Friday, September 2, 2011

ginger tea





It does lovely things. Like aide digestion, cure nausea, help fight colds, and taste yummy if you like that sort of thing. (It actually took me 2 years of drinking Stash brand ginger and lemon tea "medicinally" before I developed a taste for it. And fresh-made tastes decidedly more ginger-y and spicier than the kind in teabags. I mean the tea is actually spicy and tongue-burny, just so you aren't surprised. But if that doesn't scare you, I suggest you give this tea a try. I drink it when I feel a cold coming on, when I ate something that doesn't 100% agree with me, or when it's rainy and gross out, which is going to be often since Fall is pretty much here).

It's easy to throw this together: you need a nub of ginger sliced very thin (a little less than a tablespoon's worth), lemon or lime, honey and water (measure using the cup you'll drink it from).
Bring the water to a boil, then throw in the ginger slices and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Strain into a cup and add lemon/lime juce and sweeten with honey to taste.
I may have also added a shot of brandy to this now and then, which adds tremendously to the warming sensation.
Actually, I've been trying for a while now to re-create a drink I had at an African-inspired cafe a couple of years ago. The principal flavors were ginger and lemon, generously sweet with a generous addition of brandy. The glass it came in was sticky (from lemon preserves?) and it tasted like drinking a warm bath. If I ever figure out exactly what and how much of what was in it, you'll be the first to know. Until then, I'll be spiking my regular old ginger tea and finding that sufficient. Because, actually, it's not bad.
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My camera is out of commission, but while I had been neglecting this blog (and everything else), I did get a shmancy phone with a camera I sometimes use. So that's where my pictures will be coming from. And on that subject, look at this adorable cat napping with its face smooshed into a shop window:
Awwwwwwwww.