Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Tea - From Black to White

Just in case you were wondering about the different kinds of teas, this is excerpted from an article that came out in the NY Times on Monday, titled Tea -- rainbow of varieties can soothe and cure:

According to [Republic of Tea's] Maredith Post, all tea comes from the same plant -- Camellia sinensi. The difference is the processing.

"On a scale of black to white, there is black, then oolong, then green and then white teas," Post says.

If you're wondering about red teas, they aren't really teas, but come from the rooibos plant, a small shrubby bush that only grows in South Africa.  More about them below.

* Black teas are oxidized and fermented during processing, which imparts their distinctive flavors -- a full and rich taste.

* Oolong teas undergo only a small amount of fermentation during processing.

* Next on the continuum, according to Post, is green, which has even less processing and is not fermented, thus being much lighter in flavor. Green teas are touted for their healthful benefits including been full of antioxidants.

* Rare and expensive, white tea is harvested only during a two- to three-day period each year.

"White tea comes from the same plant as the other teas," Post says, "but the leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves are fully opened.  They're from the buds of the tea plants which at the time they're picked are still covered by fine white hair."

It's nice to see tea in the news!

Countdown to Christmas

Recipe News!

Before I forget, the Geek Family is hosting this week's Carnival of the Recipes.  Hop on over and check out the lineup of great post-Thanksgiving recipes.  I know, I know, you're too full to think about new recipes yet, but some of these are definitely worth saving for later.  Next week's carnival will be at World Famous Recipes.  Get yer recipes in by Saturday!

I've added the new Blog Carnival widget to my sidebar in hopes that even if I forget, the info about the carnival will be available.  But I'm not sure if I'll keep it.  Something is slowing down my blog, and I'm thinking that might be the culprit. 

More new stuff...  I am actually getting ready for Christmas, cooking-wise.  In an effort to get both home and blog organized, I made a new page for all the recipes I like to keep handy for various holidays: Holiday / Seasonal Recipes.    The recipes can all be found in other categories as well, but this way I can see all my Christmas recipes in one place.  I'll be posting some of the new Christmas recipes I'm trying soon!

Coffee Roasting Report #2

My, my how the time does fly.  In between this post and my last ... let's see, we had a touch of the flu; a strange orange crested bird started showing up at my feeders; mass quantities of food were consumed by extremely grateful people, and my brother announced that he and his are going up north for Christmas.  This last was announced carefully, as if they thought I might pitch a fit.  I did.  But I waited till they left, in my own room.  It's not the same without them here for Christmas.  *sigh*

Oh yeah, and a whole lotta coffee has been roasted.  Heh.  I think I'm finally ready to give my two cents worth on the Z&D Home Roaster. 

The first thing I noticed, which you can't really tell when you're roasting in the oven, is how much the beans expand.  I took some "action pics" here during the process to show the changes.  Click for big'uns.

It's definitely a process that needs to be tended to.  In spite of roasting time guidelines, each is different, and you can't just assume roasting time for one bean will work for another.

As promised, it self-ventilates, so I can roast without smoking up the house.  But it still smells like coffee roasting, and that's great.  No, that's WONDERFUL.  There are some smells that send me into nasal nirvana, and coffee roasting is right up there.  Baking bread, cookies fresh out of the oven, bacon in the morning, and coffee - roasting grinding and brewing.  My only complaint is that by the time roasting is done my nose has sent my mouth into overdrive-anticipation-mode.  But most stuff I've read says the flavor is best if it's had a few hours or so to expand and breathe.  Geeyod it's hard to wait. I have had to learn self-control.  Not an easy task for me.

I'm sure enjoying experimenting with the various green beans I have here though, and I think I've made the hubs a convert.  Actually, I may have created a monster.  Now he doesn't want anything but fresh roasted.  For now that's no problem.  I've got quite a supply of samples and we're going through them all one by one.  I'm doing two roasts of each kind - one dark and one medium/light.  The individual flavor of the bean is definitely more pronounced a medium roast.  I'm having a grand time tasting and making notes, deciding which ones I like best. 

