stir stir stir

The first time I saw this scene from Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, I kept waiting for the dramatic reason why Robert De Niro was taking forever to stir his coffee.  (No, it's not a Guinness Book record like the YouTube spoof claims or even 8 hours long, but it was certainly long enough.)  The spoon circled round and round and the suspense built and the questions formed -- did he think it was poisoned?  Was he going to fling it in someone's face?  Was he stalling for time or was it just really hot coffee?

It turned out that De Niro a/k/a Noodles' stirring was a bit of a control thing and not overly integral to the plot, but as an hours-long epic film, the movie had room for expansive coffee and character moments.  Lately my own favorite espresso blend to stir and stir is Ferrara's Café Espresso, originating from NYC's century-old Ferrara Café, a can of which somehow ended up in Chicago for me to buy on sale for $4.99.  I haven't even been using an espresso machine but instead am making big 10 ounce cups with a Melitta drip cone and filter -- it's smooth enough for that method, yet also a nice morning or late afternoon eye-opener.

marching into fall

Halloween pumpkins are for sale at the Farmers' Market, leaves are turning, days are shorter and for the most part cooler -- unless you're experiencing a spell of Indian summer.  But it's definitely fall and that always makes me think of the chapter in Little Women where Jo sneaks up to the attic to enjoy some russet apples and a good read:

...wrapped up in a comforter on an old three-legged sofa by the sunny window. This was Jo's favorite refuge, and here she loved to retire with half a dozen russets and a nice book, to enjoy the quiet and the society of a pet rat who lived near by and didn't mind her a particle.

I think finding some kind of refuge, attic or otherwise, to read or reread Little Women with a cup of hot cider might be equally nice, or even boosting the taste of the cider by dropping in a bag of Bigelow Apple Cider tea.  I don't totally care for this flavor of Bigelow just brewed on its own, but when added to real hot apple cider or even the powdered mix form it takes on a whole other citrusy-spicy dimension.  Not interested in the March sisters or maybe that's a bit too girly a tale?  Perhaps a better choice would be Geraldine Brooks' wonderful Pulitzer Prize winning novel March, which follows Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy's beloved yet absent father through his Civil War odyssey while serving as a chaplain for the Union side.  Not an apple fan?  Try Harney & Sons Cranberry Autumn Black Tea instead, a strong cranberry-orange blend that conjures up thoughts of New England and Mr. March drinking tea and discussing the universe -- or coffee vs. tea -- with his good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson.

curious cucumber

Well, it's been a stretch between posts and how did it become mid-September -- but before summer ends I wanted to take note of a tea that tastes somewhat summery whether hot or cold.  It's Tazo Cucumber White and though it's not new, it's new to me; it's a blend of white tea, lime peel, dandelion leaves, Black Darjeeling, cucumber, peppermint, lemon myrtle, natural flavors and lime essence oil.  I really like its almost herbal, mellow limey taste (and I'm not a white tea fan at all so perhaps the touch of Darjeeling is a boost), but I have noticed that other internet reviews vary from dislike to love to vague confusion.  I think it's good served iced with a wedge of cucumber and honey or a few leaves of fresh basil; also good brewed hot and sipped straight or with honey; and I'd imagine that it's a natural for the teatime favorite of little cucumber sandwiches.  Or this Kraft Tazo Cucumber White Golden Shortbread Recipe sounds rather interesting too....

(Cucumber Image from Wikimedia Commons) 

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee. -- Abraham Lincoln

mango delight

The Indian beverage known as the mango lassi has gotten quite popular in recent years, and there are lots of variations on the theme recipe-wise.  Some involve milk, some include sugar, honey or agave, others add rosewater or lime juice or ginger -- but they all have the basic ingredients of mango pulp and yogurt.  As a cardamom person, I put that spice in my version, but I've also seen the cardamom skipped and ground pistachios used instead.  It's up to the individual, and it's a worthwhile and luscious experiment that tastes especially nice after enjoying some fiery Indian food.

1 large or 2 small to medium mangoes

1 cup Greek-style honey or vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup almond milk or vanilla soy milk

1/2 teaspoon powdered cardamom

ice

Cut off all mango flesh and pulp.  Add to yogurt and almond or soy milk in blender; sprinkle in cardamom and puree until smooth.  Pour over ice; makes two servings.

We live in the world when we love it.  -- Rabindranath Tagore

Pictured:  Still Life with Mangoes -- Paul Gauguin

vintage philosophy

A bottle of wine contains more philosophy 
than all the books in the world. -- Louis Pasteur 

Pictured:  Man with a Glass of Wine -- Amedeo Modigliani (ca. 1918)

portrait of a lady grey

The latest tea and a book choice is Henry James' classic Portrait of a Lady and Twinings' classic Lady Grey.  The 1881 novel is full of quirky Jamesian characters and the unusual romantic suitors of Miss Isabel Archer, and the citrusy tea is delicious hot or iced.  And what tea lover could resist this opening paragraph?

Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not--some people of course never do--the situation is in itself delightful. Those that I have in mind in beginning to unfold this simple history offered an admirable setting to an innocent pastime. The implements of the little feast had been disposed upon the lawn of an old English country-house, in what I should call the perfect middle of a splendid summer afternoon. Part of the afternoon had waned, but much of it was left, and what was left was of the finest and rarest quality. Real dusk would not arrive for many hours; but the flood of summer light had begun to ebb, the air had grown mellow, the shadows were long upon the smooth, dense turf. They lengthened slowly, however, and the scene expressed that sense of leisure still to come which is perhaps the chief source of one's enjoyment of such a scene at such an hour...

(Pictured:  The Hour of Tea, Frederick Carl Frieseke, 1914)