Blood Orange Brewing*

Notice the painting on the side of the house, up near the eaves. This
is the ancestral home of the Knutti family - friends of our family for over 200 years.

Our birds are very brave. In spite of Ernie sitting under the feeder, they keep eating. They must have figured out he can't climb the pole. He does get scolded, however, mostly by the bluejay.

It's a typical fall day in the Northeast - gray and rainy. I wish we'd had some of this in the summer. Oh well, a good excuse to have tea! I am trying "Blood Orange" from another local teashop here in Owego - Front and Center. It really is a kitchen equipment/restaurant/cooking school, but it has a large selection of teas. In the coming weeks I am going to be interviewing the owner, Simon. Now that it is colder, they make 3 different soups every day. All their tea is loose and brewed fresh for each person, using a T-sac.

Anyway, the tea is from Metropolitan Teas, a wholesaler, so there was nothing on line about it. In the packet it didn't smell like much, but there was a whiff of orange and there were chunks of orange peel. It is a black tea, so I did my usual 3.33 minutes of boiling water steep. As it brewed there was a lovely aroma of orange wafting from the pot. The tea is a light medium amber. It is a very nicely behaved, flavored tea. You can taste the tea, which has a slight earthiness to it, with a gentle over note of the orange. Personally, I have never been really able to tell the taste of blood orange from that of an ordinary one. If you can, please tell me about the difference.


How are you coming with your Thanksgiving prep? I did a number of things today as tomorrow is busy with other things. I got the pie crusts made and in the fridge, the stuffing, 2 pre-dinner dips and one of the veggie side dishes all ready. So Wednesday I'll just do the pies and the mashed potatoes and Thursday will only be Turkey and a couple last minute things. I feel sooooo smart - I've never been this organized. Now, if only the vacuum cleaner had not died before I cleaned the house.......LOL My friends will either love me anyway or they can clean the house.

* The title of one of Laura Child's tea shop mysteries. So nice of her to put together 2 of my obsessions - tea and mystery