CuppaTea

Blue is my favourite colour. It has been for as long as I can remember. And purple and green have come in second, always. And yet, this year is the colour green. I have moved interstate when I had expected to be moving overseas. My new home has a garden, and it baffles me that things grow without any help or hindrance from me. Because someone else (or several other people) have established the garden in previous years, plants occasionally burst forth and I have no idea what they are until someone else recognises a photo I show them. Usually after mystery plants have started flowering. The garden at the beginning of May, before it rained for a few weeks. Mystery plants emerging... Turned out to be these bluebells! I had to have someone come and tell me which green things were weeds and which were garden plants. And then it rained and rained and everything grew before I could get the weeds out and a swath of proper garden plants burst up and I could no longer even se

In 2017 a friend and I set ourselves a recipe challenge to be completed by 2020. In 2018 I nearly forgot all about it, but I am now staring at the looming finish line and am keen to pick it up again. I have completed two out of 27 categories, so in order to complete it I will need to address one category every two weeks. Eek! Oh, except one category is to make one dish from each region of Spain... Well, that might take some effort as well! And paella is a separate category! And so, at the beginning of the year, I sat down and reviewed the categories to begin thinking about what recipes I might like to try, and what time of year might be good to try each of them. Summer might be a good time to try a salad, or any recipe which needs summer fruits, for example. I will need some help finding recipes, so if you have a favourite recipe which you think matches one of my categories, please let me know! Especially if you have a simple recipe from any region of Spain - preferably in Engli

When I wrote at the halfway point , I was less than halfway through two out of three categories, and had admitted defeat in the third category - at least for 2018. What has happened in the second half of 2018?

Day 22 Brown paper package tied up with string, tea is one of my favourite things! Melbourne Breakfast, T2 - and a Caramello Koala! I considered waiting for breakfast... but didn't! I also thought about drinking it black... But I didn't! A nice cup of tea. Nothing surprising in the scent or the flavour. Just a good cup of tea. I'd be happy to drink it again, but won't rush out to buy it, as there are other black teas I enjoy more, savour more, and seek out. Day 23 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Delicate Green, Jasmine & Pear, Madame Flavour An unusual floral scent for a tea, Jasmine, and I wasn't sure what to expect from the taste. A light, green/yellow colour. Jasmine was the dominant flavour as well as dominating the scent. I didn't taste pear at all. This is the first tea I really haven't liked, and which I couldn't finish drinking. Which is very sad! But,

Day 19 A tea cup! Southern Sunrise, T2 A very fruity smell to the teabag, and the scent persisted with the cup of tea. A lovely, light scent. I'm trying to figure out what the ingredients might be, knowing I am unlikely to identify them all. It looks like there might be pieces of dried fruit, possibly apple, in the teabag. Something from the citrus family, although probably not lemon. I would not be surprised to find some less common fruits, like passionfruit or mango, in the mix. But I honestly have no idea what else might be in this tea! I did not add sugar or honey, and once I tasted it, I knew it wouldn't need it at all. A light, sweet, fruity taste - a relief to have the smell match the taste! I am very surprised at how much I've enjoyed some of these teas, the 'no tea leaves' ones. This is a tea I would like to have in my collection. Oh, I think this would be lovely cold as well! A great summery tea! Definitely one I would like to

Day 16 Chevrons and a visible tea bag! Chai, T2 I tried, I did try to drink a milkless chai. But I couldn't persist. It just wasn't right! Much better! I added milk and a drop of honey. Not sure how to describe this chai. Nothing surprising in terms of the flavour, an enjoyable chai. The spice smell I expected - and which I like! I do prefer milk based chai drinks, and so I preferred Day 6's chai , but I would happily drink T2's chai again. Day 17 Tissue paper! Something gentle to cherish?   Chamomile & Vanilla, Higher Living I am a big fan of vanilla, and the tea bag had a lovely vanilla smell as I opened he packet. The back claimed it would be a hug in a mug, which made me smile, and hope for the best. And it delivered! Nice cosy vanilla smell in the teacup, the kind of yellow colour I would expect from a chamomile tea, and it tasted delightfully of vanilla. I smiled the whole time I drank this cup