My beloved step-daughter Suzanne is a busy executive who likes to start the day early with coffe in a giant round coffee cup that looks a bit like something out of Alice in Wonderland, filled to the brim. If you’re American, chances are you sip your way through the morning too, from a super-sized mug.
Coffee and tea fuel the day in Europe too, but they’re taken differently in each country. The Italians knock it back in shots, standing up. The Brits sip tea off and on during the day, as a sort of comfort. The French, as readers of this blog will know (see Café Nation, Tune up Your Coffee Lingo), have strict rules for taking their café. A quick review: a café in the morning is taken, with or without milk; an expresso is allowed, black, anytime during the day and certainly at the finish of a meal (but never with milk, after 11 am); tea lovers might partake in the mid-afternoon.
After being hard-core American coffee drinkers who turned up our noses at strong expressos, we have become complete converts to the French way. And I’ve mentioned my theory before, which is totally untested except by me: I think drinking coffee the French way is a weight loss strategy. A nice little expresso with a dash of sugar at the end of the meal fills you up nicely when you’re dreaming of dessert.
A pleasant cup of tea is also filling at that weak moment around 4:00 when you’re thinking how much you’d like a big plate of chocolate cookies. I’ve taken to drinking chai green tea at this hour (and skipping the cookies. Well mostly). We’re all supposed to be drinking green tea, they say, to prevent all sorts of diseases.
In the states I drink Yogi Chai Green Tea, but I can’t find chai green tea bags in France, so I’ve experimented with making my own chait green tea. It’s easy to make, and you might find you like it better than the tea bags.
Speaking of tea, here's an aside: in Singapore recently, we ordered some tea from the menu, shown here. I was partial to that first one, with the "beauty enhancing properties". When I googled Lily Flower tea, I found out it also reduces wrinkles. Now there's a tea recipe I'd like to have!
RECIPE: Vanilla Chai Tea from a Southern Plate
This recipe mostly comes from another southern girl, Christy Jordon of the Southern Plate blog. I’ve stolen her spice mix. Christy uses instant tea and powdered cream with her spices, but I eliminated that part. I make the tea fresh with a green tea bag, but brewed with the mixed spices.
Throw all these spices in a jar and mix:
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper, fresh ground), or to taste.
Put some of the spice mix in your cup or teapot and let it brew with your tea. Add a touch of vanilla extract, a bit of brown sugar if you like, and an optional splash of light cream. Store the rest in a jar(instead of the vanilla extract, you can cut a vanilla bean open and tuck it int your spice mix).
In the COMMENTS: Colleen, we're intriqued by your trauma with the color gray! Colleen, by the way, is a fabulous painter. See her work here, including wall murals! Shown here is my favorite piece, perfect Georgia peaches for spring. Don't miss the many other interesting thoughts on gray and black (and about the book of the title), both for travel and as big-city uniforms (New Yorkers learned it from the French, I think!). Virginia of Paris Through My Lens sent a great cookbook recommendation: Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook
Favorite reads: A book I wish I'd written: French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters
And here's a photo of me with our new friend Mel from Michigan, a loyal reader of this blog who turned up in Burgundy (but doesn't he look so FRENCH?). We had a great lunch in Macon. And never say the French aren't friendly---Mel met a couple of French guys when he took a picture of their front door, and they ended up showing him around the area, and made him a part of the family for the week!
