Mindfulness and the Art of Chai

I enjoy making chai from scratch.  I can control the sweetness and my choices of flavors far better than the syrupy cups served  up by the green mermaid coffee house or from the shelf-stable boxes of concentrate you can buy at the supermarket.   No, I make mine at home.

Chai is not something I slap together in the morning.  There is not enough time to do it right.  In the morning, I pop a k-cup in the machine and pump out a cup of coffee rocket fuel.    Chai-making is something I do slow and with great attention in the evenings or on the weekends.

My formula is comprised of cardamom pods, black peppercorns, whole cloves, fresh ginger and Ceylon cinnamon bark that I smash and crack with a stone mortar and pestle.  The tea is a dark rich Assam.  Strong black tea is essential.  No timid Earl Grey or green tea will cut it.   The spices and tea, along with a bit of coconut palm sugar, are added to a small pan of boiling water and then allowed to steep on a low flame for several minutes.   The longer the steep, the more developed the flavors.  Finally, I add whole milk until the concoction is an orangey tan, bring it back to a boil, then pour it through a fine mesh strainer into a serving cup.

The process is slow, slow, slow.   And I sip it accordingly.

I came across a video this morning that exactly illustrates the process and the practice.

The Art of Making Tea

My gaiwan

I am on a new kick: taking a tea set in a travel bag and having a slow quiet tea (or tea party with others) outside the house.

Here are the essentials implements for travel tea:

• Thermos of hot water
• Gaiwan under 200 ml (bowl with lid)
• Decanter or pitcher
• Tea cups less than 100 ml
• Cloths
• Waste water container (perforated water tray or a bowl)
• Strainer
• Tongs (spoon for dry tea, tongs for moving hot cups)
• Tin for loose tea
• Paper towels
• Insulated carrying bag

Here is the process. This is not a ceremony like a formal Japanese Tea Ceremony where each item and each movement are infused with spiritual meaning. No, this is just a very practical way of conducting a tea service to maximize the enjoyment of sipping tea.

• Set implements on tray
• Heat cups, gaiwan, and decanter with hot water.
• Pour out waste water
• Use scoop to add leaves to gaiwan
• Pour a little hot water over leaves to rinse.
• Pour out waste water. Use strainer.
• Add more water to gaiwan and let brew for about a minutes.
• Pour into decanter. Use strainer.
• Pour into cups.
• Use tongs to move around hot cups
• Dry out the implements with paper towels.
• Wash everything when home.

Here is a visual demonstration of the process at home (not traveling) but it is the same process and she is using a water tray to collect the waste water:

ljgloyd 2022

I Forgot to Tell You….

Yesterday, when I was telling you about the connection I have towards some local eateries, I got so caught up in telling you about the emotional connections I have to some of these places that I forgot to describe the food.   For example, at Tia Rita’s*, they serve what I would describe as heavily americanized “Tex-Mex”.  The dishes are heavy with beef,  often covered in goopy, melted yellow cheese and served with a pool of refried beans on the side.   Don’t get me wrong– I love this food.  I would eat a  “wet” ground beef burrito in a flour tortilla any day.

But…..

On weekend mornings, though, they serve red pozole, a soup that has its roots in the Aztec culture and was perfected in the kitchens of mothers and grandmothers for hundreds of years thereafter.  The red version is made with dried chiles, soaked and pureed, then added to salted water with pork shoulder or shank meat (with the bones).  Then cooked hominy is added –NOT regular yellow corn, but creamy, fluffy hominy.  And for heaven’s sake NO beans.  It is all simmered together until the broth becomes rich, earthy, and deep orange-red.    The best part are the toppings added at serving time:  shredded green cabbage, radish, white onion, cilantro, a squirt of lime juice, herbaceous Mexican oregano and red pepper flakes.   And served up with fresh corn tortillas for dipping on the side.

In terms of cooking method and ingredients, this dish is supremely elegant in its simplicity.   Nutritionally, it is a bone broth with lots of vitamin-laden fresh vegetables.   To the soul, it is a revitalizing bowl of warm comfort.

You don’t mess with tradition.

---

ljg 2022

*Not the restaurant’s real name.

Another note:   There are some funny videos out there of traditional cooks watching celebrity cooks make “pozole”.   Do a search on Youtube for them.

Day 220: Work/Life Balance

Way back in March when we started our work-at-home lockdown, I fussed a lot about having to stay at home all the time, enduring the “sameness” of every day. Of course, there is still a lot of that feeling, but I have come to appreciate the benefits.

