Saturday, September 5, 2009

Lazy dayz of summer


Today is a perfect, late summer - early fall day. Perfect day to transplant the lavender and iris and make one more batch of pesto for the freezer, repot the rosemary, feel the sun and the breeze on your back - aaah, perfection.

Another lazy day, tea wise. Tried the Earl Grey Rose and Lavender from yesterday iced and it was soooooo strong. It finally dawned on me I made it too strong, so another day I will try again.

Breakfast tea was just PG Tips in a bag - really a pyramid. When a non-tea drinker makes it for you, make it easy for him! For a non-specialty tea, in a bag, these are my go tos. Sure, they are not great tea, but they are definately more than adequate. Afternoon tea is just one of my favorites - Culinary Teas Lady Londonderry, which I love and I wasn't feeling one bit experimental. It also is very fresh and crisp/soft on the palate.

However, my package from Liber-Teas finally arrived - due to bureaucratic snafus, it's been a while. Anne, the company's owner and tea crafter, has been marvelously patient. If there is a contest for packaging, she wins! The box was like opening a present - all this marvelous purple tissue paper with little samples and candies - oh my! And the teas are in wonderful purple tins with silver ribbons and pretty labels. Really day brightening. I had to sniff all the teas I got, so I just may have to sample one or two, as they smelled alluring! I have high expectations for her teas as I have read her tea reviews and have found them thoughtful and imaginative.

This summer I bought something new from Lipton's - cold-brew ice tea bags. Use two per quart, brew in cold water for 3 minutes. Voila, your typical American summer ice tea. Not to be confused with super duper tea on ice, but for those of you who don't want to fuss, want it NOW, etc., like my husband, they are perfect. Having never been a big fan of ice tea - I really like water or Squirt - this is fine with me too.

Aah, Squirt soda, you can hardly find it anymore. When I was a child growing up on the farm, it was kept in the big milk coolers where the 30 gallon cans of milk were stored until the milk truck came. The coolers were filled with very cold circulating water and the lids were about 3x5 feet. I could lift them to sneak a soda, but I could never get the lid back down, as all the cans would bob up in the water. But I had an indulgent grandfather who would rescue me, shut the lid and not tell on me. Every child should have one.

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