Two Teas On The Menu

It was very, very cold (about 8degrees) last week and today it is 62.  Yesterday the weather man said we had drizzles and it was raining so hard, I couldn't see our road.  Crazy weather!  Perfect for tea. It is lovely to sit in my nice warm living room, with my Critters, Inc. to keep my toes comfy, drinking a nice pot of tea and watching the wind scour the woods.

I've had some wonderful combinations lately.  I made Julia Child's cream of mushroom soup with a mix of ordinary and woodland mushrooms - so very, very good - and had it with some of Mark T. Wendell's Hu Kwa Lapsang Souchong tea.  This, as far as I am concerned is the best of the best.  There is exactly the right balance of smoke, sweet, and woodsy and it went perfectly with my soup.

The other was an orange tart I made, with a pastry cream base and candied oranges on top, with a drizzle of the much reduced candying liquid.  It is the best dessert I've made in a while.  I know I am bragging, but I still get excited when my food turns out really well.  I had it with Culinary Teas Lady Londonderry, which is one of two fruit teas I like.  This has maybe a bit of strawberry, maybe a smidge of pineapple, a lot of flowery and it went beautifully with the tart.  If you're an Anglophile, it supposedly was Princess Diana's favorite.  It is a very feminine tea.

We went out to lunch to a new to us restaurant.  They buy as much of their ingredients as possible from local farms, breweries and wineries.  That I really like.  The food was excellent.  I ordered iced tea in honor of "hot" weather.  It was okay.  Standard ice tea.  Oh well.