I’ve been thinking a bit out my background lately. Growing up, I’ve had no real culture other than typical American food from the box with no real traditions and I’ve just felt as though I was lacking tradition or culture. I’ve always been somewhat jealous of my husband who has a very large family and extensive traditions. When I was very young, my Polish grandmother used to make all these Polish foods from scratch. I’ve always wanted to learn more about that. Pretty young, I lost all of my grandparents so it’s really just been my parents, one brother, a few cousins, 3 aunts, and 2 uncles. All in all a pretty small family. I didn’t even really know my background only very vaguely, which became quite obvious recently after talking with a Polish guy when he mentioned that I didn’t look all that Polish and I didn’t really know much about my background otherwise. I’ve been on a search to find out more about myself. Turns out I’m 37.5% of both Polish and Ukraine, though some of that Ukraine is actually Mongolian. Also, I am 12.5% of both Native American and German. I’m planning on really trying to track my family tree and learn about some traditions. I suppose as I’m getting older, I think where I come from is getting more important. Well, on to the tea.
Today is day 2 of my raging migraine, so please pardon my tasting notes as they may be inaccurate due to the headache. I love this dragon well. I particularly like to do what I call reverse brewing. I have this glass tumbler that you can click this steel strainer into place. I like to put the tea leaves under the strainer to watch the leaves expand and brew especially since they look so gorgeous. The strainer keeps the leaves from getting in my mouth and I just add more water when it starts to turn bitter. I love to do this with my green teas. This tea is sweet and strongly nutty and buttery with some steamed vegetable notes. I’m finding the nutty notes to be similar to brazil nuts today and the steamed veggie notes to be mostly artichoke. A hint of floral can also be detected. It’s perfect for my mood right now. A solid sweet green tea that is more buttery and nutty than anything else. This is a beautiful mellow cup of tea.
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Hope your migraine goes away soon. I will have to try this one next time I place an order :)
I hope you feel better soon. I had really bad one yesterday and it took most of the day in a dark room with some herbal tea to feel normal again.
Thanks guys! Today’s migraine isn’t as bad as yesterday’s so I’m hoping I’ll just sleep it off tonight.
Oh, family histories are really neat. I did a project for a geography class, tracing what we know of our family history. So much fun. I also have an online family tree I’m working on updating.
You know I understand. The air pressure is changing so I’ve had puerh and ginger with some cocoa nibs brewing over and over all day yesterday and today. Feels good!
I’m the keeper of family history’s, but my children being half African-American have that blank space from slavery. The National Geographic has information on the DNA project where you can be tested and find out where in the world you come from. I’d love to do this for my children. Others might like this information.
My background on my Mom’s side is easy to trace all the way back to England, Ireland, & Scotland. On Dad’s side they are all alcoholics, that’s where the Native American blood comes in & his great gramma was quite the wild one, having children from several different guys, remarrying several times, & changing her name often. Nobody knows where she came from originally, & it’s so frustrating!
Stacy, how did you come upon those percentages?
Also, thanks for sharing this, as it’s always fun to read these things. I hope your head keeps feeling better.
Family trees are all very interesting. There’s always a bit of interesting history somewhere in everyone’s family. For example, my last name (still have my dad’s last name) has a bit of an interesting story. It was apparently originally a German name, but way back when the last man carrying the name apparently hated his father, so he ran off to Russia and cut ties with his family, changing the name to a more Russian sounding one.
Eventually his descendants came over here to Canada, Amercanizing it when they did to make it more accessible. So in the end, none of us really know what the original name was since it got fiddled with so much. The people who would’ve known are long gone.
Anyway, hope your migraine gets better. I know my headache strategy is to just keep drinking tea until it’s gone, haha. Doesn’t even have to be caffeinated, just something about a hot drink is really comforting. :)
… speaking of which, I’ve fallen behind on my tasting notes. Need to get back to doing them.
Oy, migraines are the worst. Hope you feel better soon.
My dad started tracing our part of our family tree and has uncovered some very interesting stories. One doozy is my (I think) great-great grandfather who said he was Pinkerton (a special and detective). He’d stop in a town for long enough to meet and marry a girl, get her pregnant, and then tell her he had a new lead on his case and had to go chase down his fugitive. Then he’d leave, go to a new town and meet some other poor girl and marry her. I still don’t know if any of these girl’s fathers ever caught up to him.
