Afternoon Tea

My mother didn't cook when I was growing up and I usually ate my dinner early so I don't remember my afterschool hours having food rituals. But my daughter often pulls up a stool to our dishwasher, which serves as a kitchen island when not in use, and does her homework while I cook.

Today I made her a cup of celestial seasonings Sugar Plum Spice tea with a big spoonful of local raw honey and a hearty piece of the banana walnut cake (dairy free) I made yesterday.

And she was cute. I hope she remembers our kitchen with fondness.

Sunshine and iced tea!

I'm brewing some tea to ice to go with this lovely sunny day. First day of spring. Haven't been to the backyard yet for a post-winter assessment but I bet my chives are growing.

I have a big mug with four tea bags in it, ready to make 2-3 quarts of iced tea. The mix today is 2 teabags organic green tea (purchased a long time ago from the warehouse club in a big, big pack), 1 tea bag Celestial Seasoning Sugar Plum Spice, and one Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger.

Perfect Seasonal Breakfast

I served leftover pumpkin spice waffles from the other night, with my daughter's favorite almond sunset tea with (soy)milk and honey. And a clementine. Seems like a perfect seasonal breakfast. The tea seems to help my daughter's dry cough (even she remarks this is the case) and everything else just seems to hit the spot.

Almond Sunset 'Kid' tea

My daughter tends to get obsessive about drinks. Apple juice for weeks on end. Chocolate milk next. (Which is why I usually buy chocolate soy milk-- it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup.)

Last night my husband and I tried the new Le Creuset tea pot. It has the least obnoxious whistle of any tea pot I've ever heard. We had the organic black currant decaf tea that I survived on during my business trip to Pittsburgh.

Today apparently, my daughter could be bribed to eat her breakfast with a glass of 'dessert tea.' So, to the teapot I go. I believe I mentioned this tea once before, but it has become such a favorite (which I did not expect) that it should be mentioned again.

Mommy's special dessert tea is actually Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset, a decaf herbal dessert tea of "roasted carob, roasted barley, roasted chicory, cinnamon, orange peel, natural almond flavor, blackberry leaves, and anise seed."

And this is how I make it:

Supplies

• one tea pot with water
• one expresso cup/ demi-tasse
• soymilk
• honey
• one teabag (Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset)
  
• one baby or sugar spoon

and when pleasing children, scale and details are important.

As water heats, prep demi-tasse with about 1/2 teaspoon honey, either in the bottom or along the side. When the water boils, hold the teabag with one hand against the side of the cup and pour the water over the teabag into the cup. Fill the cup about 3/4 full, then dip the teabag several times into the water until it turns a rich orange-brown. Then remove the teabag. (This keeps the tea from getting too strong.) Stir with the tiny spoon to dissolve the honey. Add an ounce or two milk, in my case plain soy milk, and stir again. Serve with the spoon inside so little hands can stir and sip.

Tuna bagels

We only had toast for breakfast this morning, and then my daughter and I went off on an eight-ish mile bike ride... When we got home, my husband had prepared tuna on bagels with melted cheddar (daughter got half a bagel, husband and I got 3/4 each). After that and some water, we had bananas and I had a cup of tea.

Boring food

Yesterday I made the little one caffeine free almond tea with milk and honey. For lunch she had leftover pizza with her dad. I packed the leftover brioche and some coleslaw from a meal out we had on Saturday. Our daughter had her applesauce as a morning snack (also leftover from the decadent meal out when we were supposed to be buying someone's girl scout uniform. Bad Mommy! But I had to try the raspberry lambric from Belgium.)

Last night we had nachos with stale chips, the last of the Velveeta-ish cheese, black beans, mango salsa (from wegmans), plain organic salsa and sour cream.

This morning we had pumpkin roll for breakfast (frozen from Gayle's fundraiser). For a mid-morning snack my daughter and I split a Nature Valley granola bar (almond flavor) and had more tea.

For lunch, she's having the last slice of pizza, hopefully the rest of her applesauce and some juice.

As for me... who knows.

Dinner looks like chicken of some sort.

Chai

I wanted something different so I tried my darneddest to make something as yummy as Oregon Chai. I think I did it. I put two Celestial Seasoning Honey Vanilla White Tea Chai tea bags in a big old mug and poured in 32 ounces of boiling water. Then, I left it sit, covered for about ten minutes. Then I took a teaspoon of honey and put it in the bottom of a glass. I added half a mug (about 4-6 ounces) of the tea. Then I added a couple tablespoons of half and half and topped the mug with about 4 ounces of one percent milk. I loved it, and I even served some to my daughter. She loved it too and said I should save some for Daddy.