A day to remember

Look what I found! An old blog post never posted. Reading it over, it was a good thing I forgot to post it. I was truly down during that couple months and I had no qualms grumbling about it in writing. The only thing that I will share (besides the recipes), in retrospect it is the funny crème de la crème eyebrow raising, wanna-jump-off-a-bridge experience of my late spring, is this:

My day off turned me into emergency dental crisis assistant. I drove a friend to her oral surgeon in the far west suburbs. I took care of all the paperwork, payment and scheduling. After all these good little deeds, the middle aged dental assistant told me, "Your daughter is ready to leave". Excuse me? I have been mistaken as my 30-year old friend's mother!

My jaw dropped and my friend's jaw would have dropped had she been able to move hers. Granted, I am old enough to be someone's mother, maybe a teenage-someone's mother if I really wanted to be a young mom. After a long pause and both my friend and me changing hues between white, pink and red, I stated "I am not anyone's mother."

But, everything that got me down then is in the past. And these were some of the drinks (no, not wine) that obviously got me through it.

Blueberry Honey Chai

1 container Knudsen's Blueberry Juice

Same amount of water

5 Scoops of Metropolis Chai (chunky combination of aromatic spices and black tea)

Lemon Honey (from my Italy vacation)

Heat the water. Steep chai in heated water. Mix in a little honey, let cool and pour equal amounts of tea and blueberry nectar into containers and refrigerate.

Rose LemonLimeade

Tried and true -
helped me rise above and re-center my energy and focus

Juice of 4 lemons and 4 limes

2 quarts of hot water

A handful of rosebuds (can get in the bulk spice/herb section at natural food store)

Agave nectar to sweeten

Combine all ingredients into containers. I just keep the rose petals in the drink – looks great in the bottle.

Hibiscus pomegranate orange made the cloudy days just a little brighter.

A handful of dried hibiscus flowers (I order from ranchgordo)

1 quart of hot water

1.5 liters of pomegranate juice (POM is rich and tasty; but I have neighborhood Middle Eastern groceries to support)

Juice of 4 large juice oranges

Steep hibiscus in hot water, can remove flowers or retain. Cool. Combine equal portions hibiscus tisane, orange and pomegranate juices.

Jasmine Rose Nutmeg Green Tea

I am loving nutmeg right now and both jasmine and rose gently nudge the body's qi to keep on movin'

For one nightly cup:

1 tsp jasmine green tea

2 rosebuds

A scraping of nutmeg (or a pinch of powder)

Steep in a mug of hot water and enjoy

Friends are great, aren’t they?

That was my thought for the evening. Despite humidity that just won’t go away, I made hot tea. Not just any tea, but the green tea anemone. The anemone is the performance artist of green tea. Several leaves are bound together. Dry, it is a tight ball of tea leaves. Toss it into hot water and watch it perform. I guess it provides a moment for de-stressing, even a ritual. Not quite the ritual of a tea ceremony, but it was exactly what I needed.

I prop my chin in my hands and watch the green tea anemone slowly float to the bottom of the tall glass and begin its unfolding, I smile through the moment. This thoughtful friend of mine gifted me special tea anemones because these have flower petals hidden inside! She found tea that mirrors the oils I create in my practice. The subtle healing properties of flowers combined with the herbal properties of green tea are likened to the combination of the subtle healing properties of essential oils and Chinese herbs in Elemental Oils. See, friends are great.

(see www.teaposy.com)

Most people know me as a coffee aficionado, essentially pretty particular. If I’m going to have coffee I’m going to have a good cup of coffee as a real Americano or in a French press. If you stop by sometime you will notice I keep very small amounts of Alterra, Metropolis, Stumptown, or Intelligentsia around, but I have a massive collection of tea.

A small portion of my stash comes from jet-setting friends as remembrances from travels to Israel, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, China, Japan, Russia, France, and Italy. (I remembered you all.) Most of my collection I order from Specialteas. I love their tea, especially the green tea. I can think of 15 varieties, but I know I have more. Yes, they all vary by the same characteristics that coffee and wine vary – taste, color, body, tannin or acidity. Some days I want a stronger fermented or malty taste, other days I want grassy crisp flavor, or maybe a sweeter floral jasmine or peony.

White Tea

Young soft sometimes fuzzy buds of leaves, and contains the most antioxidant properties.

White tea is usually a great alternative for the caffeine sensitive or for whom tea is too drying.

Green Tea
Mature leaves used in the majority of green tea varieties. We’ve got sencha, bancha, kukicha, genmaicha, and dragonwell to start with.

My foray into tea began with pai mu tan (white peony). Sundays afternoons, a couple with whom I shared an Angelic Organics food share would sip white peony green tea and eat mung bean tea cakes while I divided out veggies. That was a long time ago.

Intelligentsia used to carry a green earl grey – drinking that was like a 2 for 1!

Sencha
A basic green with grassy taste

My favorite memory with sencha tea is skipping a continuing education class (before I was licensed) with a friend to sip cherry sencha while lying on the lawn of Balboa Park reading our new used books from bookstore

Bancha
Roasted, full flavored leaves

Kukicha
"Twig tea" because it is made from the twigs and branches of the plant
This is generally my rainy, foggy morning at home tea

Genmaicha
Green tea with toasted rice

Dragonwell
I suppose it is delicate, but it’s not my favorite

Oolong
Partially fermented and therefore has more caffeine and a stronger flavor.

I was told by a tea seller at a conference that no one loves all green teas; you either love oolong or you hate it. I just pursed my lips, nodded and walked on. As usual I don’t fit the supposed norm; I haven’t met a variety of green tea I didn’t like.

Pu’er
There is no other green tea that you want aged. Aging is for wine but Pu’er tea is the exception. This one is fermented and aged and classified just like wines. Seriously robust and great for digestion (and hangovers).

You know as well as I do that tea has antioxidant properties. Every magazine or television show has informed you over many years. Antioxidants assist the body in removing free radicals - those lovely molecules generated by cells of our body upon exposure to toxin, viruses, germs, fungi, stress, pollution, and chemicals. At first they are beneficial to us destroying unwanted invaders but everything is affected by imbalance.

Free radicals begin to attack the cellular DNA which directs key cell activity, the body wards off attack with antioxidant defense – free radical scavengers. I could go on and tell you all that happens but essentially free radical damage is partially responsible for aging and disease. There are many aspects of nutrition that will help on the antioxidant front. I will only say so many times, “EAT MORE GREENS.” So instead drink a couple cups of tea daily, you will receive a mild to moderate caffeine boost and will get busy on the free radicals.

www.specialteas.com my old standby

www.teaforte.com cute but the novelty has worn off 3 years later

www.teaposy.com green tea anemone with flower petals

www.stashtea.com now has powdered green tea. Look mom, no bags!

And if you’d rather:

www.alterracoffee.com

www.metropoliscoffee.com

www.stumptowncoffee.com

www.intelligentsiacoffee.com

www.angelicorganics.com