Musings from the Blue Room

100g king arthur GF flour, no xanthan gum ("1/2 c wheat flour") King Arthur is brown rice, potato, tapioca, and white rice.
100g white sugar ("1/2 c granulated sugar")
1 c whole milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
1-2tsp vanilla extract
dash salt (not in recipe)
raw apricots, quartered, 10-15 whole

Oven, 325F. 8" square glass pan, greased on the bottom

Whisk flour and sugar, then add milk and stir to smooth. Rest (a bit) and stir again. Add eggs and blend smooth, then add butter and vanilla and a tiny bit of salt, and stir again.

Pour batter into 8x8 glass pan. Add apricot quarters a handful at a time, checking overall density of the distribution.

Bake. 35-40 per the recipe, and I'm going 45 because rice flour.

Harney Teabags
Chamomile

Harney Samples (2019)
Apricot tasty, but how will the flavor shift with time?
Big Red Robe

Harney Small tin (2018)

Lunar New Year Huge leaf expansion. supposed to be oolong + lychee & lemon but I mostly get ginger
Kim Tuyen Black " Vietnamese tea combines the best of both worlds for an unforgettable infusion. Visually, the brew resembles a black tea; steep the leaves, however, and you'll find a beautifully tropical aroma full of character with the subtle and silky body and fruity qualities of an exquisite oolong. Second brew is best.

Harney Large tin (mostly 2018)
Peach Iced Tea nice peach flavor and pleasant tea base. Fifteen Minute Brew Time! I don't need to rebuy, but do not regret this purchase.
East Frisian my favorite of the last Harney order; softer than Irish Breakfast. I like this specifically better than Malachi McCormick and Brigitte's.
Ambessa Lingonberry Green underwhelming, vaguely tangy


Holy Mountain Trading Company (2018)

Black [Amaranth] Globe: Qian Ri Hong
Purple Leaf Tea brews up murky purpley-brown, tastes between a green and an oolong.

Bamboo Tea House (2017)
Blackcurrant Black farewell Bamboo Tea House. St James Ceylon was excellent.

Minto Island (2016)
Pan-Fired Green
Oolong

Steven Smith Teamaker
18: Brahmin individual bags. heavy honey flavor.
55: Lord Bergamot individual bags. Brahmin + Bergamot.
24: Big Hibiscus, herbal.

Others
Mishka's gunpowder-and-mint . This might be bulk Kusmi. (2018)
Spice Traders cinnamon/apricot (2017)
Blue Lotus Chai
TJ's Peppermint
Townshends 6: Lapu Mountain Souchong
Trader Joe's Irish: everyday spouse-tea
PG Tips: weekend spouse-tea
Penzey's broken-leaf Spearmint: it's nice after-dinner.
Point Loma Tea: Butterbeer Rooibos



What else is there? There's the handful of single packets that are leftover from things or samples from places.


Souvenirs: Maple Ice Wine, Corn Silk
Southern Boy Blackcurrant White Ice Tea Quart-size.
Republic of Tea Pumpkin Spice from a catalog
Culinary lavender buds from a defunct tea company whose samples are in another container and NOT blogged here. Arg.
Five Mountains Organic Genmaicha: Steamed Pan-Fired Ryokucha Green Tea & Toasted Brown Rice
Origin: Kawane Mountains, Shizuoka, Japan This is rice-heavy and lovely. The container is ferociously difficult to open up.



52 Teas
Firebolt vanilla cinnamon


Summer Additions 2019

B'lure Butterfly Pea Flower For the novelty. Like hibiscus, but not tangy.
Ahmad Limeflower Linden blossom.
Jasmine Pearls Bombay Breakfast Cardamom-Rose chai assam. At 18 months, all that's left is ginger. Don't rebuy.
Scots QuadPack: whisky, S breakfast, highland and earl grey
The Art of Tea "Huntington Blend" is vanilla earl grey x jasmine green (2019)
Brodie's Scottish Afternoon (2019), CTC. serviceable high caffeine
Bewley's Irish Breakfast (2019)
Yorkshire Tea, Red string teabags.


