Tea | But I Smile Anyway...

October 3: Flash Fiction Challenge – Chai Time

03 Oct 2022 14 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Carrot Ranch, Chai Time, Flash Fiction, Tea

Charli’s Carrot Ranch Prompt, this week:

October 3, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about any ritual involving tea. It can be a daily afternoon tea prepared specifically or the reading of tea leaves in a cup. What do you know? What do you imagine? Is your story deep and ponderous or bright and flash? Go where the prompt leads!

Chai Time

Water simmers as I add tea leaves.

I peruse my spice cupboard, wondering which to add, today.

Fennel seeds, cardamom pods, cloves, some cinnamon, too.

Each releases its unique scent into the air as it is added to the deep brown liquid.

Milk added, the boiling halts as the liquid begins its simmering journey again.

A careful eye is needed as the bubbles increase and the froth begins to rise.

Gas down, froth down.

Gas up, froth up.

Three times, then off.

Strain it. Pour it into a cup.

Perfect masala tea to warm the cockles of anyone’s heart.

https://carrotranch.com/2022/10/03/october-3-story-challenge-in-99-words/

#SoCS July 28/18 – Tee, Tea T

28 Jul 2018 45 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #StreamofConsciousnessSaturday, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Socs, T, Tea, Tee

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “T, tea, tee.” Theme your post around “tea” or “tee,” or find a word that starts with “T” and talk about that. Bonus points if you manage to incorporate all three. Enjoy!

Today I forfeited my morning cup of tea. It was just too stifling to sip a hot beverage, in temperatures nearing the 30’s at 8am…

I rumaged through my wardrobe to find something suitable to wear. It was going to be a long day, driving back up to Brum with my children in the car…

After the shennanigans of the last trip (5 hours for a 3 hour journey) I was not looking forward to it. They had argued the whole way there…

Then I came up with a plan (read bribery!) We are with my Pops for 10 days at least, so I made them a deal. If they could cope with being together, no full on arguments and rows, no whining (Lil Princess) or winding the other up (Lil Man) then I would log £2 against their name. If we get home and they managed a whole TEN days without bloodshed, they’d have earned £20! At the time of writing this we have managed a day and they have really controlled themselves… how long will that last?

Back to the suitable clothing… I tried on a tee-shirt but even that felt too sticky on my body. A shower felt pointless as I was glistening (Ladylike way of saying sweating like a P-I-G!) within moments of getting out. Then I remembered my lovely tie-dyed swing dresses… Oh they feel so good in this weather! I have around five of them, picked up from a great cheap shop here by my parents place!

And boy was I glad that was what I wore, because it did indeed take up another FIVE HOURS, sitting in a car with AC that is helpfully NOT WORKING!

Tea-riffic! Temperatures Tee-tering Towards Top Thirties Throughout!

Written at 23:35pm on Friday night!

Catch ya later Peeps! Happy Saturday!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-28-18/

#JusJoJan – January 9th, 2018 – Coffee

09 Jan 2018 54 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, Barbara, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Coffee, Linda G Hill, Nescafe, Tea, Teleportingweena

Day nine of #JusJoJan!

I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!

Today the prompt is:

Your prompt for January 9th, 2018, brought to you by the lovely Barbara, is “Coffee.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Barbara at her blog, “TeleportingWeena link: https://teleportingweena.wordpress.com/

Thanks Barbara!!

Coffee

I can’t stand coffee!

It just doesn’t taste good to me.

I am firmly a tea drinker.

Being as I am an Indian, born in England to Kenyan-born Indian parents, I think there is a heck of a lot of tea culture flowing in my veins! After all, tea is the drink of the British and the Indians, and tea grows in India, and Kenya… (Though Kenya is a coffee-growing nation too!)

But then when I see people drinking coffee, they appear much more grown up. Does that make sense to you?

It’s as if my naturally sweet palate can’t take the bitterness of the coffee beans.

I have tried it, sipped tiny sips, attempted coffee cake, and even sweets, but no!

And if I was to find that random coffee sweet in a Marvels packet – I want to be sick!

One of the hardest experiences in my life?

I worked for a call centre for Nestle, and we dealt with the catering side of the business, and in order to be able to discuss the various coffees Nescafe have to offer, we were invited to head office to have a coffee tasting session!

The rest of the team knew I hated the stuff and they watched me throughout the morning, as I was subjected to what felt like hundreds of tiny cups of various coffees. And the worst thing? I couldn’t just quickly swallow it either! There was a need to swill it around the mouth, kind of like wine-tasting, the writing down how it tasted on all parts of the tongue! Ewww!

Having said that I can’t stand the stuff, I am pretty okay at making a decent cup, apparently!

I make Hubby Dearest a daily cup in his travel mug to take to work, and I can make a frothy coffee by hand, after being taught by an employer from a long time ago, who liked her coffee sweet and milky. I used to add the coffee and sugar, a drop pr two of milk and then whip it up a frenzy, until it was a creamy foam at the bottom of the cup. When the water was added, and the extra milk, it was almost cappuccino-like!

But no, I definitely don’t want to drink the stuff myself.

Then you get my 12-year-old son who loves the taste of coffee sweets, and I won’t allow him to drink coffee regularly, as I think he is too young for caffeine (no, my kids don’t drink soft drinks either, unless its a very special occasion!) but when he gets a chance, a Latte from Costa is his thing!

