Uh-Oh, I Heard The Siren Song Of The Teapot.

Oh dear, I bought 2 new teapots and 4 cups advertising Lipton Tea, complete with a picture of Sir Thomas looking lordly and a Folger's coffee tin with a Folger's puzzle inside.  The cups and the Folger's go in the advertising collection and the teapots, well, you know where teapots go.  The best one is quite large, with a faux-crackle glaze and pictures of camels and palm trees all around it.  The handle is molded as part of it.  This is a pot to be noticed!  My friends are beginning to wonder if I have become a dormouse and plan to live in one, I have so many.  I comfort myself by knowing some of you have far more than I do.

The lambs are born!  Their busy little tails just flip and flitter as they run and jump and nuzzle their mamas.  The neighbor's cows are out and most of their winter grunge has worn off.  I used to love when our cows were let out for the spring, they would hop and buck and run and just act crazy, so glad they were to be able to smell fresh air and green grass.  Of course, the milk would taste a bit grassy in the spring as well, but the cows were happy.

Today is the 113th annual Convocation of Crows of the Southern Tier.  They have arranged themselves in tiers in our back woods.  I guess this is just the meet and mingle part of the festivities as they are all talking at the top of their lungs.  On the schedule is "Toolmaking to fool humans",  "Stupid things people do"  "Sources for nest making" and that all-important "Best spots for carrion"  I shall be glad when it is over, they are quite noisy.

I am eagerly awaiting tomorrow when I can get back to tea tasting.  I am well and I thank you all for your kind words. Coffee manages to overcome the medicine taste, but it came through in the tea and made a lovely drink unpleasant.

Oh dear, I am as bad about plants as I am about tea pots.  Our first seasonal garden center opened today and there I was, wallowing in all the smells and the glory of flowers.  Teapot designers have gotten stuck on some flowers, I wish they would go to a nursery and expand their repertoire.  I would love one with marigolds or edelweiss or some of the very delicate blooms I saw today.  I did buy an edelweiss again and maybe this time I can grow one.  I never have any good luck, but they call to my Swiss heritage.

Yet another Viennese doorway, this one to Karl's Kirche.

One Brief Shining Moment

That is indeed what we had early this morning.  We had our first snow - all 1 inch of it!  As the sun was coming up, the trees around the bog were caught in the rising mist, all splendid, shining silver. Then the clouds, consumed with jealousy, hid it all and forced their gray selves upon us.  But we live for those momemts.

And... we comfort ourselves with tea, which can be another shining moment.  Today seems like an Oolong day and I am having Jung Xuan from Alishan, Taiwan via the Red Blossom Tea Company.  This is one of those little-balls-with-a-tail Oolongs that are such fun to watch unfurl.  In the packet, it smells like fresh hay or cut lawn, with a lovely hint of jasmine/orchid/gardenia coming out if you inhale deeply.

I brewed it for 3 minutes with water about 200 degrees.  The resulting liquid is a soft yellow-green, with that great floral aroma.  It has a light, fresh taste, with a lovely floral accompaniment.  On the whole it is very like almost every Ali Shan, I've tried.  I would rate it about in the middle of that pack.  Very pleasant, but not outstanding.

The day has had other lovley bits in it.  I saw three hawks - a harrier, a red-shouldered and a red tail in various places on my travels.  The best, only seen now that the leaves are gone was several!! oriole nests.  I am thrilled, as I wondered if we would ever see any more.  They used to nest in elms, usually over a stream, but the elms are gone.  Now, many of them nest over roads, which perhaps, seem like streams to them.  I had 3 of these gorgeous birds at the feeders this summer.

Speaking of which, Cornell U. has a program called Project Feeder Watch where you can keep track of birds in your yard and report them to a data collection site.  You can also find out which birds are where and the most common ones.  Just google Project Feeder Watch and read all about it.  A good thing to do with your tea.

Baked Applesauce and Tea

The weather cannot decide what to do with itself.  The sun shines, but huge black clouds are chasing it and, for a while, they win and it rains and sleets!  Then it is 10 degrees warmer because the sun is back.  But it is clear that the thermometer is only really going in one direction, down, and we will have a killing frost tonight.  I am just as glad.  What few flowers are left are raggedy and worn, time for them to be put to bed in the compost pile.  However, I am left with one glorious nature picture.  A really brilliant maple, shining so brightly in the sun becomes back lit by the very dark clouds and suddenly, brightness is rendered in stark, glowing neon!  Just breath-taking.