Spring Additions, 2020

Spice Trader Teas
Earl Grey
Assam
English Breakfast
Irish Breakfast
Lychee-Rose Green

My grocery store has recipes at the register, but they're on 6" square cardstock, so I forget to file them. IRISH SODA BREAD 4 c AP flour 2 Tb granulated sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 4 oz butter, cold, small dice 1/2 c currants 1 3/4 c buttermilk 1 egg 1 oz butter, melted Sift: flour, sugar, salt, b.soda, b.powder. Add diced butter, work in w/ pastry cutter to 1/4" pieces. Mix in currants. Add to dry: buttermilk and egg. Stir these until the dough comes together, still tacky. Knead on work surface: 3-4 times then shape into round loaf. Score top with X, brush entire loaf with melted butter. Bake: 35-45min at 350F until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped on bottom.

So I went on vacation and came back with tea, and my sibling went on vacation and came back with tea for me, and _prepping_ for my vacation _also_ prompted tea buying. Whoops.

Harney Teabags
Paris caramel blackcurrant earl grey. I like this. Worth rebuying sometime.
Chamomile
AOH Hibernian, an Irish breakfast. It's over! It was okay.

Harney Samples (2019)
Apricot tasty, but how will the flavor shift with time?
Big Red Robe

Harney Small tin (2018)
Khongea "A bold, brisk Assam. Great for starting your mornings off right! This tea is produced by the Prakash family of Glenburn Teas. It is made on the south side of the Brahmaputra River in India." I don't love this. VERY malty honey.
Lunar New Year Huge leaf expansion. supposed to be oolong + lychee & lemon but I mostly get ginger
Chamraj Nilgiri FOP "an enjoyably mellow black tea with light citrus notes. It grows in the hills of southern India, on a sister estate to Korakundah." This is beautiful and brews three times.
Amba Ceylon Very big leaves. Brew twice. Don't rebuy.
Kim Tuyen Black " Vietnamese tea combines the best of both worlds for an unforgettable infusion. Visually, the brew resembles a black tea; steep the leaves, however, and you'll find a beautifully tropical aroma full of character with the subtle and silky body and fruity qualities of an exquisite oolong. Second brew is best.
Kaimosi CTC Kenyan. such small pellets! good flavor tho, and can rebrew 1/4 volume for weak color. don't need rebuy
Big Red Sun Kenyan Milima/ Kenilworth Ceylon, so it should be like an English Breakfast. Spouse likes it! (can rebuy)

Harney Large tin (mostly 2018)
Ceylon & India orange pekoe really nice. pleasantly zippy without heavy astringency. Plan to rebuy
Peach Iced Tea nice peach flavor and pleasant tea base. Fifteen Minute Brew Time! I don't need to rebuy, but do not regret this purchase.
Malachi McCormick's Decent Tea yeah, it's fine. Assam/Keemun. I got it for the box art.
Brigitte's Blend a honey-backed Ceylon? It keeps being fine-but-meh. Do not rebuy.
East Frisian my favorite of the last Harney order; softer than Irish Breakfast. I like this specifically better than Malachi McCormick and Brigitte's.
Ambessa Lingonberry Green
Murder on the Orient Express smoked jasmine earl grey teabag. needs food.
Decaf Vanilla Comoro purchased b/c decaf. vanilla flavor doesn't make it a winner.

Mighty Leaf (asst years)
Ti Kuan Yin brew three times. Second infusion is best.

Tao of Tea (unknown)
Rose Petal Black bought b/c container. I keep trying to love it and I don't.

Holy Mountain Trading Company (2018)
New Vithanakanda SFTGFOP (large) it's been pleasant. no need for rebuy.
Nepal Organic Kangchenjunga Black really quite excellent. medium body, light tannin. One spice-jar cap per pint of water.
Darjeeling TGFOP
Black [Amaranth] Globe: Qian Ri Hong
Irish Breakfast this is mellow and fine, but not as assertive as I'd have thought the "Irish" label would have indicated.
Assam TGFOP this is very nice. I like it better than the Irish Breakfast, and it is genuinely nice with milk.
Kenilworth OP
Purple Leaf Tea brews up murky purpley-brown, tastes between a green and an oolong.
Organic Golden Monkey this was nice.

Bamboo Tea House (2017)
Blackberry Black super underwhelm. so glad it's over.
Blackcurrant Black

Minto Island (2016)
Pan-Fired Green
Oolong

Steven Smith Teamaker
18: Brahmin individual bags. heavy honey flavor.
55: Lord Bergamot individual bags. Brahmin + Bergamot.

