Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What should I write....

Been so busy lately trying to open my place that I haven't been writing as frequently.  My goal is to write at least 1-2 times a week for the summer.  Hopefully by Fall things will be less hectic and I can get back to writing at least 3 times a week.  My goal is to write 3-4 times a week, but so far the 4 times has been rare and 3 times was happening on a pretty consistent basis until a couple weeks ago.  Also been having a hard time this week of thinking of something to write.  I do not want this whole blog to be about my tea house, but some interesting stuff about tea with some cooking and gardening thrown in too.  The irony is I am starting to get a few more people visiting the site.  Hope I can maintain if not increase it :)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 7 the end

Part 7  Tea, tea and more tea please the final part

I have to say I had a great time and wished there was more time to explore Charleston.  I found a great shop that is part of the inspiration for my teashop, Lesesne http://www.shoplesesne.com/ and ate food at some incredible places.

Me touching a tea branch and leaf.

Tea flower





Our bus back to Charleston.
Bye bye!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day myth started

My dad currently lives in San Diego, so I will not be celebrating the day with him.   


I tried to look up any interesting information about Father's Day, but could only find information that said in the early 1900s Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton celebrated it in Fairmont, West Virginia and Sonora Dodd is credited with the holiday becoming an official holiday in the United States.  No history about myths and legends.  It seems more recent in origin
So maybe I should start a myth about Father's Day?  What should it be about?  If it were my dad it would have Clint Eastwood in it and Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon.  He likes action and romance (he's Polish, who are known as the romantics of the North).  My dad was raised on a farm, so I got my love of gardening from him and he does drink tea (need to have the myth center around at least 2 of my 3 things I talk about in my blog).  
So hhhm here we go.  Ok, still trying to think.  Clint is a west coast/cowboy type of guy and we need him in something several hundred years ago.  For some reason Reese seems more period piece and dad really likes her more right now, so she's the main gal/love interest in this myth.  Maybe Clint as a Marco Polo type guy?  That at least makes it early enough to give it legend or myth like qualities.  Marco Polo also was in China and probably was in some rural areas where tea and gardening was happening.  We can make Marco a bad ass for dad's sake. 
Here we go.  You see Father's Day all started when Marco Polo (Clint Eastwood) went to the Wuyi Mountains in China to discover the origin of a magic elixir he had in Bagdad called tea.  He traveled far and wide to find the source of this exlixir.  He traveled to Ormuz and no luck.  He went to Karakorum and still no luck.  He went to Beijing where at least he was able to find some clues and a general direction.  Upon getting to Hangchow city after severals years of roaming he was warned that an evil man (Steve Buscemi, dad likes how he plays slimy guys so well)  illegally ruled the Wuyi mountains and is holding the rightful and just ruler's (Denzel Washington, dad likes him) daughter hostage (Reese Witherspoon).  The just ruler, Puer-eh offered vast sums of money to anyone who freed his daughter, Oolong.  Thousands died trying to save her and it had been several years since anyone tried.  Marco Polo heard all the stories about how the evil man, Coffee would torture the men who were only trying to save Oolong.  None of these stories dissuade Marco, he just said "I'm a badass!"  
In the meantime Puer-eh was at his wits end and was even going to try to save her himself.  This is when Marco Polo walks in the door and says, "I will save your daughter".  
Upon reaching the Wuyi Mountains Marco Polo sees a fireworks display and gets the idea to make a makeshift device that would use this gunpowder, he called it a gun.  Tons of gun fighting ensues or at least Marco does the gun fighting.  Since this weapon was never used before, Marco Polo was easily able to defeat Coffee and his army himself.  He is also able to rescue Oolong and return her to her father.  Puer-eh was so happy that his daughter was safe that he offered vast sums of money and his kingdom to Marco for saving his daughter, but Marco refused and only wanted to know more about the magic elixir called tea. His only other request was that Oolong escort him while he was learning about tea.  This seemed like such a small request that the daughter and ruler were happy to oblige.  Oolong escorted Marco to the tea growing areas and showed him the process of tea making.  During this time she became smitten with this just and kind man.  He had saved her life and could have anything he wanted, but all he wanted was to learn about tea and maybe look at the beautiful Oolong.  They slowly fell in love.  After Marco learned all he could about tea, he asked Puer-eh for his daughters hand in marriage.  Puer-eh saw how in love both Marco and Oolong were and was very happy to give his daughter to this kind man.  During the wedding ceremony they ate noodles to celebrate the festive occasion (the original spaghetti western).  Puer-eh gave the new couple a large tract of land to grow tea as a wedding gift.  