Hope you feel better
Green tea just isn’t my thing. I’ve tried. I want to like it. :) But, my mother loves this dragonwell. :)
@Veronica
My goodness! What a story. XD;
OMGsrsy-That is super cool that you are working on that online. Is there a special site you are using?
Bonnie-This weather is just killing me. It goes from super hot to cold to raining with nothing in between. With slavery, that must be challenging to find real roots. My husband is Philippino and they have been invaded by just about everyone. People have a difficult time guessing what he is and he has a lot of Spanish features. It would be really interesting for him to get that DNA test. I would love to do that.
Terri-That’s an interesting mix! The harp and gardening always had me thinking of you as celtic-y. I hope that’s not offensive. Well, the numbers won’t be truly accurate due to all sorts of wars and what not and is also not genetically sound. I’m not a science person, so I figure it can’t be crazy far off doing it this way or I could be completely wrong. On my dad’s side, my grandma is first generation American straight from Poland so that makes me 25% Polish from that side. My grandpa is first generation American and his family came from Ukraine, so that makes me 25% Ukraine from his side. On my mom’s side her mother is 50% polish (that adds 12.5% to the Polish) and 50% Ukraine which adds 12.5%. In that Ukraine, my uncle had traced some Mongolian blood. My mom’s father was 50% german and 50% native american adding 12.5% to my totals. Now this is really just rough estimate. My family is all really recent immigrants except for the Native American.
Chizakura-That’s really interesting. I wonder if there is a way to look that up now or if record keeping wasn’t done well back then. My maiden last name is a Ukrainian stringed instrument. There was a famous psychologist with the same last name though there was no relation despite it being an uncommon name. Last names are so fascinating. I have been drinking tea all day, the migrane is getting better. It’s kind of in hangover mode.
Veronica-That sounds like a movie! Why bother with the getting married part. So weird.
boychik-Thanks! :)
Nicole-So glad you mom is enjoying it. I’m mostly a black tea & oolong girl myself but I do love my greens occasionally.
Also, thank you guys for sharing your stories!!! I find it all so fascinating!
I’ve been using myheritage because the basic level is free. Ancestry is another one I want to try, but it does cost.
It’s kind of cool because my grandmother is Russian doukhobor, and there are ships records online PLUS graveyard records for BC. I was able to trace where my great grandparents were buried, and I could link them to someone else’s family tree if I paid, and they have a lot more information I can’t see. The names were anglicized, so we don’t know what the original last names were, which makes it harder. My great grandmother also had children from two marriages.
Stacy- the Celtic is def there from my mom’s dad’s side, coming from the Scots-Irish Sweeney brothers, who owned a tobacco plantation in VA until they had a falling out (probably over a woman and/or alcohol induced…more alcoholics in that family too). One of the brothers changed his name to Swinney, & began the westward migration that eventually landed the family in TX where they got Spanish land grants while TX was still part of Spain.
Interestingly, the very first time I heard trad Irish music (in college), I was instantly hooked, joined the band & played with the same people in various configurations (my now ex husband being one of them) for years. The ex & I played as a duo all over the place, we had a trio that played the KC renaissance festival from 1982-89, & the entire 7 member band had an annual st pats gig at Lindberghs in Springfield,MO for years. We also played some festivals (& actually got paid), including the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival.
Sadly, people moved, I got divorced, got a little bored & started looking for more of a challenge, plus my original songs don’t fall into that genre. But I do bring all those celtic tunes out yearly for at least 1 St Pats performance a year!
ancestry occasionally has a 14 day free trial. so then i register and use it for 14 days and then cancel before they charge me. warning though, it’s really fun and addicting!
Stacy- I hope your headaches subside soon! This back and forth weather doesn’t give me headaches, but it does make me draggy and stuffs up my sinuses something awful.
Oh and learning about family history is so interesting!!
My Mom’s side of the family is Greek and I look exactly like my Greek great-grandmother. That side of the family is from a teeny tiny Greek island that they lived on for generations. It was often over-run by pirates, so we may have Spanish ancestry from that side too (but no one would admit it if we did). My grandfather’s side of the family was from Athens and it is rumored that we descended from the Oracle of Delphi because of their surname “Delphos”, but I don’t know how true that one is.
