Steeping chai tea

My beverage of choice this winter is chai tea. It is so soothing and pleasant. If you've never had chai tea, you've gotta try it...you just gotta! I also love to drink it in this vintage tea cup, complete with saucer. You know that tea just tastes so much better when it's in a vintage tea cup, right?!

You can buy chai in tea bags or "ready to drink" in a sealed carton in the coffee and tea aisle at the grocery store. I found loose Organic chai at a local, non chain, coffee house. It costs $5 for 4 ounces. Now, that probably sounds a little expensive...that's what I thought too. But holy cow, wait til you see how far it goes! What I have pictured here is less than 4 ounces...it's just a sampling so you can get a good look at it!

Chai, is pronounced as a single syllable with a "ch" and a long sounding "i"...it rhymes with "pie"...hmm, I like chai AND pie! Ok, sorry!

Basically, chai is a rich black tea combined with various spices and then mixed with heavy milk and a sweetener such a sugar. The spices in chai can vary, but the most common are cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and pepper.

Chai is known to produce a warm soothing effect giving a wonderful sense of well being. It has also been said that it is a natural digestive aid.

Just a note of reference, chai, is the actual word for tea in many countries. People have been drinking chai for centuries in many parts of the world, most especially in India.

For loose tea, you can use a steeper. There are many different kinds on the market. I happened to buy mine at Pier 1 Imports, go figure...for those of you who don't know, I work there. A tea steeper holds loose tea leaves while being infused into hot water...creating tea. It basically acts as a tea bag. I believe the fine mesh steepers allow more tea flavor into your tea, but this is what I am using for now, and I am doing just fine. However, I do plan to experiment with a fine mesh steeper.



The water should be hot when steeping tea. A point of interest here...I have read that you shouldn't use boiling water because extreme heat burns the tea leaves essential oils, producing a less flavorful tea. Sometimes while I'm waiting for my tea to steep, the water does get a little on the luke warm side. I just reheat it a bit..no harm done.

To make it a traditional cup of chai tea, one must use heavy milk, or half n half. I always have half n half on hand...that's what I like to use. I would recommend taking the chill off the half n half by letting it sit on the counter for a bit, or just heat it in the microwave in a small dish for 3 seconds tops. If you don't...well, you're just going to make your tea cold and you'll have to heat it up again!

Adding sugar to chai tea is a must. It enhances the flavors of the spices making them more robust and flavorful.

Ahhhh, chai tea...it's a thing of beauty. If you want to buy some at the grocery store, might I recommend the brand TAZO. All of TAZO teas are wonderfully fantastic! You can't go wrong. If you're at a coffee house, I'm quite certain you will find a chai latte on the menu...you could certainly try it there! You will not be disappointed!

Hello, I am back!

I can't believe I haven't posted since January 8th.
Well, actually I can believe it...it's just that time has been flying by and I have been preoccupied by one thing or another.



The weather has been freezing cold here in SW Pennsylvania! This morning it was zero degrees. We've been getting snow every other day...sometimes an inch, sometimes 5 inches...sometimes just a dusting. This keeps us busy with shoveling the front walk, plowing the driveway, and dealing with school delays.



A couple weeks ago our furnace broke on a Saturday night at 11 pm. Sunday rates for furnace man are double or something like that...so we waited til Monday morning. However, we have a fireplace in our living room and a small wood burning stove in the basement. This saved us!! We were able to get the house to 60 degrees during the day even though it was in the low 20's outside. Also, our bedroom has base board heating because it was an add-on to the house. We had heat in our bedroom, just not in the rest of the house. Our children slept in our bedroom in their sleeping bags and/or on a twin mattress on the floor. Anyhow, the furnace was fixed Monday morning and all was well! I have to say that I actually enjoyed roughing it in some weird sort of way. Having a fire in the fireplace 24/7 was beautiful and charming. Yes...the house was cold, but we could get a cup of hot tea or cocoa and sit by the fire and be as warm as we wanted.



