Royal Wedding Tea

Are you excited for the Royal Wedding?  I am!  My friend picked me up this Harney & Sons Royal Wedding Tea.  If you live in NYC, you can pick up a tin at their store in Soho, or you can purchase it online - here.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

I know that a lot of people hate Valentine's Day with a passion, but I love it!  It is the one day when Cynical Me actually likes to tell people that I like them.  So since it is officially February today, I thought I would create a list of delicious goodies you could give someone special or share with a friend while you are watching Somethings Got To Give.

Lets start with chocolate:

L.A. Burdick has these adorable chocolate mice.  They are just too cute to pass up.  The chocolate hearts and cigars are fun too.

An expensive, but fancy gift of Champagne with Rose Truffles from Vosges would be perfect for the traditional romantic.  Vosges also carries Champagne with Exotic Truffles too.

You can also by the Exotic Candy Bar Library and divide the bars of chocolate among friends.  I love the Woolloomooloo bar :)  Vosges really has an extensive selection of gifts, so be sure to check out their website.

Candy:

I cannot say enough good things about Bequet Caramels (click here to read my review).  These caramels are to-die-for.  Instead of the traditional chocolate, try the Chipotle Caramels to spice things up, or the Celtic Sea Salt Caramels.  SO GOOD.  Click here to visit the Bequet Confections.

Divan's Turkish Delight.  Okay, so I have never had this candy, but it is so pretty.  I regret not trying any at Borough Market last year.  You can find this brand at Harrods.  Click here to order.

The All Bacon & Chocolate Gift Box from Vosges would an amazing gift for the bacon lover.

There is also this Sir Francis Peanut Brittle that looks like fun.

Cookies:

Momofuku Compost Cookies ship in packs of 6.  Their Cornflake Cookie is pretty good too.  Click here to order.

If you want to get cutesy, try a French macaron.  If only Laduree had a shop in the States, but alas they don't.  Instead try Macaron Cafe.  They deliver nationwide.

Tea:

Kusmi Sweet Love Tea is one of their most popular teas.  Who can resist their hot pink tins?  The tea is sweet and spicy, and is delicious with some milk and sugar.

Harney & Sons has a Valentine's Tea Blend of chocolate tea with rose buds for the season.

And if you want something to sweeten the tea, try this Four Cheese Honey Flight or the Ames Farm Honey Sampler from Terrain.

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Harney & Sons Paris Tea

Maybe I haven't eaten very many delicious treats this last week, or maybe Harney & Sons Paris Tea is really just that good.  On a cold, snowy day, I made myself a cup while working at home.  It truly is my favorite black tea, although some of the Kusmi Teas come in a pretty close second.  I first tried this tea over a year ago at this adorable bed and breakfast in Atchison, Kansas called the Glick Mansion.  If you are ever in Atchison, I would highly recommend this place.  It is so old fashioned and quaint, and the innkeeper Chris is just the sweetest.  She also makes a delicious blueberry pastry :)  I wish I had taken more pictures of the place to share.

Back to the tea - Paris tea is a smooth, strong black tea, but has hints of vanilla, and a slightly fruity flavor.  It's one of those teas you really want to sit and enjoy it while you sip it.  The best part about Harney & Sons is they now have a store in Soho (click here to check out their Soho blog).  I stumbled upon it in December.  They have a wide variety of packaged teas as well as all of their best sellers in loose leaf form.  If you don't live in New York, don't worry, they have an extensive website.  The sad thing is, I just keep getting Paris, because it is so good.  I might have to start branching out though ;)

Photo from the Harney & Sons website.  I love their tins - so pretty.

Last year, I made this awesome Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup with Popovers.  Seriously, it is soooo good.  Or click here for my 99 Miles to Philly review.

