irish tea brack

A perfect recipe for St. Patrick's Day or whenever you're in the mood for a tasty teatime treat, with a cup of hot tea used in the batter -- it's the classic Irish Tea Brack.  I like King Arthur Flour's version here because it includes chopped dates and opts for whole wheat or wholemeal flour. 

"You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your father was." -- Irish saying

sheldon's tea mandate

Truth be told, most people who think they don't want tea almost always seem better off having had a cup or two urged upon them.

teapots and beatrice

Today would have been the 120th birthday of artist, muse and otherwise fascinating persona Beatrice Wood, who died in 1998 at the age of 105 and nine days.  Throughout her long life, Beatrice was involved with acting on stage and interacting with the likes of handsome geniuses such as Marcel Duchamp, but it was her 1933 search for a certain type of teapot that led to a more defining career.  She wasn't able to find the pot she wanted, so she signed up for a ceramics class at Hollywood High School to make one herself.  It wasn't quite as simple as she thought, but through a combined approach of persistence, talent, and intuitive application, her work developed a style of its own and her ceramic pieces became highly sought after.  And some very distinctive teapots were ultimately created as well.

Beatrice once said that "chocolates and young men" were a key to her charming longevity, and while I can't speak for her preference, I wonder if she would have enjoyed Republic of Tea's Red Velvet Cuppa Chocolate. It's smoothly sweet and caffeine free with rooibos, bits of beetroot, blackberry leaves and chocolate and vanilla notes -- and for those of us still here on earth, maybe taking a page from Beatrice's book and signing up for an intro to ceramics or glassblowing class might be fun, to make a teapot then see where else it leads.

Pictured:  Gold Lustre Teapot -- Beatrice Wood, 1988 (Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center)

still life with white teapot

Pictured: Still Life with White Teapot -- Francis Campbell Bolleau Cadell, 1913 (from www.the-athenaeum.org)

café de olla

Here's a recipe for Café de Olla from Pati's Mexican Table on PBS...me gusta mucho and yes, a French Press coffeemaker works fine in place of a clay pot, though it's not quite as authentic.  A quicker or more portable version is Nescafe's instant Café de Olla sold at MexGrocer.com (or maybe at a store near you, depending on where you live).  There's just something about cinnamon -- it's not a rare or unusual spice, but it does always seem to bring a certain warm magic to anything it's added to.



[Pictured:  The Open Cupboard -- Maria Izquierdo, 1946]

steeping drama

As we come to the last days of wintry January, the official National Hot Tea Month, let us sit with Alan Rickman for a moment or two and contemplate an intensely furious tea moment.  (Perhaps somebody slipped him a bag of that crappy cheap Earl Grey that tastes like it's made with Lemon Pledge instead of bergamot.) 

staying healthy with the gypsies

Last month I saw a box of Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care Tea on sale and thought, "Looks interesting but I don't have a cold, I don't need it."  And that was probably when a gypsy curse floated out of nowhere to strike me down with a wicked cold/sinus infection soon after, because I dared to presume that I didn't need any Gypsy Cold Care in my life.  I got through the first miserable days with hot lemonade steeped with bits of fresh ginger, and I think that helped a lot.  But then there was all this remaining congestion and a weird croupy cough, and at that point I went for the Gypsy Cold Care potion.  It's great stuff, with organically magical things like elder flower, yarrow flower, peppermint, hyssop, rose hips, cinnamon bark, ginger and licorice, and it really does seem that if you drink a lot of it and let those natural elements go to work, you can get over a plague quickly but in a holistically healed way.  And anytime I can feel better without antibiotics or visits to doctors' offices but by sipping hot tea and watching Jean Reno in Les Visiteurs instead -- I am happy.

