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.

Happy Thanksgiving

By the sea, by the sea, by Amalfi... tra la la


It is sunny today, for which I am so happy, the birds are having a wonderful time, the cats have chased away the squirrels and I am deep in pies.

I just wanted to wish all of you a blessed thanksgiving. I hope your food is excellent, your family tensions few, and that you have much to be thankful for.

Blood Orange Brewing*

Notice the painting on the side of the house, up near the eaves. This
is the ancestral home of the Knutti family - friends of our family for over 200 years.

Our birds are very brave. In spite of Ernie sitting under the feeder, they keep eating. They must have figured out he can't climb the pole. He does get scolded, however, mostly by the bluejay.

It's a typical fall day in the Northeast - gray and rainy. I wish we'd had some of this in the summer. Oh well, a good excuse to have tea! I am trying "Blood Orange" from another local teashop here in Owego - Front and Center. It really is a kitchen equipment/restaurant/cooking school, but it has a large selection of teas. In the coming weeks I am going to be interviewing the owner, Simon. Now that it is colder, they make 3 different soups every day. All their tea is loose and brewed fresh for each person, using a T-sac.

Anyway, the tea is from Metropolitan Teas, a wholesaler, so there was nothing on line about it. In the packet it didn't smell like much, but there was a whiff of orange and there were chunks of orange peel. It is a black tea, so I did my usual 3.33 minutes of boiling water steep. As it brewed there was a lovely aroma of orange wafting from the pot. The tea is a light medium amber. It is a very nicely behaved, flavored tea. You can taste the tea, which has a slight earthiness to it, with a gentle over note of the orange. Personally, I have never been really able to tell the taste of blood orange from that of an ordinary one. If you can, please tell me about the difference.


How are you coming with your Thanksgiving prep? I did a number of things today as tomorrow is busy with other things. I got the pie crusts made and in the fridge, the stuffing, 2 pre-dinner dips and one of the veggie side dishes all ready. So Wednesday I'll just do the pies and the mashed potatoes and Thursday will only be Turkey and a couple last minute things. I feel sooooo smart - I've never been this organized. Now, if only the vacuum cleaner had not died before I cleaned the house.......LOL My friends will either love me anyway or they can clean the house.

* The title of one of Laura Child's tea shop mysteries. So nice of her to put together 2 of my obsessions - tea and mystery

A Wind in the Willows [ok, Pine Trees]

I never get tired of mountains and hills.

The wind blew so hard today the bird feeders blew out of the ground. That sounds like a tall tale, but it's true. A red bellied wood pecker, which really has a mostly red head, landed on the suet feeder today. She's so much larger than the little downy it was quite a shock to see her. Until today, the blue jay has been the only larger bird still around.

We live in a heavily wooded area and sometimes, when you look over the hills, it is so unrelievedly gray, as the trees draw all their life force into their roots to survive the winter. That is why I am so glad to have the birds right outside my window, even though some of them are grayer for the winter, such as the goldfinches. I turn on as many lights as I can in good conscience to combat the winter blues and I make sure they are all the daylight kind.

Then, of course, there is a nice cuppa! No real tastings today - just an old friend, Enjoying Tea's Imperial Yunnan Black aka Imperial Gold Dianhong. It's a very pleasant , slightly spicey, slightly flowery Yunnan. I don't have to think about it - just enjoy.

I don't know if I will be doing much in the way of tea tasting over the next week. We arehaving Thanksgiving here, with friends, some of whom will be staying the weekend, so there is a lot to do. I have plans all written out - that is amazing in itself. Today I am going to make up the pie crust and the turkey is in the garage refrigerator beginning to thaw. We decided to get a small one this year and wound up with a 22 pounder. A lot of stuff can be made ahead and just reheated, so that is what I am going to do.

Did you know the First Thanksgiving probably did not have turkey? More likely fish, clams, oysters, mussels, venison, perhaps grouse. There was probably some sort of maple sap to sweeten things, corn and beans, maybe some apples and cranberries, maybe some pumpkin. A lot of the food would have been dried or smoked to preserve it for the winter.

It doesn't matter, the Indians saved our ancesters from starvation.

May we all remember all the things we have to be thankful for and let our hearts fill with gratitude and love.

Tea at the Briar Patch

Cow barn in the spring in the Simmenthal.

Rats, the terrible two have discovered the bird feeders and sit on the porch steps waiting for them. Hopefully they will get tired of this and go do something else. The blue jays act as sentinels and while they haven't attacked the cats, they let everyone know if it is safe to feed or not. I moved the feeders farther from the house, hoping this will help.

