Simply Fantastic! A mug to keep stealing coworkers hands at bay!

Ok this may have less to do with tea than I normally blog about, but this is the COOLEST mug I've seen in a while, so I had to share it! This mug actually has a key that can be removed, which produces a hole so that only YOU can drink from it. This mug insures that your coworkers or roomates who can't find their own mug, will keep their grabby hands away from yours! Mug security if you will. I LOVE IT!

The Pressure of Culinary School

Who: Tea Spot Chef

What: Mid-term practical

When: August 18th, 2009 / 6:30-9:30pm 

Where: Culinary School of the Rockies

Why: Because I love to cook & want to learn...

         

It seemed like a simple enough menu, but it was wasn't as easy as I thought...

The Menu:

• Mixed salad & dressing
• Puree of carrot soup
• Mashed potatoes
• Sauté squash
• Seared chicken breast

As I was saying, it seemed simple enough. I even practiced this past weekend. I made the exact menu for 6 of my friends and did such a better job. Of course I didn't have chefs looking over my shoulder critiquing every little thing. I never thought the pressure would get to me, but it all came down to the last 15 minutes. In the end it is all about presentation, attention to detail and being well organized. When under pressure, these are the same things I struggle with outside of the kitchen.

WOW, what a breakthrough!!! I knew I was going to learn how to cook but never thought that culinary school would be such a personal learning experience. 

At the end of the day, I passed my practical. BUT to tell you the truth, the most important part of this experience was understanding that if I learn how to conquer my weakness in the kitchen, I could conquer them out of the kitchen...

One of the hardest things in life is identifying a weakness, which is why I thank chef Michael and Chef Marilyn for bringing them to my attention. The next hardest thing is to own a weakness, but I know if I don't then I won't grow because I can't change. 

That said, I have 8 weeks until my final. I wonder how much I'll change...

Anybody have a similar experience they'd like to share...

Boulder... tea bagging capital of the nation.

I'm a huge fan of Steven Colbert. He's got the driest, most sarcastic delivery of any comedian, ever, rarely breaking character or cracking a smile during delivery of his ridiculous arguments. He's committed to the degree that the first time I saw him, I thought he was actually the pompous conservative political pundit that he plays. I'd go so far as to say that I'm a proud member of his Colbert Nation (his fan base). OK, enough gushing...

Boulder was recently featured in Colbert's "Better know a district" segment, where the host features different political districts around the nation and interviews their congressional reps. In this interview he features Boulder, congressman Jared Polis, and tea bagging. So I thought I'd share...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Even Better-er Know a District - Colorado's 2nd - Jared Polis
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

Big Thanks to Steven Knoerr of 39 Steeps

Tea enthusiast Steven Knoerr recently reviewed our Green Twisted Spears on his tea blog 39 Steeps. This particular tea is an Organic & Fair Trade certified loose green tea from Sri Lanka - a region that has traditionally produced black teas, black ceylons.

He discusses the leaves, the tea, the preparation, the cup, and his overall impressions. We're pleased that he seemed to enjoy the tea overall and noticed the unique notes of the Sri Lankan terroir,

"I like how the Sri Lankan terroir affected the flavor of the green, because it was like finding a friendly acquaintance in an unusual place: say, a friend from church, greeting me when I'm climbing up a mountain slope in Colorado."

He also commented on the unique new taste of green tea from Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon),

"I've never had a green Ceylon before, and I'm pleased with the beautiful handcrafting of the leaf, which was sufficiently interesting to merit an experiment with the tea, all by itself. While this tea isn't as nuanced or bold as the Chinese greens I am more accustomed to, when taken on its own merit, it's pleasant. I'd be interested to see what kind of tea the Ceylon producers will be producing in a hundred years, after much practice and developing cultivars specifically for the green tea style."

You can read the full tea review here. Be sure to check out the comments section where an interesting discussion takes place about green teas from Sri Lanka - a relatively recent endeavor in this nation.

Thanks, Steven, for checking us out and for the feedback!

