Maddy Barone Send Message

This tea never disappoints. Even when I ( as seems to be my habit these days) let it steep way too long, it remains smooth and not bitter. This manuscript was supposed to be in to my editor a month ago. I tried to write tonight, I really did. The words must be outside playing in the spring weather. At least I have good tea!

I’ve never enjoyed iced tea. Probably because growing up we always had the sugar free sweetened tea powder you mix with water. Then in the ‘70, ’80s, and ’90s, my mom made sun tea out of Lipton bags. shudder You see why I wasn’t an iced tea fan. But now that I’m a little more knowledgeable about tea, I want to drink it all summer too. I’m trying to control my horrible mountain dew habit, so iced tea will be my ‘thing’ this summer.

All that intro is to say I made iced tea! I looked at what I had left of this tea and decided it was time to try the cold brewed method of making iced tea. That was this morning about 12 hours ago. I’m just now sitting down with a glass of it and I have to say, this tea rocks as an iced tea! Seriously, it has flavor without being at all bitter! It’s kind of sweet, but I didn’t add anything to it. Oh, boy! Now I can not wait to try other teas cold brewed!

This was my evening tea to help me stay awake while I plowed on in the manuscript. Tasty. Spicy warm. I think this is a fall tea, not a spring tea. I have a friend who LOVES this tea. At the moment it is her very favorite, go-to tea. I don’t love it as much as she does, but it certainly is tasty. Wonder what it would be like iced?

I decided to brew a pot of this for my afternoon drink. So nice. The flavor is smooth and almost sweet. I’ve had good luck with my What-Cha purchases. Enough that I’ve placed another order even though I said I wouldn’t until summer. Oh well. I plan on brewing a LOT of iced tea this summer, so it will probably go quick, right?

This was my morning tea. It’s a great tea for the morning, robust and smooth.

Yesterday I went to an ENT for the first time in 8 years. I know I have nasal polyps. I’ve had 4 previous surgeries to deal with them. The last surgery was at the Mayo Clinic and cost $42,000. But polyps come back very quickly. Well, I’ll only have to pay about $6,000 of it probably. But guess who doesn’t have $6,000 laying around? Of course, this new ENT thinks surgery is a must. The polyps are so thick that on the CT scan it looks like I don’t even HAVE sinuses. No wonder I feel so blech all the time, right?

I have to decide if being able to smell my tea (and shampoo, and cat box, and food) for 3 or 4 months is worth it. Polyps are generally not fatal. In very rare situations they can lead to terrible complications, but generally they are benign. It’s just that you can’t breathe or smell, have continuous headaches, and pretty much feel like you have a cold all the time. For a measly four months of salary I can feel well for a little while. Is it worth it? That’s the decision I have to make.

Meanwhile, I’ll go brew another pot of this and imagine I’m smelling and tasting all those delicious flavors.

I can’t even begin to tell you how horrible today has been. Ketchup in the hair (don’t ask) was one of the nicer things that went wrong. Home from a late meeting now, and brewed up a pot of this. It’s low caffeine and tasty and comforting. When I finish this pot I think I’ll go suck my thumb for a while and rub the edge of my blankie over my cheek. "Cause I’m a grown up, dammit.

Wow, what a weekend. I wrote my little heart out. It’s been a long time since I wrote for such long hours. I did not finish the manuscript, but I can see the end coming. 4,000 more words ought to do it.

I brewed a pot of Minted Monkey, but I forgot about it steeping (there’s a pattern here. I did the same thing this morning!) It steeped for 15 freaking minutes, and still tasted pretty good. Not one bit bitter. Just a little strong. That’s the sign of a darned good tea! I drank the entire pot and was going to re-steep when my brother called and I knocked the infuser over onto the dirty kitchen floor. Grr. Oh well, I guess I’ve probably had enough caffeine anyway.

I’m spending every spare minute writing because I AM by God going to finish writing the rough draft of this book this weekend! (actually, I probably won’t make my deadline. The sick kitty got me off track. But I emailed my editor and she’s given me an extension. Still, I am going to get as much done as possible before bed tonight)

For the past three years, my faithful writing companion has been Cranberry Pear tea from DAVID’S. It’s so mellow and smooth, and I really like it. This pot was sadly over brewed. I forgot about it and it steeped for about 8 minutes. Still drinkable, but a little bitter. Oh, well. I’ll probably make another pot for this afternoon. Has anyone tried this iced? I imagine it would be very nice cold brewed. Or I could start it hot and pop it in the fridge to cool. Maybe I should start that before I go to church…

I had enough for one last cup of this. Does that make this a sip down? I have fewer than 50 teas in my cupboard, so I don’t know. Anyway, a very nice tea. Mild, smooth, no bitterness to disrupt my enjoyment. A nice tea to sip on my mid-morning break.

The sick kitty saga continues. Poor little Dixie is getting very crafty in avoiding the syringe of liquid antibiotic that I am to squeeze into her mouth. It’s working though. Today she was pestering me to play with her while I was supposed to be working. The good/bad thing about being a telecommuter is that the kitties don’t know when we can play and when they are to leave me alone. In fact, they seem to have ti quite backwards. LOL

I’m sitting down now to write this evening, and I decided it was time to finally open that box of Thin Mint cookies that little girl scout cookie pusher sold me. I thought about making Minted Monkey to go with it, but I thought that might be over kill, so I went with Imperial Golden Monkey from Tippy’s Teas. Yum! Rich, Smooth, a little sweet on its own, it’s the perfect tea for these cookies!