Springing Into Assam

I am squeezing in this column whilst waiting for my pear and ginger scones to bake.  Then we shall have tea!  Today's is Kama Black from Foxfire Teas  http://www.foxfireteas.com/ .  It hails from Assam and the suggestionis for boiling water for 5 minutes.  I think I shall do 4, as I seem to remember that Assam can get to be a bit much if it goes too long.  The leaves are quite large, with kind of a woodsy, winey, cooking pasta aroma.

Ah, the scones are done, I can brew the tea.  The pears are dried and have made the scones quite sweet.  This is a variation on the recipe I shared with you about 2 weeks ago.  The tea is done also and has a rich malty aroma.  It's color is much lighter than I expected, a light toasty amber.  Very nice flavor, malty and rich, with overtones of walnut.  It goes very, very nicely with my scone.  An excellent tea for a tea party


The phoebes are here, along with the robins and the bluebirds.  I love Spring.  I would prefer it
to be an ordinary cool Spring, as with this heat (upper 70s in Upstate New York), our flowers fade and wither in about 3 days, instead of 2 weeks.  So we must enjoy while we can.  I spotted some chiondoxa today, little blue stars.  I am thinking of digging out a small section - what a lot of work, hauling all that gravel! - and using it just for some spring bulbs, as I do love daffodils,  the blue stars, and the old wild tulips.  It looks like everything except one hollyhock has survived.

A joke for your younger children, told me by a first grader;  Mrs. A., did you know you can tune a piano?  Yes. FG - But you can't tune a fish.  Much laughter.  I love it when kids tell me jokes and get so caught up in laughing about them.

On the Amalfi Drive again, yet another place I wouldn't mind living.  I am not a big fan of endless miles of beach.  I am a lover of rocky coasts and crashing surf.  That is probably because I am one of those people who just burn and don't bother tanning.  And I like weather extremes.  However, should I find myself at the beach, I love to watch the little sand pipers and the other birds, even the gulls.