The primary benefit for me is the work/life balance.  I don’t have to rush home to meet the handiman. I don’t have to spend my weekend or evenings doing laundry or vacuuming. No stress in dealing with commuter traffic. I can make a pot of tea and drink it like a civilized person instead of gulping it from a paper cup. I can go out and weed my garden on my lunch hour. And I don’t have to binge cook on Sunday afternoons. I have time to tend a simmering caldron of soup on a Thursday afternoon. And this morning, I roasted a kabocha squash while answering work emails and preparing for zoom meetings.

Yes, I can get used to this.  Wait, I think I have gotten used to this. 

kabocha squash roasted in olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper and drizzled with maple syrup

Day 127: Blueberry Galette

I made a galette this afternoon, which is just a fancy name for a rustic fruit tart—and “rustic” is just a fancy way of saying “let’s not worry about how it looks – just how good it tastes.”    😀

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/07/18/rdp-saturday-mouthwatering/

Day 17: Stir Crazy in the Kitchen

It is day 17 of my new normal.  Fortunately, I have work to do at home during the week, but the evenings and weekends are a little long. I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, gardening, and wasting way too much time on YouTube. However, I did find a video of Jamie Oliver making the easiest soda bread ever made.  So this morning for something to do I made it, and I am fairly pleased with the result. ( A link to the video is below).  I call it “soup can soda bread” because you use an empty soup can as the measuring cup for the flour and liquid.

Mix together a soup can of all purpose flour, a can of whole wheat flour, and a can of milk. Buttermilk is better, but I didn’t have it. Instead I mixed some milk with some yogurt. Add a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of honey, and 2 teaspoons of baking soda. I added a few sprinkles of rolled oats for some texture.

When the dough is mixed, plop it out onto a floured board and just give it a few kneads to shape it into a ball. Sprinkle the bottom of the baking pan with a little flour, put the loaf into it, sprinkle more oats on top, and score an X into it.

Put the pan into a preheated 400 F (200 C) degree oven. The recipe calls for it to bake for 20 minutes, but mine was a little underdone in the center. So the next time I do this, I will bake it for 25 minutes, and then test the center with a knife. Every oven is a little bit different. Other than that, I am very pleased with the result:

The whole process took about 35 minutes, including clean up.

So that’s what I’ve done so far this morning.   What are all of you doing to get through your lockdown or social isolation? Stay well, everyone.

Ljg.

 

I https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/?s=Isolate

RDP Friday – Isolate

It’s All Greek to Me

Kale and Mustard Greens

As much as I am gardening to do my small bit to repair the planet, the other reason is that I like to eat: and I like to eat healthfully as much as I can. Furthermore, I have found over the years that it is the Mediterranean diet that I enjoy the most: Italian, Greek, Provençal, Spanish, North African, Levantine, greens, beans, grains, olive oil, fish and wine. Admittedly, I can’t produce it all, but I can do a little.

Here’s a little scholarship on the subject:

Ljgloyd 2020

Pantry Magic

It is amazing that the sublime deliciousness of a chocolate chip cookie is comprised of nothing more than some ordinary ingredients from the pantry cabinet.   I really think it is magic.

 

RDP-Sunday-COMPRISE

Casting My Bread

The world is a mess. That’s an understatement, to be sure. Our problems are so overwhelming that it might be easy to fall into despair and think there’s not anything that can be done to fix things. The good news is that though none of us can fix everything in the world, we each can repair our small corner of it and be confident that it does make a difference.

There is an old saying that if you cast your bread upon the waters, it will come back to you many times over. In other words, I fervidly believe that if each of us do good in this world in some small seemingly insignificant way, then the effects are cumulative and magnified, and the results reach places we could never have imagined.

So where do I find my corner in this messed up world? I am finding mine in a garden. If you have followed me for a while, you know that I volunteer in a community garden that grows food for a local pantry that distributes to those in need. My creaky old knees don’t allow me to do a lot of heavy lifting or digging, but I can harvest, pull weeds, and water.

This work in a community setting has had an effect in my personal realm.   I am eating more healthfully by adopting a more plant-based diet. No, I have not become a vegan —yet— but relying more on plants for food is better for the environment.

Is my working in the garden going to eliminate hunger and poverty?  Well, at least for one person or two it may. Is my not eating meat going to end the global climate crisis?  No, but it may lead to one less cow emitting methane to the atmosphere– which might put a tiny, tiny dent in it.

Call me Pollyanna-ish, but inaction on my part is not an option for me. I am going to keep casting that bread.

LJG 2019

RDP Monday: FERVID

 

 

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Goodness

My creativity took a detour through the kitchen today. I have been seeing posts and videos all over the Internet for “avocado toast “, so I had to try it out for myself.    I had the bread, an avocado, cream cheese, harissa paste, a lime, and Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel seasoning.    And there you have it:

LJG 2019

RDP Friday: MELT