Tag: tea

A Bount-tea-ful Trip
Life Posts

A Bount-tea-ful Trip

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Thank you to the Husband for coming up with that pun. My grandpa Ollie would be so proud. 🙂

I bought an Alice in Wonderland themed tea at the Food and Wine Fest. It’s an “Indian black tea with hints of ginger, peach, and apricot.” I haven’t tried it yet, but it smells nice.

It says that it works for real birthdays too. 🙂

My father in law took us to Vital Tea Leaf in Chinatown while we were taking a rainy tour of San Francisco and it was so cool. https://vitaltealeaf.net/index.php/

I wish I hadn’t been shy and had asked to take pictures. There were so many different kinds of tea! I’m still new to this blogging thing and feel weird sometimes about asking to do that.

The tea was in big glass and metal containers along the back wall. They had black/red, green, white, and oolong teas. They had plain ones and mixes. The front of the store had a long counter with tea stations where you could pour out your sample if you didn’t like it disguised with pretty screens. One of the staff people was giving out tea samples and providing all sorts of information about the teas.

One thing that I learned is that you are supposed to rinse the cup, teapot, and the tea leaves themselves with hot water before drinking. Chinese tea isn’t supposed to be served with boiling water either as it takes away the healthy properties. I tried that tonight while making my tea. Yes, that is a flamingo tea infuser. 🙂

You are also only supposed to brew the tea for 30 seconds and reuse the tea leaves 3-4 times for most of the teas. One of the green tea blends we sampled could be reused up to 8 times! You were supposed to drink at least 5-6 cups per day to get the full benefits. I believe it was the Blue People tea.

Black tea is referred to as “red” tea in China because it brews up with a red tinge. Here’s the water from rinsing the leaves, which you then throw away. It does have a little red in it and this was just the rinse water!

Green tea is more bitter and the white tea has the least amount of caffeine. I had wanted to try the green ginger tea, but the tea lady suggested I try the red ginger instead. The red ginger has a smoother taste and more ginger flavor and the green is more bitter.

More about this tea from the website- Ginger Red:

“Yingde “Hong Cha” is a black tea from the area Yingde in Guangdong province. These tea leaves have natural cocoa like aromas. Blended with ginger flavoring, resulting in a smooth spicy beverage. Reputed to alleviate migraine, motion sickness, reduce heartburn and inflammation.”

I like it and have a huge bag, as my father in law convinced me to get a whole 1/4 pound. I need to drink more tea!

My father in law knew what he wanted and I tried a couple of his choices too. I normally don’t like jasmine tea, but this Jasmine Silver Needle was much less perfumy than regular jasmine tea. It’s the tea on the left. The right is regular Earl Grey.

The silver needle is the “most highly prized” of China’s white teas, as they only use the tops of the buds. This version has jasmine petals with it. It has a low caffeine content and is high in antioxidants. It can be drunk all day for a refreshing drink.

I liked the name of this one and I think it’s this one on the website, but am not completely sure. I have no idea if it is actually picked by monkeys. 🙂

https://vitaltealeaf.net/index.php/monkey-pick-4-oz.html

Also, purchased were a cake of 10 year pu-erh tea, jasmine pearls, and a mystery set of tea balls. I’ll have to find out what they are from my father in law.

Pu-erh has been aged and has undergone a micro-fermentation process after the leaves were dried. It is good for heart problems, digestion, acid reflux, and constipation. Some of this type of tea is actually aged underground. It is a very dark, smooth, earthy tea, with no bitter taste.

Jasmine pearls are made from white tea leaves from the Fujian province blended with sweet jasmine petals from the Guangxi province. Each pearl is hand rolled. Can you imagine your job being to roll these tiny pearls? I might go crazy!

It was neat to learn about all the different types of tea and the many uses. I had no idea there were so many! I definitely need to drink more of it.

The Vital Tea website is a wealth of information and is where I got all the info for this post. I’d encourage you go poke around on it, if you are at all interested in teas.

Now, I need to go finish my second cup of ginger tea and put the sleepy puppers to bed. She won’t go to sleep in the bedroom unless one of us is already there and is currently snoring on my foot.

Have a good night!

Wordless Wednesdays

Yearly Review- Wordless Wednesday style

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For this part of the review, here is my favorite picture from each month of this year. I started this in February last year. Do you see your favorites? 🙂

February 2017

March 2017

April 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

December 2017

Christmas Sewing, Flamingos, And Tea
Crafty · Life Posts

Christmas Sewing, Flamingos, And Tea

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It’s time, it’s time! I can show off my Christmas sewing! 

