Would you like a cup of REAL TEA?

Hot tea is something that, as a child, you only have when you’re sick. As you get older, it reappears as a drink alternate and this is when people’s tastes begin to change.

In my teens, I drank black tea with honey. In my 20’s it was black tea with a spoon of sugar and a lot of milk. In my 30’s it was black tea with 16 grains of sugar and a big splash of milk. In my 40’s (as in ‘still 40 for one more month’, thank you) it’s 16 grains of sugar and a medium to small splash of milk. My current reasoning is that the sugar shaves off the bitter high points of the tea, and the right amount of milk provides a nice body to it. That is the way I normally take my tea.

As a ‘tea person’, I also can drink tea with honey, herbal tea, and the only tea so far I couldn’t handle at all was Lapsang Suchong, which tasted like a hot wet ashtray. I love iced tea in its various forms (sweetened and unsweetened home made), the only brands I like in a bottle are real brewed with lemon Snapple and the Assam Black Honest Tea.

As far as hot teas, these are MUST HAVES in order of favorites:

Yorkshire tea – I prefer the red box

Canadian Red Rose tea – Red Rose Brand tea in Canada is MUCH better than the US version, can only be ordered from Canada

PG tips - they have the triangular tea bag

King Cole (they also carry THE BEST black decaf I've had to date)

Barry’s Tea - I've been drinking the Irish Breakfast but I hear it's all good.

If you are a REAL TEA drinker, I strongly encourage you to try these teas! Please comment on your personal favorite teas, we’re willing to try anything if it’s good!

Cereal or French Toast -- How about both?

This morning, when my wife suggested we make french toast for the kids, I jumped at the opportunity to try something I saw on the show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. It turns out there's a restaurant in Baltimore called the Blue Moon Cafe that serves Cap'n Crunch French Toast.

We didn't have Cap'n Crunch, but we did have Trix. Here's how to make Cereal French Toast:

1. Crush the cereal in a bag or with a mortar and pestle. I imagine it would work well with many crunchy, sugary cereals such as Cap'n Crunch, Trix, Honeycomb, Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles, Honey Nut Cheerios, and even Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Don't crush it too much, you don't want it to be a powder.
   
2. Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and sugar thoroughly in a bowl. I find it's usually about one egg per piece of bread.
   
3. Dip pieces of bread in the egg mixture, then in the crushed cereal.
4. Cook the french toast in butter at a medium heat until the toast is cooked just through. Be careful not to char the cereal.

Enjoy!

Chalky Foods

I'm really not sure why, but I love chalky foods. When I was a kid and my mom let pick candy at the pharmacy, I wouldn't gravitate toward the Whatchamacallit or the Charleston Chew, but instead, I wanted Tums. Yes, Tums.

Maybe it's subconscious knowledge of some severe calcium deficiency. Or maybe I just enjoy the way chalky foods turn to powder in your mouth and spread the flavor all around. Regardless of why, I love chalky foods.

Some examples of chalky foods I enjoy:

• Tums (minty flavors over fruity flavors)
• Merengue Cookies (Trader Joes and Whole Foods have great ones)
• Freeze Dried Fruit and Ice Cream (Trader Joes has Mango, Strawberries and Rambutan)

Ice Cream "Melts" from 1/2 Gallon to 1.5 Quarts

At some point as an adult, you realize that the things you remember as being really BIG as a child are actually kind of normal or even small. For instance, the walk from the schoolyard through the back field to my yard at home seemed like a mile easy, when in fact it was about 200 yards. I think that Twinkies have shrunk as well, they used to be a sunny yellow color and clock in about the size of my forearm, when now they're this brownish greasy cake that i can eat in two bites. I wasn't sure if I just grew up a whole lot, or they shrunk the cakes and didn't tell anyone.

So...the other day my husband stared in disbelief when he discovered that he got only one bowl of the Breyers Dulce de Leche ice cream. I found that hard to believe, when my mother and I each had 2 very small bowls. Breyers is always good for a party, feeding umpteen people small servings. Then I was informed that Breyers shrunk their half gallon ice cream to 1.75 quarts and now to 1.5 quarts, which made me promptly head to the freezer. I pulled out the replacement ice cream (Breyers cherry vanilla) and in fact it WAS 1.5 quarts, and over $4 to boot. Same price, less ice cream?

I went online and found this great posting on Consumerist about the Breyers shrinkage. I gather it's a cost of goods issue, rather than a decrease in the popularity of the half gallon. Now I will have to pay $4.29 a gallon to drive to the store 2x a week instead of once to refill my ice cream stash. I guess it's time to go on a diet!

In which other cases has the recent economy affected other foods?

Cutting Brownies

Here's a trick that my wife taught me when cutting a pan of brownies. Cut off about 1/2" of brownie from the edges of the pan, then cut up and serve only the insides. This approach works great for two reasons:

1. None of your brownies will be 'edge pieces' (aside from my father, people tend to prefer the inner pieces).
2. If you've made the pan of brownies for company, you can eat the edges you've cut off without feeling guilty that you're eating food you made for guests.
   

Fried Pickles

Tonight I had the opportunity to try something I've never tried before: Fried Pickles. I really wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never even considered frying a pickle.

I was pleasantly surprised. The juiciness of the pickle was totally preserved and its tang opposite the comfort-food fried batter provided a nice juxtaposition.

While I can't see sitting down and eating any more than three of these things, they were definitely a nice treat. Pickle-lovers, check out Dawn's earlier post "Pickles Rule ~ Olives Drool" for a more, in-depth exploration of the subject of pickles.

Homemade Flip Flop Waffles II

To celebrate July 4th, I took the suggestion from a comment on my Homemade Flip Flop Waffles and made some Patriotic Waffles/Pancakes. I split my batter into three parts: one normal (white), one with blueberries (and blue food coloring), and one with strawberries (and red food coloring). While my kids didn't love the flavors, I think they came out great. The only tough part was trying to pour the three different parts together (given that I have two hands).

Enjoy!