i were you i'd take close up shots of it (secret interest in bugs here!) but yea if it can harm me then uh… i'd probably keep my distance.
I had this reply to you written, but it somehow disappeared… :/ This seems to always happen when I start thinking about 10 different things & navigate away from the page.
Okay, let’s get started on the comment!
Thanks so much for the compliments, Alice. 🙂
On the dangers of boba, it is true that some German scientists tested Taiwanese boba in a lab & found that there were traces of PCB, which is very toxic to us. It can directly effect our health negatively & even the health of unborn babies if we’re pregnant & drinking it. However, since Taiwan was under fire due to this discovery, they may or may not have been fixed their boba. The boba I got is from Thailand & I know that the USDA, even though I sometimes don’t trust their labels (like free range chicken isn’t all that free range or grass fed beef doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re out in the field eating grass all their lives), they are quite strict on what can & can’t be imported into the US. If boba had toxic chemicals in them & the USDA was alerted (which they are), then they wouldn’t be imported. So, all in all, if you’re craving boba & want to make it, see where the boba is made. If you’re scared of it all together, just don’t even bother with it. Aloe vera or lychee jelly tastes great in your tea drinks anyway.
It’s not weird that you like my props! The point of them is supposed to be additional artsiness to my photos, so if you like them, I’ve done my job! My blender is from Target, which you can order online or from Amazon. It’s by Hamilton Beach & it does such a great job. Very cheap too. Some of my bowls are from a local Japanese grocery store because they have the best ceramic bowls, utensils, & everything else! The teapot is also from Amazon & was really cheap. It also comes in black & other colors. My knife is one of the best knives in the world! It’s used by many chefs & made by a Japanese company called Global Knives. It’s an 18 inch knife & one of the best I’ve ever used. It’s my favorite knife & when I’m a real grown-up, I’m definitely getting the entire collection. Worth every single penny.
I’m still working on my presentation of food because I don’t want it to get flat. I’m always looking at other food blogs to be inspired by new ways to photograph & present my food so that you, my visitor, reader, & virtual friend, are either salivating or your eyes are enjoying what you’re looking at.
I’m going to get a new blender when I move because the one I got was for my mom, so that means tons more smoothie recipes!! I’m actually trying to come up with a great “detox” plan of 3 days of fruit & veggie smoothies + 2 days of prep to get your body ready for it. It’s going to be completely vegan. I just have to do a lot of research before I publish it. 🙂
As for honeydew, you have to wait until they’ve ripened for them to be really sweet. People always complain about how they’re kind of a hit or a miss, but when you get a good honeydew, it’s always a hit! You’ve got to get one that is really round, a nice golden color on the outside with some brown freckling, & should feel firm, but not too hard. It shouldn’t be soft or mushy (too ripe) & you should be able to knock on it. I always knock on my melons haha. If you knock on the melon & it sounds full & not hollow, it’s a good melon! You should also be able to hear a bit of swishing when you shake the melon. Loose seeds inside the melon indicate that it’s ripe!
I’ve had winter melon before as a real fruit & as a tea drink – love it! I have to have it again before I make an assessment of whether or not it’s sweeter than honeydew, but the golden dewlicious is sweeter than honeydew!
Thanks for the star pic compliments & my improvement of lightroom editing & photography! The goal is to get as good as some of the bigger names out there (like iamafoodblog, which totally seems like her photography improved overnight or something), but it’s realistically about your setup! If your lighting is bad, if the setup of your food is awful (you already know this), then your shots are gonna be potato. I’m sure you’d be able to find a place somewhere in your country that allows you to get a good night shot. You’d have to Google it though! Light pollution is a drag, but the star shots I took would’ve been better had the moon not been out that night. A new moon is happening in September, so I’m hoping to travel out to an area with little light pollution to take photos of the milky way!
I need to buy a bag of tapioca right now! That homemade honeydew drink and that mango smoothie tea one looks SO GOOD! And I think I’m gonna add ‘Joshua Tree’ into my bucketlist as well, the place looks nice!
I’d love to take pictures of the starry sky Xx
Thank you! 🙂 I hope you get the pleasure of visiting it one day! I think Yosemite might be more up your alley though because there’s so much more to see!
