2:42 PM Tea Review: David's Tea Guayusa

One of the sample teas I received with my first tea order from David's Tea was this Guayusa tea.  I don't mind admitting I was a little reluctant to try it.  I just had never heard of it and had nothing to expect.  Except what the label said.  Here is what David's Tea has to say about the Guayusa:

We are seriously passionate about guayusa around here, and we couldn't be more excited to spread the word.  Not only does it pack an incredible burst of energy, it's also deliciously smooth, never bitter and lightly sweet.  Plus it's steeped in over 2000 years of Amazonian tradition and legend.  

It's grassy all right!  In fact, the first time I tasted it I was reminded of one of my favorite smells in the world.  Fresh cut grass clippings.  The tea is just that simple.  I haven't decided yet whether it has an energy boost.  The light grassy flavor is slightly refreshing, but I'm not sure about energy boosting.

It's inexpensive enough that I would order a bag of this to have around for when I don't want a spicy black tea.  If it was an expensive tea, I probably wouldn't give it another thought, but the price is right and the taste is comforting.  I can no longer drink chamomile tea as it upsets my allergies and I am having a heck of a time finding another perfectly balance roobios since the World Market brand I liked so much is no longer made.  I think this will fit the bill just fine to replace those two light comfort teas.

11:40 AM Pattern jigsaw

I spent most of my life despising jigsaw puzzles.  Yet this week I find myself happily spending hours each night piecing and scotch taping back together patterns.

One of my not so secret dirty secrets is that I'm horrible at putting things away properly.  Match that with a household of fur kids who love making a bed out of whatever I am paying attention to for a project and you have a recipe for tissue paper destruction.

I'd like to say that this is a lesson learned, but I know it's not.  There is a slight satisfaction in bringing a near destroyed object back to functionality.  So I am sure I'll have many more patterns to tape back together in my future.

5:07 PM Chicken and Cabbage Soup

The best thing about cooking soups is that they allow you to experiment with the old school kind of cooking where you just throw things in and hope for the best.  That's the way my Granny cooked.  Though she could do that with pretty much any recipe and it worked.  And she had a "handful" measurement system that seemed to be the norm in old school cooking.  I'm not so sure I trust that my "handful" is the same as someone else's so I prefer actual measurements when it counts.  Soups though?  I'm all about throwing things in and hoping for the best!

This Chicken and Cabbage Soup is inspired by a recipe for Elzekaria soup I found once years back.  I can no longer find the recipe I used, but it was so basic that it was easily committed to memory:

*  soften onions in goose fat at the bottom of a stock pot
*  add minced garlic
*  add whole cored and cubed cabbage
*  stir to coat cabbage with fat
*  add canned or re-hydrated white beans
*  cover cabbage with water and boil
*  simmer until beans are cooked through

I never used goose fat.  If I was feeling vegetarian, I'd use veggie shortening or EVOO.  If I wanted animal fat in the mix, I'd use shortening or I'd cook some bacon in the pot before I put in the onions.  If the bottom of the stock pot got crusty with carmelized onion and bacon, I'd deglaze with a tiny bit of ACV.  Sometimes I'd throw some ACV in there anyways just because I was feeling a little like having a hit of sauerkraut flavor in the soup.  The recipe lended itself easily to alterations like that.

Because it was such a good base soup, it also had plenty of room for major alterations.  And that is where I came up with this experiment.

Chicken and Cabbage Soup

*  2 Tbs EVOO
*  1 small onion, frenched
*  1 package of sliced baby bella mushrooms
*  1 large carrot
*  2 cloves garlic
*  1 Tbs ACV
*  1 Tbs poultry seasoning
*  roughly 1 qt chicken stock (pure stock, no veggies added in)
*  roughly 3 cups shredded chicken
*  water

Heat EVOO in stockpot and add all veggies except garlic.  

Saute until onions and mushrooms begin to carmelize

Deglaze pot with ACV

Add chicken stock

Add water, but not so much that the cabbage won't fit when it is time to add it.

