Tea, Anyone?

There is no doubt in my mind that I am a tea girl. I love the ritual of brewing it, watching the leaves and herbs infuse and bloom in the water, sipping (or drinking, depending on my mood and the tea) from a lovely cup, the taste, the aroma. I love the culture surrounding tea.

I will never qualify for a total tea nut as I am not always careful to get my water to the exact best temperature for each tea and sometimes I can be a bit lax about steeping times. Any pot or cup I enjoy is good enough for me. I'm not picky, though I have a few I cups and teapots I actively avoid using. I am enough of a tea snob to know that while I will drink Lipton in a pinch (if I'm caught in a restaurant without the stash I carry in my purse or am a guest in someones home) it will never be my favorite and I will not buy it for myself. I sip the tea in Chinese restaurants with appreciation (usually - some serve pretty atrocious over brewed green teas) and am always thrilled when I end up somewhere that serves a simple oolong or well-brewed jasmine tea. I consider myself tea-adventurous and often take my herbal training in one had and my love of tea in the other to whip up a small batch of something for myself.

Last evening I hosted a tea tasting at my parents house for a friend who will be selling a selection of teas that I have blended at her booth at a local lavender festival. I will be making three blends for her: a black tea, a rooibos blend, and an herbal tisane. I had a wonderful time sharing these teas that I have dreamed up and learned a great deal in the meantime.

Yarn Stash and a Birthday Weekend

Much has been happening here at the cottage, and I have been adventuring through the dresser where I am attempting to organize my yarn stash. This has kept me quite busy, but has not been particularly interesting!

Over the weekend the family celebrated my bonus daughter's birthday with a trip to Corvette Diner for lunch. What a hoot! She and my husband had never been there, and my family hadn't been in a long time. Since it has recently relocated close to where my parents live it made a perfect lunch outing. We were seated in the Groovy Room, complete with black lights, a yellow submarine, and a table that held shadows for a few minutes after you covered it with something. Rosie, our waitress, put 26 straws in the birthday girl's hair in quite the wild and wacky updo to top it all off! After we had stuffed ourselves on burgers and malts we finished up at my parent's house with Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes from a local bakery and Harney and Sons Valentine's Chocolate tea with Rosebuds, which my mom had picked up at Kimberly Shaw's open house at Christmas time. I really enjoyed the tea and mentioned that I might order some for our house when I saw that Kimberly is giving away a tin as part of a really neat give away on her blog. Of course I entered, but I certainly don't want to be selfish and keep such a sweet gift a secret!

We finished the weekend by visiting the snow in the local mountains as we made the drive to return my bonus daughter to her mother. It was as cold and slippery as I remembered it from living for a time in Boston, but for the bonus daughter it was a novel and fun experience. We had packed a picnic lunch and ate at a picnic table surrounded by snow, watching people sledding down the hill among the trees around us. I kept waiting for them to crash into the abundant trees, but that only happened once. She was able to make a cute little snowman from the icy snow pellets and played to her hearts content while I ended up back in the car to warm up!

I think that covers the weekend, now back to the stash organization!

Wild Weather and Good Tea

Wild nights are my glory. - Mrs. Whatsit, A Wrinkle in Time

Wild days, too. Here I was, quietly minding my own business and watching the clouds drifting through out of the corner of my eye when the world went dark, small hail began falling from nowhere, and a brilliant flash illuminated the little ice pellets bouncing like miniature toy balls on the ground followed a moment later by a roll of thunder that seemed to be a wheel traveling into eternity, shaking the earth around it before fading away. Even as the storm cell recedes and the birds come out of their hiding places, the thunder rumbles on though ever-decreasing in volume.

Yesterday our county recorded the lowest ever barometer reading since they started recording in 1881: 29.15 inches of mercury. This record low pressure front that has moved through is trailing plenty of unstable weather which makes for interesting weather watching. I didn't realize that I was so fascinated by the weather, but I suppose it helps to have interesting weather to watch! Most of the time there isn't much to see here.

The Cottage is situated in a valley that nestles up against a mountain in Southern California, where the weather patterns are generally quite stable. It does mean, however, that I am having to learn that the inland valley microclimate is a whole different microclimate than the coastal microclimate in which I was born and raised. The range of plants available to someone seeking to create a water-wise garden is quite wide, though the number of typical garden vegetable plants is far more limited! I am having fun researching the native plants that I could choose for my small space, and even more fun learning about the various medicinal and ceremonial uses for them. I haven't made any decisions yet, but with share when plans come into the works.