The Downies seem to have settled their differences and peace is reigning in our little corner of the world, at least among the feathered.  The furred realm tells a different story - I have been feeding a stray, a really beautiful black male named Black Kitty - really creative, aren't I.  He looked terrible when I started 6 months ago, but now he is gorgeous.  He is very polite and just eats from his dish and generally either takes a short nap or goes right out again.  However, Sarah hisses, Bert swats, and Ernie whines at him.  Neurotic ol' Andy pretends he is terrified.  He ignores them all, being composed of heavy muscle while their laziness -es are pretty wimpy.

I made Baked Apples applesauce today.  I had only bland tasting apples, so as I added cinnamon and cardamom, I thought, hmm I bought these for baked apples, why not... So I added raisins, a little brown sugar and some butter.  Voila,  Baked Apples Sauce.  It's very good.   I had it with some chamomile tea and toast.  The chamomile picks up the apple and they play nicely with each other.  A fortuitous discovery.  If you make very strong chamomile tea and boil it down it makes a lovely addition to a custard, using some of it in place of milk. 

I also had a little leftover Lapsang Souchong and instead of milk in my scrambled eggs, I used the tea.  Just the nicest hint of smoke.  I also use it in beef stews, to replace some of the liquid.

Mostly Birds, With a bit of Ice Cream

Oops! Meant to put this up Friday. I got busy with company instead. No, no Black Friday Shopping! I hate crowds and I hate mornings, unless I wake up naturally, so that's not for me.


How nice of Ma Nature to give that house a little bay of its own.



Well, Thanksgiving is done. We had quite the religious gathering, with an Episcopal priest and deacon, 3 Presbyterian pastors and a Presbyterian Lay preacher. We had a blast, telling stories, laughing ourselves silly and eating huge amounts of food. Our friend Jill has the most amazingly infectious laugh. But we were thoughtful, too and we all had a very good time. Now it is time for the serious business of leftovers. We ate fairly late, so there were no turkey sandwiches, but you can be sure they are on the menu for today.



For breakfast we are having French toast made from pannettone, that wonderful eggy, buttery Italian holiday bread. If you've never had any, hop on out to TJ Maxx or Marshall's and get one. We'll be having Earl Gray with it, as I think the lemony taste of the bergamot will compliment the bread quite nicely and is strong enough to handle the earthy sweetness of the maple syrup.



This morning, as dawn was breaking, our company and I watched a herd of 8 deer wander through the back yards. One of the mamas wasn't very friendly and kept lashing out at the others. They weren't pleased and eventually she turned around and went back to her own territory. "Our" deer are used to us talking to them and just ignore us, but the ones who weren't here all summer get spooked if we say anything. I wish that would work with the squirrels. We had three of them at the bird feeders this am, so I turned the cats loose. One squirrel almost didn't make it back to his tree and let loose with the most awful stream of invective! So Meek and Eek are camped out under the feeders and the birds just come and go, happily ignoring them. One of the goldfinches has arrived and is surprisingly gold for this time of year. Must be a male.

Now it is snowing, as has been threatened for a while. The red-bellied woodpecker is on the suet feeder, really stocking up - he's eaten about 1/4 of it. And I was wrong - he does indeed have a red head, but since I have seen his belly for 20 minutes, I can attest to a pale red wash on it. The female doesn't appear to have as much, either on her head or belly.


I will leave you with a recipe from 1889 for Tea Ice Cream - we're not as cutting edge as we thought, using tea to cook with! Written as given.

"Steep 2 ounces of the best mixed tea in 3 pints of boiling cream. In the meantime stir 3/4 pound of pulverized sugar and the yolks of 12 eggs or more until thick: add gradually to the cream, boil up once, strain through a hair seive, stirring until cold. Freeze"

I have made homemade ice cream and this is doable, if you are used to cooking and interpreting old recipes - most of my Christmas cookie recipes are like this or more confusing.