tea – morestomach

hot damn,
it looks like a post
will go up for june!
barely made it.

we’re headed into july,
which means we are hosting our nephews soon,
and i’m ridiculously excited about it.
we’re headed into the woods,
where i’ll worry about bears and ticks
and mosquitoes,
oh my.

hope your summer is going well!

jasmine + mango jello
serves 2

note: dw loves him a good boba tea, i don’t care for it, but the local boba shop has pineapple jello that they add to their jasmine tea and damn if i’m not addicted to them.

brew tea according to preference, chill

1 mango, skinned, pitted and cubed
1 1/2 cup boiling water
2 1/2 tsp agar agar, i use the telephone brand, in powder form
maple syrup to taste, optional

in a small sauce pan heat up the water. when it reaches a boil, add the agar agar, remove from heat and stir to melt.

in a vitamix or blender, blitz the cubed mango, you want it as smooth as possible. add the maple syrup if the mango isn’t sweet to your liking.

carefully add the hot water to the blender and blitz to mix through.

pour into a container with a flat bottom. i used a rectangle pyrex container.

cool to room temp and then put in fridge to chill further and harden. (at room temp, it should be hard to the touch already)

when ready, cube the jello, be mindful of the size and that they’ll go up the straw.

to assemble:
add a few tablespoons (or whatever amount that you fancy) of the mango jello cubes to glass. pour the cold tea over it and play the game where you try not to eat all the jello pieces before the tea is gone.

BAM!

4 years ago: s’more donuts
3 years ago: veggie dumplings in spicy sauce
2 years ago: meringue cups + mango curd
1 year ago: raw blueberry coconut tart + nut crust

it’s been quiet around this parts
behind the scenes though
it’s anything but.
nuria is in her final weeks with us,
and with that comes
happy hours
dinners —
all around busyness.
on top of that
dw and i have been slowly,
but steadily,
doing home projects.
things that could be shared
but likely won’t be
because
who the hell wants to hear
about my thought process when picking
paint colors
or curtains?

in the meantime,
the weather continues to confuzzle.
it looks like it’ll go from mild winter
to mild summer,
with lots of rain and grey in between.
i could cry,
but that would just add to
the dreariness.
inspired by the few
pockets of sunshine we have had
i make this tea
to sip on while at my desk,
or sitting on the couch.
it keeps me keeping.

chia tea cooler
makes 4-5 servings

this isn’t so much a recipe, but what i throw together based on what is available in the pantry

4 TBL of tea of choice (i’ve used hibiscus or in this case, a cucumber-melon green tea) or 2 bags of flavored tea of choice
4-5 cups of hot water
maple syrup, amount to taste (or honey, agave or simple syrup)
juice of one lemon
4 TBL chia seeds

brew the tea: what i do is boil the water in a pot (because even though i’m a grown up, i don’t have a kettle) and add in the loose tea or dunk the tea bags in. turn off heat, and allow to steep for 5-6 minutes. remove bags or strain the loose tea out. cool to room temp.

doctor up the tea to taste, with the maple syrup and lemon juice.

with whisk in hand, add the chia seed, one tablespoon at a time, stirring all the while. this is an important step, or else the seeds will clump and it’s gross and you’ve failed.

portion out into bottles or glasses. allow to chill in fridge.

the chia seeds will bloom and add a nice texture to the drink.

BAM!

swirl gif