ashmanra

Ah, the resteep of the leaves from last night is exquisite!

Hubby is off today – he works on the military base so of course it is a holiday for them – so when he got home from the gym I offered him a cup. He drank it and declared it good, and held out his cup for more. He wasn’t overly surprised when I told him that this is a resteep from last night’s leaves that were a bit strong for him. He generally does prefer the second steep of dark oolongs.

My veteran’s day story is about my godfather, Jim. Jim was a journalist and he and his wife had no children, so when they became disabled I took care of all their affairs. When they died, I inherited Jim’s desk. All of his things were still in it. I found a yo-yo in the top drawer and remembered the day he took it out and showed it to me. He was so excited that he still remembered how to do tricks with it, and so pleased to have it. He was as excited as a little boy when he showed it to us!

Behind the yo-yo, shoved to the back, was something he had never shown me. It was his Purple Heart. When he was very young he had been hit by shrapnel on the beach in the Philippines. His left arm never moved again. It was locked at a ninety degree angle, and no one knew because he covered it so well and never told anyone. When I was very young, I remember him always having a windbreaker draped over that arm, so it looked very natural for him to hold it that way. After his funeral, friends and coworkers from forty or fifty years back were shocked to learn of his disability and how it happened.

I also found the letter that told how he had been hit while storming the beach, how he had been carried into a forest where they waited 24 hours to be airlifted to a hospital overseas before being sent to Walter Reed hospital. I found letters he wrote to his father, letting him know that everything was okay.

When the war was over, he went back to college. He rented the back porch of a house in Chapel Hill and attended the school there. That’s right. A young, disabled vet sleeping on a screened porch summer and winter. (And I complain when my toes are cold.) He went on to become city editor of our local paper here, and oversaw the reporting of the famous Jeffrey McDonald case. He was a founder of Methodist University, and never told a soul. He arranged for scholarships for young people from underprivileged families, and I never knew – no one did – until they came and told me after he died, because he did everything quietly, and because he thought it was right.

I wish with all my heart that I could be even half the person that man was, and I am thankful and humbled to have known him.

We have been gone almost all day. First we drove to visit my daughter and have lunch at her apartment, then we took Samwise, our puppy, to the trails at the state art museum in Raleigh. It was a beautiful day.

This was one of those nights when I wanted tea and just didn’t know which one. Standing in front of my Harney shelves, my eye landed on this one. I haven’t had it in eight months apparently.

I will definitely be having it more often. When I opened the tin, the dry leaves smelled like chocolate. They were so long and thick and twisty. These are big, gorgeous leaves! This reminds me very much of the Da Hong Pao that the Chinese gentleman at the Asian buffet gave me. He said his tea was very expensive. Well, this one was, too, so maybe they are related! :)

This is a toasty oolong, and it has so much character. Hubby drinks all black tea with milk and sugar – he says he can’t take it any other way. But he likes oolong, green, and puerh plain. This oolong was too much for him. I really think he would like it if he treated it like a black tea, though. It can handle it! I think it would be a shame because I love it just like it is! Grilled stone fruit, yes, but a touch of vanilla perhaps? A little spiciness that isn’t quite cinnamon to me, and when comparing to cinnamon would be more akin to Ceylon cinnamon than Vietnamese or Chinese.

I definitely want to resteep these leaves tomorrow. Beautiful tea!

I just made a stack of cards to send to all the great folks who worked in my precinct for the election. I love writing cards and letters so it wasn’t a chore, and to make it even better I made some tea and got a few homemade chocolate chip cookies to go with!

This tea in unlike any other Darjeeling I have had. It is very smooth, but rather earthy. It is rather gentle for a black tea, but it is not weak. It is a great tea for those times when you are not sure what tea you are in the mood for. I really like it! I am nearly out of it and not likely to get more since my daughter bought this in Budapest…

I am addicted to Teavivre’s jasmine selections. They are so well done. I made this one today to chill out while the new washer and dryer were being delivered and set up. I bought this one while it was on sale, so it is doubly a bargain! The jasmine smells very grape-y. Soooo good.