Another lovely thing that happened during my absence from my blog...our van, which was our only car...broke down! Like, broke down, no power, side of the road kinda thing! I was the lucky one to be driving it...on the highway! It started losing power even though I was pressing on the accelerator. So, I pulled onto the side of the road and coasted it as far as it would go. As soon as I came to a stop, it went completely dead.

I, being the person that fights against modern technology, did not have a cell phone on me. I could see a sign up ahead that said, next exit 1/4 mile. I was still about a 1/4 mile from that sign though...so I estimated I had about a 1/2 mile walk. It wasn't too cold out, it was mid day and about 25 degrees. I know, 25 degrees is cold, but it was about 10 that same morning!

Thankfully, I knew this area well and I knew I there was a McDonald's and a Sunoco at this exit. I didn't have a problem with walking a 1/2 mile. I knew I would make it, no problem. What I didn't like was I knew that it was inevitable that someone was going to pull over and offer me help. The question was who. Would it be a crazy psycho? I had to prepare myself to deal with this and pray that I would know what to do.

I took a deep breath, got out of my van and began to walk. Many people whizzed past me...and then finally, I looked up to see a green pick up truck pulling over. I begin praying while walking up to the truck..."please God, let it be an old person, please God, let it be an old person...old people are good, old people are not axe murderers, please God let it be an old person!" Low and behold....it was an old person! Thank you God! It was someone that I would describe as a Grandpap. I told him I broke down and he offered to give me a ride to the next exit. I made a very hesitant decision that I felt I could trust this man...even though, I still was very leery and nervous.

This is the first time, ever, in my life that I got in to the car with a stranger. I got into the truck, closed the door and said a quick prayer "please Lord, don't let this man be an axe murderer!" Now, remember the exit was about 1/4 mile away, so I knew that I would know very quickly if I was to be in trouble or not. If he passed the exit, I would know he was a psycho...if he pulled off onto the exit ramp, I knew I would be safe.

I had already quickly planned in my head to jump out the second that he passed the exit. I figured we wouldn't be up to 65 mph yet by the time we reached the exit ramp...so I figured I would only have to roll out onto the ground at about 35 mph at the most! I knew it would hurt, but really I would be upset because I was wearing my brand new coat that I got for Christmas! A coat that I got with money my Dad sent me to specifically buy a coat! I had bought the coat on sale, but it was originally priced at $160...and this was the most expensive coat I had ever owned in my entire life!!...and here I was, possibly in a situation where it would be shredded to pieces as it broke my fall onto the rough, dirty, gravel side of the highway! No fair man! Crazy as that sounds, that really did go through my mind. I didn't have a fear of dieing while rolling out of a pick up truck at 35 mph. I figured I be scraped up...but they did it on Dukes of Hazard all the time and they survived...right? Ok well, of course you can assume correctly, this nice, elderly gentleman, who was so kind and helpful and polite, DID take the exit, and DID drop me off at McDonald's. Otherwise, I wouldn't be typing this post to all of you right now...cause I would be locked in a dungeon somewhere, being fed scraps that were lowered down by a basket on a rope!

By the way...our van is officially dead...it needs a new engine! However, the van is paid off, so we are keeping it until we can afford to put a new/used engine in it. We have since acquired a new/used car! It is a VW Passat! Yay!



We are so blessed! A friend of ours gave it to us because they just recently bought a new car and they are single and have no use for their old car. We are so thankful and grateful to our friend. Never in my life did I think that someone would ever just give us a car. That is so wonderful and generous and we are ever so grateful! A little later, I had remembered that when we lived in Florida, we gave our old car to a person in desperate need. We had 2 other vehicles and did not need it. We gave freely and happily and now the blessing has been repaid to us! Thank you God!

Well, that's about it...give or take a few other things here and there...but nothing that sticks out in my mind as the 2 things I just wrote about. It just seemed like every time I thought about sitting down to blog...something was in the way.
Anyhow, I'm back baby!

A few things on the horizon that I plan on blogging about:

fresh coconut
steeping loose tea
homemade pierogies

Stay tuned!

