Zen Cat Art

I'm such a foodie...

I have been reading Judith Jones, The Pleasure of Cooking for One. 
Judith is the woman who had the foresight to publish Julia Child's first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, along with other's almost as famous.  The recipes in this book are delicious.  I haven't made the souffle on the cover yet, but it's coming.

Here's a picture of an individual pineapple upside down cake that I tryed out before making it for company.  It was delicious and the larger version was a success.

I set the table, made tea in a pot, watched the snow come down and was rather pleased with the afternoon tea & yums.  

 
 

Sunday morning...

I love Sunday mornings.  It’s the one day of the week that usually has no agenda.  The one time I can feel totally guilt free taking off.  Sure, I could decide to clean the basement or paint the bathroom – those things need doing and weekends provide the time.  But somehow it’s more of a choice on Sunday than it would be on Saturday.  Getting up early on Saturday to do chores seems reasonable but if you get up early on Sunday it’s too quiet, too peaceful to crank up the lawnmower or start hammering nails on the deck.

So what is there to do?

In New York it was bagels and the New York Times.  But in CT it’s a forty-minute drive to the closest sudo-bagel, sold in a place that doesn’t even serve smoked salmon to go with it.  I know if you have lived in NY your jaw is hanging open in disbelief but it’s true.

When I was young it was either church or fishing.  Both were spiritual experiences for me.  My Dad was a wise man and I learned as much about being a good human being standing next to him on Jones Beach Pier as I did from our minister—who was a wonderful man but further away from my problems than my Dad.

Sundays are still a matter of food and reflection...my favorite tea in my favorite cup on the deck watching the sun creep across the lawn, listening to the birds.  If I sit still enough the chickadees will come and get my crumbs.  Throw in a home-made lemon apricot scone and it doesn't get much sweeter than this. 

I check the plum tomatoes that are beginning to turn red. 

Decide, yet again, not to throw out the scraggly pansy plant that keeps producing one more delicately beautiful flower. 

Watch the wild turkeys wander across the back lawn--the youngsters are growing up.  Toss some bread to the crows, throw a hand full of seed out for the chipmonks that race across the deck after each other.  Inhale the cool crisp air at its best before the heat of the day. 

Take another sip of tea. 

A full moring and not yet even 9 am.  Sure I have things to do.  And I will get to them, but not yet.  It's Sunday morning... and they can wait just a little longer. 

~*~ The recipe for the scones is on the right hand nav under pages. ~*~ 

 

Millerton & the Ambassador of Tea...

Millerton is a charming town with painted buildings, antique shops and a "smoke shop" that also sells old-fashioned penny candy, cold drinks and flannel shirts.  It's just across the state line from Litchfield County, CT to Duchess County, NY.  It's also home to the Harney & Sons (Master Blenders) Tea Company.  It has a lovely store, and a delightful restaurant, albeit with a limited but delicious menu--and with some of the best tea scones I have ever tasted.

But, by far, the attraction that makes the trip worthwhile is the tasting room and the young man that presides over it.  Hillel, cheerful, charming, and with a superior knowledge of tea, will make your trip through the maze of teas entertaining as well as enlightening.

All tea comes from the "Camellia sinesis," an evergreen shrub that can grow up to 60 feet tall in the wild.  Tea plantations prune them to a height of about three feet for ease of harvesting--as only the top two leaves and the bud are picked--by hand.  The leaves are then processed by different drying methods to create the four different type of tea: black, green, Oolong, and white.

Harney & Sons boasts over 150 varieties of tea.  And they will brew a small cup of anything on the wall to help you select your favorite.  Tea is sprinkled onto the lid of a two pound can for sight and smell and then a small spoon of it is place in a cup to brew (timed with a timer) the perfect cup of that particular kind of tea.  We tried black teas and green, flavored and white, all of them delicious.  My favorite morning tea is there Black Current, and for decaf tea Midsummer Peach has no equal.

Their Indian Spice tastes more like the tea I had in India than the American Chai Tea that pretends to it.  Although green tea is not a favorite of mine, I couldn't resist tasting the one named Dragon Pearl.  It was good enough to bring home a small 2 oz tasting package. 

On the weekends, it gets so busy they ask you to confine  your choices to two plus the one on the counter but we were lucky to be there on a weekday and were treated to a plethora of tea pleasures.

We walked around town peeking in store windows and combing through the treasures in thrift/antique stores and considered where to have lunch.  In the end, we chose to go back to Harney's and try their sandwiches and scones.  The smoked salmon on my field greens salad was wonderful and the Mulligatawny soup was grand!

Totally saited, we headed home with our tea treasures.

Thanks to Tracy and Deb who made it the perfect girls day out!

If you decide to go to Millerton be sure to take Route 22 so that you can see the rock frog...

And when you get home... make yourself a nice cup of tea!

a few of my favorite things...

I love coffee. I love tea.  I love a java jive and it loves me…  That is the first line from one of my mother’s favorite songs by Bill Kenney and the Ink Spots.  Last week, while I was pretending to be Julie Andrews twirling and singing “these are a few of my favorite things,” I realized that there are a few things that always make me smile.  And a hot cup of tea at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon is one of them.  It reminds me of my English Auntie Dobbin who taught me to heat the tea pot with hot water before adding loose tea, cookies are selected during the four minute steeping process and if you really want to do it right—china cups and cloth napkins are a must.  Very civilized but also definitely an anti-stress process that sooths and refreshes.  Thank you Aunt Dobbin.

My life as been filled with hot beverages.  As a child I was awakened before dawn on Saturday mornings by the sound of hot coffee being poured into a thermos—a sure sign my father and I were going fishing.  Perking my first pot of coffee (we used to make it that way in the “old days”) heralded adulthood in a way being able to legally drink or vote never did. 

I responded to an ad in match.com asking me if I would drive a hundred miles for a good cup of coffee.  I was drinking a latte that I had just driven 6 miles for so I thought it was a bit short but hey… I wound up driving 125 miles to meet my sweet husband Phil and the rest, as they say, is history. 

I’ve owned stock in Starbucks, included a picture of their logo in my photo quilts, and bought a cappuccino machine—a real one that froths the milk to a perfect 140 degrees.  It makes the most impressive noises but the cats are not impressed.  I have closed million dollar lighting deals over espresso with Sambuca complete with three floating coffee beans on top—it’s called Samuca con mosca (literally, "Sambuca with flies").   Yuck!  The Italian restaurateur who served it said they represent love, life and laughter.   Much better! 

Coffee and tea are some of my favorite things… “and when I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad.”  Thanks, Julie, you were right! 

***You can tell me what your favorite things are by leaving a comment, no need to sign up for anything, leave it as anonymous and include your name.