The Tea Scoop

Let It Snow!

A note: I wrote this last night, as the snow just started. Now the snow is up to my knees.

The snow is whispering softly as it blankets houses and tree. At this moment, there is no hint of the potential of this storm. In fact, I would hardly call this moment a storm at all, but simply one of winter's soft caresses.  Yet the forecast is calling for 10-20 inches over the next 36 hours, and here in Northern Virginia where the winters are generally mild, people have ransacked grocery stores and barricaded themselves in their warm houses, while children pray that the snow will not be cleared in time for school on Monday.  
While the snow resulted in the cancellation of our Christmas party, I am content. I am well stocked with tea, and I have a recipe for vanilla snow ice cream that I rarely get to use in our warm winter weather.  I'm thinking that I will subsist on said ice cream while I warm myself from the inside out with a cup of chai. After all, there is nothing cozier than curling up in a blanket with a hot cuppa, watching the snow create a winter wonderland outside. Maybe the snow will even result in a review or two.

The original recipe for vanilla snow ice cream comes from Peppercorn Press

Ingredients

1 12 ounce can evaporated milk, ice cold
 1 cup of granulated sugar
 1 large egg, very well beaten
 1 teaspoon vanilla
  Dash of salt
 One large Dutch oven of fresh fluffy snow

Preparation

In a large chilled mixing bowl, whisk the evaporated milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt, until well mixed and frothy.  

Scoop up a lot of fresh dry snow, clean and free of debris.  Since you know, you are going to eat it. Freshly fallen snow is best. 

Using a large mixing spoon, spoon the snow into the milk mixture a couple of spoonfuls at a time and press with the spoon instead of stirring, until it is incorporated. Repeat until it begins to become solid and very firm.  You will know you have added enough snow when it starts to become difficult for new snow to absorb milk. 

Serve immediately in chilled bowls.  It can't be frozen.  Serves 4-6 people. (Or two very very hungry people with big sweet teeth). 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My Dad has always been one of my best friends. It was just the two of us for six years, so we're particularly close. He was always my biggest cheerleader and my teacher, and I wouldn't be where I am today without him. In fact, he was the one who encouraged me to start this blog, and he's the one who helped me brainstorm the name.  He also made sure that I had  good breakfast every morning growing up.  And while I love cereal, his breakfasts outshined cereal any day.  Sour cherry pancakes, fried potatoes, crepes, bacon, sausage gravy...the man can cook, and he taught me how to love cooking. While I tend to rely on recipes, Dad just makes stuff up, and it's always good. And today is his birthday. 

So, here is a recipe just for him, that I made up in true David Wolfe fashion.  

Sencha Scramble

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sencha
1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme, etc)
handful of parmesan cheese (or the cheese of your choice)
splash of milk
1 tablespoon butter/bacon grease (depending on how healthy you want to be)
1 clove of garlic, minced

Directions:
Beat the eggs thoroughly.  Add sencha, herbs, cheese, and milk, and whisk together.  
Heat up the pan.  Add butter or bacon grease and allow to melt.
Saute the garlic until fragrant, about a minute.
Pour the egg mixture in the pan, and stir constantly until cooked.  

I had it with buttered toast. Yummy!  Allowing the sencha leaves to sit in the eggs for a couple minutes allowed them to soften quite nicely, but I've heard of people using steeped sencha leaves in cooking as well. Enjoy, and Happy Birthday, Dad!
 

Tea Menu on Venus Vision

Permit me, for a moment, to step up onto a soapbox.  There are endless websites telling women how to be prettier, how to be thinner, how to catch a man. Now there is a website to tell women to embrace themselves for who they are and help them to be happier people. It's called Venus Vision.  Go forth and visit and support its worthy mission. 

Now that I am off the soapbox, I can give you specific directions to the website. My tea menu is now up in their recipe section. 

The Birthday Bash

Last year, we bought our first house, and excitedly moved in on the Ides of March. The inside of the house was absolutely beautiful, with a brand new kitchen that we were the first to use, beautiful hardwood floors, new carpets. The backyard, however, was another story. Holly trees on the side of the house had grown up so much that a fugitive car thief ran through them and smack into the house that hadn't noticed. The Weber grill that conveyed with the house had a tree growing up through the middle. But we had a vision of a backyard retreat, and slowly, it came to pass. While still in progress, this year's birthday brought with it a beautiful brick patio, finished just in time for my birthday dinner. 

Being a wonderful cook and a good husband, Mr. Tea Scoop recreated the wildly successful Valentine's Day Tea Dinner. This time, dinner was accompanied by Mighty Leaf's Red Tea Sangrias.

The Menu

Chinese Tea Eggs

Green Tea Poached Chicken

Green Tea Pasta Salad

Jasmine Creme Brulee

Red Tea Sangrias

Dinner was once again, quite successful, this time shared with good friends.  The Sangria made a great summer accompaniment to the meal.We made it with Riesling, and I think next time I might go with a Chardonnay to cut the sweetness a bit, and cut back on the sugar in the recipe.  All in all though, it was quite refreshing and festive, great for an early August in Virginia. 

Unfortunately, it was dark by the time we started brulee-ing our cremes, but it was quite a hit with our guests, all of whom wanted a turn with the blow torch.  

Here is a picture of the eggs before we shelled them. The cracked shells create a beautiful pattern when the eggs are steeped in tea. 

This is the pasta salad, prepared with fresh basil from the garden.  Once again, we used Sencha to cook with, both for the chicken and the pasta. 

Here you can see what the eggs look like with shells removed, as well as our green-tea poached chicken.  All in all, the birthday could not have been any better. 

Tastea Suggestions

Sometimes, I look in my cabinet, and I am absolutely overwhelmed with choices. Sometimes I pick my beverage based on my mood, sometimes for other reasons. But you don't have to have a full tea cabinet to be confused about what tea to choose. Sometimes you have options when you go out to dinner, or in the aisle in the grocery store, or at the local tearoom. How do you pick which tea to have?

In some ways, both choosing and tasting tea is similar to being a wine sommelier.  Certain teas pair better with certain foods. In some cases, it has to do with the history of a tea. Japanese teas, for example, pair best with Japanese foods. Genmaicha, a Sencha green tea prepared with toasted rice, is the tea soulmate for sushi. Journalist Sandra Kallio is out to discover some other tips for choosing your tea. In Kallio's article, teahouse owner Anthony Kerbrick suggests that white tea, like white wine, pairs excellently with fish and seafood dishes.  Black tea stands in where red wine might be chosen, with stronger flavors or with rich desserts, especially those with chocolate.  

As my faithful readers know, I often experiment with tea as an ingredient in cooking as well as my favored beverage.  Kallio has suggestions on that front as well, some of which sound like great ideas.  She suggests cooking rice in jasmine green tea (having done this, I can vouch for the wonderful subtlety of flavor infused into the rice).  She also discusses using tea as a rub for fish or a marinade.  Sandra, I can't wait to try these ideas out!