Anticipating Turkey and Tea

7:00am – I’ve just come in from my fourth round of snow removal in the past twenty four hours. It is 3ºF outside, that’s -16ºC with a wind chill advisory in effect making it feel much, much colder. Some would call it balmy.

I am working on a write up on roast turkey, but that will come along later. Today is Friday, which is my night to sit in a café with my laptop and a very large cup of tea. Tea is a theme readers will see often, in fact, here’s a sample about my favorite:

So many people mistake a cup of tea for a hot brown liquid steeped from the leaves of the tea plant. Reduced to its most mechanical function that much is true, but a Cuppa (cup of tea) is so much more, that the actual contents of the cup are rendered trivial. A Cuppa is above all else, a ritual. It is the boiling of the water, the preparation of the vessel, measuring and steeping the tea, that provide much needed time to pause and reflect. It is this ceremony that comforts, and bolsters. It is not specifically this cup of tea that performs the task, but every cup of tea that has come before it. For tea drinking families, this tradition sooths us, reminding us who we are, where we come from, and what is important. It tells us that, good times or bad, this moment too will pass, and that it really is the small things that count. The offer of a Cuppa isn’t really a drink, to the right pair of ears it says; “sit down, and unload your troubles, I may not be able to solve any of them, but I will sit with you, and offer you what relief I can.” It’s the care and love of the maker that steeps into the cup along with the tea, even if you’re only making it for yourself.  

So, look for me to talk some turkey in the next day or so, and stay warm.