Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Chocolate Friday: From Grog to Nog

I bought some white chocolate creme liqueur to try.  Is it too early for a toddy?  Can I sip my lunch? 

Did you know our traditional holiday egg nog began as "Egg and Grog in a Noggin"?  According to Saint Margaret Mary:

... It became customary for a community’s young men to go “wassailing” on New Years Day. They visited the houses of their family, friends and the town’s elite, receiving at each abode a bit of meat and an alcoholic drink. The wealthy benefactors were obliged to share their bounty in order to win the loyalty of the lower class and preserve the social structure, so the young men sang and made merry, becoming more and more inebriated after each visit. The man who completed his holiday rounds was revered by his intoxicated peers.

In this precursor to Christmas caroling, the drink most often served was the Tom and Jerry — a frothy potion made from egg, milk, brandy and spices.

...
Except for holiday wassailing, the drink was confined to the upper class in England; poor London-folk could rarely afford milk. In America, however, farms and dairies were plentiful, and the drink gained popularity and a new name — eggnog.

The word “noggin” was used in 1500s Europe to denote a small, carved wooden drinking vessel, and the word “grog,” often used in Australia, typically denoted a rum-and-water drink. “Egg and grog in a noggin” was a mouthful, and the name was shortened.

Be that as it may, I wanted to share a couple of interesting recipes I found, variations on tradition, to be sure, but interesting none-the-less.  First is a modified recipe, originally posted on about.com's coffee/tea section, for coffee grog.  I added chocolate, a splash of orange flavored vodka, and voila.  Not for the faint of heart.

Chocolate Orange Coffee Grog
3 cups coffee
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup brown sugar
4 ounces melted dark chocolate
2 tbs butter, softened
1/4 tsp cloves, ground
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground
1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
Peel of 1 orange
Peel of 1 lemon
1-2 jiggers orange vodka

Melt chocolate.  Break fruit peels into 6 pieces, each. Place one piece of each into cups. Blend butter, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, chocolate and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix coffee and cream together with the spice mixture.
Serve into 6 cups with whipped topping if desired.

Second, a recipe I haven't tried yet, but it's up next.  Can't remember where the recipe came from.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Chocolate Egg Nog
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chocolate milk
5 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Kahlua (or strong coffee)
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 tsp ground cinammon

Combine milk and chocolate milk in a saucepan and scald (do not boil). In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until thick. Add about 1/2 cup of the hot milk to the egg mixture and mix through. Then stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, and place over low heat.

Add whipping cream and Kahlua. Cook and stir until mixture thickens. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add rum and cinnamon. Let cool and refrigerate until chilled. Serve with a sprinkling of grated chocolate and nutmeg.

There, now you're all ready for Christmas wassailing with grog and nog.  Merry merry!
Don't forget to get your last minute Christmas recipes in to the Carnival!!

Cream Tea

I've mentioned before that I'm a pc gamer.  I'll play almost anything ... well, as long as it doesn't involve shooting or blowing things up.  I like historic stuff, mysteries, puzzlers and fantasy games. 

What has this to do with cream tea, you ask.  Well, this little tidbit showed up in one of my games (Dark Fall: Lights Out) that has a historic setting.  It wasn't a clue, just an interesting aside written on a piece of paper in a drawer.  That's just the kind of detaily thing that drives some gamers nuts but that I love:

Cream Teas

A cream tea is an indulgent version of afternoon tea.  It's a treat that's as popular with tourists as it is with Britons themselves

The gentility of the event comes from the fine china and the ceremony of the tea pouring.  The indulgence comes from the delicacies that go with them.

To accompany their pot of tea, diners eat scones, clotted cream, and ideally home-made strawberry jam.  The scone (pronounced "skon') is a traditional form of baked bun, with a sweet and crumbly texture halfway between bread and cake.  Diners split their scone horizontally, then spread each half with generous helpings of jam and clotted cream.