I got the nicest surprise today! Another amazing card handmade by GMathis! So cute, and she knows I am nerdy enough to LOVE the Soft Kitty song and that is on the front of the card. I actually sing it to Sam, except we say “Soft puppy, warm puppy, little ball of fur, happy puppy, sleepy puppy, grr, grr, grr!” Thank you! It was a good mail day! (Have you looked at that book yet?)

Well, tonight was writers’ group night at my house and of course I had to serve some tea. I made my big tetsubin full of this tea and put it on a warmer. There were only three of us drinking tea, but it was very enjoyable. Every time I drink a good Ti Kuan Yin, I crave it for days afterward. This is a great, smooth tea, and I think it is excellent for introducing people to the world of unsweetened fine loose leaf. The flavor differs so much from our Southern iced tea that is super sweet, that it doesn’t make them crave all that sugar!

My daughter’s fiancé brought this tea as a gift when he visited from Northern Ireland recently. He is a big fan of Earl Grey and Lady Grey teas. This is a loose leaf version.

The leaf is of medium size and the aroma when you open the inner pouch is so citrus-y and fresh. This smelled like oranges to me, though the box describes bergamot and lemony flavor. The aroma isn’t too strong and doesn’t have that bathroom cleaner acrid smell that I have found in one or two Earl Greys.

I let it steep for three minutes. I did not add milk or sugar to this one and I find it really doesn’t need anything. If you like milk and sugar I feel sure this tea could handle it. The bergamot is present and has a light, fresh aftertaste. If you love really strong bergamot this probably won’t do it for you, but I am finding it to be a very satisfying mid-morning pot of tea.

This is a sample I got from Liberteas a while back and it got buried in my sample stash! I decided to brew up the whole thing tonight in a big pot.

The bad news is that I was painting at the time and got held up pulling the leaves. The good news is that it didn’t make this tea get bitter. The raspberry and acai are more of a fruity tartness so I wonder if the oversleeping strengthened the Sencha enough to mask the flavors, but it isn’t bad, just probably not as fruity as it would have been had I paid attention to the steeping a little better.

The liquor is bright gold and the Sencha has a nice strong presence.

Thank you, Liberteas, for letting me try this one!

I needed a healing tea this morning, soul and body. I only slept about 5 hours Sunday night because I was trying to get the painting done, and I only slept two hours Monday night because I was too wired about the election. It is a hard day, physically and emotionally. I woke up so sore I looked for the truck that ran me over.

I almost drank a Dancong that Bonnie sent me but we needed to do geometry and I knew I couldn’t do lots of little steeps like I wanted, so I opted for this instead. When i opened the pouch i gave the leaves a good sniff and my eyes rolled back in my head. The thing is, I didn’t check my water temp, and I got a really good but really different pot of tea.

I used one teaspoon of leaves in my little pot and quickly made three steeps in a row and poured them together. The water must have been hotter than usual. It tasted less buttery and more nutty, still smooth with no bitterness, though. What a bargain!

I am going to need a Mad Tea Party today…but I won’t get one. I couldn’t sleep, as usually happens before a major election. I fell asleep just after two and woke up at four and I have a fifteen to sixteen hour workday ahead of me.

My daughter brought this tea to me as a gift from her Disney trip. It is very similar to Madame Butterfly or Fuzzy Navel, but with a black tea base instead of green. We drank it sans additions and it was very good. I bet it is fantastic iced, too!

I won’t be making any tea today. It will be far too hectic. Hopefully the activity will keep me from feeling sleepy or tired. Before I know it, it will be time to have a cuppa at home and get in bed. I can hardly wait.

Say a prayer for us all if you think of it, please! We need it!