The only other complaint I have is that it's not easy to clean.  We don't generally warrant running the dishwasher every day here, so if I want to roast more than once a day (am I getting obsessive???) I have to wash the thing by hand, and that's no easy task.  But the destructions - including the instructional video - all really emphasize that you MUST clean it after each use.  What a pain!  You need all kinds of special tools and implements and my local store doesn't carry those kinds of small brushes. 

I guess I can live with this small inconvenience.  I have to say this has already proven to be the best birthday present a girl like me could get.  I love love LOVE it.

Happy Birthday to Meeee!

It's here, it's here!  My actual bird-day isn't till later this month, but birthday presents arriving early ranks right up there with chocolate, especially when the present is a brandy new Zach & Dani's coffee roaster.

A coupla weeks ago, the hubs asked me what I wanted for my barfday.  As you may remember, I've been lusting for the Zach & Dani's home roaster kit for a long time now, but unfortunately it turns out the Z&D roaster is "out of stock".  What a huge disappointment.  However, salvation was right around the corner at Sweet Maria's. 

Ever since I told him what I wanted I've been waking up SALIVATING at the thought of freshly roasted coffee beans.  And it's here, it's sitting on the counter!  Hippo Birdies to me!  Hairy Birthmark to me!  I can't wait to get started. 

Guess what I'm going to be doing tonight?  More pictures will follow!

Carnival of the Recipes - Brekky/Brunch

I wish I had known this was going to be a breakfast / brunch edition!  That'll teach me to read my emails.  Shoot! Slap me on the butt and call me Frankie. 

This week's Carnival is hosted by Men in Aprons.  And oh boy, oh boy, there are some great recipes to add to my brunch box.  There are so many, I had a hard time choosing just a few to mention.  I wanna try them all!  But top of the list has got to be KeeWee's Bacon & Egg pie.  I kiped her picture, so you can see how delish it looks. 

Pie is really not my thing; I never seem to get the crust right.  But this starts with a "packet of puff or flaky pastry", so me lousing up the "from scratch" part won't be a handicap!

Along similar lines, and second on my list to try, is World Famous Recipe's Country Style Breakfast Casserole.  This sounds delish.  And Shawn of Everything & Nothing has posted a recipe for Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes that will go great with anything!

Go check out the rest of the great recipes!

Chocolate Friday: Edible Art

I'm not sure, but I think chocolate art would create a serious war in my senses.  Too many desires going on at once.  Do I keep it to look at, carry it around to smell it, or just munch away? 

Lillie Belle Farms, an actual farm/estate in Oregon complete with tasting room, produces completely edible chocolate art.  Fully eat-able, from top to bottom, back to front.  The tree shown here is one of Lillie Belle Farms' chocolate sculptures created for the Oregon Chocolate festival, made from chocolate and sugar.

And have a look at their chocolate paintings.  Even the frames are edible! Created by Chocolatier Jeff Shepherd, the paintings are 6" x4" with white chocolate canvases, dark chocolate frames, and cocoa butter paint.

I was thinking about trying to do some chocolate artwork myself, but ... I don't know if I could keep my mouth away from the medium.  What joy to do some fingerpainting, tho, eh?

Swapping, Blog-Style

This is just such a cool concept. It's been done in a variety of ways on the net, via blogs and websites both.  Swaps are all over the place.  I've seen one where a journal was passed around, eventually traveling all the way around the world.  Pretty cool.  Bloggers are so inventive, and it still amazes me sometimes how small the internet has made the world.

This blog - Knitters Tea Swap 2  (and where, pray tell, is Knitters Tea Swap number ONE???)  lets folx sign up and send each other little packages of oh-so-wonderful stuff.  I had a great time reading the posts and looking at the pictures of what was in the packages.  It was a voyeuristic joy.  Sort of like vicarious Christmas.  Because it's not just tea - there's cups and biscuits and even chocolate! 

