Blacksmith's Chai

 Blacksmith's Chai Concentrate

        Every so often, I make a big batch of chai concentrate to give out for Christmas.  The sweet spiciness is so nostalgic on many levels.  And this super dark version lends a smokiness that really appeals to my palate now!  Feel free to adjust ingredients to your heart's content!

Ingredients:

-About 2" knob of ginger, sliced

-2 nutmeg nuts, crushed

-4 cinnamon sticks, crushed

-16 cardamom pods, crushed

- 1 tsp crushed peppercorns

-8c water

-1/4 c. black tea leaves

-1/2 c sugar (may substitute honey)

In the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven, toast spices for 1 minute, then add water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 min.  Return to a boil, then remove from heat and add the tea leaves (I wrapped mine in cheesecloth to steep, but this is not necessary). After 5 minutes, stir in sugar until dissolved.  Strain through cheesecloth covered mesh into jars.  Let cool at room temp before storing in the fridge.

To use, heat with equal parts milk and enjoy!

Tea for Two: A Party in Blue

Tea for Two

We are already a full week into the new year!  And we’ve only had one official day of any sort of book learning as far as preschool is concerned.  But we’ve gone on several outings where they’ve learned by experiencing first hand!  That’s always my favorite, anyway!

One month ago my daughter turned two!  I love seeing her little personality and preferences come out!  I get to know who she is more every day!  I wanted to share with you about her tea party for anyone else who might like the ideas, but everyone was very much is the Christmas swing of things afterward that I decided to hold out until now.  One of the things our little lady loves (and often demands) is tea!  Though I let her have a sip or two of my Irish Breakfast Tea at times, she has a box of mint tea and berry tea of her own that she savors.  So naturally a “Tea for Two” party suited her to a “tea” =)

I scoured the thrift stores for old tea cups and saucers for a couple months.  I love how they’re all unique and some of them are quite old and lovely!  Most of them I was able to pick up for a dollar a piece.  It’s possible I was a little crazy offering real china to six children under the age of 5, but they all did great with a little parental assistance!

Blue is this little wildling’s signature color, so I worked it in as much as possible: blue and white balloons everywhere, blue tablecloth with lace overlay, chair cover, her clothes, and cakes and candies.  I made a three tiered serving tray out of plastic ware from the dollar store and used doilies, paper plates, and napkins from there as well. 

 Her little birthday crown is simply made from a length of lace and homemade mod podge (Online instructions here)

As for the food, we had cucumber (delicious recipe here) and tuna sandwiches, tomato ricotta mini quiche, apple rose tarts, and pirouette biscuits.  I attempted to make petit fours for her cake.  Basically I made a white cake from this  amazing recipe, cut tiny squares, doubled with a blueberry filling in the middle.  Then I covered with fondant and painted tiny pictures of her favorite things (horses, mountains, and flowers) in blue tinted sweetened condensed milk.  I really love how they turned out! 

We had a couple activities including the Tea Bag Toss(throwing tea bags through a giant tea cup)! I also sketched out a tea set outline for the children to design their own china pattern.  If you’d like to use this, the blank template is printable here! 

She ended up having the most wonderful time and continues to talk about it almost daily!  It may not have been perfect, but it was inexpensive and memorable and I’m quite certain our little lady felt like a princess for the day! 

 

Tea Wreath

Boy, what a cold week it has been!  I’m so thankful for our warm cabin and firewood to burn!  Our poor little chickens have probably been suffering the worst.  I can’t keep their water thawed for anything, and we’ve had several eggs completely frozen and cracked open.  Last night I found the oddity below (I think eggs are just so beautiful!). No, things just aren’t quite right in chickenland!

I just can’t get enough tea of any kind on these days. It warms my bones.  I found a cute little project of Tea Wreaths that I thought would be a sweet Christmas gift on a budget.   Supplies would include individually wrapped tea bags of choice (12), willow swatches (3-could use other branches or even thin dowels), decorations to taste and glue (I’d recommend hot glue or superglue for this one.)

I ended up whittling down the middles of the branches first to have a flat area to work from.  Glue all three in the middle.  You could even do a bit of a God’s eye at this point by wrapping yarn or embroidery floss through the branches for added support.   Then glue a tea bag to the ends of each branch and fill in the gaps by gluing the corners of the tea bags together.   Decorate as desired with ribbons, bows, or sprigs of evergreen and gift generously!  Total cost < $5.

Chai Concentrate

I think I discovered Chai tea just after high school and have been hooked ever since.  When convincing me to try it the first time, my dear friend Melissa called it "Christmas in a cup."  So true!  My Aunt Maureen discovered a recipe for the powder, which is so good, especially in the winter when all I want is hot tea.  However, it is a little tricky to make chilled.  Anyway, I found a liquid concentrate recipe that I'm going through like crazy right now!  I love it and thought I'd share for my fellow chai addicts out there!  

(photo from "mostly foodstuffs")

·         4 ½ c water

·         1-2 sticks cinnamon

·         1 3” piece of fresh ginger, chopped -OR- 1/2 tsp ground

·         7 cardamom pods -OR- 1/2 tsp ground

·         1 star anise pod

·         10-20 cloves

·         ¼ tsp ground black pepper

·         ½ tsp ground nutmeg

·         1 tsp orange zest (optional)

·         10 bags black tea

·         ½ c. brown sugar

·         1 Tbsp honey

·         1 Tbsp vanilla

Prepare the spices and the tea, and set aside.

 Bring the water to a boil, and remove from heat, then seep the spices and tea  for 15 minutes.

  Strain the mixture into a 4-cup jar, discarding the spices.  Add the sugar, honey and vanilla, and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Store refrigerated.  With the store bought concentrate, I usually mixed it half and half with milk.  This stuff is a little bit strong for that, so I've been filling the glass 1/3 full of concentrate and the other 2/3 full of milk.  I hope you enjoy!  I just have to picture my little helper in his bean bag, too: