Category: Musings

A cup of tea

person holding a teacup
Photo by Djurdjina ph.djiz on Pexels.com

I was never a tea drinker but since moving in the UK, I found myself having a cup or two of tea in between my usual cups of coffee. Months passed by and my trusted container of coffee had been pushed far back in the cupboard as more tea bags of varying color and flavors took its place. I drink tea in the morning, after meals, mid afternoon and then again at night. I found teas for boosting the mind, detoxing, for when sleeping is an impossibility and…tea basically for anything.

Tea apparently is for any occasion. When I was having a very busy day I felt like dying, I was offered a cup of tea. When I was having a bad day, I was given tea to make me feel better. When I was celebrating for passing the exam, I had tea offered instead of the bubbly. And when I was angry over something, they slipped me a cup of tea to calm me.

A cup of tea is the solution to every problem and the answer to every dilemma and the drink for any occasion. I’m used to “hey wanna grab a cup of coffee?” or “Wanna catch up over a coffee later?” But now, “Let’s grab a cup of tea” is something familiar and comforting. I associate it now to something nice and calm and sedate.

I became obsessed with peppermint tea which is good for digestion, chamomile tea for promoting good sleep and relaxation, herbal infusion tea for detox, ginger tea with lime (I put fresh lime) for aches and pains, green tea for overall health and fruit flavored tea for when I just want to feel good and happy. I always put a big dollop of organic honey to add flavor and basically to enhance the taste. We all know honey is a very good antioxidant and has healing properties.

 

So, yes, this is the reason why my half empty container of coffee is feeling abandoned, unimportant and definitely hurt at the back of the kitchen cupboard.

 

It’s Saturday

And we cooked. I am surrounded by people who are either Italians, a good cook or both. They are passionate people and love good food. They find my way of cooking horrible especially the one where I mix a jar of bolognese pasta basil sauce with pasta I boiled in oil and salt. This led to a step by step instruction on cooking a proper pasta and a promise to let them try it. Months later and I’m still not brave enough to have my pasta judged.

So, today, my sister and I decided to cook instead of eating out. She is an aspiring vegan. I admire her day to day promise and conviction to be vegan but a year later…she’s still promising to start the next day after eating steak or barbecue pork ribs. I do love her collections of vegan books and recipes.

I guess it doesn’t help that both of us can’t cook. Well, technically we can saute, fry and boil and those are forms of cooking. However, when it comes to the coveted art of “proper” cooking, we are highly skill-challenged.

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Our flat had that lovely smell of baking cookies. She decided on vegan chocolate chip cookies and the smell was divine. Except for the taste. They were all so bitter it was hard to swallow. I guess it was too much baking powder? My sister was horrified when she realized she put tablespoonful of baking powder instead of teaspoonful. No wonder, they were as big as bread. I felt sorry for her because she was so disappointed. I tried eating it to show support but I just couldn’t take another bite. We ended up throwing the batches away.

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We did have the noodles I cooked for brunch instead. It was edible enough. And of course, to make everything right, we had a cup of tea.