Clotted cream is a specialty of the South West of England.  The counties of Devon and Cornwall vie with each other over who makes the best - and over how to dress a scone.  Devonians put the jam on top of the cream;  in Cornwall, they put the cream on top of the jam.

I was so tickled to find this in a computer game of all things.  It sparked my "need to know", so I went in search of further info.

The History
The origins of the term "cream tea" are a little muddy.  Cream tea is also sometimes called Devonshire Tea.  Some say that's because of the clotted cream - apparently if you're a true aficionado of clotted cream, there's nothing better than Devonshire clotted cream - but others say it's because the tea-scone-clotted cream-jam tradition started in the county of Devon in England. 

According to Wikipedia:

The name "Devonshire tea", used in Australia, comes from the county of Devon in England, where it is a local speciality, although it is disputed that this type of tea is original to Devon. Indeed many people call it a Cornish cream tea. In Cornwall, however, it is traditionally served with a split, a type of soft white bread roll, rather than a scone (although most commercially-served cream teas come with scones, even in Cornwall). The Cornish traditionally always put the cream on top of the jam, whereas in other parts of the country the jam is often put on top of the cream.

One variation to a cream tea is called Thunder and Lightning which consists of a round of bread, topped with Clotted Cream and Golden Syrup. In this case, even the Cornish put the cream on the bread first to stop the syrup passing right through.

But this article may answer the question as to origins - Local historians in Tavistock, a town in West Devon, while studying ancient manuscripts, discovered that cream tea originated with the monks of Tavistock's Benedictine Abbey in 981 AD.  The monks rewarded local workers who were helping to restore the abbey with bread, clotted cream and strawberry preserves.  Voila!  Cream tea was born.

Here's something interesting: Lots of places serve "cream tea", but how do you know if it's an authentic cream tea?  Check this list.

What IS Clotted Cream?
I was wondering about making my own clotted cream just for grins, so I started investigating how it's made.  Answers.com says it's a thick cream made primarily in England by heating milk until a layer of cream forms on its surface that is then cooled and skimmed off.

...made by gently heating rich, unpasteurized milk until a semisolid layer of cream forms on the surface. After cooling, the thickened cream is removed. Clotted cream can be spread on bread or spooned atop fresh fruit or desserts.

A reasonable facsimile may be made by combining two parts whole milk with one part whipping (heavy) cream, heating at the very lowest possible heat for a couple of hours until a skin forms, leaving it undisturbed overnght, and then harvesting the skin and its underclots—one may do whatever one likes with the remaining milk.

I think I'll just buy me some good Devonshire clotted cream, that's what I think.  I'm still mostly a one-dot cook, or two-dot at the most.  And lazy to boot.

Many thanks to Tom at Tea Room Appreciators for the use of two of their cream tea photos!

Chocolate From Days Gone By

I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I'm determined not to miss another Chocolate Friday.

Yesterday I went in search of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management and found a wonderful resource for old and out of print books online: Project Gutenberg.  Some of them are complete html with illustrations and everything.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Beeton's was only available in plain text, and something called Plucker, and the text only was sadly sans pics, but I downloaded it anyway. 

I love this kind of stuff.  I love peeking in on days gone by and seeing how they lived and what they valued.  The other great find was this: Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Home Made Candy Recipes, by Miss Parloa and Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill. 

This is an amazing collection of chocolate recipes from different women, collected and presented with a few pictures and lots of references and definitions and explanations.  I can't seem to find the original publish date, but both women were born in the mid 1800's so I guess somewhere in the 1880's.  I've only browsed through 20 or so of the recipes, but I feel as if I stumbled on a gold mine.  A chocolate gold mine.  I know, it's public domain type material, and this isn't the only source, but this is MY first discovery of it so let me enjoy the special moment.

I can see there might be a small problem finding modern day replacements for some of the ingredients.  Since the book was written/compiled for Walter Baker & Co., most of the recipes call for specific Baker products.  Since Walter Baker & Co was absorbed into the Kraft General Foods Corp. in 1927, some of its products are still being made.  But I suppose there are sources now for just about any choco/cocoa products that could be used as substitutions.