Of course, a mention must also go to TeaSwap, which has been around for a long time.  They're a little more organized, complete with yahoo group, database and all. 

Here's one for coffee lovers - the Knitter's Coffee Swap.  It looks like this one is just starting a swap, I couldn't find any posts or pics of packages.  What a great idea though. 

I wonder, when you ship yarn and coffee beans together, do you end up with a sweater that always smells like coffee?  I could live with that.

And joy oh joy, here's one for chocolate.  And there's pictures and posts and lots of vicarious enjoyment to be had at the Chocolate Swap blog.

I wish I had the oomph to be able to participate in something like this.  Of course, I don't knit anymore, but I think I would really enjoy the swapping process.  At least... heheh... I would enjoy the packages arriving.  I remember what a thrill it was when my tea package arrived from the tea fairy.  My problem is I'm allergic to the post office.  I break out in hives at the thought of going there.  If I have to drive by it, I go real fast, and if the light happens to turn red right there, I hold my breath and avert my eyes.

Pretty pathetic, huh?  I guess I'll just have to enjoy other people's gifts.  So keep blogging about your packages folx!  Somebody out here is enjoying them with you.

Carnival of the Recipes #116

I forgot to mention that the 116th Edition of the Carnival of the Recipes is up for viewing at RDoctor Medical.  Go have a look and see what's on the menu this week.  I totally forgot to submit a recipe last week, and I've been so busy I haven't had time to peruse the recipes on this edition, but I will, soon.  Hopefully tomorrow! 

"Relaxed Fit" Tea Sandwiches

Now, in case anybody's confused about the title of this post, I'm not going to talk about baggy foods. 

As I said in my previous post, my SIL made seven different kinds of tea sandwiches for our tea party, and they were all wonderful!  But they might not all fit into the Book of Tea Sandwich Standards.  Hence, I'm calling them "relaxed fit".  This is about ... relaxing standards and finding creative ways to make scrummy basic foods interesting and fun.

First on the list, a couple of fairly basic sandwiches made special by small squares and crusts removed. 

• P-But-Jel.  Use creamy or crunchy peanut butter, it doesn't matter, and of course, the jelly of your choice.  Ahh, p-but-jel, the source of many of my favorite childhood memories.
• Piggie a' fromage - Yes, yer basic ham and cheese.  Use very thinly sliced swiss, and a thin schmear of mayo on the bread. 
• Braunschweiger - This is a soft, spiced liver sausage, usually smoked.  I guess it could be sliced thin and laid on the bread, or mashed up to make a sort of pate. 

A couple of the sandwiches were served "open face" which made for a nice change. 

• Bacon & Cream Cheese - After frying up the bacon, you'll probably need to press it between paper towels or napkins and some kind of weight so it will lie somewhat flat.  Spread a mixture of cream cheese and finely chopped chives on the bread, then top with a piece of bacon.  If you want to be a bit more healthy, use turkey bacon.
• Cucumber & Cream Cheese - You can flavor the cream cheese any way you like.  Mix in some of the left-over bacon bits, crumbled up, or add some diced sunflower seeds for something unusual.
• Avocado & Brie - Thinly sliced brie cheese on a light schmear of mayo, topped with little slices of avocado.  Very tasty!

Last but not least, there's tuna!  We all love tuna around here, so a tea sandwich tray without a couple of tuna fish sandwiches on it would be incomplete.  If you want to jazz up your tuna, try adding some finely chopped pistachio nuts and chopped hard boiled egg.  I guess then it would sort of be egg AND tuna salad. 

These are just a few ideas for tea party sandwiches.  They don't have to be exotic recipes or difficult to make.  These are easy, but they're still fun to eat because of the size and the preparation... and the presentation.  Funny how just slicing up a sandwich into small bites and taking the crusts off can make you FEEL special.  Try it!

Related: Afternoon Tea Party Sandwiches

EspressoExpress™ Recalled

If you've purchased one of these little doo-dads, take it back.  Atico International is recalling the little devil because apparently the heating element can "forcefully separate from its base during the brewing cycle" and reek havoc. 

