I may need to go on a liquid diet for a few days. No, not the fun “Hey! All the beer and tequila shooters you can drink!” liquid diet. The boring kind, like… chicken noodle soup, or tomato soup… or soup with soggy crackers crushed on top.
It appears my one rogue tooth isn’t very happy with me and has decided that it’s payback time. No, I didn’t floss enough and yes, I do love sour cherry blasters. Who knew such a tiny little thing could be such a pain in the, er, mouth! It hurts to laugh, it hurts to cry, it hurts to smile (didn’t realize how often I smile), and it hurts to eat (curses). I’ve doubled dosed myself with Ketorolac Tromethamine and have given up on moping.
I’ve become a somewhat swollen and sore (sorry) cheeky little l..ass and I’m now on a hunt for something soothing to sip on. I considered designing a new flavor of milkshake (or hitting Peter’s Drive-In), but that wouldn’t help with the fit of my jeans.
With a newly purchased jar of Masala Chai languishing (sympathy languish?) in the cupboard, perhaps a milk chai tea latte might just be the ticket today. Maybe there’s some ancient herbal remedy buried in the leaves and pods that will just put an end to my misery, a little magic perhaps?
And… as I sat writing this post, a little friend stopped in to see me..
I think he wanted to tell me something, but I’m not sure what… If you were sitting at my desk, you’d know there is only one narrow window in front of me. He’d had to have worked hard to perch in that exact spot and stare in at me.
He let me take a few photos and went on his way. A common name for the Northern Flicker Woodpecker is “Gawker” and “Wake-Up”… maybe he was telling me to “snap out of it”?
Isn’t it wonderful how something so simple can reframe your mind?
Back to the Chai…
A fellow blogger, Lana, over at Yes, I Want Cake, posted a recipe for a french pressed Milk Brewed Coffee that called for warm milk and a sprinkling of vanilla infused peppermint sugar (yum). It brought back memories of the first Chai Masala Tea latte I’d ever tasted at the Good Earth… it, too, was served up in a french press.
So… I’m taking the easy way out on my recipe today… because I am was cranky and because I can. “It’s my blog after all,” she whimpered, “I will use that ready to go, pre-mixed Chai Masala with Tea blend from The Silk Road, tweak that recipe and (insert fervent prayer here) french press my way to Chai Bliss.”
I would absolutely love to give you the recipe for the spices… but I can’t. I do know it is a bouquet of rose petals, mint, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper, ginger and ajowan (caraway) blended with black assam tea. I can tell you that it looked so pretty in the french press with the rose petals floating on a froth of warm milk in the sunlight.. it completely reframed my mind…
Here is the Spice Merchant recipe, my simpler one will follow:
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 3 tbsp of the spice and tea mixture
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Slowly stir in the milk and sugar.
- Bring back to a simmer and then pour into french press (make sure your press has been washed of all coffee residue and oils)
- Let sit for 1-2 minutes with the spices and tea submerged, then press and pour.
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 slightly heaping tablespoonful of chai tea spice blend
- 1-2 cubes raw sugar
- Steam milk until just before the boiling point. Pour into a “single serving” french press. Toss in the spices and sugar. Put the lid on and slightly submerge tea. Allow to brew for a minute or so (until desired intensity) then pump the french press a few times to blend the melted sugar.
- Pour and serve in a beautiful chai cup while sitting in the sun in your favorite chair.
- Meditate on why you are so fortunate…
- Om
Note: If you’ve no access to a Chai Masala Tea blend in your neck of the woods, I can suggest trying to create your own. There are so many different ways to make Chai, it would be worth experimenting. There is one website here, that seems to offer a wealth of recipes to get you started.
That looks delicious! Glad I could be of some inspiration. 🙂 Oh and that little bird! How sweet that he let you snap some shots of him.
You sure were:) Wasn’t that something? I was afraid to move.. I couldn’t believe I had my camera on the desk (uploading photos). Lucky day I guess. Thanks for your blogger inspiration!!
I hope you find some relief from that tooth. The nerve! Inflicting pain on the mouth that harbors it. Good to see it hasn’t affected your photographer’s eye. These photos are beautiful and how nice of that Flicker to drop by and pose for you. Great post and feel better real soon.