Add white beans

Add poultry seasoning

Bring to a boil and then simmer until beans are aldente.  Then add cabbage  If you used canned beans, you can add the cabbage immediately.

Add more water, or more chicken stock here.  Do what you think tastes best.  The lighter your chicken stock, the less added water you'll likely want.  Bring back to a boil and simmer until beans are completely cooked through.  If you used canned beans, cook until cabbage is cooked.

Also add shredded chicken.  Since the chicken will have already been cooked and you used chicken stock in the base, this will just be to reheat the meat.

Simmer as long as you want.  The longer you simmer all of this together, the better the flavors will be.  Better yet, cook it all to just done, cool it down and set it in the refrigerator overnight.  By the next day the soup will be Perfect!!!

This is what I mean by "how dark your chicken stock is."  This is the rest of my stock from boiling a chicken.  

When you boil a chicken for stock, you put just enough water in the pot to cover the chicken and boil until the meat falls off the bone.  This time I had a small chicken and I put a little more water than I should have in the pot.  Thus, I got a nearly clear broth.  I usually prefer my stock a tad stronger, but this is ok.  It's just not concentrated at all.  

As you can see, the soup base above is much darker than the broth I used.  That would mostly be due to the mushrooms in the stock, but the carrots had something to do with it too.  This is why I preferred to use stock without all the veggies added in for my soup base.  I was adding the veggies in after the fact.

Just look at that beautiful chicken pulled off the bone. 

 I mentioned that this chicken was a little small.  That is because I opted to use an organic, free range, locally sourced chicken.  My area has recently been blessed with a Green Grocer store.  It's a small neighborhood grocery that sources local meats and dairy and produce.  So, like a farmer's market, but they're putting the product on their shelves instead of the farmer having to be present.  Also, it's open 7 days a week at hours that pretty much anyone can find a minute to pop in.  That's my problem with farmers markets.  I'm extremely busy on the weekends and my work hours are the exact same as the one farmer's market I know of that is open on week days.  It is too far of a drive to visit on a lunch hour.  I want to eat local.  I'm DYING to eat local!  But my schedule makes it very hard.  This grocery solves that problem.  I am Ecstatic!

3:31 PM Tea Review: David's Tea Brazillionaire & Star Anise

I love tea.  It's one of my many cherished habits.  And I'm quite proud that I developed a taste for tea in lieu of coffee.  Coffee, at least the way we American's drink it, just seems so base.  Tea has style.  It doesn't hurt that this costuming hobby I have lends itself very well to tea parties.  Pretty dresses and pretty tea cups.  Yeah, there's definitely a correlation there!

A while back a distant friend on Facebook mentioned that she had developed a taste for tea on her visit to Europe and asked for recommendations of good tea here in the States.  Several people chimed in with their favorite teas, but a few people mentioned a Canadian company called David's Tea as a good source for loose leaf teas.  I clicked on a lot of the links given for other tea companies, but this one really piqued my interest.  You see, for every order made, they send you 3 samples of random other teas.  Well, frankly I thought that was just Brilliant!  Tea isn't cheap.  And because it can sometimes cost $8 - $15 for a package of loose leaf I tend to just pass on the ones that are pricey, yet sound really interesting.  I'd rather order from an American company, but I just really hate wasting money on something I'm never going to drink again if I don't like it.  And I'm picky, so that may very well be the case with any tea I order.  

How picky am I?  Well, I hate flowers.  Not the smell of flowers, the taste of flowers.  Flowers taste like soap to me.  I may love the smell of a good woodsy lavendar, but put it in my tea, or beer and my favorite drink will instantly be relegated to the "undrinkable" list.  There is a whole local brewery line that I can't drink because they put stinking flowers in pretty much all of their beer.  Many people like a flower taste profile in their drinks.  I do not.  I'm also picky about fruity flavors in my tea.  I can deal with fruit in cold tea, but I do not like fruit in my hot tea.  And let's face it, the whole point of me having a cup of tea is that cozy warm goodness, so I tend to stay away from fruit as well.  You can see, now, why I am wary of just buying a tea online sight unseen.

