I’ve been thinking about India lately. Disparate thoughts. Not terribly coherent. It’s hard to be coherent about a subcontinent; I worry about simplifying or fetishizing. My partner, E, and I moved last month, and since then I’ve eaten dinner at Momo N Curry, a Nepali and Indian restaurant a few blocks away, about once a week. I ate momos (Nepali steamed dumplings) for the first time in McLeod Ganj, a community in the foothills of the Himalayas, and I’m always excited to see them on menus in the US. But what really sold me on this restaurant was the carafe of free chai by the front door because it tastes…
-
-
I Want to Buy You a Cup of Plum Deluxe Tea
Happy Tea Tuesday and welcome to An Opportune Moment’s first ever giveaway! This post comes to you in 3 parts: Part the 1st I want to talk about customer service (Or, why I’m having a giveaway) By now, I think you’ve all heard about the fire that destroyed my apartment and most of my possessions, including my elaborate collection of teas and tea accoutrements. Someday, I will write a blog post that doesn’t link back to that event, but today is not that day! Anyway, I am a sporadic twitter user at best and, back in November, I happened to sign in and see that Plum Deluxe (a lovely lifestyle…
-
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
Well, you know how the song goes. The tree is decorated, there’s snow on the ground, and it’s feeling pretty festive at The Beach House lately. This morning I even drank a cup of Winter Delight — the loose leaf black tea that Katie and I bought in Sarajevo last Fall. In order to best preserve their flavor, loose leaf teas should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container and kept away from light, heat, and moisture. I’m not as diligent about this as I ought to be, but I do own a number of tea tins, which are pretty as well as functional. I bought one decorated…
-
Franz & Sophie: Another Reason to Love Sarajevo
Yesterday, I wrote about my love for Sarajevo. And today, I’m sharing the last (and possibly most important) reason I fell for this city. Are you at all surprised that my reason is a teahouse? Katie and I read about a teahouse called Franz & Sophie when we were looking up interesting restaurants in Sarajevo on TripAdvisor. The reviews are so good, it’s number 3 in the restaurants category, and they don’t even serve food. Or coffee for that matter. Be warned non-tea-drinkers, this is not a tea and coffee shop where you can grab a cup of joe and a pastry while your tea obsessed friend (that’s me) ogles…
-
Echinacea Tea and the Bradford, VT Film Slam
Just a quick update this Tea Tuesday. If you like An Opportune Moment on facebook (see what I did there?) you know that a couple weekends ago I was in Bradford, Vermont for the 4th Annual Cohase 48-Hour Film Slam. It’s one of two Vermont film slams my boyfriend, E, and I (and a group of our wonderful friends) compete in each year. I wrote about the other — The Green Mountain Film Festival’s 48-Hour Film Slam — back in March. In case you’re wondering, a 48-hour film slam is when teams of intrepid filmmakers get together to write, shoot, edit, and screen an original film over the course of…
-
First Flush Tea
This Tea Tuesday, I’m drinking First Flush Tea from Charleston Tea Plantation, and friends, it is everything a cup of black tea should be. What is First Flush tea? The “First Flush” is the first harvest of the year, which occurs in the spring when tea plants experience escalated growth following a winter dormancy. The term “First Flush” is most often used to refer to Darjeeling tea, which is grown in the Darjeeling District of the West Bengal region of India. In Darjeeling, tea is hand-picked four times a year, which results in four distinct flushes: First Flush happens in late April or early May Second Flush lasts from early…
-
Charleston Tea Plantation!!! (The Most Exciting Tea Tuesday Yet)
Back in May, I took a road trip with two of my closest friends from college. Our trip started at my former apartment in DC, where Lisa was still living, and took us South to Miami and back. On the way, we stopped in Williamsburg, VA, where I learned that colonial history happened somewhere other than New England. Okay, theoretically, I knew this, but I live in Boston, so when I think colonial history, I think Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, the Boston Massacre, the burning of the Gaspee (slipped a little Rhode Island knowledge in there for you #homestatepride). We breezed through North Carolina (sorry NC, I loved you…
-
Iced Tea, Sweet Tea, and That Elusive American Tea Culture
Last Tuesday, I shared a recipe for making chai concentrate, and I was sure to point out that it can be served hot or over ice. I mentioned this because most of my readers are from the United States, where it’s currently summer, and the weather is hot. Although many cultures persist in drinking hot tea year around, in July and August, Americans typically like their beverages cold. While iced tea is not unique to the United States, it is more popular here than in many other countries. Maybe it’s because iced tea was supposedly invented in the US at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. According to the…
-
Tea Tuesday: Chai Concentrate
My tea making adventures didn’t end when I left Hawai’i. Just because I can no longer collect leaves and herbs while wandering from my cabin to the kitchen doesn’t mean I can’t visit my local co-op, pick up some spices from the bulk section, and make my own tea blends. So! E and I made a chai concentrate, and you can too! Full disclosure, we loosely followed this recipe, which teaches you how to make chai concentrate as a homemade Christmas gift… (Christmas in July, maybe?) However, this beverage can be enjoyed year around — all you have to do, if you’re suffering from a summer heat wave, is serve…
-
This Tea Tuesday, It’s Actually Ti Tuesday
I decided not to write a new post on Sunday because it was Father’s Day, and, if you don’t know why that matters, please see the previous blog entry. You don’t even have to read the post, you can just look at the title. I’m back today because it’s Tuesday, and on Tuesdays I drink tea. Well… I drink tea everyday, but I write about drinking tea on Tuesdays. Except this post isn’t about drinking tea. Oops. It’s about a different plant, which I encountered while living and working on an organic farm on Maui, called “ti.” And, yes, pronounced “tea.” So, it’s Ti Tuesday. (Ha!) And, for Ti Tuesday,…