My parents and my aunt each got a table runner made from the same fabrics, with different buttons. The buttons are from my Grandma Shirley’s button stash. I shamelessly absconded with them when I moved out. 🙂

Grandma would have approved. She liked things being used. Here are the buttons up close.

The top button was for my parents, and the second one is for my aunt. I accidentally bought a ridiculous amount of fabric by forgetting how much I actually needed at the cutting area. Table runners for everyone!

We’ll have one too for next year. I have some gold buttons set aside.

I also tried to make a skirt for Christmas Eve, but discovered I had a non-separating zipper right after I had attached it.

I cut the zippers, but I need to file down the edges and line it. It was ridiculously staticky when I put it on and stuck to my leggings. I’ve had the fabric for two years at least, all the while intended to be a zippered skirt. I used a self-drafted skirt as a pattern and changed the waistband. It has a wide purple lace on the bottom. I’ll get better pictures when it’s completely done.

To switch gears, my family knows me very well. I received 5 flamingo items and several kitchen gadgets!

Here are the flamingos! Fancy is trying to steal the blanket already, but I’m keeping it!

She has her own flamingos, from my sister-in-law. 🙂

The Husband got me a coffee and spice grinder, a kitchen torch, and 5 fun tea infusers! The book is from my parents for both of us and it looks like a lot of fun to read. It includes recipes based on books that were meaningful for the author.

Here’s more pictures:

The mittens have already been used. I’m going to have a cup of tea before bed tonight and use another one! I’m going  to have lots of tea in my future. The Nessie one is part of the set of Nessie utensils that the Husband also bought. I’d given up hope of getting it because it was always sold out. He remembered though and now I have it.

The green spoon is a colander, the blue is the original ladle, and the baby one is the tea infuser. I’m excited to use them. They’ll certainly make me smile.

Fancy was so excited for her ginormous tennis ball, but ended up mostly just ripping the fuzz off. It looked like the Grinch was murdered in the living room after she was done. She was extremely suspicious that we were going to take it. She could also barely fit it in her mouth, so it was funny to watch her try to carry it.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I have to go extricate my snuggly blanket from the dog. She keeps creeping closer and closer on my lap, which happens to be covered with said blanket. 🙂

Stay warm!

“What about Second Breakfast?!”- Elevensies Party Post
Party Posts

“What about Second Breakfast?!”- Elevensies Party Post

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Whew! I need a nap. We had our Elevensies party yesterday and it went well. We need a few more comfy chairs though when we do movie parties.

I used a bunch of new recipes and had almost everything made by Saturday. We started at 11 AM and the last movie finished at around 9:30 or so. By that time, it was just the Husband and I, which was fine. Fancy was absolutely exhausted and kept whining at me until I let her have her round chair again. It was in front of the fireplace, which is very hobbit looking. Here is her at the end of the night.

Yes, that is her foot in her mouth. What a doll! She did pretty well, although we still had to leash her to keep her off the table.

I made sure to take a picture of all the different meals. The only one I don’t have a picture of is Supper at 8. No one was hungry! I can’t imagine why! 🙂

Here is Elenvensies.

We had brunch type foods. The chocolate banana muffins were a hit. We also had the Quiche Lorraine again, nissu, jams, and berries with cream.

Luncheon was at 1 pm.

We had sandwiches, salad, pickles, and chocolate chip cookies, and lemonade. Kayla brought the salad and fixings and a peanut butter cheesecake, which I have no pictures of. It was all delicious.

Afternoon tea was at 3:30.

We had tea sandwiches, which Kayla helped me make, cream and berries, cinnamon sugar scones, lemon bread, madeleines, Lembas shortbread, and jams. Tea, of course, was served as well.

This meal was where I used the most new recipes. I would eat afternoon tea all the time, if I could.

I used two of my tea cookbooks and a Pioneer Woman recipe for the scones. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/sweet-cinnamon-scones/

I didn’t add cinnamon chips because I don’t like them, or have them on hand. I also just sprinkled the top with cinnamon and sugar, not the called for topping. They were so yummy!

We had no lemon curd for the tea. I had a momentary panic on Saturday night, but decided it would be okay and it was. 🙂

I used a cookbook called The Charms of Tea by Hearst Books, for the tea sandwiches, madeleines, and lemon bread. The lemon bread is on the left, nissu on the right.

We had ham and watercress and cucumber sandwiches.

Taking Tea by Andrea Israel with recipes by Pamela Mitchell provided the recipes for the shortbread and seed cake.

These two cookbooks are cool because they have information on all sorts of teas and tea ceremonies around the world.  It’s really fun just to read all the information.

