Backlog?
I made a timolino of this early this afternoon to take with to my Aunt Nancy’s for Christmas dinner (hoping it wasn’t rude to bring a thermos of my own tea). I wanted to continue the pear teas so this one was next up!
I’m so glad I wasn’t feeling sick today, because my Aunt is an amazing home cook and I didn’t want to not be able to eat anything especially after she’d thought of inviting me over for Christmas so I wasn’t alone, even though we’re not too close. Turns out I did end up passing on a lot of the main meal. She’d forgotten I’m strictly vegetarian and made turkey…
But not to worry! She also made a totally vegetarian meat loaf dish, so I could have that! Except, the main ingredient in it was mushrooms and I have a severe mushroom allergy. The evening kind of went off and on like that: we’d be having a great time and then something would ruin it.
She invited me over for Christmas, but then the meal was something I couldn’t have. But not to worry, she’d made a delicious dessert and plate of home baking to take home with me! She went on for a solid HOUR gossiping about my mom’s failed relationships (and having no sensitivity) and my other Aunt’s, but then she Skyped them and I got to talk (sorta) face to face with everyone whom I haven’t seen in months! She wanted to play Jenga some other games, but then she kept this up for hours and I couldn’t leave. See, I don’t drive so my Uncle had picked me up to bring me over, and was also my way home: but you can’t just walk out when your host who is having so much fun adding things on to the evening is the one bringing you home…
And then, finally the evening culminated with hers wanting to watch The Devil Wears Prada, which kept me there several more hours. It’s a really good movie, though & everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout it which I was surprised about because my Aunt and Uncle are decidedly and painfully homophobic and there’s an assumedly gay character in the movie. That’s a bit of an uncomfortable area for me to be stuck in, given that I’m not straight. I thought things were going well, but as soon as the movie was over they just went on and on about the “faggot” character, and I just had to silently sit through it.
It’s mostly a generational thing, I feel. But anyway it all worked out I guess with (mostly) no harm, no foul. They did keep me there so long I didn’t have time for my last pear tea of the day, so I’m a bit disappointed about that. I’m home now though, and can finally sleep and I still appreciate the effort to make a nice home cooked meal for me, and the games, and the fact they’d thought enough of me to have me over so I didn’t have a lonely Christmas. Family can be stressful sometimes, though. I hope everyone else here on Steepster (really, just everyone in general) had a lovely Christmas and no dreadful family situations to contend with.
EDIT: OH! The tea!
This was the first time I’ve ever had this blend hot (normally it’s a cold brew, for me) so I figured it’d be quite different. And I was correct in my thinking. For preparation I used 2 tsp. of leaf steeped in my 12 oz. timolino with boiling water for eight minutes. There were two whole rosebuds in the leaf I used, and the steeped colour was a pale pink.
Taste wise, it had very tart and kind of sour notes initially. There was a strong presence of kiwi and what felt like sour watermelon candy in the initial bit of the sip, and then that kind of mellowed out to a sweet and juicy pear/kiwi tastes with floral rose notes for depth. It was good, but a little “high strung” in the initial sip for my liking. Glad I tried it hot though, because now I know that the best way for me to enjoy this one is cold brewed like I’ve been doing: it’s got a whole different taste profile that way.
