Celebrating Dirt

Happy Earth Day!  Today I'm celebrating dirt, the source of so much beauty.  As my DH, a fabulous gardener, likes to say, "It's all about making dirt." 

Here are a few other nice sayings I found as I was perusing a copy of Mary Jane's Farm magazine at a bookstore.

"A garden is a grand teacher.  It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust."  Gertrude Jekyll

This saying reminds me so much of my grandmother!

"If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom."  Audra Foveo

"I saw an act of faith today.  A man was on his knees, not in a pew in a church, but in a garden planting seeds."  Unknown author

The purple lilac photo is for Esme. Happy birthday!

*Photo from this website http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/New_York/purple-lilac-flowers.jpg

Taken from http://stephcupoftea.blogspot.com/

Petite annonce: Tetsubin vendue

- cette tetsubin traditionnelle a la particularité d'être sans émaille,
- cela signifie que l'eau y respire et reste vive plus longtemps car la fonte a une certaine porosité,
- l'eau va donc s'imprégner un peu de fer au contact de la fonte. L'eau devient plus douce et le thé s'en trouve meilleur,
- mais cela signifie aussi qu'il ne faut pas laisser l'eau trop longtemps stagner dans cette bouilloire, sinon elle rouille. (Le truc est de la chauffer chaque fois qu'on a fini de s'en servir afin de la sécher complètement).
- comme la tetsubin est lourde (2,55 kg en tout) et que la fonte conduit bien la chaleur, l'eau reste très chaude assez longtemps pour faire plusieurs infusions sans réchauffer l'eau

Vous pouvez voir que l'extérieur est impeccable. Il n'y a que l'intérieur et le dessous qui montrent des signes normaux d'utilisation. Si j'ai décidé de la vendre, c'est parce que j'ai craqué pour une autre tetsubin bien plus chère que je vous montrerai bientôt.

Cette tetsubin contient 1,6 litres, elle pèse 2,95 kg avec son emballage et mesure 19,5 cm de long x 19,2 cm de haut. Elle a 2 ans et s'utilisera bien pendant encore 98 ans!

Remarque: vu son poids, elle convient mieux à une personne musclée. Elle ne convient pas aux lampes à alcool.

Update: La tetsubin est vendue. Bravo à Jérôme pour ton acquisition. Je suis certain que tu en prendras bien soin.

Taken from http://teamasters.blogspot.com/

Photo du Jour

Waiting for the fish to bite on the Canal du Midi.

LibreTea Mug Test 3 — Blooming Tea

Time for round 3 of our testing of the new, larger glass and poly travel mug from LibreTea. This time we are going with a Jasmine Blooming Tea.

As mentioned in the previous articles, LibreTea has a great instructional video on their Website that I strongly recommend you view before using this mug. Then, you can decide if you want to follow their directions or go your own path. (If you choose the latter, please don’t blame LibreTea if something goes wrong.)

We followed the green tea method, since it advocated steeping the tea loose in the mug, and a blooming tea is best when steeped loose. It gets to open fully. However, we weren’t sure the size of the mug would allow the bloom to properly expand, to this test was important for us to do.

Here’s how the bloom looked when we steeped it for the review we did last year:

The Test Results:
The tea steeped up fine and managed to unfold to its full extent. The clear body of the mug let us enjoy the show:

What’s next?

First, I don’t recommend that you try a 2nd steep from this tea. However, if you really want to do one, you could remove the tea bloom from the mug with tongs or a long-handled teaspoon, drink the tea liquid, and do another steep in the mug when the liquid is gone. When drinking the liquid from the mug, leave the strainer cap in place, since pieces always seem to break off of these blooms when they’re steeped.

In short, the mug passed our test!

Don’t miss Round 1 and Round 2 of our testing.

Disclaimer: This mug was provided to me by LibreTea for this review. My assessment of it is strictly objective, however. If you’ve read my reviews of other products, you know this is true.

Taken from http://teatimewithaccargill.blogspot.com/

Sweetheart Quilt

My mother made a quilt in this style as well. It's interesting to see how two identical quilts can turn out differently. Mom used more vibrant colors and a dark border, but the greatest difference was shown in our stitching. She chose small buttonhole embroidery stitches, and I chose large (to show more color). My sister, who doesn't like to sew, now has mom's heart quilt and treasures it. I need to remember to ask her for a picture of it so I can share it with you too!

