Hoorah For Kenyan Tea

Memorial Day is coming and the ads are full of specials for grilling and picnicking.  But I am more reminded of the deeper meaning of the day.  It was set aside to remember all those soldiers who gave their lives  for our country, in one of our many, many wars.  I am firmly anti-war, but ...  The fact is many men and women have gone to war and paid horrific prices for the rest of us.  So let us remember them and say thank you.

Memorial Day is also a day to remember family and friends who have gone before us.  I remember going with each of my grandmothers to decorate family graves.  I'm not sure I understand the point of it, but I loved the stories that were told about the 2 sisters who married 2 brothers, about the family friend my great grandmother was named for, the baby boy who died at birth and the baby left behind in a New Jersey cemetery.  There were the graves with odd headstones, and the ones where a whole family was wiped out in a diphtheria epidemic, and that of the many greats-grandfather who lived to be 91 and had 127 grandchildren when he died!  There were sad tales and funny tales, but they wove my family into my heart and made them real.

I hope your families are very real and precious and that you have someone to tell you their stories and that you, in turn, tell the next generation those same stories.  Plant some rosemary for remembrance.  I have some thyme from the cemetery where my parents and grandparents are buried - the whole place is covered with it and it smells wonderful when one walks on it.

I lift my cup today to soldiers and families and friends - may we all grow in love.  I am having some Kenyan tea from Camellia Sinensis Maison de The in Quebec, Canada, www.camellia-sinensis.com .  It is part of a tea swap.  It is called Kangaita and is both organic and fair trade.  In the packet it smells wonderful, with a deep winey aroma.  The medium sized leaves are very dark, but there is a lot of gold dust on the inner surfaces of the packet.  I am brewing it for 3.5 minutes with boiling water.  As it is brewing it has that deep wonderful fresh wash smell, coupled with old wine barrels and dark tree bark.  The liqueur is a very pretty rosy amber.

This smells so good, I can barely wait for it to cool enough to sip.  Oh, my this is wonderful tea.  It is very rich tasting, but has a light body.  There is that woodsy, earthy quality, but it is combined with something very close to caramel.  There is a pleasant, spicy note to the aftertaste.  This really is one of the best teas I have had in a while.  I am especially  pleased because  about 10 years ago, there was some wonderful Kenya tea and then there was a terrible slump and it was just awful, but this is one more proof  that Kenya's orthodox tea can stand with the best.

Wallflowers in Switzerland.

If You Go Out In The Yard Today...

I think our resident "teddy" bears need to have their picnics somewhere other than my backyard.  I get tired of having to repair bird feeders, throwing out suet holders and jumping up and down on the feeder poles to straighten them out.  Besides, they stink and the cats won't even go in the yard for days.  A pox on them!

We've had summer weather for a good bit of April and May, but last night old man winter came back.  The wind died down and the thermometer plummeted to about 25.  I had all my unplanted things inside. I think everything survived.  Someday I am going to learn that May can turn on us gardeners and not be a bit pretty.

I am having another Williamson Tea to comfort myself in the cold.  This one is a High Grown Kenya and 1 pound of the purchase price of the tin goes to relief work in Africa.  I like seeing my money do that kind of work.  Again, these are tea bags.

This is not the best Kenya tea I have had, that honor goes to Royal Tea of Kenya, but it is far from the worst.  There isn't a whole lot to say about it.  It's dark and strong, with woodsy overtone, maybe a touch of cured tobacco.  It plays nicely with milk and on the whole, I like it.  Himself did, as well.

Yet another fancy schmancy altar.  What can I say, I like churches.  The somewhat darker structure on the left wall, would have been the royal box, so they could be separated from the common folk.

Games and Elephants and Tea

If women want to learn to play hard to get, they should watch the birds.  Mourning doves and downy woodpeckers are real experts at the game.  The doves basically ignore their proposed mates who prance and preen and are too, too persistent,while the woodpeckers lead theirs on an aerial ballet.  They are fascinating to watch.  Speaking of persistence, the squirrels, they are indeed persistent when it comes to a full bird feeder.  However, I have discovered that the presence of our largest cat, Orphan Andy, is quite the deterrent, all 20 pounds of him.  His other name is Fatso Catso, so you can imagine his shape.  He just sits on the steps and dares them to approach.  For all his size, he is very fast and an excellent mouser or squirreler.