Dinner (6 pm) was not a large affair. We had potato chowder with bacon and cheese for toppings. I served from the kitchen, so no elaborate table. This recipe was from Taste of Home: The New Slow Cooker. 

Supper (8 pm) was going to be leftovers and seed cake, but no one was hungry. I have a whole seed cake for craft night tomorrow. 🙂 I have it wrapped up, so no pictures.

We all decided that we couldn’t eat like hobbits all the time! We were all stuffed. It was a ton of fun.

Next year we might have a Harry Potter marathon. There’s a lot of food in those movies too.

Now though, I have to go back to reality and head out to work. Have a wonderfully cozy day!

A Ladies’ Tea
Party Posts

A Ladies’ Tea

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The Husband doesn’t go on trips by himself often, so when he does, I try to do something fun and girly. This weekend, I had a few friends over to make our own tea blends.

We had green and black teas as a base and I went crazy on the mix ins, so we had a ton of things to try. I have a lot left over, so I think my tea drinker friends will be getting some homemade tea blends in Christmas boxes.

Oddly, I found a lot of the fancy mixers at Marshalls. I had gone in on a whim and came out with dried hibiscus flowers, dried apricots, cacao nibs, and organic unsweetened shredded coconut.

I also found more dog treats than Fancy could ever eat, but was restrained and only came out with two bags. I have a problem wanting to spoil her to make her forget about her life as a rescue dog. I tend to open all of her treats at once. Drives the Husband nuts, but I just can’t resist her little face. Can you really blame me?

Anyway, back to tea… I had the privilege to use a teapot and tea cups that were from my Grandma Shirley, my Dad’s mom. The teapot plays music when you lift it up to pour and it charmed my friends. I have fantastic memories of having tea parties with my Grandma and feeling so grown up.

My lovely friend, Kim sent me the cute tea mat, it has a pink teapot on it as well and matches perfectly with my teapot and my tablecloth.

It looks quite intimidating to piece, but we may have to try to figure it out. I also used adorable napkins that I got from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. They have tea mugs and cups on them. I have been saving them for just the right occasion!

I have never made my own teas before. I intended on drying some herbs from my containers, but they weren’t quite what I needed them to be yet, so I think the Christmas blends will have them instead.

I used a few different recipes for the basis for the blends, but really, we just picked our own things to try and then put them in an infuser. I have quite a collection of silly tea infusers and had to narrow it down to the ones that would fit in the tea cups. I also had bag filters, as one of the black tea blends was a little small.

This is the “deep T diver” infuser. He is one of my favorites.

Not pictured are the “T-tanic” ship, the T-rex, the Tardis from Dr. Who, and the rubber ducky.

Here are two of the sites I used for tea blend ideas. I looked at a bunch more, which are saved to the blog’s Pinterest page under Not So 50’s Housewife.

Make Your Own Looseleaf Tea – all natural!

http://snip.ly/uq4tr?utm_content=buffer8de02&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#http://adelightfulhome.com/diy-tea-recipes/

I tried some new food recipes too.

We had cucumber sandwiches, deviled eggs- made by Crystal, lemon bars, strawberries and cream, baba gannouj with carrots, and rosemary shortbread cookies. We also had an orange and fennel salad.

The full mix in list was dried strawberries, apricots, and apples, cacao nibs, coconut, and hibiscus flowers. Spices/herbs were lavender, cloves, allspice, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and star anise. My house smelled amazing!

Here are the recipes I used.

1- Sunshine Bars from Retro Beach Bash by Linda Everett. 

These were very good. Perfectly gooey and delicious. I will keep these in mind when I want something lemony.

2- Rosemary Shortbread Cookies from Celtic Teas With Friends by Elizabeth Knight. Section: November/Housewarming Tea

Although delicate in terms of handling, these were in no way delicate in flavor. The rosemary is a surprising touch, but one that worked out very well. I want to try them with a little bit of lemon too. My rosemary is growing really well, so it’s fun to go out and snip a few sprigs of it when I need it.

3- Orange and Fennel Picnic Jars from The Vintage Tea Party Year by Angel Adoree. Section: Picnic Tea Party

I liked it. I don’t know if the Husband would, so I may not make it again. It’s nice and refreshing though.

I am trying to make myself realize that smaller parties are fun too and that I don’t have to go crazy with the food. It may take a while, but I think I’ll get there eventually. This party was lovely and I’m glad I was able to have it.

Now, sadly, it’s off to the real world for me, but I am going to try to have a cup of tea at the office and remember to relax. I hope your week goes smoothly!