I bought a sampler of four teas from TRT for my daughter’s fiancé to drink while he was here, and to take home with him. He said he loves chocolate and LOVES coconut, so he felt sure he would like it.
Fortunately, his instincts were right and he really loved it! This is the same blend sold by ESP Emporium. The base is nicely balanced with the flavors and it tasted great sans additions.

I am up late working on the kitchen re-do. There is a pantry closet in the kitchen that first held a washing machine and water heater. We moved the water heater out years ago and used that side for food storage. Recently, we got an idea of how to move the washer so the dryer, which has been in the outside storage room, can be beside it. The closet is now becoming our bread center, where I have a stainless steel table, my buckets of wheat beneath, and several appliances on top. I am removing the closet doors and painting the inside of this closet that has been a utility closet for over fifty years. Can you say grungy? And I am also painting the new cabinets we installed over where my new washer and dryer will sit when they are delivered Friday.

And I have to finish all this because Monday I have to pick up the election materials and set up our polling place and Tuesday I will have to work a fifteen to sixteen hour day for the election. Wednesday is free other than schooling youngest, but Thursday has an orthodontist appointment, two students coming, and writers group at my house. But right now my house is a WRECK with everything from the closet and cabinets scattered everywhere, which is where it will have to stay until the paint dries and cures.

I needed something really soothing and elegant tasting to make me feel better. I usually go for a jasmine tea at a time like this, but I needed to take a break and then get going again, so I really wanted a black tea.

And this is the one. It is perfectly what I needed right now, I am drinking out of my Old Country Roses breakfast cup so it will cool faster because I am so hot from working. The cranberry gives the fruity sweetness but the almond really makes this blend. I really think I love this more than Cranberry Autumn. It is such a comforting and cozy cup of tea. I was relieved to see that I still have plenty of leaf since I restocked it last winter. It is sooo good.

One thousand four hundred+ voters in eight and a half hours. Tired. Chinese leftovers. This tea. Can not possibly do NaNoWriMo tonight. Shower. Good night.

Fabulous tea, by the way, and great with food.

I am so glad I bought a lot of this! I made a 22 ounce pot to go with our Asian take out tonight, and had to resteep. Hubby was really throwing it back! Tonight we really went overboard and bought too much food, and most of it is pretty high fat and rich. We realized that we had been so busy today that neither of us had eaten all day – just had a glass of milk. No wonder we went wild when we got our take out!

As I sipped this tea with my meal, it was remarkable how it seemed to wash through the heavy food with a bright, lightly floral taste. I liken it to sunshine! There is a floral sweetness, a bright mineral flavor, and no sour or grassy taste at all. Delicious! The second pot is almost at an end!

This was the final tea of tea party today! It is the last day of October, we are now officially hurled into the holiday season full force, and I want to celebrate!

A long time ago I felt that Thanksgiving had become just the warm up, inaugural dinner of Christmas and had lost it own meaning, so I made the Thankful Box. There are slips of paper and a pen beside it and anyone can put in a note. We set it out on the first of November, and we take turns pulling out a slip and reading it aloud on Thanksgiving night. So when I say Holiday Season, I really mean two separate holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we draw them out and get all the family time and tradition into them we can, and drag along as many friends as possible!

By the end of our time together on tea party day, we have snacked and talked and laughed, and the final tea is pretty much sipped all by itself. I don’t have to worry about pairings and balances so much because the tea is standing alone. I chose this flavored tea as the final tea for today because it feels like an inaugural tea for the Thanksgiving season! Cranberry and turkey! It was really good. I reserve it for this time of year most of the time. Next week, I think we will have its cranberry companion, Boston, which is nothing at all like it! Both have a place reserved on my tea shelf. I can’t imagine not having them, especially this time of year.

This was the first tea served at tea party today. Our main snack – Tollhouse cookies fresh and hot from the oven, made with freshly ground hard red wheat flour. I wanted to serve this first with the cookies because I felt that the full body and flavor would be an excellent contrast to the sweetness of the cookies. It was, and it worked. They complemented each other nicely.