In the meantime, I will share with you a favorite tea blend I make with a lovely and fragrant native herb (and which has been a staple in my pot with all of this crazy and cool weather!):

For 1 cup of tea combine 1 tsp or 1 teabag of good, plain black tea with 1/2 tsp of dried or 1 tsp of fresh white sage leaves, broken up into small pieces. Steep for 4 minutes in just-boiling water and remove the tea and sage. The sage is quite strong, so I will sometimes soften it with just a hint of local wildflower honey or agave syrup though stevia or sugar will work also. If you prefer green tea this will work, but it would be preferable to use garden or common sage to allow the flavors to work better together! Sage is quite a warming herb and enjoys being mixed with other herbs like rosemary and thyme to help clear up congestion and breathing difficulties when suffering from a cold.

Stormy Day

We are snuggled all safe and cozy here at the cottage while the rain has fallen and the wind is howling rather mercilessly. The dog hates the rain and won't go outside, so he is curled up in his chair looking at me quite pitifully every time I try to drag him out the door. On the other side, the cat is totally ignoring the weather and has curled himself up on our bed to sleep out the storm. It is our first real winter storm of the season, and I am delighted to be indoors with hot tea, a hand crocheted afghan, a fire in the fireplace and my husband on the couch beside me.

I am especially grateful to have survived Saturday. It was the debut of my parent's company, Ivy Hill, and we had a booth at the marketplace of the Point Loma Holiday Home Tour to benefit Best Friends Society. The sky kept getting darker throughout the day with the wind coming in little gusts that grew increasingly cold, but the rain held off until yesterday afternoon. The various seasonal baked goods that Ivy Hill offers were a resounding success, and we are off and running. I look forward to helping them fulfill the orders that will roll in as the holiday approaches.

I took several pictures, but haven't been able to load them into my computer yet, but I promise that as soon as they are in my grasp I will share them.

Stay safe and warm as the weather rages!

P.S. I thought I'd share a favorite herbal blend that is perfect for relaxing in front of a fire!

1 part Lemon Balm
1/2 part Peppermint
1/4 part Rosemary

Put herbs into a strainer, pour hot water over and let steep for 5 minutes before removing the herbs. I like to sweeten this with a dash of honey and sometimes I will even add a squeeze of lemon juice. Enjoy!

Tea Art

After a lovely Thanksgiving and utterly relaxing Friday at home with my husband and bonus daughter I spent Saturday visiting a blogging friend! Kimberly Shaw is an artist that I have long admired (I've seen her work around in local tea shops and yearned for it for a lot longer than I have known she blogs!) and when she held an open house last year I was unable to go. My mom went and I had a delightful Christmas full of stickers, cards, and even some prints that are hanging among the teacups and plates on the wall in my dining room!

So when I saw her post with her invitation for this year's open house I hastily looked at the date and was overjoyed that I was going to be able to go. As an added bonus, Georgia was bringing her delightful Christmas ornaments and Sherry Evans was going to be there signing copies of her new book, Afternoon Tea in Southern California (which has Kimberly's artwork throughout)!

It turned out to be an absolutely lovely day in spite of (or perhaps because of) the stormy weather. We arrived just before the hail, and so were warm and cozy with cups of tea in hand perusing the Christmas cards in the living room of the home that houses Kimberly Shaw Graphics when the skies opened up. Among displays of all of her cards, stickers, notepads, pins, magnets, and teas (and beautiful paper crafts by Georgia and Sherry's book) we nibbled on homemade scones with homemade lemon curd and pomegranate jelly and sipped tea, chatting it up with all of the other Kimberly Shaw fans who came by to restock their stashes of her beautiful cards.

It was quite the day, and I came home with another print to join the two in my dining room as well as several cards and sticker sheets. I think at least three of the cards are going to end up framed (especially this one). It was wonderful to spend time in such a creative space and to chat with Kimberly about her products and plans. She even showed us some of the original paintings, and my mom and I spotted several of her teacups on the shelves as well.

I loved having the chance to meet Kimberly, Georgia, and Sherry in person and to make those local connections that sometimes get lost in the shuffle. I know that when I first started to covet those Kimberly Shaw cards and notepads I saw I never dreamed that they came from less than an hour away!

How Much Tea Can One Person Drink?

Does anybody realize how much tea a tea drinker can have tucked away in various cupboards?

A few days ago I went and cleaned out my tea cupboard to put everything in tins so that I can find them more easily. I was amazed. I suppose that it complicates things that I also blend my own teas, and so have little bits and bags of that around as well. I now have a lovely bamboo box filled with bags of my own blends and a tray containing at least ten tins of various teas that I have, at one time or another, carefully chosen to add to my stash. Not to mention a small box of single teabags of varieties I have wanted to sample. Much of it had been forgotten, lost on a shelf behind other spices and cooking needs and I was only thinking about a small amount of what I had. This opens up the cupboard for things that need to be stored together and also creates a beautiful array of different teas that are easily looked over to find just the right flavor for each moment.