I should say so.  Holy cats.  "Forcefully separate"?  Doesn't that sort of imply ... explosion? 

Care for some espresso?  Something in a projectile perhaps? 

Shades of Stephen King - attack of the killer espresso maker.

Atico says:

Consumers should immediately stop using the EspressoExpress™ and contact Atico International USA, Inc. toll-free at (877) 546-4835 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the company’s Web site at www.aticousa.com

You can read the recall notice here.

Tea & Chocolate

My previous posts about tea and chocolate have focused mostly on chocolate flavor in tea, a la hints of cocoa to be found in various yunnan gold teas, or on chocolate goodies to be served with tea. 

Today I'm anxious to try a new kind of chocolate - a culinary concoction combining tea and chocolate, created and co-branded by Charles Chocolates and Teance Fine Teas.  According to this article on Culinary Muse:

There are a few chocolate bars on the market that add dried tea leaves to plain chocolate and call it a day. This new collection goes beyond the simple stirring of ingredients together. Experienced alchemists are at work here. By infusing cream with the highest grade teas and then adding milk and bittersweet chocolate to create a ganache, Chef Marika Doob of Charles Chocolates and Winnie Yu of Teance Fine Teas have created a new dimension of chocolates.

These tea chocolates come in five different flavors: Formosa Baochong, Special Jasmine, Osmanthus, Lichee and Charcoal Roasted Oolong.  The Muse says they're available on the Charles website, so I went in search.  I found them here, under edible chocolate boxes of all things.  $60 for 14oz of chocolate.  Must be really GOOD chocolate. 

I would really like to try that jasmine tea chocolate.  Sounds delish!  Something for the Christmas wish list!!

Tea Party for Mom

We celebrated my mom's birthday this last weekend.  The original Tea Party Lady would have been 68, and it seemed fitting that we honor her memory with a tea party. 

We're a family that likes to gather and celebrate each and every birthday, and I'm happy to say that it matters not one jot that the person has passed. 

We honored her in style, with full tea party regalia.  I'm sure I felt her at my shoulder as I brought out all the pretty things and laid the table with tablecloth, teapots, cups in saucers and silver teaspoons. 

I brought out mom's special china tea set, which I think is actually meant to be a coffee set because the cups are so small.  More like demitasse, maybe.  No matter, it was perfect for little samplings of tea, since I wasn't sure the family would actually drink the tea!  I figured everybody could try something and if they didn't like it, pour it out and try something else. 

So it was a sort of tea tasting party as well.

We had 3 kinds of tea - Adagio jasmine, IPoT's Darjeeling First Flush, and my special blend, a combination of orange spice and golden yunnan.  My neices seemed to like the Adagio jasmine best.  The blend was the biggest hit.  Good thing I made that in the big pot. 

Even the hubs tried some tea, and he seemed surprised to find himself enjoying it.  He and my brother joked about being "big clod mens at a wymyns tea party".  I was tempted to make them wear lace doilies on their heads in punishment, but I held back.  I did show them how to drink with their pinkies out, however.  Hilarious.   Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that.

Of course there was tea party food. 

We had 7 kinds of tea sandwiches, little tartlets, and plenty of chocolate of course.  Mom was a true chocolate addict.  Oh, and we also had trays of veggies with dip and a fruit platter, more to ease guilt than anything else. 

My SIL has truly mastered the tea sandwich. 

And the little tartlet things she brought were wonderful.  I wish my pictures had turned out better.  Most of them were too dark and blurry to post here. 

I will be posting some of B's recipes soon, and if I can get the energy, I'll try making the tartlets and take some better pictures.  For now, this one will have to suffice.  (Click on any of these pics to get bigger versions.)

As we sipped and munched, we reminisced a bit about my mom.  It's still hard for me here without her.  She was my best friend, healing partner, mother, and sometimes child.  It's hard to believe she's been gone 3 years already.  I miss her a lot. 

She would have enjoyed this little tea party.