My first purchase from David's Tea was Ceylon Star.  The website has this to say about Ceylon Star:

WISH UPON A STAR

Star anise is one of the most beautiful spices around...and also one of the most delicious.  It has a sweet, subtle licorice taste that we just can't resist.  And some say it has magical properties; keeping star anise around is said to bring you good luck, happy dreams, and even clairvoyance.  Most importantly, it makes for some seriously delicious tea.  Star anise and Ceylon black tea is a classic combination, but here we sweeten the deal even more with white chocolate, cocoa nibs, and coconut.  The result is sweet and creamy, with a hint of exotic spice.  Now that's star power.

David's Teas come packaged in a resealable foil pouch for freshness.  This is great, except for the case of this tea.  Getting the tea out of the pouch is a little troublesome due to the star anise.  In addition, most of the star anise is packaged on top of the leaves.  I found myself dumping out the top layer of star anise then scooping out some tea and then placing a star anise in the strainer and replacing the rest in the pouch.  This is one of those teas where you really do need a tea tin.  I ended up buying one when I made my second tea purchase.  Measuring the tea out was So Much Easier with a tea tin!

So how did it taste?  I gave it 4 out of 5 points.  I enjoyed it.  Mostly, you are tasting the star anise, but there is just a little hint of coconut in there.  The Ceylon tea was smooth and not over powering or bitter.  I would order it again.  Is it my favorite?  No.  But I will happily add it to my tea rotation.

For my second purchase I turned to Facebook myself to help narrow things down.  I had several teas I was interested in ranging from $6 - $12.  In the end I decided to go with the lower priced Brazillionaire so I could afford to order a tea tin for that Ceylon Star.  Also because my friend Brittney told me to and sometimes it's nice to just take somebody else's suggestion and go for it.  Good thing I took that suggestion.  I really like the Brazillionaire tea.  I like it slightly more so than the Ceylon Star, so I'm giving it a 4 1/4 score.  Here's what David's Tea says about the Brazillionaire:

GET RICH QUICK

Have you heard tales of the wealthy Brazilian eccentric?  According to local stories, he was completely obsessed with Brazil nuts, the source of his fortune.  He insisted on having them in every meal - even his afternoon tea!  Was it needless decadence, or a stroke of genius?  You'll have to taste it yourself to decide.  This fabulously opulent blend combines black tea with whole Brazil nuts, raisins and coconut.  Trust us - it tastes like a million bucks.

The tea is indeed a nutty flavored tea.  In fact, it's not just flavored, there are actually Brazil nuts in the tea.  The coconut and raisins are sparse in the mix, so the flavor is hinted at.  I was a little concerned about the raisin flavor, but I was wrong to worry.  I kind of wish I had purchased two tins though.  David's Tea was nice enough to include  an extra tea label for the Brazillionare to place on the tin.  Oh well, I'll likely order this again, so I'll just order two tins the next time I order something.  One of the samples was a tea that was in my list of possibilities last time, so I may already have my next tea order decided if I like the sample.

10:14 AM Me and my Iron

Have I mentioned I hate ironing?  In my real life I never iron.  In fact I just don't buy the kinds of fussy clothes that need to be ironed.  If they aren't good enough hung fresh out of the dryer, they're too fussy for me. 

But in this alternate costuming life I have fashioned for myself I am often ironing.  In fact there's a sort of zen achieved when ironing out new fabric that has been stored semi-wadded up in a heap after being laundered.  It's kind of like I'm giving the fabric a makeover before it is turned into a full fledged princess.  And there's all sorts of seam ironing going on in between the unveiling of the finished transformation. 

I also find myself ironing my costumes after they've been cleaned to make sure they are crisp.  But that ironing is never as fulfilling.  It's still much more tolerable than ironing mundane clothes though.

