Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

CTC in the Movies: Howards End

Howards End, adapted from E. M. Forster's 1910 novel Howards End, is one of the few movies I can watch over and over again and never tire of. I am endlessly fascinated by one facet or another. Sometimes I can only think of the story and the characters. Sometimes I turn the sound off entirely and just enjoy the fashion, architecture and customs of an era gone by.

Today I focus only on the tea moments. 

Howards End deals with the struggles of 3 families in different classes.  Forster's epigraph in the novel aptly condenses the story into two words -- "Only connect".  The characters in the story are all dealing with the class differences and attitudes that prevent true connectedness, each in their own way. 

My first tea moment illustrates those differences rather nicely.

The Schlegel family having tea in a truly scrumptuous setting.  I just love the muted colors throughout the movie, but this tea table just sings with comfortable gentility.  Lovely, but not regal; fine but not off-putting. 

Except to poor Leoard Bast, who arrives, desperate to retrieve his mistakenly pilfered umbrella, and is swooped in upon by the sisters Schlegel and offered tea, scones, a plate, a cup, etc. 

Their offers of hospitality are apparently overwhelming to a man unaccustomed to fine things.   He feels awkward and uncomfortable to the point where he cannot speak and cannot accept their offers. His sense of his own inferiority prevents him from being able to make a connection in spite of their obvious efforts to bridge the gap.

Eventually he makes an awkward escape and goes back to his own realm where the tea has been laid and his Jacky is waiting.

The contrast between the settings, the company, the food, is all too blaring and seems to only reinforce the class division he feels. 

There are so many wonderful tea moments in this movie, it's difficult to pick and choose which to share here.  The next few photos are offered mostly because I'm enamored of the china.

This lovely tea set appears at the Shlegel's aunt Juley's breakfast table at the very beginning of the movie.

The pattern looks like a delicate ivy leaf in a pale sage green. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the make or what this style is called.  But I seriously covet it.

 
Another colorful china pattern is shown here in a scene that takes place at Howards End, where the Wilcox family discusses the future of the property over tea. 

Do we assume that since the Wilcoxes are in a class above, this china reflects their status? I don't like it as well as Aunt Juley's china, but it's interesting.

My last tea moment offering is a repeat of the Schlegel's tea table, later in the film when Leonard comes to tea, invited by the sisters who are intent on doing him some good. I love the contrast between this scene and the earlier one. He has so obviously prepared carefully for the event, arriving dressed and combed and armed with his very best manners. 

As a side note - for those who are interested I found this blog post: DerekMDesign: Peppard Cottage revisited which is definitely worth a peek-in. There are some wonderful photos and anecdotes about Peppard Cottage where Howards End was filmed. A lovely place.

Fat & Fruity French Toast

This was by far and away the BEST french toast I've ever had.  I can't think of anything that would have made it better.  Except maybe a mimosa and a slice of bacon on the plate, but ... one can't have everything.  I had a big cuppa home roasted coffee and that was enough.

The original recipe can be found HERE. My version is below.

Fat and Fruity French Toast

   * 1 loaf Chompie's Kosher Challah
  * Strawberry jam
  * 4 oz. Cream cheese
  * 1 cup whipped topping
  * 1 tbsp sugar
  * 1 tsp orange extract
  * 1 tbsp butter
  * 6 large eggs
  * 1/4 cup milk
  * 1 cup sliced strawberries

NOTE: If you can't find the Chompie's Challah, you could substitute King's Hawaiian Bread. An unsliced loaf of french bread will do in a pinch, but Chompie's and King's breads are both slightly sweet, and IMO, the best choice.

Slice the bread into 2 to 3-inch thick pieces. Then slice horizontally down the center of each piece, almost to the bottom. Don't slice clean through, but leave bread attached at the base. This is pretty easy to do with the Challah.

 Mix together the cream cheese, whipped topping, sugar and orange extract in a bowl until creamy. Separate out about 1/4 of the mixture for topping later.

Open the bread section and spread a thick layer of strawberry jam on one side, cream cheese mixture on the other. Press sides together, making a cream cheese / jam sandwich.

In a frying pan, melt butter. In a large bowl, beat eggs together with the milk. If you're using french bread, you might want to add a little amaretto extract to flavor the egg mixtures. Dip the sections of bread into the egg, thoroughly coating each side. Place into the frying pan and brown on each side.

I also tipped the sections up on end to brown the sides a bit.

Serve with a dollop of cream cheese topping and strawberries. Trust me, syrup is not necessary. :)

 

Enjoy!

Salvador Dali Does Chocolate

A friend posted this on facebook this morning, I just had to share it here:

 

Perfect Summer Parfait

I have to go to the doctor today, and it's going to be hotter than Hades out there. I needed something to reward myself with when I get back. These lovely treats will be waiting for me in the fridge. I may eat more than one!

