My doctor has told me to drink no more than my regular cup of tea in the mornings. This means that on the weekends, I don't get to make a pot of tea and leisurely drink the whole thing. It also means that when I'm cold at work, and it is the middle of the day or afternoon, that I can only drink decaffeinated tea instead of regular tea.
The main problem with decaffeinated tea, as I see it, is that it tastes terrible. It has none of the round and rich-bodied flavor of regular tea. It tastes like Lipton or stale, old tea. It has a similar flavor to when you try to brew a second cup of tea from the same basket of tea leaves - an attempt to be frugal that I only made once because of the terrible taste.
I do have some Wild Berry Plum decaf tea from Republic of Tea, but it is far too fruity for my tastes and doesn't have enough black tea taste. Probably because the decaf black tea taste is so terrible that they've bumped up the fruit flavors to cover it up. I've looked through their catalog carefully for decaf teas, but most of the teas that I enjoy do not come in a decaf version. Again, I'm convinced that the taste must be too wretched for their standards.
Now that we are going into the winter season and a nice cup of tea sounds so much more appealing in the afternoons, it is disappointing to have this realization. I guess I'll have to switch to herbal 'teas' or tisanes and just give up on black tea altogether.
Well, except for my wondrous cup that I get to enjoy over breakfast, of course. mmmmmm teeeeeea. (I say as I sip from my cup of All Day Breakfast)
Posted by danielle at 10:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Ladybug had wondered (in the comments of my Friday posts) where HB was taking me over the weekend to celebrate the completion of my written thesis.
Well, I came up with the idea that we could go have high tea! I had read about a local tea house that served high tea on Saturdays. Now, to give you some perspective, for several years now, HB and I have talked about going to a high tea. Usually our discussions are prompted by some article in the newspaper listing off places that serve tea and a mention of how one of them serves high tea. Usually, the places serving high tea are fancy-shmancy hotel-like spots that required more planning than either of us ever seemed to be able to muster. I guess we got spoiled when we lived in Ohio and could go to Special Teas for, well, special tea at the drop of a hat.
On Friday, I looked up and called the local tearoom and Lo and Behold! they still had room for 2 for high tea on Saturday. Yay!
The tearoom is a farmhouse that has been restored/decorated as a tea place. The structure of it reminded me a lot of my grandparents' place in Indiana. Our table was by an nice bay window and I could look through the wavery old glass and see a couple of very large trees.
The place settings were pretty, and made me all excited to be there.
I've never actually been to a place before that had so many utensils. My fancy dinner experience is somewhat limited.
We drank Lemon Soltice tea, a blend of black tea that had lemon, vanilla, licorice, and some berries in it.
I was a bit wary of it, because in the past, I haven't enjoyed tea that is lemon, or vanilla, and I avoid licorice like the plague. I thought it was a bit odd that we didn't get to choose the tea that we were going to drink, but I had a feeling going into it that was going to be the case from reviews I'd read online. However, the tea grew on me. After a cup of it, I found it quite pleasant. I couldn't taste or smell the licorice, so all was well. And the lemon was offset by the vanilla and vice versa, and that made the tea fine. The tea also went well with the food.
First, we enjoyed a warm fruit compote. Very tiny chunks of apples with raisins (golden) and craisins topped with cinnamon and with the flavors kind of blending together.
Second was the scone. Oatmeal, maple, walnut with Devonshire Cream.
The scone was good, but the cream was to die for. YUM. For me, this was the highlight of the whole tea experience. Afterward, I decided that I'd be happy just going back for tea and scones sometime. If I could choose the tea flavor.
Third were the tea sandwiches.
Including pork tenderloin in pastry, curried chicken with gruyere cheese, and salmon in a phyllo crust. I liked the curried chicken one the best.
Fourth was the spinach and pine nut quiche. I decided to pass on the quiche. The eggs were too runny/custardy for my taste and I just couldn't get past the smell of the melted butter of the crust. I have a really strong aversion to the smell of melted butter or melted cheese, even now, I can almost smell it and feel slightly nauseated by it. bleck.
Fifth was a Grand Marnier sponge cake. It was a fruity cream filled roll cake. The cream was cool and had pieces of orange and/or pineapple in it that made this cake a cool and light ending to a large meal.
All in all, it was a lot of really good food and nice tea in a lovely setting. I'm glad that I finally got to experience a 'high tea', although I think I now know that I'm just as happy having nice tea with a single dessert or scones and don't really need all of the extra food. I did buy a couple of new tea blends too, and HB and I tried one of them over breakfast on Sunday. It was quite good. I'm looking forward to trying the other one today with lunch.