Over the years I've been through lots of irons.  My cats like to knock them off of my ironing board.  They don't enjoy sharing my attention.  This particular iron is about a year old.  I got it at Big Lots for about $12.  I was looking for a cheap iron that could be sacrificed to the cat gods when they got angry.  It's held up pretty well!  Bonus points for it being purple.  And I've discovered that I much prefer this iron's stainless steel plate than the Teflon that was on my other irons.  It glides better.  I never thought I would ever discuss iron feature preferences ever in the history or future of my life, but there it is.  Teflon is Stupid!

10:00 AM All-Con Costume Madness!

I am running a panel at All-Con this year about Historical Costuming in Anime.  I was struck by several young costumers at Anime Fest last year who were beginning to show an interest in being period correct for their Anime cosplays based on history.  So I decided this was Finally an Anime topic I could contribute to!

Well, my patterns arrived today, so here is a sneak peek of the work I have in store for putting my costume together for the panel.  Some of you already know what the focus of my panel is going to be, but for the rest of you, can you guess what Anime I'm working on?

1:30 PM Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #2

Moving right along with the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge brings me to Challenge #2, the UFO, or UnFinished Object.

Several years ago I made up a nice striped linen Edwardian period suit for a small DFWCG outing at Lone Star Park for Kentucky Derby day.  Shortly thereafter I gained a little weight and the suit no longer fit.  So I put it away.  A year or so later the DFWCG hosted its first Spring tea party.  I didn't have time to make a whole new outfit and I still loved my linen suit, so I let out the seams and wore it again.  Unfortunately, when I let out the seams, I did so rather sloppily and several of the seams were too close to the linen fabric edges causing the frayed fabric ends to poke out.  The cotton backing was still in tact, so the suit held up, but it just looked awful.  At the end of the party I put the suit away again and vowed not to wear it again until I could take it back in and fix the seams.  Since that declaration, I have worn the skirt many times.  The skirt has always been fine and it works wonderfully with a shirtwaist for a more casual look.  But I longed to be able to wear the whole ensemble again.

When the DFWCG announced their outing to the travelling Titanic artifact exhibit this year, I wanted a whole new outfit.  Knowing full well that I was short on time, I purchased a new pattern and plotted out fabrics in hopes that I could make a pretty new kimono dress.  But with that knowledge of the time crunch in the back of my mind, I also pulled out the linen suit for a back up measure.  You see, I've lost, and finally been able to keep off, that 10 lbs I gained years ago.  I was pretty excited that I was finally at a point where I could take the suit in and put it out for a good back up for the event, not to mention put it back in the rotation for other events.

I'm glad I made the decision to have a back up outfit ready for repairs because I still adore this suit and once I Finally got off my butt to do the repairs, it was well commented upon by the Guild folk at the event.  And you know, that kind of positive attention on our pretty dresses is SO the reason why love my costuming hobby!

So, enough babbling about the back story, here are the details:

The Challenge:  Challenge #2 UFO

Fabric:  100% striped linen from fabrics-store.com

Pattern:  Rocking Horse Farms Ladies' Coat Suit

Year:  1909

Notions:  None

How historically accurate is it?  As far as I know it is pretty accurate.  I machine sewed the whole suit, but I used cotton and linen fabrics and period appropriate buttons when I made it the first time around.  I didn't alter the pattern at all.

Hours to complete:  It took me about 30 minutes to take in the waist where appropriate.  Then I tackled the issue of re-seaming the places where the fabric ends were showing through.

Before fixing the seams

After fixing the seams

Pressing the fabric even and re-seaming the entire coat from hem to waist took me about 2 hours.  Finishing all the jacket seams with a mock french seam (which I hadn't done before because I didn't know anything about seam finishes) took me another hour.

My little mock french seams

 Since that picture was taken, I also moved that top button to it's proper place so that the jacket doesn't gap anymore.  Moving the button also fixed the slightly askew collar.

Total cost: $0