Not So Peachy Mango

The tomb of one of the Hapsburg kings. The figures are all life size.



Well, my friends, we had Indian leftovers with some other friends last night. All told, 10 people ate what I cooked for 3. I guess I did get carried away! Sure was good though, as was the converstion. It is nice to have friends that will eat leftovers.

It is another really gorgeous fall day, all red and gold and blue. I am tasting two teas today - sample teabags I got in an order. They are Mlesna Tea - Naurally the Best. http://www.mlesnateas.com/ . This is a Sri Lankan company, but, as you may know, all their teas go by the country's old name of Ceylon. It is an island off the most southern east coast of India. One is Peach apricot and the other is Mango. The peach apricot smells just like that, but the mango just smells sweet, with the barest hint of the fruit. I used boiling water and infused them about 2 minutes. I don't like to infuse teabags too long as I feel they get nasty quickly, as they are genrally made of very tiny bits of tea.





In the cup, the peach apricot has almost no outstanding flavor, merely a hint of what it is supposed to be. The mango doesn't taste like much of anything, but what there was, wasn't pleasant. I don't know if this is a problem with the tea itself or the packaging, as they were sent to me as is - in thin paper wrappings, so they have been exposed to air for a while. This doesn't do good things for any tea. This is not a good way to encourage people to try something new. They may have fared better in cellophane or a plastic bag in transit.






I made a discovery last night - I had no dessert, so I just made up a tray of what nuts, dried fruit and plain chocolate candy bars I had around. It was a great conclusion to the meal, as it was basically light, didn't clash with all those exotic tastes, and encouraged people to sit around and yak. We didn't get up from the table until 10 pm.