It was a special way to celebrate this stage in my graduate work.
Tea anyone?
Posted by danielle at 10:20 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
This is the Indian blanket wildflower that I fell in love with while we were visiting Texas.
If you haven't noticed by now, I'm particularly fond of flowers that change their coloring or shading within a petal or within the center of the flower.
I thought those pictures might be a nice cheer-me-up to all of us today. Particularly those of us *ahem* who are beginning to be tired of snow and/or being cooped up inside. But you know what makes being cooped up inside just a wee bit more bearable?
That's right! chooooooooooooooooocolate.
Now, you may look at that collection and say to yourself "OH MY GOSH, Danielle!? Are you planning to OD on chocolate? REALLY, calm down, honey, you are almost done. No need to be drastic!"
Or you may say "Wow! HB bought all of that for you at the grocery yesterday? A truer sign of love has ne'er been found."
(but only if you say things like ne'er. And who says words like that today? Not I! said the bear, I ne'er say ne'er.)
*ahem* Don't mind me, I'm feeling loopy for some reason. Maybe it is the lightheadedness from yearning for chocolate. All of the blood has left my brain and gone to my stomach.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yes! OR you may say to yourself, "geeeeee, I wish I could get a better look at those chocolates, because I Swear one of them wants to be eaten!"
Do you seeeeeeee that?! That one has a spotlight on it!
It clearly needs to be eaten.
Ope! It just fell out of the wrapper.
Well, we can't leave a mess around the house, now can we?
yummmmmmmmmmmm
Flower pictures were taken with our Sony Cybershot DSC-P71 and chocolate pics were taken this morning with Dee-Dee.
Posted by danielle at 10:07 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
HB and I usually try to surprise each other with gifts that the other one wouldn't expect. Some times this works out better than others, as you might imagine, or perhaps you have first-hand knowledge and can completely relate. There was the year that I found him an unusual bar set, where each tool had eyes cut out of it so that each one looks like an animal of some sort. You know, the ice tongs look like a shark, the martini strainer looks like a lion, that sort of thing. I think that was one of the cooler gifts that I've found for him. Well, at least I always thought so, but maybe it because I liked it a lot too. And now that I think about it, he really did seem more thrilled about that scotch I got him a couple years ago too...
Also, we usually do the traditional wrapping of the presents placed under the tree, that sort of thing.
But this year, HB went a different route and led me down to our living room with my eyes closed.
And look what he got me!
Isn't it cooooooooooooooool?!
At first, I was surprised to see a Really Red teaset. But MAN, just look at that teapot!
It can blast out at you like a neon fire-engine.
Or look like Alladin's lamp.
How could I resist something with such great curves?!
It really is striking. Get it, striking, HB strikes again?!
tee-hee! Don't mind me, I'm just happy and tired, all at the same time.
I took all pictures with Dee-Dee, my Nikon D-70. For some I used the combination of a tripod and self-timer (for the first time) in order to avoid the whole blurry/shaking/too much caffeine issue.
Posted by danielle at 11:40 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
I've never been a big fan of the pumpkin. Now, I'll be the first to state that they are rather lovely as a fall decoration or as a means to satisfy my need to hollow out fruit, carve it into an odd design, and plop a candle inside, as a turnip lantern substitute.
But turn it into a pie? bleck.
See!? Even the pumpkin says "bleck! don't make me into pie!" This is assuming you are wearing your imagination caps and can envision the stem as a nose.
Where was I? Oh right.
No. Even though eating pumpkin pie may be a holiday tradition, I prefer to fulfill my holiday dessert calorie intake another way.
That would be the chocolate silk andes mint pie. It may not look as pretty in the pic as I had hoped, but let me tell you, with a little heated chocolate fudge sauce drizzled on top. *smacks lips* Can't be beat.
Best eaten with a spoon, of course (one of my personal preferences that I mentioned on Squirl's blog recently).
I know someone who needs a piece of pie right now. If you are in the mood for a funny story, go read how Sara spent her Thanksgiving evening.
Posted by danielle at 09:56 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
A few things struck me while visiting Minneapolis. Note, I'd call it Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Twin Cities, but alas, we didn't really visit St. Paul. Evidently the people in St. Paul have a bit of a complex about not being mentioned most of the time, but well, there ya have it. We drove through it and didn't stop, so Minneapolis gets the mention this go round.