My Dad is your All-American mutt. His family has lived in Maine for generations. Although our last name is Scottish, we have English, Irish, American-Indian, French-Canadian, Danish, Swedish and a large chunk of Norwegian in our background. A lot of them were sailors and that explains the crazy colorful quilt of our background on that side.
Fuzzy, that’s an amazing background story! Oracles, Greek goddesses, Pirates!!! Yeah!
Terri- With a family full of story-tellers (especially on my Dad’s side) it’s hard to distinguish what’s real from what they embellished. Inevitably when these kind of conversations pop up, I always have to ask people “Do you want the long version or the short version of my background?” This was kind of a medium-length version of my family history. Usually I’m just say I’m half Greek, half everything else.
@Fuzzy
You win the prize for coolest family tree. xD Haha. Though I’m a bit biased since I absolutely love Greek mythology, so I got super excited seeing the words “Oracle of Delphi” xD
Hope your migraine goes away soon. I will have to try this one next time I place an order :)
I hope you feel better soon. I had really bad one yesterday and it took most of the day in a dark room with some herbal tea to feel normal again.
Thanks guys! Today’s migraine isn’t as bad as yesterday’s so I’m hoping I’ll just sleep it off tonight.
Oh, family histories are really neat. I did a project for a geography class, tracing what we know of our family history. So much fun. I also have an online family tree I’m working on updating.
You know I understand. The air pressure is changing so I’ve had puerh and ginger with some cocoa nibs brewing over and over all day yesterday and today. Feels good!
I’m the keeper of family history’s, but my children being half African-American have that blank space from slavery. The National Geographic has information on the DNA project where you can be tested and find out where in the world you come from. I’d love to do this for my children. Others might like this information.
My background on my Mom’s side is easy to trace all the way back to England, Ireland, & Scotland. On Dad’s side they are all alcoholics, that’s where the Native American blood comes in & his great gramma was quite the wild one, having children from several different guys, remarrying several times, & changing her name often. Nobody knows where she came from originally, & it’s so frustrating!
Stacy, how did you come upon those percentages?
Also, thanks for sharing this, as it’s always fun to read these things. I hope your head keeps feeling better.
Family trees are all very interesting. There’s always a bit of interesting history somewhere in everyone’s family. For example, my last name (still have my dad’s last name) has a bit of an interesting story. It was apparently originally a German name, but way back when the last man carrying the name apparently hated his father, so he ran off to Russia and cut ties with his family, changing the name to a more Russian sounding one.
Eventually his descendants came over here to Canada, Amercanizing it when they did to make it more accessible. So in the end, none of us really know what the original name was since it got fiddled with so much. The people who would’ve known are long gone.
Anyway, hope your migraine gets better. I know my headache strategy is to just keep drinking tea until it’s gone, haha. Doesn’t even have to be caffeinated, just something about a hot drink is really comforting. :)
… speaking of which, I’ve fallen behind on my tasting notes. Need to get back to doing them.
Oy, migraines are the worst. Hope you feel better soon.
My dad started tracing our part of our family tree and has uncovered some very interesting stories. One doozy is my (I think) great-great grandfather who said he was Pinkerton (a special and detective). He’d stop in a town for long enough to meet and marry a girl, get her pregnant, and then tell her he had a new lead on his case and had to go chase down his fugitive. Then he’d leave, go to a new town and meet some other poor girl and marry her. I still don’t know if any of these girl’s fathers ever caught up to him.
Hope you feel better
Green tea just isn’t my thing. I’ve tried. I want to like it. :) But, my mother loves this dragonwell. :)
@Veronica
My goodness! What a story. XD;
OMGsrsy-That is super cool that you are working on that online. Is there a special site you are using?
Bonnie-This weather is just killing me. It goes from super hot to cold to raining with nothing in between. With slavery, that must be challenging to find real roots. My husband is Philippino and they have been invaded by just about everyone. People have a difficult time guessing what he is and he has a lot of Spanish features. It would be really interesting for him to get that DNA test. I would love to do that.