Anyway, this is where I'm going to start.  Fudge was my mom's favorite thing, and I'm hoping to serve these for our Mother's Day gathering, in honor of my favorite woman.

Cocoa Fudge

½ a cup of milk
3 level tablespoonfuls of butter
2 ½ cups of powdered sugar,
6 tablespoonfuls of Baker's Cocoa
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

Mix all ingredients together but vanilla; cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to boil, then cook slowly, stirring occasionally, eight or ten minutes, or until it makes a firm ball when dropped in cold water. When cooked enough, add the vanilla and beat until it seems like very cold molasses in winter. Pour into a buttered pan; when firm, cut in squares. Great care must be taken not to beat too much, because it cannot be poured into the pan, and will not have a gloss on top.

Tea and Roses

"Yet, O thou beautiful rose!
queen rose
so fair and sweet.
What were lover
or crown to thee,
without the clay at thy feet?"
~ Julia C R Dorr

I've always wondered at the association between tea and roses.  In my mind it's an English association, accompanied by images of beautiful English gardens, filled with lavender and fountains and winding walks and well-tended roses.  At the far end of the garden sits a small white gazebo shading a small table, laid with silver and china set for tea.  The pattern on the china - roses of course.  And in the center of the table sits a small vase, filled to overflowing with ... roses! 

Lovely imagery.  When I need a peaceful place inside, that's where I go.

I can't quite recreate that here in my desert abode.  But for today at least, I am surrounded by roses. 

Four of my five rose bushes are joyously blooming.  This sweet baby at the left is one of my favorites, and the scent she produces is heavenly. 

To complete the rose-scensual experience, I'm sipping a delicious tea from Portsmouth Tea Company called Rose Congo.  It's actually a black tea, scented/flavored with roses, and there are little bits of rose petals mixed into the tea leaves.  It's delicious, both in smell and taste.  Very delicate.  I feel ... wrapped up in roses.

Rose Hip Tea
Most "rose tea" is a black tea flavored or scented with rose petals.  There is actually no such thing as rose tea, not if you're going to be precise, but you can make your own adding dried rose petals to any tea of your choice.  You can also make a tasty (and healthy) tisane out of rose hips.  The best kind of rose for this purpose, according to GardenGuides' Growing and Harvesting Rose Hips is called Rugosa.  It's blooms aren't quite as full as some roses, but it produces a nice big fat fruit when it's done blooming that is higher in vitamin C than an orange, and also high in antioxidants!  Check the article for tips on growing, harvesting, and preparing the "hips", plus a recipe for Rose Hip Marmalade.  If you can't grow your own, here is one source for buying rose hips online. 

The Tea Rose
"Tea Rose" was originally the name for a rose that smelled like tea, first introduced to the world in 1867.  According to the Old Garden Rose Primer: Tea roses are small to medium-sized plants to 4 feet tall.  Some have good "hybrid tea" form, like Catherine Mermet (1869), but most open flat and full like Sombreuil (1850), one of the great exhibition OGR's. Teas are generally known for their large blooms on weak stems which cause the bloom to "droop." These roses are believed to be a cross between Rosa chinensis and Rosa gigantea, where the alleged "tea" scent came from.

Rose / Tea Recipes
You can flavor almost anything using rose petals and/or rose water.  If you love roses, you might want to try some of these recipes to go with your rose tea:

