Beverages: Tea
The older I get, the more I enjoy beverages. I think it’s because 1) beverages are good fillers for on-the-go lifestyles and 2) old people get dehydrated all the time.
There’s this tea house that’s been in Houston’s Montrose area for a while, and I kept wanting to check it out but never got a chance, until recently. It’s called House of Te (with an accent over the e in Te) or something like that. Me and my boyfriend Tad went there the other day, in the midst of our xmas shopping. Not only did they have eight jillion kinds of tea on the menu, but they had food, too. And tango nights on Fridays.
But all we wanted was tea. So we stood and stared at the white-boarded menu for a while. Tad loves Earl Grey, so he tried Earl Grey with Lavender. I normally like green tea, but they had an oolong called Iron Goddess of Mercy, and how could I resist that?
We flouted conventions by requesting big glasses of ice with our tea pots. (I don’t know why British and Asian people don’t drink iced tea more often.) I was a little bit sad when I saw that this tea place didn’t have Splenda. But then I was happy when I saw that they offered liquid stevia, instead. In four different flavors! With powdered Stevia Plus on the side!
We’re gonna go back again and try the food. For this time, though, it was nice to just sit there drinking our iced teas and looking out the window at the balmy December Houston weather.
Beverages: Wine
Later that night, we went to a party, to which Cathy brought the only red wine I’ve ever loved in my life. (Not counting brachetta or Manischweitz.) (I spelled both of those wrong.)
She brought Red Diamond merlot, and it was pretty awesome. To me, at any rate. Your mileage will probably vary. But if, like Cathy and me, you like Reislings and other sweet stuff, you might very well like Red Diamond, even though it’s not really sweet.
In white wine (very local) news, I’m laying off on the moscato di asti because it’s starting to taste like Sprite. Which means, it seems, that my palate is maturing. Yay! Nyarly turned me on to Two Faux Frogs chardonnay, and I bought Goats Do Roam on Mike‘s recommendation, but haven’t had time to try it yet. Probably because I’ve finished all my recent writing deadlines and therefore haven’t yet needed it. Ha, just kidding. Okay, no, I’m not.
Here’s a fun wine game that I’m sure some of you already play. One person should smell and taste the wine, then guess what flavors it’s supposed to contain. The other person should hold the bottle and check the label to see if you’re right. I’m pretty good at this game. Behold a recent episode of it, done on a chardonnay that someone abandoned at my house:
Me: [Sniff, sniff. Slurp.] Uh… Pineapple, butter, and gasoline!
Tad: [Reading label.] “Apricot, butterscotch, and smoke.” That’s good, baby! You guessed it.
Beverages: Other
The other thing I like to drink lately is Swiss Miss No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate with copious amounts of cinnamon. Because that’s the best sugar-free thing my office has to offer. And, remember, cinnamon is good for your insulin levels.
And, as long-time readers may remember, we were going to try power smoothies with whole avocados dumped into the blender. And we did. And they’re good. Yay!
That’s all for now. Feel free to share your recently discovered awesome beverages in the comments.