This is a great, all around black tea, strong but not aggressive, smooth yet not wimpy. Thumbs up from both myself and my tea guest today.

This was a free sample sent a while back by Russell Allyn and Harney and Sons. Many thanks!

Since we are working on the kitchen I am able to see…no, I am confronted with…the vastness of my tea collection. Oh dear me. I am really trying to finish off tins that are close to being empty, but it is also bringing some teas to the forefront that had somehow gotten pushed to the back. This is one of them.

I was looking for a good variety of teas for tea party today and realized that I have never served this green that I can recall. I really should have been drinking this more often because it is very good. There is the frosty, mineral taste that I get from some white teas and from Snow Dragon, but there is also good body and more flavor than I was expecting. Not sour, not grassy to me. This was smooth and very enjoyable with food. I think it would be fabulous with a meal.

My guest today gave it a BIG thumbs up, and she really isn’t a green tea drinker!

I have a dear friend who loves rainy and cloudy days. She finds them romantic. I always think of her when it is cloudy, which is the only good thing I can find about repeated cloudy days.

The sun is like a drug for me. When we lived in a duplex, I kept my nose pressed against the glass of the window looking outside. An older man down the street saved my sanity by telling me that I was welcome to come and wheel the baby around his lake anytime I wanted.

On the first warm days of spring I bare my arms and look toward the sun with closed eyes and feel my brain start pumping out all kinds of feel good chemicals.

So four days straight of heavy cloud cover is not sitting well. Plus, these are our first really truly chilly days.

IRISH BREAKFAST TO THE RESCUE! A whole pot to myself, taken with milk and sugar, to fortify me until the sun returns! You know, a pot of tea really does make the day more romantic. Now if I could just settle in with a good book instead of having to teach geometry to my little geometry-atheist…

Oh, she just refuted my last statement, saying that she isn’t a geometry atheist as she knows all too well that it exists. So, would she be called an anageometer? An anti-geometrist? Conscientious objector? I think she needs tea. Off to put kettle on….

I have been saving this tea that Bonnie sent to me because it is so cool looking that I couldn’t just drink it any old time. I wanted to wind down tonight after doing some more organizing, going grocery shopping, and working a bit at early voting. I am so intrigued by the shape and by the fact that this is a GREEN Ceylon!

There were three rods in the sample and the instructions said to use one or two. I decided to go with one this time and that way I will have two left for a stronger pot if I want it stronger or I can choose to make it with one again and have it twice more.

The package was labeled to steep it for one to two minutes but I see on here that most people are steeping it for three minutes. That almost made me decide to hold my review, but as I read the others I realized that I got pretty much the same impressions, so here goes!

I used my tiny glass pot so I could watch the rod unfurl. I did not fill the pot all the way since I only used one rod, but used only about four ounces of water at a time. The first steep was almost clear and very light in both color and flavor. This reminded me of a white tea, or perhaps Snow Dragon.
Little air bubbles escaped from the rod as it began very slowly to unfurl.

The second steep tasted creamy and very fresh, again the snow melt flavor is there but also light artichoke. Steeps three through six I combined in a pot and sat down with hubby to drink tea and eat Bissingers Chocolates. As my cup sat and cooled, it apparently grew some muscles because one sip went POW! There was a sudden burst of flavor, and immediately the tea went back to being its demure self.

Hubby drank several cups, refilling it himself with no prompting from me. This is becoming a regular thing, as he has grown accustomed to our green and oolong teas sans sugar and milk, and I am delighted!

Thank you, Bonnie, for another special tea treat! Next time I will try two rods for three minutes and see how it changes!

My attempt to get off of omeprazole failed…for the time being. I have been on it for twelve years. When I started it, I had h. Pylori and was really suffering and I think a lot of it was caused by the stress of some of our closest friends divorcing. It was a really ugly divorce.