Garden Start and Canning list
Gardening

Garden Start and Canning list

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Fancy has been doing a lot of napping to recover from the weekend. She got to go up to the cabin on the lake, had her first boat ride, and discovered the joys of digging in the sand. She was a very good dog and has even been invited back. I took a bunch of pictures of her and have a special lake dog Wordless Wednesday planned.

Today though, I thought I would share our garden progress. We did end up going with containers and there’s a chance I lost all self-control while picking things out.

It was originally just about 10 pots, but that wasn’t enough. Now I have strawberries, ancho/poblano  peppers, red bell peppers, cucumber, zucchini, romaine lettuce, and a “Mammoth Jalapeño.” That last one I got by accident. I thought it was a dragon cayenne pepper, but didn’t read the tag. I will be very disappointed if the peppers aren’t huge!

The tomatoes have to be listed separately, as I got seduced by all the tomatoey goodness and couldn’t stop myself. I have a cherry tomato plant , a Roma plant, a “Cherokee” heirloom, a “Golden Jubilee” heirloom, and a “Brandywine” heirloom.  I planted them sideways in the containers, as it was my Grandpa Ed’s secret for excellent tomatoes and added plant food as well. I hadn’t known that trick, but had trouble with spindly tomato plants last year and thought I would try it. My Dad reminded me if it when I was telling him about the garden.

The blueberry bushes both look like dry sticks, but I watered them and put them in the sun, as one of them had some new leaves. Hopefully they will come back.

I also have a ton of herbs: Sage, rosemary, parsley, German thyme, Italian oregano, and basil.

I decided to grow my own tea herbs this year, since I know a lot of tea drinkers. (They should probably forget about this post, if they read it, or at least act surprised when I give them tea for Christmas.) For that project, I purchased peppermint, chocolate mint, Lime basil, and pineapple sage. I’m planning a tea making party in either July or August, depending on when people can come. I thought about getting some edible flower plants too, but was in a rush. I may get some of those later.

Yes, those are the cinder blocks for the raised bed. I figured while they were not being used, I would use them to keep the smaller pots out of the shadows.

I also started planning my canning list last night when we got back. It’s very long, so it will be fun to pick the things I am actually going to do. I’m through two of the books and have 2 1/2 pages of things to make already. The Husband will be glad the canning jars are finally leaving the kitchen shelf. He’s been telling me to can “all the things!” for a few months now. In my defense, there just wasn’t time last summer and they make great storage containers.

I have four canning books and magazines, two Ball books, one called “The Art of Preserving,” and a Taste of Home Canning magazine. I had to resist the urge to get a new Ball magazine at the store today, reminding myself that I had four already. Plus, there is my Pinterest list as well. I want to try to do other types of preserving this year, including some different pickles (yes, Mom, for my pickle tray) and some fruit lemonade concentrates. We’re always buying the fancy lemonades and it would be handy to make our own.

Right now I have definite plans for Roasted Tomatillo- Chipotle Salsa, mango raspberry jam, Thai Sweet Hot Garlic Dipping Sauce, homemade Rotel, cardamom fig jam, and a Spicy Wine Honey Jelly. Tomato products of all shapes and sizes will be canned as well; diced, crushed, sauce, and paste.

Hopefully, if my canning plans work out, I can have lots of homemade Christmas presents. I always get silly and nervous about giving people homemade presents. Perhaps this year will be the year I can squash that and make a new tradition.

Right now though, I’m off to work and to dream up new canning plans. Wish me luck with everything in the garden. I think it’s the biggest I have made on my own before!

Recipe Roundup Birthday Party Edition
Party Posts · Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup Birthday Party Edition

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I thought the party post might get long, since I am my mother’s daughter and constantly worry I might run out of food, so I made it its own post. I made too much food, but it worked out well for everyone, I guess. I didn’t get a picture of the table, but several people walked in and said “whoa!” 🙂

Having a dessert party was the perfect excuse to try out some baking recipes. I did have a few savory options as well, homemade pico de gallo, some lentil bean chips, and a small cheese tray. I didn’t have a pickle tray because it was a dessert party, but my Dd got my Mom to call and offer pickle recipes, just in case I needed one. The pickle tray has become a running family joke and comes up for every party, so I’ll give you the back story for when it comes up again.

A year or two ago, I was preparing for our annual Epiphany party and was struck by the sudden, uncontrollable feeling that I needed a pickle tray, despite never having wanted one before. My Mom always made sure to have one on the table at parties and it must be a Midwest thing, because I don’t know that it’s a thing elsewhere.