Ah me, I have fallen into temptation once again.  This time it is Williamson Tea  Elephant Tea Caddies and the teas within.  They are all tea bags, so my standing as a tea snob is called into question, but sometimes a tea bag is all you're up for and Himself simply can't be bothered with making a pot of loose tea,  I think by now Williamson's has about 8 of these delightful caddies and I have 4.

The one I tried today is Quiet Afternoon and comes in a gold elephant, complete with calf and adorned with Christmas hangings, presents and mistletoe, decked out like Indian elephants for a special festival.  I have to say I like the tea.  It is like a mild Breakfast tea.  Has a hint of sweetness, though and perhaps a hint of fruit.  It can stand a drop of cream and doesn't get harsh if you overbrew it.  Altogether a very pleasant experience.

Another Hapsburg Palace in Vienna.  They just loved to build themselves mansions.

Tea and Roses

You may remember that when I came home from World Tea East last fall, I was raving about some tea ice cream I had, made by Tea-rrific Ice Cream.  They were just awarded all three top awards for ice cream at the Specialty Foods 2013 conference in Connecticut.  They were awarded best New Product at WTE.  Currently they are only available in the NYC metro area and Connecticut (too sad).  We should bug Whole Foods to add them to their repertoire.  Their website is www.tearrificicecream.com .

Himself took me out for Mother's Day today.  I hate to go on the day, everywhere is so crowded.  So we went to a tea shop I've had my eye on to try - The Rose Garden Tea Room in Endicott, NY.  It was very rosey and decorated with many old advertising prints from women's magazines and the various tea wares they had for sale.  The tea was all Harney's, so of course, it was good.  my husband had Paris, which he loved - anything with vanilla wins for him.  I had something called 1896, which was peachy, with a hint of raspberry and citrus.  The scones were apples walnut and came with jam, raspberries and cream.  I had chicken and biscuits, as I was quite hungry, and it was delicious.  Dessert was a very yummy coconut cake.  Next time, I am going to go for tea.

Spring green has finally climbed all the way to the top of the hills and the flowering trees and lilacs are just bursting with color.  Yesterday I noticed the dogwood is blooming in the woods across the road.  It is so lovely to see it here and there, shining through the trees.  The dawn chorus of the birds is just so loud, but so welcome to hear, after the silence of the winter.

May all you mothers have a lovely day and much super tea.

Another Karl's Kirche shot.  I just love this church.

Violets And Herbs

The violets are blooming.  They are nestled in what passes for our backyard and in some places, there are great drifts of them  Welcome, welcome!  I floated a few in my tea, which I had in my violet patterned teacups.  Now, if  I could only find a violet patterned teapot I really liked!

My tummy troubles have persisted, but I think they may finally be drawing to an end.  I gave up trying to have real tea - it just didn't smell or taste good or be kind to my tum.  What to do instead?

For probably centuries, One of the mainstays of folk medicine for ailing stomachs was peppermint .  It still is today.  It both soothes your innards while the lovely smell tends to pep you up a bit.  Another old stand-by is chamomile.  It is both soothing and calming, very good for relaxing one just before bed time.  The third, which was certainly a stand-by in tropical climes, is ginger.  By the time of the spice trades began coming to the west, I'm sure it caught on quickly.  My chiropractor recommends it for anyone whose stomach is ailing.  I have been giving it to my husband and it has helped him enormously.  I've been drinking it when the thought of food makes me feel nauseated.  It is good for nausea and also good for motion sickness.

I am not much for herbal teas in general, but I do find these to be very useful and they are always in my cupboard.

A massive hinge for a huge gate into a palace in Vienna.