It took two attempts to get from 40mg to 20mg but I did it, years ago. Now I am having rebound reflux when I try to go off of it – at least, that is what I feel is happening. Since I was burning up, I went back on it but I bought some empty gel caps so I can make some reduced doses to get my body tapered off instead of trying to quit cold turkey. I was told you can not just cut the tabs in half because of a time release coating, but I think you can still buy the kind with the little pellets in a capsule and split those up.

Meanwhile, I have run out of omeprazole and am only a few hours late taking it, yet I have reflux and burning in my stomach.

Unbelievable I know, my family never really used ginger for ANYTHING when I was growing up. We didn’t even eat gingersnaps. I didn’t know until a few years ago how hot it is! I have occasionally grated a bit into black tea just for the flavor and I put 1/4 tsp. into any soup or chili that is spicy. So this is my first ginger tea, sent by the amazing JacquelineM!

On top of having a bit of reflux this morning and no time to go get more meds right now, I have been feeling a little nauseated lately. I suspect that is from something I ate or from dealing with hundreds of people face to face at early voting on the days I work.

So….the tea. I would not choose this based on taste, but it is definitely drinkable if you need the benefits. It is hot and spicy in the mouth, but doesn’t make my lips burn and I do believe it may be helping my tummy. As hot as the roof of my mouth is getting, my tummy is not burning. And this time I am drinking it plain. I suspect it may be better with honey.

Thank you, Jacqueline! This may have saved me today to make it through my short work day!

I made two steeps of this to go with lunch today. Hubby is either getting used to green tea and wants to drink for health reasons, or his tastes are changing and he is actually enjoying it. As he was working on the kitchen re-do he kept coming in the living room and getting more.

This is a delicious green that goes well with food but is also wonderful as a contemplative cup. Buttery, lightly brothy, fresh.

This is part of the free sample sent by Nature’s Tea Leaf for review.

I could hardly wait to have this tea with our Chinese buffet takeout again tonight! This is a really excellent green tea. I almost put three teaspoons in my Beehouse pot, but then remembered how beautifully it resteeps and put just one teaspoon in my eight ounce pot instead. Since it only needs a one minute steep it really isn’t any trouble and saves leaf so I can have more later! I steeped it five times! We were still throwing it back, and I did it all over again. So…I guess we must have had at least sixty ounces between the two of us tonight!

This will probably be my next tea order. Nature’s Tea Leaf has sent some really awesome samples and they have even more I want to try! Thank you, NTL!

Last night was Writers’ Group meeting at my house! One of the men who comes is married to a Japanese woman. He has mentioned several times that she and her friends drink bitter tea and that he has tried it but just can’t drink it with her.

I showed him this matcha and he said, “Yep! Looks like it would be bitter!” So I went in the kitchen and whipped up a batch for everyone to try. He was so surprised when he tasted it and found no bitterness at all! Everyone seemed to like it, even though they are not hard core tea drinkers like us!

I served this as the final tea party selection today. I wanted it to be separated from the taste of the black currant jam for a bit so the flavors wouldn’t compete with each other.

I loved the aroma of this, and I must confess that after drinking it before bedtime, I dreamt about it most of the night. I woke up with the flavor on my mind and fought with myself about serving it today because I was afraid the sweet black currant jam would take the shine off the tea. No worries, it didn’t hurt a bit. I just served this last, well after we had the jam, and it was really good. My guest seemed to enjoy it a lot. Next up, I want to try it iced and sweetened!

I had this again at tea party today. We had made a loaf of homemade buttermilk bread from the flour we grind fresh for baking. I toasted several pieces and cut them small and we tested out some new fruit jams. I had purchased Black Currant jam just because I was unfamiliar with it and like the flavor in some of my teas. I had read that it is sort of the European equivalent to our grape-flavored everything! I also had a French Four Fruit jam for us to try.

The jams were delicious and the tea was perfect with it. It made a wonderful contrast with the sweetness and the smoke was mild and pleasant, almost dignified I might say!

Thank you to Hesper June for the sample!