Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Tea of mystery


No matter how busy you are, no matter how many deadlines you face, your life could be coming apart at the seams, and still .... and still ...

You can always find the time to go to Dollar Tree!

I went today and came back with two boxes of tea called Tevive. I bought Tevive Chai Tea and Tevive Blueberry Tea. For a buck each, 20 sachets each.

When I get back and am supposed to be working, naturally I can't help Googling Tevive tea because the packaging is kind of slick and I wanted to see what kind of bargain I got. Respected brand names can be found at Dollar Tree at deep discount. For instance I also bought Contac cold medicine.

And guess what? There is no Tevive Tea!

I can find no evidence of it! Aside from this one YouTube review. This one Southern gal apparently does Dollar Tree reviews. And why am I not doing Dollar Tree reviews? Where did I make my wrong turn in life?



Haha... I love how she can't pronounce "Ceylon" or "sachets" and is unapologetic about it.

The Tevive box directs you to tevive.com but there is no such Web site.

However. There is a TeaVivre that seems to have a good reputation in the tea community. Maybe the idea was that you would Google it and wind up at TeaVivre.

While I worked on things Pennario I had a cup of the blueberry tea and then a cup of the Chai tea. I will have to thank Tevive in the acknowledgements if I go on the way I am going. The blueberry tea, not too bad. The Chai tea was good! I would buy another box of that.

I am a coffee person first and foremost but tea is great when you are at your desk and you just need something. But anyway. Back to our question.

Tevive!

What is it?

Friday, September 9, 2016

Jeoffry in the jungle



It is hard not to laugh when you come home and your cat is lounging on your shoes.

Jeoffry had found my sandals under the dining room table and was stretched out on them.


It is funny to try to think how a cat thinks, not that you will ever understand it.

One morning last week I got up early, before it was light, because I had work to do. I made my way downstairs to make coffee. Then I went looking for the cat.

He was in the front room, staring out at the dark garden. God knows what he saw there. But he must have seen something. Because when I reached out to pet him he jumped out of his skin. Then he leapt off his perch and backed up, staring at me.

He did not hiss. Sweet Jeoffry, he never hisses or growls. But he looked at me as if I were some kind of threat. He did not seem to understand who I was. It took him a good 10 seconds.

I was thinking: That is a clue to how he thinks.

He thinks he is in the jungle!

It was almost like getting a clue as to how Leonard Pennario's mind worked. A foreign being. I would look for clues.

Wild!


Thursday, September 8, 2016

All-you-can-eat crab... apples


It is "What Possessed Me" Part Two.

I was stressed on account of a lot of work to do and so I went out an picked 50 pounds of crab apples.

Well, maybe not 50 pounds, but you get the idea. It is funny, growing up we had a crab apple tree in the back yard but we never ate any crab apples, not one. I think we thought you could not eat them. Now I know better.

There is this crab apple jam I wanted to make. I was shooting for six cups and it ends up I have 10 cups.

Those crab apples collect!

I was picking up crab apples lying on the ground but Howard was looking on and said to stop doing that. He said they might have worms in them or something. In every family you need someone who cautions you.



Otherwise who knows what might happen.

Anyway, I must needs make this jam but the nice thing is, the crab apples will keep till the weekend, when I do my Coffee Hour baking anyway. Perhaps I will be inspired. Imagine a Crab Apple Danish. A Crab Apple Pandowdy! It would be fun to make something very elegant with them. I will have to think.

Meanwhile, there are these 10,000 crab apples that need dealing with. Once again...

What possessed me?


Wednesday, September 7, 2016

What possessed me?


That is the question I wailed to myself the other day as I was making chili sauce.

I had all these plum tomatoes from Bailey Clinton and they needed to be used up. So I had scalded all these tomatoes and skinned them. Then I chopped up about six huge bell peppers and six small ones. Now it was 90 degrees and I was stirring this brimful, boiling pot to which I had added three chopped up onions. There were three onions still to be chopped, and ...

What possessed me?

That is a good question.

I like that quaint phrasing. It is fun to take a phrase you hear kicked around a lot, and really think about it. In this case all you can picture is the devil.

Remember how the devil made that phone call?

That picture up above is of the devil making chili sauce!

This particular story ends happily. I did get the onions chopped. The sauce exactly filled nine pints and all the lids went "pop." I then went off to work on my book.

Which, that is a whole other story. On the one hand, I am seeing the end of the tunnel. On the other, I often still think...

What possessed me?



Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Hold on to summer


I did a story for The Buffalo News on stretching the summer. Like Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, it came from the heart, I will say that.

For the life of me I cannot see why people are in such a hurry for fall.

I love fall. Sometimes I think it is the time of year I love best. I always loved summer, but summer has gotten really noisy in the city. It feels good for everything to calm down, to cool down. Before you know it, it is time to bake fruitcakes, and you are heading toward Christmas, which as everyone knows is the most wonderful time of the year.

Thanksgiving to Christmas, is there anything better?

However.

You miss some of the magic if you start it too early. You must needs hold off. And as long as the temps are in the 80s and 90s, that is God telling you not to crack out those black tights.

Instead ride the Viper at Darien Lake, as I did on Saturday with our photographer Sharon Cantillon. I took the photo up above. Sharon filmed this video which is on YouTube and sure to go viral. Taat is me you hear laughing. Hahahahaha!



Continue to wear white. Heck, it's hot.

Continue to complain about the heat.

Fall will be here soon enough and that is when we crack out the pumpkin lattes. I am of a mind to do some Christmas caroling this year too. Who is in?

We will find out before you know it!