I had a delicious tea this morning and a very nice chat with Carrie Tompkins, the owner of the Briar Patch , in Owego, NY. This is a small but delightful shop choc-a-block with good things to eat, taste, decorate, smell and just enjoy. Carrie has been in Owego about 3 years. She only got into tea 31/2 years ago and has already begun to blend a few teas and write a monthly article for our local paper, The Moonlighter. If you remember, I reviewed one of her teas not too long ago - Honey Lemon.

Carrie's introduction to tea was a Formosa Oolong she had at a Japanese restaurant. She found it to be so good, she wanted to learn more. She was also quite taken by the whole relaxation angle of tea and the fact it has so much less caffeine than coffee. Carrie has been making and selling beautiful candles for over 12 years and loves to experiment with blending different scents. This love of the sensual was a natural segue into the beginnings of tea blending. So far she has blended rooibus with mate, and chamomile with peppermint on her own, using European Chamomile instead of Egyptian, as she feels it has a smoother, softer edge, with more of an apple overtone. Next up is lavender with Earl Gray. I will definitely be interested in comparing that with others.

At the moment, Briar Patch carries over 50 teas and Carrie ships them around the country. She always has a big pot on the counter so you can taste the tea of the day. Today's was wonderful!
I am not a big fan of spice teas as usually the clove in them is overwhelming. However, Carrie's Cinnamon Orange Spice was really super. Very cinnamon-y and spicey, but so well balanced! The orange lightened it some and there was a definite sweetness in the brew. Although it is not an herb tea, it made me feel warm and cosy. I bought some and decided it would make a very nice holiday treat.


You can check out the Briar Patch offerings at www.owegobriarpatch.com

"Sacred" Ground

Another denizen of the Markt Platz in Bern.

I have proof the chickadees prefer pine nuts to sunflower seeds! Not that it is of the least importance. A whole bag of these expensive things languished in the freezer too long, so I put them out in the bird feeders - very popular with our crowd. The titmice can't seem to eat at the same feeder, but a crowd of chickadees or a flutter of finches seem to be able to munch quite happily together.

I have had a tummy bug, so I have not been in the mood to taste teas. Mostly I have been drinking Bigelow's Herbal Assortment. All tea bags. All okay, if not exciting. But then, I wasn't looking for excitement.

How're you doing on your Thanksgiving planning? We're just having friends over, so there isn't the tension of long standing family stuff to deal with. I have the meal all planned and except for things like fruit, which you really can't get ahead, I'm all set. I confess I am a real traditionalist for this meal. The stuffing is sacred ground! And there has to be mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce. After that, the sides can be whatever. Since our friends are bringing most of them, I am only going to make Indian Creamed Spinach with Cashews for the ones who like Indian stuff.

When I was a kid, my mother always made creamed onions, which no one ate. Finally I asked her why and she said her grandfather loved them and they were always on the table for Thanksgiving. He died in 1938. I think it was at least 1955 before I asked. Talk about tradition.

Hmm, what tea to have with the meal. Actually, it will be with dessert. We are having coconut cream pie for Himself and I can't make up my mind about the others. I am considering pecan, pumpkin, apple and chocolate. Since there will only be 6 of us, I can't really make them all. Much too oinky.

Up, Up and Away

A cute little kids' riding plane in the market square in Bern,
Switzerland.


I am so excited! We put up the bird feeders and suet yesterday morning and by afternoon the birds had arrived - usually it takes a few days or a week before they notice and arrive. Already we have had 3 kinds of finches, chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmice, a downy woodpecker, a hairy wood pecker, and a blue jay. I am so glad I put them out side my computer window - I would much rather look at them than the gray trees. Downy and hairy wood peckers look just about alike, but the hairy is quite a bit larger; with a downy about the size of a purple finch.


This morning I had some of Bigelow's Green Tea With Peppermint. I can't say I could taste much green tea, but the mint was quite pleasant, not overwhelming as it sometimes can be. It was a tea bag and the water wasn't very hot. I was at a meeting, and this seemed safest. Another green for those afraid to try them. I'm not sure easing into them is the way to go, but for folks who only want to use green teas as an antioxidant, this is a pleasant way to do it.


Well, I see Prince William finally asked Kate to marry him, and gave her his mother's engagement ring. Even I, who avoids the news as much as possible, saw that. Guess I will go and have a cup of Lady Londonderry to celebrate, as that was Princess Diana's favorite tea. In my never humble opinion, Culinary Teas makes the best blend of this.