Taste of Tea

On Sunday I watched the Japanese movie Taste of Tea.  As I watched the lengthy two hours and twenty minute film, I was so grateful that I had made Matcha Iri Genmaicha tea and green tea ice cream to go along with it.  Those were the only things that kept me from turning off the movie.  Don't get me wrong, there were parts of the movie I liked, but it was a little too slow, like is anything going to happen here?  Do people really lie around this much?  Anyways, below is the Green Tea Ice Cream recipe I made from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.  If you have never had green tea ice cream, you must try it.  It has such an unusual earthy, creamy flavor.  This particular recipe has a surprisingly strong taste the first few bites, but once you got past those, the flavored mellowed and you could really enjoy the incredibly creamy texture.  I really couldn't get enough.

Ingredients for Green Tea Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop, makes about 1 quart:

-1 cup whole milk
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-Pinch of salt
-2 cups heavy cream
-4 teaspoons matcha (green tea powder)
-6 large egg yolks

Matcha (green tea powder).  You can find it at your Asian grocery store, or at House of Cha.

To begin, warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Pour the cream into a large bowl and whisk the green tea powder in.  This was much more challenging than I expected.  The powder likes to stay clumpy, so I used a spoon to break the clumps around the side of the bowl.  Don't worry if you still have some clumps, the warm custard will help dissolve the rest.  Place bowl over an ice bath, and place a mesh strainer on top of mixture.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape everything back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the cream, then whisk it vigorously until the custard is frothy to dissolve the green tea powder.  Stir until cool over the ice bath.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight, and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to your manufacturer's instructions.

Matcha Iri Genmaicha is my favorite tea - tastes like popcorn!

Since the Takashimaya sadly closed in NYC (where the Tea Box was located), I would recommend checking out House of Cha in Lawrence, Kansas for your tea needs.  You can order a variety of Chinese and Japanese teas online and they are so sweet when you stop by their shop.

For other drinks, check out my Prometheus Springs review here.

Love: Moon Bowls

These Moon Bowls are just something I have seen around the blogosphere this past week, and I can't get them out of my head.  I keep trying to figure out how to rearrange the contents of my small NYC cabinets so I could have some space to put them!  These are specifically designed for opaque liquids, like unfiltered sake, but they also come in white, so perfect for tea.  As you sip your drink, your cup transitions through all the phases of the moon.  You can buy the black on Amazon or the white right here.

Kusmi Tea

Last year, I became a Kusmi Tea fan just based on their packaging.  I saw the tea online, and just I loved their tiny tea tins with their original ornate printing.  I decided to get them as gifts (The Miniature Russian Collection) for my coworkers and even I ended receiving a whole collection for myself.  It took about a year, but I finally ran out of all my tea.  Luckily, the Kusmi Tea shop opened up this past July in the Upper East Side, which I stopped by at this past Sunday.

The store is one long rectangle, with white shelving lining the walls.  The store is broken up into about five sections, which the perky and adorable sales woman named Kourtney (she seemed like a Kourtney with a "k" type of girl) happily explained to us.  Along the walls were an assortment of teas, black, green, herbal, and their special blends of the season such as Christmas Red.  You can purchase tea bags, large tins filled with loose tea, tea accessories, and even small amounts of loose tea from their huge tea canisters.  In the center of the store, there are tea tins opened so you can feel and smell the tea you are purchasing.  The best part is the back counter where you can sample a cup of their tea, which was Detox that day.  It was truly delicious and refreshing, so much so that I bought a large tin of it.  The detox teas I have had in the past have always also had too many flavors going on, this one was a lovely mixture of mate, green tea, lemon, and lemon grass.  I also bought Samovar, this lightly smoked black tea that is really wonderful too.

If you live in New York, I would definitely recommend stopping by the store.  This is one place I would prefer to go to instead of shopping online.  If you don't live in NYC, have no fear, because you can get everything could want online too.  I think these teas make wonderful gifts.  You can buy sets and divide them up.  Slip a tin in a stocking, or a tea bag in a holiday card :)

Click here to read more about Kusmi, they do a much better job explaining their history (founded in 1867 - whoa), than I ever could.

p.s. I also bought an assortment pack, and I am totally falling in love with their Bouquet of Flowers blend.  Really lovely.  Click here to see last year's Thanksgiving.