Tea and Honey

It’s noticeable, that particularly in Europe, people tend to think about sweetening their tea with honey. I can’t remember the last time someone brought me some honey with my coffee, and this got me wondering why… does sweetening tea with honey really work better than sugar? I think the answer lies in that the subtlety of tea actually allows the flavor of the honey to come through, and actually work with the honey to create a completely new sweet flavor (all kidding and nastiness aside – a dollop of honey in a cup of coffee would simply get lost!). The floral aspects present in both tea and honey work beautifully together. With all the amazing honeys available at farmer’s markets, I tried a few.

Not being a habitual sweet tea drinker, this was a fun excursion into sweet flavors – each like a candy defined by a tasty tea base, then prolonged or sometimes lifted by the honey flavors.

I’ve now tried creamy honeys, various floral honeys,

including orange blossom, and am anxious to try some lavender honey with my Earl of Grey. I recommend it, and in a future post plan to talk through some tea and honey pairings…Sweet Dreams!

Thank you abeilles.apiculture.free.fr for the photos!

Simply Musical: Songs about the health benefits of tea!

A few weeks ago I posted a blog on where we could find tea mentioned in music, which led me to the well known song "Tea for Two". Well this week I was made aware of two songs that a couple has written, sung and videotaped on You Tube for the Calm-A-Sutra video scholarship contest. The videos demonstrate their love of tea as well as being incredibly informative of the health benefits of tea. While they seem to be using tea bags for their video, we won't fault them for this. Below are the two videos, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and enjoy!

Contest: TEAS Your Favorite Recipe...

Your challenge: Take one of your favorite recipes and 'TEAS IT'. 

Winner of the most creatively tea-licious recipe posted here before September 15th 2009 receives a $25 gift certificate to theteaspot.com.

Why TEAS your recipe?

• It enhances the flavor of almost any recipe            
• It provides health benefits                     
• It's a unique culinary ingredient         
• It’s already in your cupboard, loose leaf or tea bag

 How to TEAS a recipe?

• Make a tea seasoning, finely grounded tea leaves blended with herbs and/or spices               
• Use it as a smoking agent              
• Make a tea concentrated broth                        
• Use it as a meat tenderizer                       
• Make a glaze, dressing or marinade                                                    
• Cook grains in tea infused liquid
• Make an ice cream

For more on how to TEAS a recipe, check out Tacoma's Tea Examiner, Casie Swanson's, recent article. 

You can also visit The Tea Spot Chef's blog and The Tea Spot.

Looking forward to testing your recipe. Let me know if you have any questions.

Simply Historic: The Boston Tea Party

Just the other night when I was watching a movie I couldn't believe how many times "going for coffee" was mentioned as a double entendre for going on a date, for work meetings and just meeting anyone in general! "Grabbing a coffee" is truly imbedded in our society as a social activity that goes way beyond the actual act of getting a cup of joe. Even though coffee may have its spotlight in our everyday ongoings and vernacular, tea has had more that its fifteen minutes of fame, in fact, history is "steeped" with tea! (yeah I had to do it)

This weekend I will be headed to my hometown city of Boston, and it took me all of two seconds before I realized I would write about the Boston Tea Party. Growing up in the American education system we all learn about this event at some point and for some of us (particularly those of us on the east coast) you learn about it in elementary school, middle school and again in High School! Despite that all of that education some of the details are still a little fuzzy, so I'll do a brief, slightly less boring, version of the Boston Tea Party (pronounced: Bhawston Tea Pawtty)


So what most of us remember of the Boston Tea Party is that sometime in the 1700's (1773 to be exact) the colonists were pissed about being taxed on tea and other products that were being imported from Great Britain, and in response they rioted against the shipment and threw all of the tea into the Boston Harbor (Hawbaw). Ok this we know. But today, in a brief and interesting fashion, I will explain WHY the British were taxing the American colonists, WHY the colonists were pissed, and WHY they threw the tea into the harbor.

Back in the early 1700's tea had become immensely popular and the British Empire had a nice monopoly on it. Any tea being imported by the East India Company was taxed 25% and then was given an additional tax upon consumption. Not only that but there were many people who were smuggling tea through the Dutch importers! Tea was being smuggled like drugs are today! The Dutch had a much better price on tea because they didn't put a tax on it when it was imported into the country. The British, hating to lose, and hating to lose money even more, decided to shift the tax over to the American colonists. Now at this time you could tax if your Parliament representative agreed to the tax, but the American colonists had no representatives and couldn't fight these charges.