The new couple lived a happy life with many children on this tea farm.  They experimented with new ways to process tea until Puer-eh fell ill.  Marco and Oolong rushed to the ruler's bed to comfort him until he died.  Puer-eh praised Marco for saving his daughter and for saving his country from Coffee.  He also mentioned that he was worried about his country and wanted another just ruler to take his place.  Marco would hear nothing of it at first, he knew what Puer-eh was driving at.  Marco was completely happy on his tea farm with his family, but he also knew that a few of the Puer-eh's unsavory relatives were vying for the chance to rule the country.  So after a couple days Marco relented and told Puer-eh that he would rule the kingdom after Puer-eh dies.  Sadly Puer-eh dies soon afterwards.  
Shortly after Puer-eh's burial Marco is pronounced king.  The first decree Marco makes after his inauguration is to declare a new holiday to celebrate Puer-eh and all fathers who are just and kind.  He wanted the holiday to be June 19th to honor Puer-eh's birthday.  His second decree is to banish all Coffee from his kingdom (this is why Chinese people drink tea instead of coffee).  
Marco's life is good until one day Oolong has a particular hard labor and dies.  Marco is so distraught that soon after she is buried, he tells his oldest son (Mark Wallberg) that he is now king.  Once Lapsong Souchong, the oldest son is inaugrated Marco slips away one night.  He heads back to Venice to forget his life in China.  He tells the Venetians about his travels and the many things he learned, except anything having to do with tea and the Wuyi Mountains.  The one exception was the holiday called Father's Day.  He mentioned that the Chinese celebrate a holiday for fathers on the third week in June, he does not mention that he created the holiday.  The Venetians decide to adopt the holiday as one of their own.  
Marco eventually settles down and marries again, not even telling his second wife about his first wife.  Little does Marco know what a big influence he and his Chinese family were to tea.  Many tea names come from his family and coffee was never a big drink in China.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 6d

Part 6d Final part of historic Charleston

Loved the slate sidewalks.  My pictures of the brick streets and the harbor area were lost.

If you look closely the third tree is totally in the road (right across from the vehicle)

Just liked the red branches

Loved the iron work



Shhhhh, my secret garden


Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sugar, ah no honey honey/You are my cupcake girl

Last Friday I met with Kelly Peloza  and she gave me two samples of her cupcakes and two chai cookies dipped in chocolate to see if I would sell them at my tea house.  She specializes in vegan cupcakes and does some other baked goods.  The cupcakes were a rose water lemonade and a salted caramel.  They were both delicious, but I really liked the rose water lemonade one.  The cupcake portion was light, moist and tasted just like a regular cupcake.  I have had some vegan treats before and some of them tasted totally different then non-vegan ones.  Was not a big fan of the frosting for either cupcake, but I am the person who eats cake that has the least frosting or scraps it off.  So if you like frosting that would not be the reason for not eating her cupcakes or dissuade people from buying her goods. The frosting did not taste off, but was too sugary for me.  The cupcakes were beautifully decorated, but the strawberry on the rosewater lemonade one was a little too old for adding as a garnish for the cupcake (it would be fine for making a strawberry sauce, jam or even in baked goods).  The chai cookie was decent and the chocolate it was dipped in was great.  I am a big fan of dark chocolate.

I really like that she is experimenting with different flavors and said she may let me try some other flavors.  Her dream is to one day open a vegan bakery and think she is well on her way.  She has a couple books already published and wants to start selling her goods to area businesses.  Any issues I have with her bakery is either personal taste or minor things, so I am using her.  Kelly is still in college, so I know that one day she will achieve her dream and think any minor issues will be resolved.

Oh sorry for the mangled Archie lyrics, well kinda.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 6c

Part 6c  Streetscapes






Mind your p's and q's

Or they impale you

Saturday, June 4, 2011

News and more news

Thought I would share a couple of articles written about my soon to be opening place in the Third Ward in Milwaukee.  The first one is from OnMilwaukee and the other one is really recent article in the Journal Sentinel.  In the second article I am the Another Teahouse.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Tea or not tea

A friend asked me about tea and the difference between tea and herbal tea.  For some this would be obvious, but for many it is not.  I tried to give them a brief  run-down in a message.  It is hard to do in 140 letters or less (I will not disclose if it was on my personal or business twitter account for privacy reasons).  I would like people to feel comfortable to ask those questions and that their privacy is respected.  I told the person that tea is from the camellia sinensis plant and contains caffeine.  I also mentioned that herbal tea can come from many different plants and usually contains no caffeine.  That was about all I could do in 140 characters or less and had to take out two "is" to get it to fit.  I wish I could have given him a little more thorough explanation, but also did not want to fill his message box with messages or ramble on forever.