• Rose-Petal Butter & Rose-Petal Sandwiches
  Put a layer of Red Rose-petals in the bottom of a jar or covered dish, put in 4 OZ. of fresh butter wrapped in waxed paper. Cover with a thick layer of rose-petals. Cover closely and leave in a cool place overnight. The more fragrant the roses, the finer the flavour imparted. Cut bread in thin strips or circles, spread each with the perfumed butter and place several petals from fresh Red Roses between the slices, allowing edges to show. Violets or Clover blossoms may be used in place of Roses.  From botanical.com
• Crystallized Roses - I'm not sure if this recipe from botanical.com is to be eaten, or just used to decorate other things. 
• Candied Rose Petals - Whisk egg whites in small bowl until foamy. Using pastry brush, brush rose petals on both sides with egg whites; sprinkle on both sides with sugar. Dry on nonstick rack at least 6 hours or overnight. These you CAN eat.  from Valentine's Crafts (see also recipe for Persian Love Cake, which has rose-scented whipped cream in the center)
• Berries with Rose Petal Cream from Daily Recipes
• Rose Macaroons and Rose Petal Iced Tea in today's Kitchen Crafts Newsletter - how serendipitous is that?
• Rose Petal Potpourri - From botanical.com
• Rose Petal Recipes - From Tea Rose Lane
• Recipes for a Summer Rose Tea Party - includes a recipe for rose petal scones
• Rose Petal Recipes - an amazing collection of rose petal menus and recipes from The Joy of Soup to help you plan your very special brunch, tea, or dinner for Mother's Day.  All made with rose petals.  Go see.  Now.

Tea & Roses Miscellania

A Place Apart.  According to the folklore of tea, once upon a time a lady was not allowed to socialize unescorted except in her rose garden. It was here women met, unrestricted by social rules of etiquette, to speak freely amongst the roses. From Seeds of Knowledge

Tea leaves are good for roses. Apparently tea leaves sprinkled under your rose bushes will give them a new lease on life in mid-summer. Tea provides tannic acid, which roses love. From 101 Uses for Tea

Tea & Roses Newsletter: a full-color quarterly newsletter featuring articles about tea rooms, tea parties, tea tasting, the history, health, and science of tea, and many more tea-related topics, plus a Rose of the Month. So says their website.  But you gotta pay.  Bummer.

Make your own rose water! Be sure to use rose petals from flowers that you have not been treated with pesticides. Gather the petals from three or four roses and place them in a saucepan with a pint of water. Heat gently until the roses become transparent, but do not allow them to boil.  Let the mixture cool, then strain through a sieve into a jug, pushing the petals with your fingers to extract all of the liquid.  Place rose water in a spray bottle and refrigerate. Use as a cooling spray on face or neck or in recipes.  Will keep for a week or more in the refrigerator.  from Old Fashioned Living.

A Red Red Rose...  In Ancient Greece and Rome it was believed that roses were all originally white until Venus, the goddess of love, pricked her foot on a rose thorn as she hurried to save her imperiled lover. A drop of her sacred blood fell on the rose petals and dyed it forever red.

Rewriting History... The 15th Century conflict between the English royal houses of York and Lancaster is known as the War of the Roses because the men of York supposedly wore a white rose as their badge while those of Lancaster wore a red rose. In fact, Lancaster didn't adopt the red rose as its badge until the wars were over.

National Floral Emblem   In 1986 Congress adopted the rose as the official flower of the United States, despite Senator E. Dirkson's long campaign for the marigold.

Now quit sitting at your computer and go out and smell the roses!!

Beef & Guinness Stew

Yeah, but is it Irish?  Well, if this ever was a traditional Irish recipe, it isn't anymore.  It originated here, but without potatoes.  Now, I ask you, how can you have Irish Stew without potatoes?  And when I added the potatoes, there wasn't enough liquid/stew-juice, so I added water and more beer, and some flour to thicken it up.  It was delish.  If you ask me, an excellent stew.  But again, traditional Irish?  Prolly not.  Except in spirit.

Traditional Irish Stew was made with sheep.  Mutton or lamb - but the thought of eating cute little fuzzy lamb just turns me off.  (Now, how I can stand to eat cow once in a while, but I can't eat lamb, you might ask?  I don't know.  I'm weird.)  Anyway, according to about.com

Irish stew, "ballymaloe" or "stobhach gaelach" as it is called in Gaelic, is traditionally made of lamb or mutton (less tender sheep over two years of age), potatoes, onions, and parsley.

