Friday, January 23, 2009

Cozy Day at The Cottage

Grey skies and rain - a perfect combination for curling up on the couch with the dog, the cat, some yarn, my crochet hooks, and a pot of lovely spicy tea. It doesn't happen often enough to suit me, so when it does I like to make the most of a day like this. I have several projects in the works and perhaps I will be able to finish one or two today.

I've been really into designing hats recently, and as soon as I figure out which folder they disappeared into, I will post a couple of pictures of hats that are now on heads of friends. I really think hats can be quite classy, not to mention useful. I started wearing them as self defense when it was discovered that I can sunburn (quite badly) through a thick cloud cover and sunscreen, and then noticed that it helped keep my glasses dry on drizzly days! Now I am experimenting with different patterns to create a whole wardrobe of hats for various occasions. It may be overkill, but until they come up with a 100 SPF sunscreen that is easy to wear, I'll be putting on a lot more hats!

So now it is off to curl up with the "kids", my yarn, and some tea in my favorite brown betty teapot and earthenware teacup. I'll be making a spiced tea:

Good quality black tea (use one teaspoon per cup, plus one for the pot)
A pinch of whole cloves, slightly crushed
A good sized piece of candied ginger
A cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
A piece of nutmeg too small to grate without removing the tips of your fingers
A piece of star anise
An allspice berry or two, crushed into largish pieces
If you really enjoy a truly spicy chai experience, add several peppercorns as well

Put the spices into a tea filter or muslin tea bag (especially good if you can only find ground spices) and add to the water. Bring this to a boil and let it steep for ten minutes. Bring the spiced water back to a boil and pour over the tea leaves or bags and let it steep for four minutes (this should avoid the bitterness of over-brewed tea). Remove the spices and tea and pour into your serving cup. This is good sweetened with honey if you like your tea sweet, and served with a little milk.

Enjoy your day!

1 comment:

babies said...

we have rainy weather, too, but i have to get up and go out... in the evening, i'll make your chai, i think it will taste even better after i return from the cold and wet outside.