The church in Germany where my 5 greats-grandfather was christened, in the baptismal font on the left. The cross was lost for many years, found in a barn and returned.


First of all, an announcement. The Chicago Tea Garden, co-owned by fellow blogger, Tony Gebley is now selling Zealong Tea, the only tea grown in New Zealand. It sounds like lovely stuff, but at $38 for a bit over 2 ounces, I really can't. If you would like to try this or any of his other offerings, go on over to http://www.chicagoteagarden.com/ I assure you, many are less costly, but very good.


Today is a really pleasant day, warm, but not hot, sunny with enough clouds to be pretty, and low humidity. Quite a contrast to the last few days when even the cats wouldn't go out, but slept the entire day. To celebrate, I am having one of the Golden Moon Tea samples I bought a while ago. It is Sinharaja, a Ceylon tea grown near the Sinharaja Rainforest. The dry leaves are fairly long and twisted, a dark rich brown, smelling somewhat of bubblegum, old wood and fine tobacco. I brewed it for 4 minutes and the resulting liquor is a lovely amber, with that great fresh wash on the line smell. There is also a hint of molasses or caramelized sugar. This continues in the taste, which is very fresh with a somewhat molasses, toasty taste, that finishes sweet. The addition of cream seems to bring out all the flavors and I imagine some sugar would also. I brewed it for 4 minutes, but I think it could easily go 5 and be quite good.


I have a recommendation for a spread for all you toast lovers. Nutella. This is a chocolate, hazelnut, milk spread dearly beloved by Europeans and my family. The first time my cousin had it, he ate the whole jar he thought it was so good. And it is. It might even go well on plain scones. It goes nicely with most black teas. It is not overly sweet, either. Most fairly large supermarkets carry it by the jellies and peanut butters.