So, basically the "tradition" was ... use what you have on hand, in this case, sheep and potatoes.  The original recipe has evolved, but remained true to tradition in one respect - folx continued to make stew using what they had on hand.  When they couldn't get lamb, they used beef.  When they couldn't get potatoes, they used parsnips, carrots, or barley.  Or all of the above.  The original Irish stew was a thick and hearty meal, meant to keep a body warm and on your feet for many hours of hard work. 

Beef & Guinness Stew
2 pounds lean stewing beef
3 tbsp oil
5 tbsp flour 
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 large onion, sliced
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp tomato puree dissolved in 4 tbsp water
1 1/2 - 2 cups Guinness stout beer
2 cups carrots, sliced diagonally
4 large potatoes, sliced into chunks

Prepare the meat - Cut meat into cubes about 2 inches square.  Toss in a bowl with 1 tbsp oil.  In a small bowl, stir together 2 tbsp flour, salt and pepper.  Sprinkle over meat and toss.  Heat remaining oil in a skillet over high heat.  Brown the meat on all sides.  Add onion slices (I like them long and thin), crushed garlic and tomato puree to the pan.  Cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a large casserole dish or stovetop pan, depending on how you plan to cook the stew.  If using a casserole dish, preheat oven to 300°.

Now for the beer - This is what really makes the flavor of this stew.  Pour about 1/3 cup of the Guinness into the meat pan.  Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the caramelized meat juices on the pan.  Pour this over the meat along with the remaining Guinness. 

In a separate bowl add 3 tbsp flour to 1 1/2 cups cold water.  Whisk until flour is dissolved, then pour over the meat.  Stir in with the beer and juices.  Add potatoes and carrots to the pan, and stir. 

If using the stovetop method, cover the pan and leave on low-medium heat to simmer until the meat is tender and the potatoes are soft - about 2-3 hours.  If using the oven, cover the casserole dish and leave in oven about the same amount of time.  Taste about 1/2 way through, and add salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with Irish Soda Bread for a completely wonderful taste experience.

For more Irish Stew recipes:
* Crockpot Irish Stew
* Ballymaloe Irish Stew
* Glens of Antrim Irish Stew

Irish Soda Bread

Many years ago I went with some friends to an Irish pub to listen to some Celtic music and have a bite to eat.  The Irish friend we went with swore the soda bread that came with the stew was as authentic as he had ever tasted.  I'd never had or even heard of soda bread, but it was truly delicious.  So I went back to the kitchen and bothered the old cook until he agreed to jot down the recipe.  He seemed kind of surprised by my request.  He said it was just "regular ol' soda bread". 

All these years later, I finally pulled that old scrap of paper out of my recipe box and tried it out.  It was badly written - more of a scribble really - and it was smudged with god-knows-what from the kitchen.  I've got several of these kinds of scraps-of-paper in my recipe box ... things I want to try but don't want to write out properly until I've tested the recipe.

Now that I've tried it and my memory has been confirmed (the bread is delish!), this recipe for "regular ol' soda bread" has been transferred to a place of honor on a regular ol' recipe card. 

As an FYI, I found many recipes on the net for Irish soda bread, and lots of them seem to treat this as a dessert bread.  Although this recipe does have sugar in it, the old cook confided to me quietly that it's not supposed to have sweetener, and the traditional soda bread probably wouldn't have had butter either.  Certainly not raisins or yeast or some of the other things some people put in it.  This is not a dessert bread.  It's dense and hearty.  You could serve it with butter and jam for afternoon tea, or with eggs for brunch, but it goes particularly well with stew or soup, especially if you're like me and you like to have something bready to sop with.

For more on the history and traditions of soda bread, check out the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.

On with the recipe!

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Beat the egg in a separate bowl, then mix in butter and buttermilk.  Add wet mixture to dry, stirring with a spoon, and then mixing with your hands.  Knead about 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface.