PS: Sis has since decided to give it to me for safekeeping. Thank you, sis.

Thank you for visiting Gracious Hospitality. Please come back soon!

Taken from http://www.gracioushospitality.blogspot.com/

Bubble Tea and Beyond

A recent walk revealed the lake to be a foment of activity. Thawing temperatures partially melted the ice which covered the surface of the lake so that strips of flowing water, dotted with floating Canadian geese, alternated with icy patches.

With the rain coming down steadily, E and I drove to Chicago for the day to see my family. It was hairy driving, and I was glad to be fortified with a mug of strong black tea once we arrived at my brother's downtown condo. We then all tumbled into two cars and headed for Chinatown for dinner.

I quickly found the short selection of teas listed on the menu of the restaurant and ordered the

hot version of the cryptically named Hong Kong styled tea. Plumbing the matter a bit with searching questions of our friendly waitress, I gathered that this was bubble tea.

Indeed, mutant sized tapioca pearls occupied the bottom stratum of the large plastic cup containing this milky drink. As I sipped through the equally outsized straw, I detected the familiar childhood orange pekoe flavor from a Lipton tea bag.

Once the novelty of feeling slithering tapioca globules slide down my throat had passed, I turned my attention to the food at hand. Braised tofu, crisp on the exterior and incredibly silky soft on the inside was a delight. It was paired with flavorful shiitake and enoki mushrooms and served with steamed jasmine rice. The bubble tea relegated to the side, I sipped hot tea poured from the communal teapot at our our table.

After exchanging reluctant goodbyes with my family, I hinted to E that I was not ready for our tea-quest to end just yet. By serendipity, we were standing right in front of the Saint Alp's teahouse, a Hong-Kong based chain of teahouses, and E was up to the adventure.

Neon wall colors and grinning statuaries of Hello Kitty greeted us as we were led to our banquette. We found ourselves amidst a sea of Asian American tweens who were hunched over variously colored bubble teas and savory shiny snacks.

Deciding against more bubble teas for myself, I chose a ginger milk black tea and E, its almond counterpart.

Finally, this was a tea that sang: Keemun-tasting black tea seamlessly paired with warm milk that hit the right note of sweetness. But it was the fresh tasting ginger, which tickled my throat pleasantly, that gave the tea its piquancy. I felt myself ready at that point to chuck my tea snobbery regarding blended teas as I sipped this piece of revelation.

Overly caffeinated, yet with my limbs paradoxically languorous from many cups of tea, we drove through the city homeward as the rain continued, unabated.

Taken from http://teamusings.blogspot.com/

The Prosaic and the Historic

A little misty-eyed after watching the podcast of the inaugural speech, I celebrated with a cup of lotus tea. And then it was off to see my nursing home patient.

She was in her usual position, propped up rather awkwardly on several badly placed pillows. However, instead of the cacophony of duelling talk show guests on her TV set, I was greeted by jubilant paraders in sequined costumes marching in the inaugural parade. The TV set, with its wide screen emanating vibrant colors, dominated the small room.

She had been watching TV all morning, imbibing images and sounds of the inaugural broadcast. A styrofoam cup placed on the corner of her bedside table proclaimed in a scrawled handwriting on its surface, "We can do it."

I did not turn off the TV, as is my wont when coming to see her, as I felt it was fitting that we share these historic moments together. She was very happy for the nation - and also pleased with the First Lady's sartorial choice for the occasion. We chatted a bit on nonmedical matters, touching on interesting points of the broadcast.

She complained a bit on the unpalatability of the chocolate cookies that "were hard as rocks" as they had been sitting around for hours uncovered. The orange juice that she counted on having daily at breakfast seemed to be on short ration as well. She asked me to do something about these matters and I told her that I would do what I could to help. Feeling rather ineffectual as I took leave of her, I made a note to remind myself to bring her a bottle of orange juice when I see her next month.

Taken from http://teamusings.blogspot.com/