Awww, thanks (love the “nerve” humor):)
You have my sympathies…. and the acquired right of being cranky for as long as you want. Tooth problems give you this right, don’t even worry about apologizing…
your tea cup is beautiful, as well as all the photos…
(hope you will feel 100% really soon…. hang in there!)
Thanks so much… I’m on new drugs now, so fingers are crossed:)
Oh, the pain of a sore tooth. It’s so hard to distract yourself from that kind of pain. I had to have a procedure last week and had to be on a liquid (non-fun kind) diet for 24 hours then be nil-by-mouth the next day. All I could think about was food and all the bloggers out there kept posting wonderful and fabulous dishes which compounded the problem. So I hope you can get some treatment pronto because living without eating just isn’t any fun at all. Thanks for discovering my blog. Lovely to have your feedback. I love your background and am assuming those are cranberries?
Woah, 24 hours is a long time to be off food! It doesn’t help to be a food blogger, eh? Thanks for coming over here to my blog. The background is/are pomegranates:)
That looked perfect, i have never experimented with chai tea before, but all those florals, my cup of gumboot on the desk right now looks a bit sad.. and that bird! wow.. c
Hahaha, your comments always cheer me up.. never thought of calling it “gumboot”:) Thanks for coming through, C!
All kinds of delectation here! Beautiful looking chai that I can simply smell from here, with those fabulous spices you hunted up. And oh, that wonderful charmer flirting with you from outside your window! So sweet, so sweet.
I find chai incredibly soothing… actually I think I’ll go make some now, instead of another wedge of cake. What I don’t have is that stunning cup though- absolutely beautiful.
I hope your teeth troubles pass quickly.
If only it cured a toothache:P I’ll trade you a wedge of cake for some chai:) That cup is a recent acquisition from Anthropologie… I always succumb to a cup or plate when there…
I am in love with this post. I mean wow.. I love tea and this chai tea looks amazing. I definitely want to make this to start off my morning. Can’t wait.
Thanks, Kay, it’s my new drink now (after the coffee of course:)
You poor thing, my hubby has an infected tooth at the moment too! He is on antibiotics, but finds it really hard to get any sleep, let alone eat at the moment. How nice to see your little friend just when you needed cheering up.
What a great idea to use the french press, I’ll give it a try. Thanks for stopping by my blog, I hope you found something you liked 🙂
Oh, oh, give your hubby extra hugs then:) It was great to go through your blog as well!
I hope and wish you to feel fine soon, I can almost understand you, it hit me once too. Your photographs so beautiful, I loved your tea set… and yes, “Isn’t it wonderful how something so simple can reframe your mind?1 I should reply this like that, it is so wonderful how your post reframe my mind… 🙂 So inspirational. Thank you Smidgen, with my love, nia
Nia, you always find the sweetest things to say… thank you so much:) xo Barb
Sorry to hear about the complications. Hope you get better soon. This looks like good therapy.
Thanks , Greg!
I love Flickers! I’ve rarely seen one perched like that! They’re usually on the ground, you know? How cool. Oh, and your pictures are enough to make a full tummy rumble!
I didn’t know that they sit on the ground? How cute! Thanks for coming over!
I hope your mouth feels better soon. Oral pain really is one of the worst kinds. Especially for us foodies! When I got my wisdom teeth out, I felt so helpless. Not only did I not feel like cooking/baking, but I had no desire to even try eating anything. I pretty much lived off of Ramen and frozen yogurt. Anyways, this tea sounds lovely and the perfect drink for your current state. 🙂
Wisdom teeth are the worse! I think you’re right, ramen noodles would be perfect today:)
No fun! I hope it feels better soon. 🙂 But if you have to drink something, that tea looks amazing.
Thank you, Courtney!
Get well soon. 🙁
Beautiful photos.
I did get better:) Thanks Jonathan… tomorrow I’ll be checking out the blogs I’ve missed this week!
Sympathies for your tpith ache – I have to say having a sore tooth is one of the most frustrating things. If your yummy chai tea doesn’t fix it I hope something else does.
Thanks Aimee.. got on the right Rx and I’m back to normal:) (Trip to Palm Springs didn’t hurt either!)
MMmmmmmm. New tea to try! 🙂
I love tea at this time of year… although I am a major coffee addict as well… it’s nice to change things up:) Thanks for stopping by:)