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.

A Tiny Little Teapot

Attention all you Anglophiles - I was at T J Maxx this am and they had the cutest tea pot.  It is a one cupper, with the British flag molded into the sides.  It's white and comes with 10 English Breakfast teabags for $6.99.  You mught want to check out your local T J or Marshall's if this is of interest.  Of course I bought it - too cute to resist.

Speaking of teapots, I was looking around the house yesterday and thought I had best shrink my collection before we have to move, which I will NOT do.  Between them and all my teas, it is getting ridiculous.  This after I just got another one.  Hopeless, just hopeless.

I am drinking a very nice Assam I got from my swap partner throught the Tea Blog Review tea swap, http://www.teareviewblog.com/ and look for "Tea Swap".  I don't know whose it is, but it commendably  brisk, malty and a great wake-me-up, which I needed after errand running today.  It is not a nuanced cup, just a pleasantly straightforward, good-tasting Assam.  Sometimes I am just tired of thinking about my tea and only want one that tastes good and requires nothing from me except making and swallowing.  I am very happy there at least both these sorts of tea in the world.  They are something to suit any mood or whimsey.

We got a wonderful food basket from my sister-in-law for Christmas and some of it was smoked duck breast (super tasting) and some was preserved duck leg.  I bought some beans and dragged out the French cook books and I am going to make cassoulet, which is basically baked beans with a few different kinds of meat and lots of garlic.  It is so good.  There are very traditional ways of making it, but I think that this peasant dish originated as using up what was on hand before the recipes got set in stone.  Therefore...  I think many dishes from many cuisines were like that and that we should be able to interpret our dishes that way.

As you may be able to tell from the colors, this is the organ of Tuesday's church, on the back wall  of the church.  It is so beautifully fancy, especially since the church is pretty plain.

The weather predictors say we will get 1-6 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.  I would love it, but I am not going to hold my breath.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I still can't taste things too well, so I will share some tea news with you and maybe a tea review I have on file. The first piece of news is the good folks at Golden Moon Teas http://www.goldenmoontea.com/ have offered me some samples to review. I am thrilled, as I am beginning to really appreciate Oolongs, after some unpleasant experiences. Also, almost all of the reviews I have read about their teas have been positive. I think black tea will always have a special place in my heart, but the world of tea is so wide!

SerendipiTEA is re-publishing their book SerendipiTEA: the Varieties, Origins and Rituals of Tea , written by the company's co-founder Tomislav Podreka. I remember reading this when it was first published and it is a well-written, worthwhile book. It is being published by the Old English Tea House and will sell for $16. I couldn't find the company on line, but I did find the old edition at Amazon. So it is perhaps not out just yet.

If you are a big fan of teapots, you should check out the blog http://teapotsteapotsteapots.blogspot.com/ . Some of the most unusual ones I have ever seen can be found there. My two biggest questions are: Can they pour? And do they drip? I ask these from the perspective of much sad experience. I recently bought a very pretty teapot I hoped to be my new everyday large pot, but you could only fill it half-way or it would cascade all over everything! I have a number of pots that are lovely, pour well, but alas they drip all over! I do have some drip catchers, but after a while, they look rather disgusting. Why can't manufacturers make dripless pots? It is possible, I have the pots to prove it.

I am hoping for a teapot with violets on it for Christmas. I have managed to acquire 4 different violet cups and saucers and I would like a teapot to go with them. None of them match, so the pot doesn't need to either. My favorite is a handleless one, which in spite of not having a handle, doesn't seem to be that old. I was very fortunate that several years ago a friend was moving and gave me a large portion of her teacup collection. My favorites are ways the ones that feel so extra smooth. I am not sure why, but the china feels like satin against my skin. We are on a kick of “lightening our load” so some of the ones that are not particular favorites will probably go.

The case of the missing Earl

It's cooler today and I thought I'd return to my samples. I got out Upton's Earl Grey Ceylon select. When I opened the package, a very big scent of bergamot wafted out, along with a strong smell of fresh Ceylon. Brewed it up as usual, took a sniff as I was fishing out the infuser and wait a minute - what happened to his Lordship? Not a whiff! I rechecked the package - there is was, Earl Grey. But not in my cup. How peculiar. The tea itself is a very nice Ceylon - obviously of good quality, almost light, almost floral, with a pleasing slightly astringent toasty finish, but his Lordship has moved on.

The pot I used today is one of my favorites that my friend Darlene gave me for Christmas. It is about a 5"glass globe, resting in a plastic harness that includes the top and handle. It came with it's own infuser basket and a spoon that measures the corrct amount for the pot. It holds about 1 and 1/2 mugs worth - just the amount I like to drink at one time. I think she got it on QVC. Just a very handy little thing and cute, too.

Speaking of teapots, we have 3 green ones, each uglier than the last. One is huge and is an all-dayer for the two of us. The others are smallish. But really ugly greens. I don't really know why we bought them. I am on the lookout for just the right all day teapot to replace this one and I would really like it if it were pretty. Utilitarian doesn't have to be ugly.