The Very First Tea of The Season

Have you ever thought about what a mass of contradictions we humans are?  We must strive to better ourselves, but accept ourselves for who we are.  Take pride in our accomplishments, but be humble.  Work hard, but avoid stress.  Eat food good for us, but it must be good tasting.  Everything comes with a but.  Everything in moderation, but be extravagant sometimes.  Protect your children, but let them go.  It's no wonder we sometimes fall off this tightrope we call life. When that happens, let's just sit down and have a cup of tea. 

And I am having one of this year's specials, which finally arrived through customs - a Pre-QingMing Da Fo (Great Buddha) Long Jing, harvested and hand-pressed on March 10, 2103.  It comes to me via Life In Teacup, which always has wonderful green and Oolong teas  Gingko has some blacks and pu-erhs as well.  I love Long Jing tea, it feels like silk running through your fingers, each leaf or two carefully pressed absolutely flat as tho' you had been ironing and starching them.

They smell like the great green outdoors, with just a hint of toastiness.  I am brewing them in a little glass pot, so I can watch them dance about.  This is called by some "the agony of the leaves", but I prefer to think of it as a creative dance that yields a lovely drink.   It is the soft green of new leaves and smells a bit like fresh asparagus, a common green tea aroma.    That indeed is the predominant taste, but quite refined.  By the time it gets to the back of my mouth, there are lovely floral tastes, which linger on the palate.  This is another of those teas which compels you to keep drinking it because it is so good and you want to see what the next unfolding of flavor is.  A lovely experience.

There's a magnolia down by the river that is just about to burst into bloom.  They are gorgeous and this year, the weather won't freeze them out before we can enjoy them.  I saw some ducks with ducklings yesterday.  The little ones were swimming with one parent while the other kept watch.  The great blue herons have returned to their rookery and are starting to nest.  Soon we'll get to watch them feeding and rearing the young.  By the river, the understory of the woods is getting green and the pink haze of the tree buds is moving right into red.  Up here, we still are in the early bud stage.

While I was in the garden, I noticed the dandelions are budding.  About another week and we'll have yellow flowers scattered across our lawns.  I like them, although I know many prefer perfect green lawns.  I am with the person who said "If it looks good from 50 feet away, it's good enough".  We did have neighbors once who actually vacuumed their lawn.  I surely was a sore trial to them.

An every day emperor's robe.

Tarting Up Tea

Today was my first day setting the garden to rights.  I was very pleased to find that almost all of the lavender survived and will be lovely in another month or so.  I also found that as much as I tried, there is still some orange mint in the front bed.  I am going to move it as it simply isn't polite, but likes to take over.  Which leads me to tarting up tea.  I'm not a great fan of flavored teas, but I love to experiment.

If you like lavender you can make some simple syrup flavored with it for your summer iced teas.  Just heat up 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 4 Tablespoons fresh or 2 Tablespoons dried lavender buds, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Cool and strain, keep in the fridge for 2+ weeks.  You can do that with other herbs as well, such as the mints or lemon thyme.  If you don't like sweeteners, just stick a sprig or two in the pot as it brews.  I am very partial to orange mint but this year I am going to try some of the milder ones, like spearmint and apple mint.  I have tried rosemary, but it is much too strong.  Organic dried rosebuds would be lovely as well.

Something else you can do either for a tea punch or ice cubes for ice tea is to freeze edible flowers, either in a ring or the cubes.  Make sure they are edible and unsprayed.  I am thinking of Johnny jump-ups, pansies, violets, rose buds, calendula flowers.  Nasturiums are edible as well, although they can be peppery.  They do come in lovely colors, however.  You could also dry these flowers and add them to your dry tea leaves.

I tried using old tea to cover seeds started in the house - it did not work, they just matted together and grew fuzz.  However, they do well mixed with grass and clover seed to overseed your lawn.  I am determined to have more clover in my lawn.  It smells divine.

I did not try a new tea today.  I was tired and just had my wonderful S. D. Bell's and was so happy to be able to taste it with no other icky tastes!

A longer and somewhat cock-eyed view of Karl's Kirche in Vienna.  It's just such a cool building.