In 1772 the price of tea increased, sales decreased and therefore a surplus of tea began to build up in Great Britian. Decisions were made to keep costs down and so they cut out the middleman wholesalers and decided to export to the colonies on their decisions, not based on actual demand. I love this, it actually makes America look like the British dumping ground for everything they didn't want to deal with! Sell it to the Europeans? No, no they'll still be able to get a cheaper smuggling price. Wait, what did you say? Those folks across the water? Oh yeah, let's just send it to them AND still tax it, they won't know what's coming!...But they did.

The American colonists heard what was going on as the seven ships crossed the Atlantic carrying 600,000 pounds of tea to deliver it to the ports of New York, Charleston, Philadelphia and Boston. In the three other cities, the protests convinced the tea consignees to send the tea back to Britain, unopenend and untouched. Boston however had a more difficult fight because the governor Thomas Hutchinson ignored the protestors and convinced the tea consignees (who were his sons) to keep the ships in port and ordered all the tea to be brought to shore.

Thousands of colonists gathered in Fanueil Hall and the Old South Meeting House to discuss how to deal with the three ships full of tea in their port. The infamous Samuel Adams, while not directly involved, held the meeting to discuss the issue and firmly supported the colonists' revolt on the British taxation. After all the meetings and finding out that neither side was backing down, the colonists took action. That night about 100 men, some dressed as Native Americans, boarded all three tea ships and dumped ever single carton of tea into the water.

There is a fanatastic personal eyewitness account from one of the men who dressed up as a Native American and joined the hundreds that joined in removing and sinking all the tea from the ships that fateful night. You can find it located here http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm



The Boston Tea Party was one of many events where colonists and the British Empire didn't see eye to eye, however many consider it to be the event that lit the fuse of the American Revolution powder keg (pronounced: pawda keg). So I guess in a way, our freedom to have coffee dates, no inforced importation of goods, and the fact that we don't speak in a British accent (although we all want to) can be attributed to tea and its place in history. Not a bad rap at all.

I hope you've enjoyed this bit of tea history!

Links to pictures and information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BostonTeaPartyJoyceNotice.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Tea_Party_Currier_colored.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blisstree.com/flyawaycafe/files/2007/07/downtown-boston-skyline.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blisstree.com/flyawaycafe/photo-op-boston-skyline/&h=480&w=640&sz=89&tbnid=AL14JyPCH_xFpM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dboston%2Bskyline&usg=__cK6grIp87y4rSEOkCTOGwEVS5E8=&ei=6sB5SqWlN4XQsgOctqyRDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image

Casanova Crab Cakes

A letter of apology to Lady Casanova, my mother...

While taking a quiz in culinary class tonight it dawned on my that I completely forgot one of the most significant days of my life, August 3rd, the day my mother was born. 

Although it sounds absurd to even think about what could've happened if that day never occurred, it's not absolutely ridiculous. Summed up best by Robert Frost,  

"Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference" 

Reflecting how I became so passionate about cooking, I realized that it was my mother guiding me to take the road less traveled. The most significant fork in the road where my mom pushed me to explore the kitchen was when I was a freshman in high school. 'Let's have a dinner party for your friends', she said to me. After a few days of coaxing, she finally pushed me to create a 5 course menu. To tell you the truth, the only thing I remember cooking was the appetizer, New England Crab Cakes. I remember them being crunchy on the outside, tender in the middle and full of flavor in every bite. 

The guilt of not calling my mother started to build in class but I couldn't leave. The only thing that helped to temporarily extinguish my guilt was the fact that we were coincidentally learning how to make crab cakes. Making crab cakes tonight sparked memories of my mother and I in the kitchen creating delicious meals, laughing and loving our time together. 

A smile shined within my heart while I plated the crab cakes tonight. At dinner, a tear was brought to my eye while my team graciously complimented the dish on its flavor, texture and seasoning of the cakes. I knew I made them with TLC, I just wished my mother was there to taste the TLC.