Others
Mishka's gunpowder-and-mint. This might be bulk Kusmi. (2018)
Spice Traders cinnamon/apricot (2017)
Blue Lotus Chai
Lupicia Elderflower Chamomile
TJ's Peppermint
Choice Organic: Organic English Breakfast
Teekanne Ostfriesian honey flavor
Townshends 6: Lapu Mountain Souchong
Trader Joe's Irish: everyday spouse-tea
PG Tips: weekend spouse-tea
Penzey's broken-leaf Spearmint: it's nice after-dinner.
Point Loma Tea: Butterbeer Rooibos
Cosa Tea: instant powder packets none of these were worthwhile. Mango green good, plain green bitter, oolong (dark roasty), lemon black (screaming lemon), english breakfast (good without sugar, terrible with sugar) Stash green tea-powder packets were better but still not impressive.
Typhoo Extra Strong plain but nice


What else is there? There's the handful of single packets that are leftover from things or samples from places.

Ahmad Blackcurrant was nice, more blackcurrant than tea. Worth rebuying.
Bigelow Lemon Lift is a heavy lemon spice. I liked it, but not enough to stock or rebuy.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Chamomile is a hotel sample
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf English Breakfast is a hotel sample, but it's Very Good. Could rebuy.
My oil-change place has a coffee amusement machine and a basket of Bigelow samples. I Love Lemon and Orange Spice.
Souvenirs: Maple Ice Wine, Corn Silk
Southern Boy Blackcurrant White Ice Tea Quart-size.
Republic of Tea Pumpkin Spice from a catalog
Culinary lavender buds from a defunct tea company whose samples are in another container and NOT blogged here. Arg.
Five Mountains Organic Genmaicha: Steamed Pan-Fired Ryokucha Green Tea & Toasted Brown Rice
Origin: Kawane Mountains, Shizuoka, Japan This is rice-heavy and lovely. The container is ferociously difficult to open up.
YamaMotoYama Oolong never again. bland fannings teabag.


52 Teas
Apple For Teacher apple sage allspice. allergic to this.
Firebolt vanilla cinnamon
Amortentia strawberry green chai. mostly cardamom. no regrets, no rebrew or rebuy.


Summer Additions WHY WHY WHY
Choice Tea Lemon-Lavender-Mint Like Sleepytime, but lavender! Mostly minty lemongrass.
B'lure Butterfly Pea Flower For the novelty. Like hibiscus, but not tangy.
Ahmad Limeflower Linden blossom.
Ahmad Darjeeling Tea Bag it's fine
Ahmad Ceylon Tea Bag it's nice and also fine
Ahmad English Afternoon lightly bergamot. Fine.
Jasmine Pearls Bombay Breakfast Cardamom-Rose chai assam. I like, spouse doesn't.
Hugo Tea Earl Grey Smoky, alright. Don't do for Christmas
Nambarrie Irish Breakfast. Nothing particularly special
Twinings Everyday Teabags simple Yunnan blend
Scots QuadPack: whisky, S breakfast, highland and earl grey
The Art of Tea "Huntington Blend" is vanilla earl grey x jasmine green (2019)
Brodie's Scottish Afternoon (2019)
Bewley's Irish Breakfast (2019)
ROT Organic Assam Breakfast so mundane
Yorkshire Tea, Red string teabags.

I picked up a bag of masa harina at the store. EXCELLENT choice--it's been years since I've done so. I have delicious crafting material. In lieu of committing a ziploc to the tortilla press, are there other ways to cook these flatbreads?

Hand squashing is fine but everything comes out uneven.
Finger-pressing onto parchment the way I press shortbread is fine and is currently the best procedure.
Stainless steel rolling pin was a sticky disaster; it would need a second sheet of parchment and for 110g corn flour, was deemed an excessive use for resources.

Yield: 8 or so 4" tortillas.

Ultimately, I'm aiming at stuffed tortillas, such as pupusas and tlacoyos, and thick corncakes, such as sopes, arepas, and cachapas. They're not all made with masa harina, but plain tortillas are a good place to start.

To recap: Nov/Dec theater project was super busy all the time, but I survived. YAY.

Tea: I have +3 lbs of dry leaf relative to October. I am trying to use up the '16-'17 teabags before cracking open too many of the new tins from Harney. It's neat realizing which teas don't need a re-brew and which ones absolutely need a re-brew because there's SO much flavor in a twisted whole leaf!