Pictured:  The Sleeping Gypsy -- Henri Rousseau, 1897

lampedusa and some blood oranges

I had a cup of Rare Tea Cellar's Sicilian Blood Orange Green over the holidays and really loved it, and this is something because I'm not a big fan of green tea.  When I think of Sicily in literature I think of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's classic The Leopard, a complex and fascinating novel about that Italian region circa 1860, as the old ways of aristocratic life give way to the upheavals of the Risorgimiento.  The Leopard seems like a fine match for Rare Tea Cellar's Sicilian Blood Orange Green, pairing a book you can lose yourself in with a tea you'll want to sip slowly and surely enjoy more than one refill of. 

another christmas wrapped up

I think once you're over age 12 it truly is more fun to give than receive at holiday time, but every now and then you get some presents that surprise you.  One of my best gifts this year was from a handsome fellow with a Vandyke beard who gave me Dreamfarm's Teafu tea ball strainer, something I didn't know I needed but am enjoying very much.  I have an off and on relationship with loose tea, and it's currently on again because I made my own holiday blend this Christmas, but I was fine with using metal or mesh strainers until I got this curious Teafu gadget.  The handle is ergonomic, the strainer itself stands upright, plus it's designed to let you squeeze the silicone tea ball and really drain the leaves and essence out.  And it comes in various colors, which is always exciting (mine is an electric spring green).  My old metal strainer has become an ornament for the tree, and it actually looks kind of cute in its second life.  Another highlight from the holidays was a recipe for Masala Chai Sugar Cookies tweeted by Argo Tea and originally from this tasty website -- Chai cookies and Chai icing -- that's well worth getting out the parchment paper and rolling pin for.

(Pictured:  A Young Girl Dressed Up for Christmas -- Kate Greenaway, Wikimedia Commons)

hot chocolate

Pictured:  Hot Chocolate -- Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, 1841-1920 (Wikimedia Commons)

that must have been some party

Back in 1933 on this day, Prohibition ended and over a decade of supposed temperance came to a close.  Which essentially meant that bootleggers and speakeasies were out of business and drinking became just something to do again as opposed to something fun and illegal.  Whenever I think of 1920s cocktails, the Bronx and the Clover Club come to mind.  The frothy-topped Clover Club originated before Prohibition at the all male Philadelphia Clover Club; it involves gin, grenadine, lemon juice and egg white and seems a little girly for early 20th century gentlemen to have been drinking with pride, plus the foam probably got all over their bristly mustaches.  The Bronx was first mixed in either Philly again or at the Waldorf in Manhattan (sources claim both sites), and involves gin, sweet red vermouth, dry vermouth and orange juice.  Both the Clover Club and the Bronx are poured into your classic long-stemmed cocktail glass and surely best enjoyed while debating as to who's the better writer -- F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway.

(Pictured:  Scott Fitzgerald in 1921, quite possibly getting ready to take a Bronx break)    

somewhat wildly sweet orangey cranberry sauce

Tis the season to enjoy a lot of cranberry sauce, if you do enjoy such, and over Thanksgiving I was able to use Tazo's Wild Sweet Orange Tea in this homemade cranberry concoction:

1 12 ounce package fresh whole cranberries
8 ounce cup strongly steeped Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Tea
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
pinch of powdered ginger
1 teaspoon Sure-Jell fruit pectin (optional)

Rinse cranberries and place in a medium saucepan.  Add tea and let cranberries simmer at a low boil until they begin to pop open, then stir in sugar.  Continue to stir and simmer for a few more minutes then add marmalade, ginger and Sure-Jell powdered pectin.  The fruit pectin isn't necessary but will give the cranberry sauce a bit more firmness; allow to cool and set before serving.

Pictured:  The Cranberry Pickers -- Eastman Johnson, 1879

anna, karenin and vronsky on a russian caravan

This featured tea and a book selection has been made super-simple by the fact that The Republic of Tea has a special Anna Karenina Russian Rose Caravan coming out along with the latest film version of the famed Tolstoy novel.  The movie stars Keira Knightly, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the main leads, and the screenplay adaptation is by Tom Stoppard, which should be quite interesting.  But beyond the movie is the very long book known as Anna Karenina, which probably should be read at least once in a lifetime, perhaps even during the upcoming holidays when contemplating one's own family gathering and taking in that classic first line:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

For more info on The Republic of Tea's Anna Karenina blend and to see a clip from the movie, click here.

mumbai mocha

Check out this short write-up from Vogue India about the first Starbucks in India now open in Mumbai.  Featuring American waiters and American "super-size" portions along with the usual Starbucks offerings -- and just like the American Starbucks phenomenon, more of the Seattle-based coffee (and tea and so on) spots are scheduled to open in Mumbai within the week.  They do tend to multiply like caffeinated rabbits!  

the (be)witching hour

I really love epicurious.com and Douglas Little's suggestions for a more sophisticated (sorry, kids) Halloween party, featuring an upscale Witches' Sabbath theme for the evening.  Click here for details, and while the theme is indeed witchery, perhaps a bottle or two of Vampire Wine can be served?  And if you're at such a party drinking coffee in the wee hours to sober up before heading home and cream curdles in your cup, there may be a real warlock among the guests.  Or the cream just might be past its prime but it seems much more interesting to have a Halloween warlock around.