Casanova Crab Cakes with Roasted Pepper Remoulade

Yields: 10 appetizers (3 - 2 oz cakes/plate = 60 oz)

Prep Time 30 min / Cook Time 20 min / Plating 10 min

Ingredients:

• 2 lb crabmeat, lump
  
• 1 lb crabmeat, claw
  
• 6 oz mayo
  
• 4 eggs, beaten
  
• 1 TBS dijon mustard
  
• 1 TBS Worcestershire
  
• 1 TBS salt
  
• 1 tsp white pepper
  
• 1 TBS Cayenne Pepper
  
• 3 TBS Parsley, chopped
  
• 8 scallions, finely sliced
  
• 4 oz bread crumbs
  
• 2 oz slivered almonds, toasted and crushed
  
• 3 oz panko crumbs
  
• 1/3 cup clarified butter or canola oil 
  
• 1 Roasted Bell Pepper, peeled, cored, seeded & small diced
  
• 1 pt Remoulade Sauce (use recipe below or buy tartar sauce)
  
• Lemon wedges, garnish
  
• Mixed greens, garnish
  

Preparation

1. Pick over crab cakes and remove shell
2. Mix together mayo, eggs, mustard, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, cayenne, parsley, scallions. Add bread crumbs and fold to combine.
3. On a plate, mix Panko crumbs with toasted almonds. Scoop out a 2 oz and place it on the Panko crumbs mixture and cover it completely with Pankos. Mold a crab cake by softly pushing top and bottom together and pressing sides to firmness. Place on baking sheet. Can be made up to two days in advance.
4. Pan-fry cakes in oil or butter until brown on both sides and cooked through. 
5. Add roasted bell pepper into Remoulade sauce.

Remoulade

Yield 1 qt

Ingredients:

• 4 oz Dill pickles
  
• 2 oz onion, brunoise
  
• 2 oz capers
  
• 1 qt mayo
  
• 1 TBS Anchovy paste
  
• 2 TBS parsley, chopped
  
• 3 TBS Lime Juice
  
• 1/3 cup Sriracha
  

Preparation:

1. Mix all above ingredients together, can be made up to 1 week in advance.

Tune in for next week when I forget my dad's Birthday...Just joking, I forgot that date a few months ago...

Love you mom... 

Can't wait to incorporate tea in the recipe and enjoy it with my mom...

Rocky Mountain Tea Festival

What a great festival this past weekend!! We're so fortunate the Rocky Mountain Tea Festival is held locally in Boulder every year. We had a great spot in the shade down by the creek where we set up a booth with lots of free tea to sample and products to sell. People seemed to go crazy for all the deals we had going on and so many people went gaagaa for our iced Red Rocks, a rooibos tea blended with vanilla & almonds. One little girl in particular, probably around 8 years old, really freaked out after tasting a sample, "Oh my god! This is the best tea I've ever tasted!!" And this tea had no sugar, just the natural sweetness of the rooibos! So of course her mom bought her some - a healthy drink without sugar that her kid loved?! No brainer... Another group of friends in their early 20's who were waiting to eat at the restaurant bought us clean out of the rest of our Red Rocks tea after trying samples.

We had fun chatting with the tea festival participants as well as the people waiting for a table to eat at the Dushanbe Teahouse and random passerbys from Boulder's Farmer's Market on Saturday. We also got the chance to talk to other vendors and reconnect with friends in the tea industry. The hosts of the festival, the Dushanbe Teahouse, were so helpful and generously fed us from their delicious brunch menu each day. Such great hosts! and a gorgeous building... if you've never been, it's a Boulder must-see and good eats!

At the close of the festival on Sunday, I got a chance to attend a pu'erh tea class taught by David Lee Hoffman... pu'erh tea connoisseur and star of Les Blank's documentary All in This Tea (a great flick for tea geeks). My favorite tea we sampled was a phoenix dragon oolong - so complex with fragrant floral notes in the beginning with a roasted finish. I sat with great company during the class, and got to chat some more with Elise of Pearl Fine Teas - such a sweet gal! I snagged this photo from her Twitter account. Check out her other photos from the festival, like this Tibetan pu'erh mushroom tea. We tried roughly 10 different teas in all, steeping them each multiple times, gung fu style. So... I drank waaaay too much tea within a 2 hour window, after not eating for a few hours, and left the seminar amped up and spinning (even though this photo looks like I'm about to fall asleep while sipping tea.)

In any case, I highly recommend attending the festival next year to any one remotely interested in tea. There's so much to learn and so many good teas to try!