Traditional Irish recipes usually shape the dough into a round, but I opted for the bread pans.  Shape the dough into a large log, divide in two and place in greased bread pans.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. 

Serve with Irish stew (that'll be tomorrow's post!) or hearty soup.

Here are some alternative recipes you might want to try:
* Traditional Soda Bread Recipes - from the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread
* Grannie Foster's Soda Bread - this recipe - claims to be the authentic one - uses a skillet
* Family Fun's Irish Soda Bread - for the sweeter kind

Chocolate Friday: The Mayan Magic

Like most chocolate addicts, when the movie Chocolat came out, I wanted to know just what was in that magical chocolate drink Vianne made that turned Armande into a real live girl again.  I wished I had a recipe like that, to use on the Curmudgeons and the Irascibles in my life.  Cranky old farts really just need some cheering up with chocolate.

Well, now I'm a cranky old fart, and dammit, I need some cheering up.  So, I went in search of the recipe to see if there even was such a thing, since the Mayans themselves have disappeared.

As it turns out, there is no definitive recipe.  Nothing written in hieroglyphs on any wall or pot.  Unfortunately.  But my search did turn up some interesting stuff. 

The Mayan people were drinking chocolate as a beverage of some kind as far back as 2600 years ago, according to residue found in a ceramic "tea pot" at the Mayan site of Rio Azul in northeastern Guatemala.  Shown left is one of three spouted vessels from Colha in Northern Belize that was found to contain a cacao residue. The spouted vessel dates to between 600 B.C. and A.D. 250.

But some historians believe the origins of chocolate go back even further:

Michael Coe, co-author of The True History of Chocolate, believes based on a slew of evidence, some linguistic, that the roots of chocolate go much further back to the great Olmec civilization, which preceded the Maya.

"The Maya derived a lot of their high culture from the Olmec," said Coe, also professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale. "Even the word 'cacao' is not a native Maya word—it's Olmec." The Olmec lived in the southern Gulf of Mexico between 1500 and 500 B.C., and their influence extended to Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and El Salvador

Mayan life may have been echoing the Olmec culture, but it seems they took chocolate to a whole new level in their own.  Chocolate was part of every meal, although not in the sweet form we think of today.  And chocolate "beans" were used as money.  According to this site, a handful of cacao beans could buy you a slave!

In searching for the historical recipe, it's helpful to look at present day recipes.  Barbara Fash, professor in Harvard's department of Anthropology says that

today, descendants of the early Maya still offer cacao to the gods, leaving their gifts in caves. Mostly however, chocolate has become a common item, but retains much of its earlier flavor. Fash describes tiste -- a chocolate drink she has had in Copán, Honduras, where Harvard's cacao pot was crafted many centuries before. This is a powdered mixture of toasted cacao, toasted maize, sugar, cinnamon and achiote which provides a red color. This mixture is ground into a powder and then added to milk or water.  Mole, a Mexican chocolate sauce served over chicken, also contains chile and cinnamon, the ancient mainstays.

These recipes may carry some remnant of the past, hand-me-down elements that provide the foundation for many of the recipes I found.  Some of these sound pretty true to the mark, but I'm going to try them all to see which I like best.

• Tallyrand's Culinary Fare describes how to make your own chocolate, roasting, grinding and all, plus includes 2 recipes they call Mayan "xocoatl" and Aztec "Cacahuatl". 
• What's Cooking America has a recipe that sounds very authentic. 
• Native Foods' Mayan Hot Chocolate is a simpler recipe, worth a try
• Andreas.com has a Mayan Hot Cocoa recipe inspired by the movie Chocolat, and resulting from much experimentation.  A definite possibility.

I'll let you know what I think of these various recipes after I've given them all a try, so check back later for updates.  I'm off to the grocery store now for ingredients (and a double latte!!).