This recipe started out as a Citrus-y Parfait but I absolutely HAD to include my favorite cherries -- tis the season for rainier cherries - plump, pretty and perfectly delicious -- and I'm so glad I did because the citrus bite is nicely mellowed by the soft cherry flavor.

Parfait is a French word meaning, literally, PERFECT. In France, it usually means a frozen dessert made of sugar syrup, egg, and cream. Here in the U.S. we use the term to mean a glass or bowl filled with layered stuff. Not necessarily pudding or fruit or gelatin. Not necessarily cold. We're really good at co-opting food and turning it into something else. :)

There are tons of parfait recipes out there, but I opted to just make up my own using all my favorite flavors.

As I've said MANY times, I'm a lazy git, and I usually go for the one-dot recipes.  For the layers of citrus in my parfait, I used lime and lemon filling from Private Selection.    But if you want to make your own, I've included an easy recipe below.

There are several layers in this parfait, all made separately:

• the graham cracker crust, similar to pie crust but with my own flavor addition
• diced fruit
• cream cheese whipped cream layers
• pudding / curd layers

Don't be put off by that, this is a really easy dessert. The hardest part is not licking the spoon.

PERFECT SUMMER CITRUS PARFAIT
Makes 4-6 parfait depending on the size of the container

Graham Cracker crumb layer:
I think this is the best part. You can mash up your own graham crackers, or buy them already crushed. Stir together with a spoon:
  * 1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
  * 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
  * 2 tbsp sugar
  * 3 tbsp almond pie filling or almond paste. Substitute almond extract if need be.

Cream cheese / whipped topping:
Mix together in a bowl (mine still had tiny lumps but I didn't care!)
  * 4 oz. cream cheese
  * 1 cup whipped topping
  * 1 tbsp sugar
  * 1 tsp orange extract
  * 2 tbsp syrup / juice from mandarin oranges

Lemon and Key Lime filling:
As I said above, I like to take the easy way. I found jars of Private Selection Key Lime and Lemon fillings at my grocery store. I highly recommend them, but if you can't find them, or just prefer to make your own, this recipe was given to me by my friend Linda:
Mix together well
  * 4 Lg egg yolks
  * 1/2 lime juice or lemon juice
  * 1 tsp grated lime or lemond zest
  * 3/4 cup heavy cream
  * 14 oz Eagle condensed milk

Since this is for key lime pie, the instructions are to bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. You could then pour this mixture into a jar and refrigerate. There's also my SiL's recipe for Microwave Lemon Curd that would work nicely here.

Dice 6-8 ounces mandarin oranges, cherries, or other fruit of your choice.

Ready, Set, Layer!
Spoon layers of all ingredients into glasses or cups. Graham cracker mixture can be used on the bottom, but also layered throughout.

Top with a layer of the cream cheese/whipped topping, and a few slices of fruit. Serve immediately or set in refrigerator until ready to eat.

 

I used champagne glasses for my parfait. I recommend a glass or cup that's not too tall and not too narrow. Too narrow and you'll have trouble getting your layers in. Too tall and you won't be able to finish eating all this sooper rich stuff. :)

Oh So Many New Things!

Tootin this horn that belongs to me. :) 

In the process of trying to clean up my sidebar links, my housekeeping project turned into much much more than I had planned.  I'm still a bit mystified by all this social networking stuff, but I'm trying to catch up to the world.  Even if I am still running behind, I can see all your heinies ahead of me now, bouncing along in the summer sun. 

So here's some of my new stuff:

I'm finally on Facebook. I've created a page just for my coffee/tea/chocolate obsession. Please drop by and say hi.

I've also created an account on FoodBuzz.com, another social networking site for foodies. I'm still kicking around the kitchen there.

 

Now, about those links... I decided to just scrap the old list and start from scratch. It was sooooo depressing to see so many broken links - like dead blog friends, gone forever from the blogosphere. Gone to blog heaven? Sigh.

I've created a couple of new pages for links, which should be easier to manage. I hope. You'll notice these new buttons on the sidebar. They take you directly to the links pages for coffee, tea and chocolate. There is also a category for foodies but I got tired of making buttons. Heh.

I'm slowly adding links to these pages.  If you have a blog or website that you want to suggest please use this form to send me your suggestion.

Let's see, anything else? Oh yeah, new photo album here: Coffee, Tea, Chocolate Pics. I haven't deleted my Flickr albums, just trying something new.

Ok, I think I'm done tooting. I know, I know, where's the Beano?

Housekeeping Needed

I guess I've been gone too long.  It looks like more than half of my favorite links are now dead.  What happened to all the bloggers?

I'll be doing a bit of tidying up over the next week or so, removing old links and hopefully adding some new ones.  Feel free to suggest or recommend.