Currently: my doctor thinks the ankle is Achilles Tendonitis (1 tablet naproxen sodium every 12 hrs for two weeks) and I'm being very careful to not point my toe. It's the non-standard ankle for habitual injury, but this having been the result of Speedy Walking is massively annoying.

Cooking: am making more efforts in this regard, and I'm trying to eat breakfast more regularly. It's noticeable in that I'm now getting actually-hungry at lunchtime, am not snacking across the afternoon, and generally am avoiding the "I've been snacking alllllll day, but never feel hungry, so I don't *really* need dinner?" problem.

Fanfic: have been reading through the "Jane Bennet" tag on AO3, but not everything.

TJ Irish
Twining's Earl Grey (2018)
Mighty Leaf Tieguanyin

Tao of Tea Rose (Keemun?) (2018)
Taylors of Harrowgate Earl Grey (2017)

Taylors of Harrowgate English Breakfast (2017)
PG Tips (2018)
Harney East Frisian (2018)
Harney Brigitte's Blend (2018)
Harney Malachi McCormick's Decent Tea (2018)
Harney Amba Ceylon (2018)
Harney Paris sachets, a caramel Earl Grey (2018)
Mishka's gunpowder-and-mint. This might be bulk Kusmi. (2017)
Spice Traders cinnamon/apricot (2017)
*Harney decaf Vanilla Comoro (2018) very weak, but it is decaf.

Floating on the counter:
Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey teabags (2018)
*Harney Paris teabags (2018) - I need to try a comparison directly with the sachets
*Lemon Lift teabags (2018) - I don't like this as much as when I was younger
Blue Lotus Chai
Ahmad Bags Blackcurrant (2017)
mixed loose bags. zomg many.
Penzeys broken spearmint leaf

Lupicia Elderflower Chamomile
TJ's Peppermint

Cupboard above (bin, hooray!)
Steven Smith Brahmin (2018)
Steven Smith Lord Bergamot (2018)
Bamboo Tea House 2oz looseleaf packets (2017) blackcurrant, blackberry
Minto Island Pan-Fired Green (2016)
Minto Island Oolong (2016)
Choice Organics English Breakfast (2018)

Cupboard above, not in the bin:

*Harney Murder on the Orient Express (2018) It's smoky jasmine Earl Grey.
Mighty Leaf Assam (2018)


Finished

bulk dept hibiscus flower pieces

Taylors of Harrowgate English Breakfast (2017)
Twinings Mixed Berry (2018)
Taylors of Harrowgate Scottish Breakfast (2017)
Trader Joe's Organic Earl Grey (2018)
Bamboo Tea House Rose tea (2017)
Bigelow American Tea: Charleston Breakfast looseleaf (2018). So disappointingly weak in flavor!
Bamboo Tea House Spiced chai (2017) truly awful
Harney Tippy Yunnan good for boba, but badly flavor-faded

Ukulele, a project started three? years ago. Have learned some Major chords: C, D, F, G, A. Minor chords: Am. Need to learn: E7, Dm, Gm, possibly Em.

Harp: ukulele cross-ruffed some skills over here. Have a better sense of timing within harmony. Am working on ear-training sound intervals into finger shapes as I noodle around on classic O'Carolan melodies.

Cookery: have learned pancakes. This is bigger than it seems. The tea posts are a sincere effort to streamline the clutter. Discovered PENZEY'S for Spices. Am making an effort to season food and use pepper more often.



Time commitments: am considering a daily volunteer gig to gain more structure in my time. It would likely require retooling the entire sleep schedule though.

Barnabas made family-heritage PB-rice krispy treats with butterscotch-chocolate topping. There's a 9x13 pan. This is a ridiculous lot of sweet.

with a mortar and pestle, grind:

white peppercorns (fish the one out of the teapot promptly)
thumbnail size bay leaf piece
cumin
thyme
salt

rub on meat, bake 350F-->desired temp

https://taooftea.com/product/rose-petal-black/

Bought this. BEAUTIFUL container, by which I mean Has Inner Lid for better airtight qualities. I haven't brewed it alone yet, but with Earl Grey it makes the EG a lot nicer.

Bamboo TH "Persian Tea" is a finely cut black tea, not a CTC.