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not ready for it to be a new year already.  I think we should adopt the Mayan tradition and celebrate the new year in July.  Did you know the French used to celebrate it on March 25, until 1582, when they finally adopted the "reformed" calendar? That would be fine with me, I'd have another few months to slouch around.

Oh well.  It's here, whether I'm ready or not.  Time for looking back, and for planning ahead.  A time for making fresh starts.  I wondered who it was that started all this New Year's Resolution stuff anyway.  According to infoplease.com's New Year's page:

It is believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year's resolutions, and people all over the world have been breaking them ever since. The early Christians believed the first day of the new year should be spent reflecting on past mistakes and resolving to improve oneself in the new year.

Lord.  A friend of ours declined to join our New Year's gluttony and debauchery this evening.  She's going to spend the night all by herself, reflecting, ruminating, revising and resolving.  Criminy, what a waste of a good Saturday night.

Ok, ok, I'll do a list.  But this year I'm going to be realistic about it.  I usually set impossible goals, try to climb ginormous mountains, and give up after a few weeks.  Why set myself up for failure yet again?

My 2006 New Year's Resolutions
1. Drink more good coffee
2. Drink at least one new flavor/kind of tea every month
3. Try a new decadent chocolate recipe at least once a month
4. Have a splendiferous fancy schmancy tea party once a month
5. See one new release movie each month
6. Do some exercises and yoga ... sometime or other
7. Eat something healthy ... once in a while, when I feel like it
8. Stop judging myself or comparing myself to others
9. Spend more quality time with my inner child
10. Do something creative - often

Now, there's a list I can live with. 

So, my friends and relations, here's a tip of the cup to you and yours.  I wish you all the best of all possible futures, and the warmest possible memories, for "auld lang syne".

New Year's History & Traditions:
   * http://www.fathertimes.net/traditions.htm
   * http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm
   * http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearcelebrations.html

China's Tea & Horse Road

Ran across this article on Tea Talk stating that a new section of the ancient Tea & Horse road has been found.  At least I think that's what it said.  I tried to access the news source, but I can't read Chinese, so I'm SOL.  A quick search on the net turned up lots of stuff about the Tea & Horse Road, but nothing recent about a leg rediscovered.

This is a fascinating bit of history.  According to The Silk Road Foundation:

"Few people have realized how vast and unprecedented this sudden expansion of caravan traffic between India and China was, or how important. It was a unique and spec-tacular phenomenon. No complete story has yet been written about it, but it will always live in my memory as one of the great adventures of mankind. Moreover, it demonstrated to the world very convincingly that, should all modern means of com-munication and transpor-tation be destroyed by some atomic cataclysm, the humble horse, man’s oldest friend, is ever ready to forge again a link between scattered peoples and nations" [Goullart 1955: 88].

Some of the towns and villages along the road have been listed among the most important international sites for historic preservation.  And apparently quite a few tourists are drawn to travel the Tea & Horse Caravan each year.  Looks like a mighty long trek.  All the way from Southern China to India?  Maybe they're just visiting portions with key villages. 

I found a coupla sites offering guided tours.   This one has one called "25 day TEA HORSE ROAD EXPEDITION", and it's got a warning on it: "This is a long and winding journey on challenging and dangerous unpaved roads". I don't mind challenging roads. As long as I can stop for a cuppa tea along the way.  This one's definitely going on my travel itinerary.

Coffee de Mexico for Cinco de Mayo

CdM for CdM.  Today it's Mexican Coffee, in honor of Cinco de Mayo (that's today, the 5th of May).  Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates a victory by Mexican troops in La Batalla de Puebla, not Mexican Independence Day, as is often mistakenly believed.

I didn't know that until a few days ago. I feel some chagrin about my ignorance, having lived in the southwestern U.S. for the last 20 years where Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more vigorously even than St. Patty's Day.  I should have known that. I'm afraid I've been pretty much in the same vein as most Americans, viewing Cinco de Mayo as an excuse to indulge in Mexican beer and tequila.