A wintry poem and my love for Pennsylvania

This photo was taken by me in our field behind our house just after a big snowfall.
The house in this photo is actually our neighbor's.
It's very old and very beautiful, built with crimson red brick.
The tiny little snowflakes and poem were added using Picnik.com, a free photo editing program that I use for most of my photos.
I don't have Photoshop, so it comes in handy.

I love this poem, January...by John Updike!
It precisely captures the cold, grey wintry days of January in Pennsylvania.
John Updike grew up in Pennsylvania..and that is why I love his poetry..I can appreciate his descriptions about the months of the year because I've lived it.
It's my life.

I know that winters in my state can be long..and cold..and grey..but there's something about Pennsylvania that I just dearly love.

Pennsylvania is good, Pennsylvania is life, it's earthy, it's farms and farmers, dairy cows and corn fields, it's rolling acres, mountains and valleys, it's family and friends, it's school yards and churches, it's deer and wild turkeys, groundhogs and squirrels, it's pheasant and duck and raccoons and possum, it's fishing and hunting and skiing and camping, it's 4 seasons..winter, spring, summer and fall, it's icicles and snow, it's daffodils and crocuses, it's Sunrise service on Easter morning, it's green grass and swimming in the lake, fireworks and picnics, it's heat and rain and high humidity, it's garden grown corn, fresh picked tomatoes still warm from the sun, it's pumpkins, gourds, and trick or treat, it's giant orange harvest moons, it's ponds and lakes and creeks and dams, it's state parks and county fairgrounds, it's parades and festivals of every ethnic background, it's blue collar workers and mom and pop corner stores, it's libraries and fire halls, weddings and funerals, it's Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, World War II veterans and new recruits too, it's meatloaf and mashed potatoes, homemade bread and fruit pies, it's maple syrup and wildflower honey, it's pine trees and oaks...it's Pennsylvania, home to good folks. Pennsylvania is good, Pennsylvania is life!

Ok, that there was written by me...just now, off the top of my head, not pre-planned, just from my heart and my soul. Now you know just a little bit about what makes Pennsylvania a special place. Even now as I write, there's so much more that's coming to my mind...but I'll leave it at that.

That's me in the photo below...enjoying the snow. Have you ever fallen back into a foot or more of snow? It's quite comfortable.

Kumquat Pie...a puffy, fluffy, orangey cloud

Do you know what a Kumquat is?
It's a small oval shaped fruit, the size of a large olive, that resembles an orange...a teeny, tiny orange! It has a thin, sweet skin with tart flesh...very tart flesh!

The kumquat is believed to be native to China. The fruit is grown in China, Japan, Florida and California. They grow on shrub-like bushes that resemble tiny orange tree. Kumquats are frequently candied or made into preserves and jelly.



I had my first experience eating a Kumquat just the other day.
It was......TART! Yowza! This little thing has some serious pucker power! I had no idea what to expect though, so I just went for it. It tastes like an orange, but sour like a lemon...and you can definitely taste the rind.



Some like to cut them in half...



and dip them in sugar.







This method was much more palatable!



So the interesting thing about Kumquats is you can eat the entire thing..except for the seeds. This alone intrigued the heck out of me. It just seemed so odd to eat a teeny, tiny "orange", rind and all. How could that be possible...let alone, taste good?

My curiosity had the best of me. I bought the package of Kumquats without knowing what I would make with them, but figured I would be doing some investigating very soon. Low and behold, there was a recipe for pie on the inside of the container. If this was the recipe the growers decided should be on their packaging...how could I go wrong? I went for it!

Getting down to business, I washed the kumquats and pulled off the tiny green stems.



Silly me...I forgot to slice the Kumquats open to de-seed them before I threw them into the food processor to be pureed.



As I began to pulse them and chop them into oblivion, I screamed "AAAHHHH! THE SEEDS!"



Dude, how could I have forgotten! So...I began pulling handfuls of pulp out of the food processor bowl and picked out all of the seeds. Luckily 98% of the seeds were still intact and were very easy to spot and discard. A few had been cut through, but even still, they were easy to pick out. Don't ya hate when you make a stupid mistake and then correcting it takes double the time to fix?! However, despite this small mishap, this pie is sooooo easy to make!

