Desperate

I haven't had bubble milk tea for almost three months now. I was home August 1-10 and went to T-pumps once, and now it's basically November. This is probably the longest I've ever gone without that delicious Taiwanese beverage, sigh.

I decided to try to make it myself. I've done it before at home, before the advent of hipster and gourmet boba shops around the Bay Area. Once upon a time, before Ranch 99 came out with their version of tapioca with opaque centers and bland tea (the only available option in the early 2000s), we could only get bubble milk tea in Taiwan or Cupertino at Ten Ren Tea.  

So okay. I ordered these bubble tea straws on Amazon for $5.95. I found out later that at home, any old store on Irving sells a hundred for 99 cents. Sigh.

At my request, my mom mailed me some dried tapioca pearls...and I tried to cook them in my rice cooker. Bad idea. They were way overdone and the result was mushy and snot-like. Too soon after my flu. I wasn't sure what to do with the sticky, gloppy mess so I flushed it.

So long story short, I am still craving bubble milk tea in this landlocked place where the only store that used to make it closed before I got here. It happened to be owned by one of my classmates who was married to a Vietnamese woman...but med school basically caused his divorce and subsequent shop closure and retention in med school (he entered with the class above me).

The end.