Tea party anyone?

Church Happenings and Poetry Teas

For someone who is feeling deeply ambivalent about organized religion - especially politically charged denominations of the Christian Variety - I am doing an awful lot that is involved with them.

For starters, this past Sunday my mother and I were invited to take part in a Poetry Tea hosted by the Christian Education committee of a local Presbyterian Church where several friends attend. Our joint contribution was originally going to be only the centerpiece, but after the challenge of sixteen or so centerpieces for my wedding last September we felt rather an anticlimax once this one was planned out so we went whole hog and did the china place settings, flowers, and some sweets as well.

Since this was a tea based around people getting together to recite poetry we looked through all of our old books and came up with two beauties, which we accented with a beeswax candle in a silver holder, my Great-Great-Grammie Webster's silver teapot, a crystal bud vase from the last local crystal producer to the area my family is from, a teacup from my wedding china, an antique ink bottle and silver dip pen.


At each place setting (we chose to use my wedding china because it matched the blue and brown color scheme suggested by the books) we decorated the napkin with a rose, blue statice, and some gypsophilia.

My mother also provided some gingerbread petit fours and sugar cookie bookmarks while I offered shortbread made from my grandmother's recipe using lavender sugar.

As if this lovely afternoon wasn't enough of being up to my eyeballs in church, Tuesday I am going with my mother and others from around the diocese on a bus trip to the General Convention for the Episcopal Church.

I am hoping to run into some friends from my past endeavors - I was blessed to be a part of the Cathedral staff in Boston the year Bishop Barbara Harris retired and Bishop Gayle Harris was consecrated. It was a truly amazing experience for this girl who, at the time, didn't even know that we had women bishops and was still in a church where the rector referred to female clergy as "women in priest's clothing". You can't tell me there isn't a world of difference between the East and West coast churches! I hope to share some of my experiences when I return.

Tea for One

This is one of those mornings. The clouds hang low in the sky, menacing the hills with dark shrouds of mist and rain. The light wind is chilling, cutting to the bone, and even the birds who are willing to venture out are staying low to the ground or huddling in low branches with their feathers fluffed to the utmost.

Inside, as I sit near the window looking out, I am snuggled in the depths of a warm afghan with my hands wrapped around a cup of brisk tea mixed with a generous dollop of milk and a plate of homemade bread, toasted and slathered generously with real butter and homemade ruby grapefruit marmalade. I have had a busy and long weekend, and I have an hour to myself before I go rushing off into the rain again. It is a day for practicing hospitality for myself.

My toast rests on one of my favorite pretty plates and my tea is in a lovely cup and saucer that makes me feel good to use. Because it is just myself and my writing tools I could just as easily have dumped my lovely toast onto a paper towel or paper plate and my tea into whatever mug happened to be in the front of the cupboard. But I am just as worthy of the pretty stuff as any visitor I may have. Many of us have forgotten to practice hospitality with ourselves and our families. The very dailiness of our contact with our families, the seeming burden of feeding our own selves every day. They wear on us and make us forget that we, too, are special guests and friends in need of seeing the pretty things in life.

So today I invite you to take the time to use the "good" plates for a meal, put a flower that you find beautiful in a vase where you can enjoy it during your day

Birthday Tea

Here are the Sandwiches - on the left, Coronation Chicken on Honey Cracked Wheat and Cucumber, on the right, Seafood Salad and Olive Spread, and in the middle, Roast Beef with Horseradish Cream on Blue Cheese Crackers and Brie fingers. The Olive spread is a favorite, shared by a friend at church who learned it from her mother. Simply mix well drained chopped olives with enough Miracle Whip to hold together as a paste and spread on bread. Mayonaise won't work for this, it just tastes a little funny.

Here are the Ginger Ale Scones - they tasted good but were not as fluffy as my usual scones. The recipe is: 3 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup light cream, 1 cup lemonade (in the UK this means something like Sprite or 7-Up here, not the slightly sweetened lemon juice that we in the US think it means!) I used Ginger Ale, and they came out okay. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the cream and lemonade and mix to form a sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently to complete the blend. Roll or press to approximately 1 inch thick and cut out or shape into rounds. If shaping into rounds, cut into wedges. Place on a floured baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden and they sound slightly hollow when tapped.

The Fairy Cakes were hiding from the camera, but here is the chocolate mousse, chocolate dipped strawberries and marshmallows and Gram's Shortbread - a recipe I learned from my grandmother.

A wonderful time was had by all, and we are ready to try more teas in the future. I had a ball putting this together and am looking forward to doing it again soon.