Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Men's Club


Yesterday my 14-year old son helped me with an event we held at The Woodmere Art Museum. Later at night when my husband asked him how it went he explained that only "one man" attended and the rest was a "big room full of ladies". I had to jump in and tell my son about a male customer who came in a few weeks ago and told me that he coordinates a "tea group" at his law firm in NYC. The customer explained how each lawyer brings in a variety of tea and once a month they meet up in the office kitchen and taste all of the different types of tea- he also told me that the members of the tea group are mostly men. After the tea tasting they leave the tea in the kitchen to enjoy for the rest of the month until their next tasting. Well, my son rolled his eyes at me but it is true that tea is a man's drink. Most of my loose tea customers are men- and they purchase more white and puerh than women. When my husband was growing up he remembers visiting his favorite uncle and drinking tea (on the occasions that they were not drinking whiskey). His uncle was an interesting sort who would fire "warning shots" with his rifle up through the roof. My husband does not know what the warnings were for but he remembers that they always drank tea. It just goes to prove, you should never stereotype a tea drinker!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Check Out The Woodmere Art Museum when in Philadelphia!

On this coming Monday I am partnering with The Woodmere Art Museum for a talk on "Tea & Art". When I visited the museum today to discuss logistics I fell in love with the museum all over again- I have this experience every time I go. It is a real gem and anyone visiting the Philadelphia area (or locals who have not visited lately)should check it out. Best of all, admission is free. Our program on 7/27 is sold out but stay tuned for our next event...and in the meantime browse the museum's website and a list of their summer events at: http://www.woodmereartmuseum.org

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Even Tea Can't Cure This Mess!


Over the past few weeks I have been experiencing some bad pains in my arms, of course I imagined that I had a terminal illness and tried to use this to get my husband to take me to Italy for a "last hurrah". He wasn't buying it though so I went to the Doctor and found out that I have a slipped disc in my neck- not terminal at all. It really bothers me at night so the Dr. prescribed some pain medicine. This past Thursday night I decided to take one of the pills and within a half hour all of the pain was gone and I was feeling so good I could have painted our entire house! Since we did not have any paint sitting around I decided to save some money by dyeing my own roots (this is female hair "talk" in case you did not know). I figured that my frugal husband would be delighted so I asked him to drive me to CVS to get a box of hair dye but he told me not to be "crazy". Well, I decided I would walk the block to CVS - I could use the exercise anyway. I guess in my happy state I did not read the color information on the box of dye (Lesson #1 never believe the color picture on the box- specifically "Ash"). Once home I applied the dye (Lesson #2 it is impossible to get it on the "roots only") and within 5 minutes the dye looked bright purple. This scared me a bit so I washed it out- and yep, my hair was purple (Lesson #3 it gets your towels purple too!). My husband heard me freaking out and came upstairs and promptly told me "Your tea won't get you out of this mess" and laughed all the way back to his beloved Wall Street Journal. Friday morning I borrowed one of my son's baseball caps and was waiting on the front step of my hair stylist's shop an hour before she opened. When she arrived I begged her to fix my hair- and promised her free tea for life. My hair is fixed now but unfortunately it cost double to put my hair back to it's pre-easter egg condition. I won't tell my husband he was right...but once or twice a year he is.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Lose 5 lbs this weekend!

This tried and tested detox smoothie will help reduce bloating and shed water weight.
Yes,I did test this myself last weekend and it worked. I am going to do it again this weekend in preparation for putting on a bathing suit (I need all the help I can get!).

Drink 1 smoothie for lunch at least 3 days in a row for the best results.

To make 1 smoothie-

8 ounces cool Holy Detox Tea (steeped)
4 ounces honeydew pieces (cold)
4 ounces watermelon pieces (cold)
3 slices of peeled cucumber (cold)
1/4 inch piece of fresh ginger (peeled)
3 packets Stevia or Splenda (less or more based upon taste)

Put it all in the blender and mix for about 1 minute or until smooth.

To make your own Holy Detox Tea (for 1 ounce loose tea = 8cups)
1/4 ounce dried peppermint and spearmint mixed
3/4 ounce dried Tulsi Basil (must be Tulsi!)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Place all ingredients in an airtight jar and shake.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The MainLine Today Magazine Has Featured Our Green Tea Mojito!


Check out our green tea mojito recipe featured in the June issue of the MainLine Today magazine:

http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/June-2009/In-the-Drink/

Cheers!

Tea & Book Celebration on July 11th!


I love books- all types. My husband recently had to move the treadmill out of our bedroom to build more book shelves. While he takes issue with my weekly expediture for tea purchases from other tea shops (how else am I supposed to keep abreast of trends?)even Mr. Cheapo is embarrassed to complain about my book purchases. Keep in mind that this is a man who told me the other day that marriage counseling is not what people need- instead, they need "Financial Counseling"! Anyway, my idea of the perfect day is sitting in my favorite chair with a real page turner and a cup of Darjeeling in one of my Grammie's teacups. So, I was extremely excited when it was announced that Chestnut Hill will be hosting an Author's Weekend this coming weekend, July 10-12. The Hill Tea Bar will be hosting local author Donna Allender on July 11th at 2pm for a signing and reading from her book "The Humanistic Teacher". Educators and parents won't want to miss this!

The Humanistic Teacher: Meeting the needs of every child is the basic tenet of humanistic education, and this text explores both theory and practical methods for achieving this difficult goal. The Humanistic Teacher enables teachers to meet the different needs of individual students and to become the educators they want to be. Donna Sclarow Allender cofounded the Project Learn School in Philadelphia in 1970. She is also a practicing psychotherapist.

I also want to tell you about our dear friend, Salvatore Grasso, who is a local author of murder mysteries ("Larceny" and "Paradise Awakens"). Check out his books at www.salvatoregrasso.com or at amazon.com.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Summer Herbs and Tea

Recently someone brought me a bottle of herb flavored water that they purchased at the local organic food store. I thought the flavor (lavender mint)was great but it was missing something. Then it dawned on me that it was missing the tea! Dry herbs are typically blended with tea but fresh herbs are delicious in both hot and iced tea. When making iced tea, add the herbs when steeping the tea leaves and remove them before serving. Try combining fresh herbs with spices for a really special beverage. Here are some of my favorite combinations:

Black tea with mint and vanilla bean (split the vanilla bean and steep with the mint & tea leaves)

Green tea with basil and mint (basil and mint are delicious when combined!)

White tea with lemon verbena and fresh lemon rind

Oolong tea with lavender