food and drink

Thursday Travels – Coffee Planet

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This is where my writing group is meeting for lunch to discuss dates and times for our next workshop. After a lively discussion, our topic for September is public bathrooms. Ironically, I didn’t use the coffee shop’s.

Tribute to Leonard Nimoy

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Another food post. This is the fruit bowl

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that I used as part of my Tribute to Leonard Nimoy, item #16 in last week’s GishWhes scavenger hunt

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This was one item that I took a lot of time on and probably spent the most money on. I paid to have the pictures printed, the poster board, and the fruit. I contacted my friend in Israel for the Hebrew spelling of Leonard’s name.

He was a true hero of mine. As a child, ethnicity was often hidden on screen. While Mr. Spock was a Vulcan on the show, in his real life he was Jewish as is William Shatner. He was one of me. That was huge to this child who worshipped Star Trek. I dreamed Star Trek, I Mary-Sued Star Trek, I wrote fan fic before I knew what that was, I went to conventions. I even traveled to NYC and Pennsylvania to hear Leonard speak.

This item probably meant the most to me, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

Tasty Tuesday – Dinomite’s Fluffy Bites Recipe – Allrecipes.com

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Dinomite’s Fluffy Bites – this recipe was created by my teammate for our GishWhes team, Brave Little Ants last week. The flag in the cupcake is our symbol, designed by another teammate.

The ingredients include kale which is the (un)official food stuff of GishWhes.

Tasty Tuesday. Peanuts

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My Dad used to eat peanuts all the time. He’d get this big bag of peanuts still in their shells. He’d crack them open and go through that bag in one or two days. He’d toss the shells in a paper garbage bag next to his chair, but on occasion he’d miss. Some days before he cleaned it up it looked like the floor of a country bar or a Ground Round in the “old” days of my childhood. I still flashback to my Dad sitting in his blue recliner in our den when I see those big bags of peanuts in the shells.

I used to love Nutter Butter cookies because of him also. And Vienna Fingers. It’s amazing what pops into your head from childhood, especially where food is related.

Stuff and Things – Tea Things

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I’ve decided to pick up a project this week that I’ve mentioned before. A few seasons ago in my memoir workshop we wrote on the theme of stuff; our stuff. I thought that I would choose a few of my things that I’ve collected and write a little about them as a writing exercise.

Today, I’m starting with my tea things. These are a few of my favorite tea things

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Despite how it looks in the picture, I really don’t collect a lot of things related to tea. I picked those up at Cracker Barrel; they’re little salt shakers. The tin holds loose tea – Lady Londonderry. It’s wonderful with milk and sugar. For birthdays and Christmas, my friend and I exchange teas that we like so the other one can try them. This was one of those teas. I think I sent him Mexican Chocolate, which was a really lovely blend. We have a local store that has dozens of varieties and tea accessories, like that tin and my unpictured strainer.

The mug in the center is from a fundraiser at my kids’ school. The kids do artwork specifically for this project, and in the spring, parents can order their art on a variety of things. This particular one is from my daughter. I just loved how it was put together with the colors and the birds visiting the bird feeder, blue sky and sunshine. I feel happies when I have my morning tea and this is the mug that I use almost exclusively.

Drink.

Rinse.

Repeat.

I’ve just begun using that travel tumbler. I use it for both loose tea and bagged tea, and I’m always amazed when I pour the boiling water in that the cup doesn’t crack. It keeps it hot all morning when I’m at my workshop. It’s the perfect size for library and workshop writing.

For today’s project, and the picture, I’ve included only three varieties of tea that I love.

Stash’s Ginger Breakfast Black Tea was my first “exotic” tea that I really enjoyed. Most gingers are tisanes, no actual tea leaves in it, but herbals and other flowery “teas” steeped in hot water. I prefer a black tea. This is perfect with milk and sugar. I use the word exotic to distinguish between black and orange pekoe tea (the kind you would find in Lipton) and some of the more unusual varieties. Tea, coming from the Far East, is already exotic for want of a better word.

Prince of Wales is a black tea, but it’s a bit lighter than the typical tea that Americans tend to drink. This is similar to PG Tips and reminds me of the tea that I had when I visited Wales.

My new find is Twining’s Honeybush, Mandarin and Orange tea. At first glance it sounds like a tisane or herbal tea, but it is in fact, black tea. One of the reasons that I hadn’t often had citrus teas is because I put milk in all of my tea, not realizing that citrus isn’t really made for that. Once I stuck to sugar, this was a very relaxing cuppa. One of the surprises of this tea is that if you let it sit too long (which I am guilty of on occasion), and let it get cold, it still retains a very rich and flavorful taste.

Not pictured are PG Tips, Chai Spice, Moroccan Mint (black tea), and Scottish Breakfast. I tend to lean towards Stash and Twining’s if I’m not getting the teas from my friend or from my local tea shop.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite tea is or any other favorite drink.

Happy Tea-ing!