To start, I'd like to draw your attention to this post on FoodBuzz:  Chai! Chai!! Koffee! Koffee!! 

Now, the Koffee Koffee seems to be a mere mention, but the author has two recipes for making your own Chai - a variation on tea that usually doesn't actually involve or include tea leaves.  Heh.

I decided to start a FoodBuzz account (find me HERE), then I realized that many of my posts were already there on a sort of anonymous account... TWICE.  So now I'm there twice, once officially and twice unofficially! lol!!  If I could figure out how to claim the unofficial ones I would, but I seem to have gotten dumber over the last year.

Easy Microwave Chocolate Chip Bars

Breakfast of Champions!

My momma always said (while trying to make me eat my spinach YUK!) -- "when you're a grown up you can eat whatever you want..."

I have taken that to heart in a big way. I eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Whenever I can get them. :) It's a serious pain that I live in one of the hottest parts of the country and have to fret about using the oven to bake. But it does spur me to look for good substitute recipes that won't turn my whole house into an oven.

This recipe for microwave chocolate chip cookies originated here. I modified it a little, firstly because I had no bisquick and secondly because I had no microwave-safe cookie sheet.

First, about Bisquick -- I actually had no idea what was in Bisquick, so I Google'd it and found two substitute recipes as well as a wealth of info.

Wikipedia says: According to General Mills, Bisquick was born when one of their sales executives met a train dining car chef in 1930 who mixed lard and the dry ingredients for biscuits ahead of time. The recipe was adapted, using hydrogenated oil, thus eliminating the need for refrigeration (Sesame oil was originally used as a preservative, identified on the box as "Ingredient S" over the years), and officially introduced on grocers' shelves in 1931.

Huh.

Anyway, Wikipedia also offers this as a substitute for one cup of Bisquick:

• one cup of flour
• 1½ teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of oil or melted butter

Here's another substitute recipe from CopyKat Recipes, but it's for a much larger amount:

• 10 C. Flour
• 3/8 C. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Cream of Tartar
• 1 1/4 C. Powdered Milk
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
• 1/4 C. Sugar
• 1 lb. Crisco shortening
• Store in an airtight container. This will last approximately a month.

So, there ya go, if you have no Bisquick, you're not SoL. Now having said all that, here's the promised recipe:

Breakfast of Champions Microwave Chocolate Chip Bars

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup Bisquick or substitute
3/4 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup chopped nuts (if desired)

Mix oil, eggs, vanilla and brown sugar till creamy. Mix in Bisquick. Using a spoon fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Pour mixture into a 6x9 inch greased, microwave-safe casserole dish.

Microwave on medium until cooked through (knife will pull out mostly clean.) Cooking times will vary depending on your microwave. I cooked mine for 10 minutes, stopping every 2-3 minutes to check.

Note: You can make these as regular flat cookies. The risk of overcooking and getting ugly brittle cookies is pretty high, so watch them carefully! I tried making cookies first, pouring a little of the batter into the bottom of the cooking dish. As you can see from the pic here, they were ok, nuked 3 minutes, but the thick bars were SOOOO much better.

Pick your poison - chewy or crunchy. It's hard to go wrong with chocolate chip recipes! :)

Coffee Health Benefits

I just love this kind of video/sound byte -- great visuals, short, sweet, to the point, and a narrator with a lovely British accent.

Slice of Heaven

 

Lovely cup, big, deep, thin-rimmed, filled with double shot espresso made from freshly roasted beans, topped by a layer of foam and a sprinkle of cocoa.

 

Great way to start the day!!!

The Rarest of Teas

Tea aficionados will tell you that the hundreds of teas available on the market today fall into one of six main categories: Green tea, White tea, Scented tea, Oolong tea, Black tea, and Puer tea.

There is one very rare tea in a class all by itself, and you almost never hear of it -- yellow tea.

These categories are defined by how the teas are made / processed.  According to Seven Cups:

"the process for making yellow tea is time consuming and difficult. Thus for the thousand kinds of green tea, there are only three kinds of yellow tea that survive today."

And apparently, because of the time and cost involved, many yellow teas are now being produced using green tea processing techniques.  So how to know if you're actually drinking a TRUE yellow tea?  And why bother?

Like white tea, yellow tea is very lightly oxidized. It has all the health qualities of green tea - and possibly better than green tea because yellow tea is felt to be easier on the stomach than green tea - but doesn't have the green "grassy" taste of green tea.  The taste is milder, and is often described as being somewhere between white and green tea with a flowery, fresh aroma.

This I have to try.

The Seven Cups website has a tea shop with several yellow teas.  I like a website that offers a ton of good information along with hard to find teas.  Trust factor goes up, willingness to part with dollarettes goes up. 

For more information, try:

Seven Cups: About Yellow Tea

Yellow Tea Guide