Terri-That’s an interesting mix! The harp and gardening always had me thinking of you as celtic-y. I hope that’s not offensive. Well, the numbers won’t be truly accurate due to all sorts of wars and what not and is also not genetically sound. I’m not a science person, so I figure it can’t be crazy far off doing it this way or I could be completely wrong. On my dad’s side, my grandma is first generation American straight from Poland so that makes me 25% Polish from that side. My grandpa is first generation American and his family came from Ukraine, so that makes me 25% Ukraine from his side. On my mom’s side her mother is 50% polish (that adds 12.5% to the Polish) and 50% Ukraine which adds 12.5%. In that Ukraine, my uncle had traced some Mongolian blood. My mom’s father was 50% german and 50% native american adding 12.5% to my totals. Now this is really just rough estimate. My family is all really recent immigrants except for the Native American.
Chizakura-That’s really interesting. I wonder if there is a way to look that up now or if record keeping wasn’t done well back then. My maiden last name is a Ukrainian stringed instrument. There was a famous psychologist with the same last name though there was no relation despite it being an uncommon name. Last names are so fascinating. I have been drinking tea all day, the migrane is getting better. It’s kind of in hangover mode.
Veronica-That sounds like a movie! Why bother with the getting married part. So weird.
boychik-Thanks! :)
Nicole-So glad you mom is enjoying it. I’m mostly a black tea & oolong girl myself but I do love my greens occasionally.
Also, thank you guys for sharing your stories!!! I find it all so fascinating!
I’ve been using myheritage because the basic level is free. Ancestry is another one I want to try, but it does cost.
It’s kind of cool because my grandmother is Russian doukhobor, and there are ships records online PLUS graveyard records for BC. I was able to trace where my great grandparents were buried, and I could link them to someone else’s family tree if I paid, and they have a lot more information I can’t see. The names were anglicized, so we don’t know what the original last names were, which makes it harder. My great grandmother also had children from two marriages.
Stacy- the Celtic is def there from my mom’s dad’s side, coming from the Scots-Irish Sweeney brothers, who owned a tobacco plantation in VA until they had a falling out (probably over a woman and/or alcohol induced…more alcoholics in that family too). One of the brothers changed his name to Swinney, & began the westward migration that eventually landed the family in TX where they got Spanish land grants while TX was still part of Spain.
Interestingly, the very first time I heard trad Irish music (in college), I was instantly hooked, joined the band & played with the same people in various configurations (my now ex husband being one of them) for years. The ex & I played as a duo all over the place, we had a trio that played the KC renaissance festival from 1982-89, & the entire 7 member band had an annual st pats gig at Lindberghs in Springfield,MO for years. We also played some festivals (& actually got paid), including the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival.
Sadly, people moved, I got divorced, got a little bored & started looking for more of a challenge, plus my original songs don’t fall into that genre. But I do bring all those celtic tunes out yearly for at least 1 St Pats performance a year!
ancestry occasionally has a 14 day free trial. so then i register and use it for 14 days and then cancel before they charge me. warning though, it’s really fun and addicting!
Stacy- I hope your headaches subside soon! This back and forth weather doesn’t give me headaches, but it does make me draggy and stuffs up my sinuses something awful.
Oh and learning about family history is so interesting!!
My Mom’s side of the family is Greek and I look exactly like my Greek great-grandmother. That side of the family is from a teeny tiny Greek island that they lived on for generations. It was often over-run by pirates, so we may have Spanish ancestry from that side too (but no one would admit it if we did). My grandfather’s side of the family was from Athens and it is rumored that we descended from the Oracle of Delphi because of their surname “Delphos”, but I don’t know how true that one is.
My Dad is your All-American mutt. His family has lived in Maine for generations. Although our last name is Scottish, we have English, Irish, American-Indian, French-Canadian, Danish, Swedish and a large chunk of Norwegian in our background. A lot of them were sailors and that explains the crazy colorful quilt of our background on that side.
Fuzzy, that’s an amazing background story! Oracles, Greek goddesses, Pirates!!! Yeah!
Terri- With a family full of story-tellers (especially on my Dad’s side) it’s hard to distinguish what’s real from what they embellished. Inevitably when these kind of conversations pop up, I always have to ask people “Do you want the long version or the short version of my background?” This was kind of a medium-length version of my family history. Usually I’m just say I’m half Greek, half everything else.
@Fuzzy
You win the prize for coolest family tree. xD Haha. Though I’m a bit biased since I absolutely love Greek mythology, so I got super excited seeing the words “Oracle of Delphi” xD