Where was I? Oh yes, things that struck me.
1) Minneapolis is prepared for cold, nasty weather.
I think that it is so incredible that there are miles of skyways connecting the buildings downtown so that you can travel from one end of downtown to another without needing to venture outside. I was impressed with the idea of it, back before I'd ever seen it, when HB had simply told me about it. But until you actually see it and experience it at lunch hour on a weekday, well, there is just no comparison. You can see a few of them in this pic.
I think I am even more appreciative of the idea of traveling inside to get from building to building after the day I had yesterday. Here I was, semi-sick/recovering and I had to walk a few blocks outside to get to a different building. This meant that I slogged in the pouring sideways rain to get there, and slipped in the sleeting sideways ice pellets to get back. ugh.
2) Minneapolis is a city that appreciates good food.
For those of you who are vegetarians (for ex. Honestyrain) well, close your eyes/ears for a minute. I had some of the best sausage and bacon that I've had in years at the restaurants in Minneapolis. ooooooooooooooh be still my heart. (please, no snarky remarks about how the cholesterol in the sausage and bacon will be sure to still my heart if I'm not careful, yada, yada, yada, I've heard it all before.)
Okay, you can look/listen again. I had an incredible cinnamon roll for breakfast one day (at Keys), and a caramel roll another day (at Hell's Kitchen). Oh, they were heavenly.
Then there was the lunch at Brits, where HB loves the fish and chips.
After my lunch of fish and chips, I could see why he would go on and on about it everytime he visited. I can't wait to go there in the summer when they have the lawn bowling.
And then there was our special tea time. Well, tea time for me, coffee time for HB. We went to Zelo's in the late afternoon on Friday. It was our chance to savor the excitement of embarking on this new chapter in our lives and of getting to explore the city together. It was also our chance to celebrate a successful round of interviews for me and his birthday a day early.
My dessert and tea
Why don't we get a better look at that, shall we?
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm it was goooooooooooooood
or gurt-ah.
His dessert and coffee
We saw some cool artwork too. But that doesn't exactly fall into the category of food, does it?
Isn't it incredible? The pic of me at the beginning with it, is a reflection in the base.
Posted by danielle at 08:56 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Here ya go, Ladybug.
The pile on the left is for you (the right one is for me). I made it a bit bigger, 'cause I think you deserve it.
Posted by danielle at 10:28 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
I was about to make Celestial Seasonings Peppermint tea, when I started craving Wild Sweet Orange tea by Tazo.
This craving is a sign that I must be low on vitamin C.
And what goes really well with that bite-y orange flavor? Girl Scout cookies, of course - preferably peanut butter patties. With just a very quick dunk in the tea to soften up the chocolate coating on the outside.
Ah, just a little bit of heaven here on earth.
And here I had just got done telling Ladybug about how I was going to have Ghirardelli chips as my dessert for supper, and I up and changed my mind. Well, that is a woman's prerogative, right Ladybug?
Posted by danielle at 10:22 PM | Comments (3)
The word Tea is made of loose tea, specifically All Day Breakfast by Republic of Tea.
The plus sign, is made of my absolute favorite chocolate chips, Ghirardelli double-chocolate chips. YUM. They were the only part of the composition that got eaten before I finished checking the pics on my computer, I just couldn't resist.
The word Chocolate is made with Lindt dark chocolate wafers, and Nestle Toll-House mini-morsels (definitely not my preferred choice of chocolate chip, but okay for chocolate-chip cheesecake and for artistic compositions).
I took all pictures on the day of the blizzard with my Sony Cyber-shot.
Posted by danielle at 09:35 PM | Comments (4)
I ran out of Tazo Tea - Awake - right before Christmas and have been drinking other teas in the meantime (more on that later, they deserve their own post).
Well, this morning, I was a bit less rushed than usual; I decided that when my train got into Boston, I'd stop and pick some up at Starrrrrbucks.
While there, I succumbed to the temptation that is a mocha.... oh..... mochaaaaaaaaah. Or as you'd say in starbucks-speak "GrandeNon-fatNo-whipMocha, please."
So, I sit here eating cheerios, from a freshly opened box no less, and drinking my mocha while typing happily away.... with the anticipation of drinking some Tazo Awake later.
Life is Good.
tangent
This menu seems suspiciously like the breakfast that I had while in elementary school... cheerios, hot chocolate.
hmmmm...
end tangent
Posted by danielle at 09:10 AM | Comments (1)