Yay for Taiwan! I was so happy that you featured boba drinks because they are one of my favorite childhood beverages and I hoped someday I would veganize them since most boba beverages in the U.S. contain dairy. Gorgeous photos of the starry skies & rocky areas….Glad you had a wonderful time!
Hi Rika! My boba drinks are actually vegan friendly given that you don’t use honey to sweeten the boba. I used only fruits & tea! Really easy to veganize too because you can use almond milk or coconut milk for the “milk” part. A lot of the tea shops I frequent use non dairy creamer so they’re vegan! Thanks for stopping by & for the kind words! 🙂
Those two smoothie recipes look really good! I especially love mango drinks 🙂 The weather at Florida sounds like Texas. It’s always hot, even at night! I try to stay inside as much as possible, haha.
Ooh, the event at Long Beach looks nice. I also love your night sky photos! I think they came out great. My favorite is the 5th one down, with the rocks in front 🙂
I hate it when I find a bug in my car and then it disappears. Then I’m paranoid on whether it’ll show up while I’m driving. Hopefully that beetle isn’t in your car anymore!
What really? I thought that having lived in Texas for what, your entire life, you would’ve gotten used to it by now? Do you not enjoy living there as much as maybe trying to move elsewhere one day?
I’m really whiney when it comes to heat, so it’s probably not that bad to someone else, but when I walk around & I’m just completely drenched in humidity or rain or heat or sweat, I just … I just hate it. I like being outside! I played outside a lot in my childhood! I can’t imagine wanting to play outside in that kind of weather. But snow…I love snow hahaha.
I’m astonished by the beauty of these shots! What a gorgeous post, my dear!
Have fun in Florida 🙂
Thanks, Consuelo! 🙂
I love the star pictures so much! The graphics maker in me is salivating for those textures lol. I’m sure you’ll have another chance at taking stargazing pictures again! One of the many reasons I need to get back into photography. ._.
And aaahh desert landscape! You’re making me so homesick. There are not enough giant rocks and crickets in the big city.
Hah that was one of the first things I thought of when I took them, “I gotta make these into textures & put them on AI…”
I’ll get around to it eventually…..oye, I’ve got a long list of to-do things for TB, that I’ve kind of put AI on the back burner, but I have great plans for it!
Get back into photography! I want to see some HQ outfit posts like they do on lookbook.
Wow, you’ve sure blogged a lot these days. I’m catching up with your stuff ghehe.
Boba is a Taiwanese thing, right? I think you would easily find it in an Chinese/Taiwanese shop instead of a Japanese one, but 5 dollar is a pretty good deal too!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention… I haven’t seen Frozen, YET! I know every song, because my lil sis sang them all day err day :p I will make some free time to watch it friends haha. They almost “killed” me when I said I hadn’t watched it a few months ago. I see you prefer winter; you should the Europe then in the winter! You could stop by the Netherlands if we have snow here, which unfortunately is very rare :c But who knows haha!
By the way, I love Joshua’s tartan shirt! So neat and colorful! And the Lion King pose, brilliant 🙂 The pine sawyer beetle… not so brilliant. Such a nasty thing D:
Lovely post, as always 🙂 X
By the way, maybe you could install a button on the right as on tumblr. I don’t know what it’s called though. The “Go to the top of page”-button? That could make reading your blog easier to scroll around and to read. 🙂
Hi Jessy! Haha, no I actually feel as though I haven’t blogged enough. I need to start adding more posts, but that means more content & I can’t add more content without cooking (time consuming) so I have a lot of filler content (teatime thursdays, musical mondays, foodie fridays) to entertain in the meantime. I would say, “I honestly don’t know how other people do it,” but realize that others make food blogging THEIR LIFE & it’s their full-time job, while I only do it as a hobby.
Boba is indeed a Taiwanese thing, however, I luckily found it in a Japanese grocery store (it’s much bigger than the one that I frequented near my old apartment). I’ve seen it in Vietnamese grocery stores & the large Chinese ones too.
You have to see it! It’s really touching & I love Olaf. 🙂
I’ve been completely bothered by how much scrolling I have to do when I post long posts (like pretty much all the time), but never thought to install the button, so thank you for mentioning it. I just did! 🙂