(Pictured:  The Black Cat -- Gino Severini, 1911, Wikimedia Commons)

cake and tea and withnail

This is one of my favorite movies ever but I'm not sure that the joy of tea was fully appreciated by Mr. Withnail and Mr. I in this scene at the Penrith.  Yet everyone else stayed unflappably British and not a tea cup was broken nor any jars of lemon curd disturbed.  But, according to this great website detailing the major filming locations of Withnail & I, this quaintest of tearooms doesn't even exist and is instead a chemist's shop.    

the power of tea

Steam rises from a cup of tea and we are wrapped in history, inhaling ancient times and lands, comfort of ages in our hands.

Faith Greenbowl

Pictured:  The Samovar -- William McGregor Paxton, 1926 (Wikimedia Commons)

maybe at a walgreens near you?

I noticed last week that one of the downtown Chicago Walgreens had a variety of de LISH brand teas for sale, including English Breakfast, Roobois Chai Spice, Acai Pomegranate Blueberry Green and Peppermint.  All at $2.99 for a box of 20 bags.  Nice price and variety, but I haven't been able to find anything beyond the English Breakfast on-line or at other Walgreen's stores.  So I'm not sure if we're a test market or these other kinds of tea are being discontinued.  Nonetheless, the de LISH Peppermint has a pleasant zing and scent, and it's always a good idea to have herbal peppermint tea in the house for upset stomachs or stuffy noses or just a calmly uplifting way to start or end the day.  Also a great tea to pair up with any form of dark chocolate.

tea cuisine

I'm really enjoying Tonia George's Tea Cookbook:  Sweet and Savory Recipes for Tea Lovers (Ryland Peters & Small, 2008).  Beyond tea-time treats of Earl Grey Biscotti and Chocolate Oolong Tea Loaf, there are main course recipes like Green Tea, Tofu, Noodle and Cress Soup, Mint Tea Couscous, and a Tea-Smoked Sea Trout that uses the rich flavor of Lapsang Souchong, which is indeed a smoky leaf.  There are quite a few other innovative recipe ideas as well, though it is a slim volume of just about 65 pages.  But surely well worth the current price of $5.18 on Amazon, especially because it has what so many of us who love cookbooks crave, i.e., beautifully-styled photos, these in particular by Martin Brigdale.  Another great thing about the book (besides the Chamomile Hot Toddy and Blackberry Tea Vodka) is that it puts you in the mindset of cooking with tea and using it in unique culinary ways, which truly does open up a whole new tea-flavored world.  There are lengthier tea cookbooks to aspire to, like Cynthia Gold and Lise Stern's Culinary Tea: More Than 150 Recipes Steeped in Tradition from Around the World, or Robert Wemischner's Cooking with Tea, but as just a simple intro this is a good bet -- and my copy is already being coveted by friends and family, tea-drinking or not.

tea with gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a classic of course, and soon to be a movie again, but it's also a wonderful summertime read.  It takes place in the summer; it has gorgeous summer imagery along with irony and occasional humor; and it has a tea scene that's pivotal to the plot.  When Daisy and Gatsby reunite after so many years, it's at Nick's not so lavish little rented house in the shadow of Gatsby's mansion.  And it's for the pretense of tea, and since the tea is at Nick's it probably wasn't much more than orange pekoe with lemon slices and sugar cubes.  Not champagne, not bootleg gin, just tea.  Then "[a]mid the welcome confusion of cups and cakes a certain physical decency established itself", and fates really start to intertwine.  You might want to try the iced version of the classic pekoe tea and lemon while reading or rereading The Great Gatsby, like maybe the old standards of Lipton or Red Rose, brands that had and have been around since the late 19th century.  But just remember, you can drink the old school brew but you can't repeat the past, old sport, no matter how you try.

Pictured:  Deco Tea by Michael L Kungl -- click here to buy a copy of your own at art.com!