ince the name of this blog is "ArtWordsTea" and it is full into winter, I thought I should write a bit about tea. I drink a lot of it- mostly iced. I know- iced tea in winter? Well, (too many but that is another post) many people drink sodapop during the winter but you don't expect them to drink it hot do you? But I digress...
This time of year, I also drink a lot of hot tea. It used to be Earl Grey but nowadays it is more likely to be Lady Grey which is more fragrant with bergamot yet also not so strident. I also commit blasphemy by drinking it with milk- and sometimes a splash of caramel syrup. This is my version of the what the Hudson Valley Coffee Traders cafe- just down the street from me- serves. They use vanilla syrup and call it a Fog and it is delicious. I didn't have any vanilla syrup but I did have a dusty bottle of caramel syrup left over from something I can't recall and gave it a (pardon the pun) shot. I'm calling it a Cashmere and I'm sticking with it. But most of the time my tea is milky but unsweetened.
Since we are hurtling towards Christmas there have been invitations to potlucks. If the event is in the afternoon, i usually make Lemon & Rosemary Shortbread. I use a recipe from Melissa Clark's delightful column for the NYTimes and it is a hit every time I make it. I use a battered food processor- a benefit of my older brother's brief flirtation with cooking. (I also scored a stand mixer from the aftermath of his quixotic attentions.) On the low-tech end of the tool spectrum, I use a mezzaluna to finely chop the rosemary. This tool has two parallel arced blades and you use it by rocking it back and forth over the herbage. It never leaves the surface of the cutting board and chops much finer, in less time, and uses less effort than a knife.
I have an ivitation for this afternoon and the shortbread is in the oven, the fragrance of the rosemary and lemon with the hint of sugar fills the air.
Time for some tea...
Its about time I got around to talking a bit about tea. I love drinking tea and I especially love teapots. Is there any other useful object that has inspired so many to flights of fancy, endless explorations of form and function, or to nostalgia for the almost mythical comfort of the cozy hearth? The teapot is all these and more. It is a canvas for the artist, icon for the homesick, company in the darkest hours, boon companion in contentment, care for the ailing in body or spirit, sympathy in grief, conspirator in schemes and gossip, repository for omens of the future. (If you have visited my website: thrumsend.com, you might recognize this last bit, but I like it so I will repeat it.)
I have been known to drink coffee, especially since a decent cup of tea is not often to be found whilst on the road, but, if I am weary in body, mind or soul- it must be tea. And, due to the advances of time and age, decaffeinated tea (sigh.) But there are some decent decaf Earl Grey teas out there and that is my brew of choice- milky in the morning, straight after noon. I have some dear friends in London who drink a brew of 1/2 darjeeling and 1/2 Earl Grey which is quite nice too. I am also very fond of iced-tea any time of the year- but not that horrid overly-sweetened fruity concoction that some people seem to think is iced-tea. Brewed, unsweetned darjeeling or ceylon. Lemon in the winter, mint and lemon in the hot weather, both with just a touch of sweetening, thank you very much. I have never understood the taste for teas like Lapsang Souchong, but I have also never eschewed the idea that I am not that refined.
This is one of those times of the year when I drink quite a bit of tea- it is cold, icy, rainy, sleety, and muddy out there- just on the brink of the change of seasons. I am hungry for spring, but if I can't have spring yet - and in these days of climate change, I would rather be hungry for spring than have it thrust upon me prematurely- I can have a lovely steaming mug of tea and a biscuit while I read the seed catalogs.
The teapots? I will talk about them later- the kettle is almost at the boil, must run....