Is he more grown up than me? Oo-er!

But no thank you – I’ll stick to my cup of Chai!

See you tomorrow! Oh, and yesterday at school was a manic day, as I thought it would be, but I’m still here, as I always am, and am counting the days to the weekend lol!

If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.

The Perfect Chocolate Tea Straw!

01 May 2017 83 Comments

by Ritu in Foodie Pics, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Chocolate, Chocolate Straws, Food Treats, KitKat, Sausage Party, Tea, Twirl

I know, the majority of you are probably wondering what I am going on about!

Well, actually, if you are following me on Instagram (and if you’re not… why not? Here I am! @phantom_giggler!) you will have seen my food… healthy and otherwise, and my recent experiment, for scientific purposes of course!

It may be the cause of my slight weight gain, rather than loss, but I’m sorry, you only live once and I won’t be without chocolate!

Anyway… back to the topic in hand.

Way back when I was at university… over 20 years ago (Eeeek! Oldie me!) I discovered a great way to ‘Have a Break, Have a KitKat’!

Basically, you nibble the ends of a KitKat finger, dip it into your tea, and suck!

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Yes, really!

The tea slowly seep up through the wafer, softening it, and melting the chocolate, and then you eat the slightly soft finger…Yum!

Ok, so that may either make some of you heave, but there will be a few of you who are no itching to put the kettle on and rush out to get a KitKat!

Two of my colleagues saw the photo above on Instagram and a conversation started about them wanting to try it, so me, being the big sis kinda gal that I am, bought them both KitKats the next day, for them to have a go during their planning time, with their cuppas!

The staff work room was full and they had a few strange looks, but also some suggestions:

“How about a KitKat Chunky?” Erm, I couldn’t possibly suck on something so large…! ;P

“What about a Cadbury’s Twirl?” No, that would be like cheating on my KitKat!

Then today I was waiting in the check out queue at Toys’R’Us and was feeling peckish. The customer ahead of me was being a pain in the butt, trying to wangle discounts (which he did get, in the end!) and eventually, I reached for the confectionary that is conveniently placed right by the till.

What was staring me in the face?

A Twirl bar!

And it was saying “You know you wanna suck on me…” (Sorry, watched Sausage Party last night, I am a bit affected!) so before I knew it, the Twirl was in my pile of things to buy.

I didn’t succumb to it straight away.

So tonight I thought I should conduct a scientific experiment.

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I had to make sure it was fair so I set up my experiment in the same way as I had with my KitKat. Same cup of tea, same stool, same person testing (Me!)

I nibbled the ends, I dunked, and I sucked.

And the Twirl melted. It was in one piece long enough for me to get it back into my mouth, but just dissolved into a mouthful of chocolatey yumminess!

Which would win? The KitKat or the Twirl, as a perfect Tea straw?

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I am not a fickle person. It is not easy to convert me once I like something, and I am afraid that this was no different!

KitKat wins HANDS DOWN! What with that substance you get from the slightly tea-logged wafer, it beats a sloppy melted Twirl 100%!

Now its down to you fellow Chocolate and Tea lovers!

Have a go! Experiment!

Let me know what you think. Which one is your favourite?

Or have you tried this with another chocolate bar that I need to ‘research’ for scientific purposes, obviously? ;P

Happy Sucking Peeps!!!

My New Mugs From Jivana Style!

06 Feb 2017 32 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Psot, Blogger, Blogging, Jivana Style, Mugs, Supporting small businesses, Tea

I love tea.

I love to have a good mug to drink from too.

When we moved into this house I ordered some lovely personalised mugs for the four of us, from a website called Jivana Style. They are great! They have these characters that are Indian, or West Indian in appearance that feature on cards, keyrings and all sorts.

You can get wedding cards for mixed marriages depicting the couple as they really are! I loved them! A little niche that catered for what I like!

Slowly I bought some for my parents-in-laws, brother in law and wife, then my own parents, brother and sister in law. Sam Alfred was the contact I had there, a lovely lady who helped me personalise all the mugs, choosing colours and characters to suit each member of the family!

Imagine my devastation when they slowly broke… It was inevitable… But I was unable to reorder for various reasons.

I found their website again recently, and placed an enquiry email with regards to getting some new mugs but got no answer for a couple of weeks. Fearing the recession had got them, I tentatively rang their number, not expecting a reply, but it did get answered, and Eddie Alfred answered. He hadn’t received my original email, but was so helpful in arranging for me to get new mugs in the designs I wanted!

He also told me that, sadly, Sam, who I had dealt with previously, had passed away a couple of years back. I’d never met her, but had dealt with her a lot over the phone and by email, so felt a little sadness.

Anyway, after little less than a week, my package arrived… and

Tadaaa!

Here are our family of mugs! The pictures and colours selected by the kids too! Lil Man wanted to be playing hs drum, and he got what he wanted!

Thank you so much Eddie, they are fantastic!

I recommend the company to everyone for a personal service, and a great range of products too!

Eddie asked me to spread the word with regards to the website as, since Sam’s passing, business had been slow. I asked him if he minded me blogging about them, one way to put them out there, and he was more than happy, so here is my little post!

Please, go check out their website!