Grandpa Rocks

Today was "Turn a sow's ear into a silk purse day" in my refrigerator or kitchen cupboards and yielded bread pudding with strawberry sauce, chicken rice casserole with spinach, cheese, peppers,  and water chestnuts, chicken salad, roast pork with winter veggies, curried cauliflower, and oatmeal cookies.   Now I can almost find things in the fridge.

After that marathon, I really needed some tea!  Phoenix Tea Shop to the rescue with Grandpa's Anytime Tea.  This tea comes from a Kenyan farmer's co-perative and the Grandpa in question is a man who suffered for many years for workers' rights.  He is still tea farming along with his family, although he has passed the age of 100.

Grandpa's tea is tiny, tiny bits of CTC treated tea, finer than many coffee grains.  It has a very woodsy aroma, like the earthy wetness aroma of an early Spring woodland.  Phoenix recommends brewing this 1-2 minutes with boiling water and I would certainly agree and be careful to use just a level teaspoon per cup  - this is strong stuff.  It tastes as woodsy/earthy as it smells and is a real wake-me-up brew, very well suited for breakfast or for afternoon slumps.

A beautifully carved old German pulpit - we visited a lot of churches.  This is probably from the 1400-1500's.

It is still light out at 5:30 and the sun is once again shiningg into my kitchen!  I am so glad the worst of darkness is behind us.