So, I posted about it on Facebook and tagged my Mom, blaming her for my late night pickle run. All sorts of people chimed in, including my cousin reminiscing about the pickle trays at family parties. My Mom jumped in, shocked that I was not holding up the family tradition of a lovely pickle tray. A lovely family friend, Pauline, tried to reassure me that it would be fine and that the family parties were always so nice, and suggested I take a rest. My loving, though sometimes sarcastic, Mother then commented “She can rest when she has a pickle tray.” Of course, I laughed hysterically and made the darn pickle tray.

Have I mentioned that I love my family? Truly, I do. (The way you know they like you is if you get teased.) So now, whenever we have parties, one of my parents will call to find out if I have the pickle tray ready. Last year, I bought my Mom a couple of different kinds of pickles just so she would have to serve them.

Anyway, random family history aside, I did use six new recipes and I made pico de gallo, which is one of the only ways the Husband will eat tomatoes. I think at some point I had a recipe for the pico, but I have no idea where I got it from, so now it’s something I just make. I’ll try to get approximate measurements the next time I make it.

1- Giant Easter Egg Cookies from M&M’s Fun Stuff Cookbook. Section: Party Time

Modifications: I didn’t decorate them and I made them a bit smaller. They were a sugar cookie dough and were pretty good. The Husband liked the second recipe better. I would make these again. The Husband got me this cookbook for our first anniversary for a paper present. No pictures, they went to work too fast.

2- Kid’s Favorite Chocolate Chippers from the above cookbook.

Modifications: None! I actually made these for the Husband to take to work, as his coworkers had been requesting treats. They were well liked, the tin came back empty. I’m not a fan of plain chocolate chip cookies, but these were pretty good. They are the Husband’s favorite kind of cookies though and I sometimes make someone else make them for him. No pics of these either.

3- Tempting Truffles from The Lady Had Seconds. This cookbook doesn’t have sections. There are about five more recipes at least that I want to make.

Modifications: No mods, but I accidentally made toffee bits with the caramel. It has you melt down the sugar until golden and then add the cream and butter. The sugar seized up and made hard caramel when I added the cream and butter. I managed to melt most of it down though, so they just had crunchy bits in some of them. I rolled them in blue sanding sugar, gold and silver sugar, and gold edible glitter. They were so pretty!  And they tasted good too.

4- Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes from Food Network Magazine. Jan/Feb 2017, v. 10, n. 1

Modifications: My strawberries went bad, so these didn’t have the chocolate dipped strawberries on the top. Also, I’m not a fan of white chocolate, couldn’t find my piping bag nozzle, and was running out of time, so only made dark chocolate frosting. I also used homemade chocolate strawberry jam for the regular preserves. They were divine! The frosting had melted chocolate and was a buttercream. It is so smooth and delicious. The cupcake also turned out very fluffy and light. I would make these again in a heartbeat.

5- Carrot-Walnut Cupcakes from the same Food Network. This issue has a year of cupcakes, one for each month and I want to try them all.

Modifications: I used pecans instead of walnuts. These were also delicious. Fancy was extremely excited that I was working with carrots. She kept inching closer and closer to me. I finally peeled a carrot so the peels fell directly on her head and she thought it was the best game ever! It was pretty cute.

These had a cream cheese frosting and really, I think they may qualify as breakfast food… I read somewhere that cupcakes are just “muffins with hats” and I’m pretty sure this means I can eat them for breakfast. 🙂

6- Blood Orange Bars off of a Pinterest find. https://www.bakedbyanintrovert.com/blood-orange-bars-recipe/

Modifications: I omitted the food coloring, so they aren’t as vibrant as the picture. They have been on my list since last winter, but I keep missing the blood oranges. These were good. Just like lemon bars except a little more pudding like, I would say. Lighter flavor than I was expecting too, but my oranges were maybe not all as juicy as they could have been.

My friend Kayla brought a delicious chocolate cheesecake and if we are very lucky, maybe she’ll share the recipe. I just had a piece for dessert tonight and it made me very happy.

The tablecloth under everything is one my Grandma Shirley made for me for my 16th birthday, I believe. I had a tea party that year, so it is all tea party foods and menus. I was excited to use it again. It’s so pretty and springy that it seemed to be the perfect fit.

My serving dishes are a mix of old fancy serving plates and new ones. We use Fiesta-ware every day, so the party table should be colorful and fun as well. Mom gave me the flamingo tray for Christmas and the Rose plate is from my Grandma Shirley. It’s fun to be in a place in my life where we need fancy serving plates.

So those were my party recipes. Some people were surprised that I chose to bake my own birthday treats, but for me baking is stress relief and a way to connect with people. It brings me great joy, so why wouldn’t I share it?