Tea and Me

Alright. Here and now I will confess to having an addiction to tea. I do think it is an addiction to 'having a cuppa' though, rather than the tea itself. Does that make sense? I do love tea, and I drink maybe 4 cups of it each day. But I am not against coffee and enjoy a nice latte when out. In the evenings I drink herbal teas too. So it's not an addiction to tea itself. Well not much anyway. I will only really admit that my addiction is to the act of making and drinking a cup of something warm. 

You see, tea means that I stop. And I've found that stopping does a lot for my sanity! Now as a mother of young children, in a lively little community, with a house to organise, I don't stop much. Oh I know I'm not running a multi-million dollar company, or saving the world in any way (though I might sometimes argue that last point). There is just always something to do. Someone or something to be washed/cleaned, smoothed out and/or put in it's place. So making a cup of tea means I stand still for a few seconds to pour it and then I sit still for a few minutes to drink it.

Generally this time out consists of just a cup of tea. An extra strong Dilmah teabag, temperature warm but not boiling, no sugar (cos I'm sweet enough already, of course!) and a good bit of milk. The Scottish bit of me doesn't get a say in the milk - I know it's not the norm but I live in Australia where for half the year it's fairly warm. And I'm only 1/4 Scottish! 

If I am on my own I'll sometimes grab a scotch finger biscuit - there's the Scot coming out in me ;-) When I am feeling like I need a bit more than a 5 minute pick-me-up I love a kingston arnotts cream biscuit. If some-one else is here too I might try for something a bit fancier. I'll use the teapot and set the table. I might even scratch through the cupboard and find something nicer than a plain old biscuit!

Here are some recent shots of slightly fancier cuppas (Australian slang for a hot cup of something, generally tea or coffee) that I've had lately - all in the name of blogging. What a great excuse to have some fun hey?! Blogging is a bit like having a cup of tea for me, time out to create something that is just mine, that stays clean and that I can share. For more about my blogging background click here.

This Australian Afternoon Tea blend by Twinings comes courtesy of our most recent ex- priminister. We all know that politics allows for plenty of tea-drinking moments, but creating one's own blend???? He did it all for charity of course, I quite like the blend, so no harm done. At least not in terms of tea ;-) The choc chop biscuit is homemade, the recipe is brilliantly easy and makes hundreds. Here it is, courtesy of Rhonda from Down to Earth.

Twinings features again in the next shots, with a good classic English Breakfast blend. Yum. And a little touch of europe to go with it from our local Harris Farm greengrocers. A little bit of glaze goes a long way hey?! The cloth here was a gorgeous gift from a gorgeous friend who found it at this lovely little spot : Little Nest Albury.

 

I do have some self-set and self-managed rules about tea and me;

• In the first one of the day, generally brought to me in bed by my lovely Mr, I have about 1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar. A little kick to start the day. But after finally managing to kick the sugar habit that is the only allowance I have for the day. Not even in coffee, or if I am out.
• The total number of cuppas consumed in 1 day must not exceed 5. And a coffee counts as 2! This rule comes from those days of babies when sleep was extrememly limited and tea just about got me through the day... without this rule I'd still have those habits and be drinking 8 or so cups.
• The 10am cup, or morning tea, must not be made until the morning jobs are done and the littlest one is in bed. 
• The last cup of the day must be made no later than 5pm. If it later than 5pm if must be herbal. Generally some sort of pink herbal (cos it's pretty!), peppermint or lemon/honey. 

Such self-discipline hey?! Well, I do try and stick to the rules. UNLESS the night has been horrid, or some-one in the family is sick or I need a lot of time-out ;-) Us girls have to have flexibility in our lives, everyone expects it of us!

On that note, it's nearly morning tea time. I just have to hang a load of washing on the clotheshorse (it's a very grey day), empty the dishwasher and put the littlest one down for a sleep. I'll need that cuppa!

I hope you get some time-out today, even if it's just for 5 minutes.