Tea Time

Today on facebook my friend Gwynn shared her entry in Teavana's Tea Master Challange - '10,000 Blessings Tea' - which is also the name of her Feng Shui business. Gwynne lived in England for a bit, studying acting at the Guild Theatre School, & adores tea! Especially Earl Grey Tea in the morning. When we lived at Breitenbush, we often dressed up with hats & gloves, & had tea parties with Gwynne.

I visited the site & couldn't resist concocting my own blend: 'Gypsy Rose Tea.' The contest runs thru the 17th of August (OK, some of the teas have over 1000 votes, so we prob don't have much chance of 'winning' the GC or a blend of 'our' teas . . . ) & you can vote once each day!!
Of course I also had to pour a cup of iced rooibos/herb tea as I contemplated these blends.

I really intended to vote for Gwynn's tea - I will tomorrow!!

Growing up, my mom & I drank green or black tea when we went to Church or Grange, she wasn't a coffee drinker! I later began enjoying herb teas. When I discovered the South African Rooibos & Honeybush teas, I was delighted to add these high antioxident, flavorful teas to my rep!

A tea shop owner told me her (diabetic) mom began loosing weight & her sugar levels stabalized when she began drinking a quart of rooibos tea (various blends) daily! Since it doesn't *require* sweetening, it's a great choice for diabetics. Another friend asked what *mom* had been drinking before - probably diet pop!!

I enjoy browsing in the garden for tea leaves, like this sweet Pineapple Sage (yes, I watered it after snapping the photo!)

My 'Gypsy Rose Tea' combines Rooibos Rose Garden, Sweet Fruit Garden Herbal, & Raspberry Sangria Herbal Teas, with a touch of Winter White Honey. Doesn't that sound good??

OK - I have a tiny confession - I haven't tasted these teas!! Yikes! I may have to go to the mall & taste my blend!! :) If Gwynne likes them, they are high quality & delicious!!

So go over & cast a vote, won't you???

Time for Tea

Suzie the Foodie has a great recipe for green iced tea, & comments that Prevention suggests cool brewing enhances the antioxident properties (which makes perfect sense!)

For several years I've enjoyed S African Red (rooibos) & honeybush teas, naturally sweet, since they lack tanins, but still full of antioxidents!

I used 5 tsp of Stash's red & white fusion tea, & one tsp of their Gogi Berry green for a bit of pizzaz! With spring comes lemon balm - a nice fresh addition for that 'lemony' taste BoHo mom suggested! Delish! You can dry lemon balm, but it's much better 'straight from the plant!'
Gogi or 'wolf' berries are a bit smaller than raisins, & tasty - I have a rather unruly bush in one of my gardens. I often add a few dried berries to my morning granola, & eat the ones from a cup of tea.

Today was my 'Red Hat' luncheon - & it was my turn to choose the venue. One of our nice restaurants recently added lunch, so I took the gals to Nick's Italian Cafe! A classmate of my daughter's, Carmen Pirano, took over management from her dad (Nick) a few years ago, & they recently added a traditional Pizza oven. (None of us had pizza - tho we were all curious! The 'speck & Arugula, with house smoked pork, mozzarella & fresh arugula sounded so good! But I ended up with the veggie & herb panini)
Nick's is known around the country for its 5 course, Northern Italian meals, so lunch is a nice way to test the waters!

While I was at lunch, my son-in law & his mom ventured over to One Green World for some serious plant shopping - I sent a list, & got a sweet selection of rather unusual fruit. An 'purple rose' akebia to 'balance' (& hopefully cross-fertilize) this white one climbing one side of my porch, a 'cinnamon vine' (diascora, or 'wild yam') which has edible tubers, a tasty Mountain Ash with purple fruit, a gooseberry, & an Asian Pear (I have two of these already - my granddaughter's LOVE them!! Well - we all do . . .

This green 'hose in hose' prim came from a sweet plant (& stuff) shop just down the street - Incahoots. The gal who had my home before me worked there, so some of my herbs were already en residance when I moved in. This was a nice foundation - I've added things like a bay tree (now taller than I am), fig, a couple of combo apples, several rosemarys & more lavender, . . .