Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Anatevka, Anatevka, Tumble Down, Work-a-day

Oh wonder of wonders!  The sun shone almost all day!  Oh frabjouse joy!

I watched "Fiddler on the Roof" the other night for about the gazillioneth time.  I saw it first in NYC on Broadway with Zero Mostel.  I've seen it with Leonard Nimoy.  I've seen it in summer stock, on high school stages,  in a movie, just about anywhere.  It never fails to please and tear at my heart strings. This time I noticed Golde giving Yenta a cup of tea in small glasses, with metal holders and Yenta takes a lump (or the whole bowlful of lumps) of sugar to sip it through, in true Russian style. 

It encouraged me to have a cup of Czar Nicholas Russian tea to watch it with.  This is sort of an Earl Grey on steroids.  There is the somewhat floral note of the bergamot, but then there are the other citrus and maybe spice base notes that come in to give it more substance.  I have it often and while it is not a big favorite, I am intrigued by it as I can't separate out the different components and I am hoping that this time...  I did not sip it through lumps of sugar, not having any lumps, but perhaps I could try it with a bit of jam, which is also an acceptable Russian style.

I was driving along the river today and saw some beautiful scenes.  A stretch was very quiet and reflected first the red bushes by the edge, then the green pines and lastly the BLUE sky.  About halfway up another hill was a large stand of tamaracks, shining gold, the last of the pine type trees to lose their needles and the only ones to lose them all every year.  They are so heart-lifting when the rest of the hills are grey and brown.  There were a few yellow aspens and alders hanging on as well, but everything else got blown by Sandy.

I just got a sample from Lupicia, one of my favorite flavored tea folks - Caramel and Rum.  Doesn't that sound yummy for cold days?  I also heard that Simpson and Vail has a new holiday tea - a green rooibos named Candy Cane.  Don't forget your Celestial Seasonings offerings or the Eggnogger from Bigelow Teas.
Many of these can be ordered on line so you'll have them before the holidays arrive.

3 comments:

Steph said...

Sounds yummy!

Sara Shacket said...

my grandmother used to sip through lumps of sugar. I used to try, but just ended up eating the sugar cube before I could even take a few sips of tea :)

Marlena said...

I'm sure I would do the same with the cubes. When I was a child my great grandmother had sugar cubes for company and I would sneak into the cupboard to steal a few. Not a "good" child, lol