I followed the recipe to the "T"...I wasn't about to make any changes with an ingredient I knew nothing about. I figured I'd make it this way, try it, then make adjustments or enhancements next time if I felt so inclined.



By the way, there is no baking required...this is a refrigerator pie! Easy, Easy!

I love this photo! It's whipped topping and sweetened condensed milk. It's so beautiful! I could just get a spoon and eat it and be happy!



The first step is to cream the whipped topping and sweetened condensed milk together.



Next, add the kumquat puree.



blend that together...



Scoop the beautiful, fluffy goodness into a pre-baked pie shell, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.



After a night in the fridge, the pie was perfectly chilled and I was ready to taste the first slice...and I was pleasantly surprised!



So light and airy! So very, very creamy! The orange flavor was full bodied but well rounded out by the sweetened condensed milk.

I really like this pie!



I would put this pie in the same family as lemon meringue and key lime pie. In fact this would be like Key Lime's cousin...lemon meringue's baby sister!

When you want a fresh and light dessert to cleanse the palate after a seafood dinner or pork roast meal...Kumquat pie would make a wonderful choice!

I think this was a great recipe...but the amatuer pastry chef deep inside of me is wanting to put her own twist on this pie...something like a thin layer of chocolate at the bottom of the pie! Something like a touch of pretty chocolate shavings to garnish the top of the pie! Sounds good! We'll see!

But until then, I think I'm going to go enjoy another slice of this pie with a cup of tea and think about the new year to come.

Happy New Year Bloggy friends! Here's to 2011...may it be a good one!



*for pie crust, use this recipe

PASTRY FOR LEMON PIES

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. cold water

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Remove 2 Tbsp. shortening from the 1/2 cup and set aside. Cut in the remaining shortening with two knives or a pastry blender into the flour mixture until mixture resembles course meal. Cut in remaining 2 Tbsp. shortening in pieces the size of large peas. Add lemon juice and mix with fork. Add cold water one Tbsp. at a time and mix with fork. Form into a ball. Roll out on lightly floured surface. Fit loosely into pie pan, pat out air bubbles and flute edges. Prick sides and bottom of crust with a fork. Bake in oven 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool. Makes one 9 inch pie shell.

chicken tracks...and other critter tracks as well!

I love the tracks in the snow made by my chickens. It really is the cutest thing ever.


The chickens do seem a little bored with the ground covered in snow.



It takes them a while to decide if they even want to come out of the coop at all.



Before the snow came, they would be at the door, sqwakin' and bawkin' trying to get out. I could barely get the door off the coop and they would be squirming their way through. But now...well, it's cold, and there's no worms, or mosquitoes, or green grass to munch on.



When I look out into the yard, I find them just standing there and staring. Normally they are on a never ending pecking session...all day long.



I am finding many other animal tracks in the snow near the chicken coop and in the field. I am no expert at identifying animal tracks in the snow, but I have made some educated guesses here. I believe these tracks belong to bunny rabbits. They hop and when they land, they have all four feet close together. Also, the rear tracks are longer than the front paws.




These tracks look like they belong to deer. We always have deer in our field. The tracks are large and solid like that of a hoof. Also, the positioning of the alternating foot prints and length of space in between the prints. I can't imagine it to be any other animal.




This track, I cannot identify. It may a squirrel. The snow is a little deeper here, so I'm thinking the tracks would not be very identifiable. The tracks are small and almost like little slits in the snow. What else could it be?




At first, I thought these were raccoon tracks, but at second glance, I really thought them to be squirrel tracks. They are all around the coop and I know the squirrels like to pilfer the chicken feed. But, looking again, I think they are much too big for a squirrel. My husband said they belong to a ground hog. We definately have groung hogs around here!






Finally, these last tracks, they are either a red fox, which we know for sure frequents our neighborhood and has been spotted in our field. Notice how there are 2 paw prints very close to each other for each imprint..almost overlapping. It makes me wonder if a fox was pouncing along, pushing off with the two hind feet close together and then landing on two front paws close together. But then again, they look small enough to be a kitty cat...maybe she was running...I don't know. I am perplexed. What do you think? I love these tracks..I am so curious!