Alice Waters, Tallent, and Tea in Zionsville

**I hear Alice Waters tickets are sold out for her appearance at the IMA on December 2.

**Congratulations to Bloomington's Restaurant Tallent celebrating their 5 year anniversary today!

** We hear Serenity has opened in Zionsville, bringing you English tea from the people who have Serendipity in Carmel.

Hot Schotz, Tea, and What $2000 a Plate Gets You

Hot Schotz Rides Again: Cory notes over at Property Lines that Hot Schotz is open again in the former Bennigan's space in Fishers. After a pretty major fire, they lost Hans -- their beer guy -- to Pikk's Tavern, but at least they are up and running again. Grand opening planned for October 18.

Chicken or Beef? Any news on who's doing the food for the IMA's $2000-a-plate 125th Anniversay Gala?

Wonder If They Have Wireless? Tea Cozy, the new tea shop at 50 N. Illinios, has their grand opening on October 15 at 10:00 a.m. They will sell loose leaf and packaged teas, teapots, cups and mugs as well as soups, sandwiches, salads, tea lattes, smoothies, and desserts in the Tea Cafe.

An Afternoon Tea Party

You know, we don't have afternoon tea often enough. Really. We just don't. Last week, a friend couldn't make lunch but was in my neck of the woods by mid-afternoon. We decided on tea. It just seemed like the thing to do.

Cucumber sandwiches (with crusts trimmed off, of course, pound cake with lemon curd, fresh fruit -- so simple. (Sadly, store-bought pound cake due to time constraints.) Even without loose tea or a technically accurate separate pot, we still enjoyed a wide variety of teas, tisanes, and housemade chai with milk, lemon, and all the other accoutrements. It felt a little like a fancy party -- but was so simple. More afternoon tea! I vote for a tea revolution! Pics at Flickr.

It's Tea Time!

Just in time for that four o'clock tea and cake break. The Edwardian rapping tea man -- this is the best thing I've seen all week! Safe for work and everything!

Tazo Tea: On Sale at Wild Oats

Was out running errands yesterday and popped into Wild Oats to restock my tea supply. Pleasant surprise -- all flavors of Tazo were on sale for less than $3.00 per box. They have almost all the flavors -- more so than you usually see at the grocery store -- and I treated myself to Wild Sweet Orange (my favorite), Zen (green tea with lemongrass and spearmint, another fave), and the African Red Bush (their version of hibiscus with citrus). They have most of the new line of Yogi teas also (as well as the old school remedy teas). Loved the Thai Coconut and picked up some Mayan Cocoa Spice (cinnamon, cardamom, cocoa, and cloves.)

Yats, Locavores, and Tea from Kenya

Yat's Expanding to Greenwood: Cory reports Yat's will be opening a new location -- their fourth -- in Greenwood at US 31 and County Line Road. Greenwood has seen a flurry of restaurant activity this year with openings from major chains (like Cheesecake Factory) and local favorites (like The Melting Pot). Early reports from some restaurant owners are that the numbers haven't been quite what they'd expected yet, but they expect to see more growth in the future. I suspect diners on the south side just aren't used to all the attention!

Locavore -- 2007 Oxford Word of the Year: "Locavore" (or "localvore" say the women in San Francisco who coined it) refers to folks who are working to eat locally grown produce, meat, and other products. Some say "local" can be within 100 miles. (Hey, for Indiana, it includes the whole state!) From Oxford University Press.

The Price of Tea...In Kenya: Yesterday, officials announced the world's largest tea auction selling black tea leaves to the open international market has been cancelled until further notice. Food world officials note that the market can absorb some delay, but not more than a few weeks. Kenya is one of the world's largest exporters of black tea.

Quiz Hint: Thought I'd throw out a hint to the quiz just in case anyone wants to change their answer. Contrary to popular belief, quinoa is *not* a grain. Care to take any guesses?

Tea Tasting at the IMA

Last night during dinner at Elements, we couldn't help but hear the table next to us chatting about tea and the opening of the Asian collection at the IMA (going through Sunday). My friends, one a docent and the other an architect, both introduced themselves and we happily met our new friends -- experts in tea!

While getting a history lesson in how Indiana and the midwest were leaders in tea until the 1930s with one major home delivery tea company thriving here, we heard about their new tea room in Oakland (in the 4th Street Mall).

If you're interested in tea -- or Asian Art -- make sure you check out these events at the IMA this weekend! (There are more events on Sunday such as a Chinese dragron dance but after digging around on the IMA's website, this was all I could find -- nothing on the Asian opening was mentioned on the front page or events section. Too bad.)

Sunday, November 5 Tea Demonstrations and Tastings
11:00 am, 1:00 and 3:00 pm
Tea is a spiritual, artistic and culinary touchstone across Asia. Observe tea demonstrations and taste teas offered by tea connoisseurs (and our new friends!) Gaetano Kazuo Maida, Sebastian Beckwith, Winnie Yu and Kimiko Gunji. Experience the tea arts and traditions of Japan, Taiwan and China.

Films about Tea
Throughout the dayDeBoest Lecture Hall and Pulliam Great Hall
View films about tea culture, history and cultivation. View a full-length film related to Chinese tea culture in DeBoest Lecture Hall; see clips from In Pursuit of Tea, a film featuring tea growers throughout Asia, in Pulliam Great Hall.

Tea Kettle Love

I'm in love. Again. This time it's with my shiny new whistling stovetop teakettle. I've been dying for one for years and finally, this fall as it turned cold, I hauled off and treated myself. I chose a stainless steel 2 quart model with red enamel trim that sits on the stovetop.

What's so great about a tea kettle? Big cups of steaming tea, hot bowls of instant soup or cider, and even that great comfort of just heating water when you don't quite no what else to do. I love putting on water on for green tea in the afternoon (Tazo Lotus or Yogi Rejuvenation) or soothing, herbal tea at night (Tazo Calm or Wild Sweet Orange). It takes less time than heating water in the microwave, and I can heat enough for two or three steaming mugs full. I like how the tea kettle can steam away for my tea while I putter in the kitchen for that five minutes of down time. And I love the whistle, the steam, and the act of pouring hot water in my cup. Something about it says "home" to me.

How to choose a tea kettle? Stovetop or electric is your first choice depending on what you want to do. There are kettles that just heat water and even tea makers available if they suit your purpose. (Electric kettles are great for, say, the office or if you don't have a stove.) If you choose to go with a traditional, stovetop tea kettle, you can choose one with retro styling, the classic touch, or even very modern. Most tea kettles hold roughly 2 quarts of water. You can choose square or sleek, stainless or copper, chrome or enamel, white or great colors (like green or red), modern or classic design, and even whether it will whistle or not. Check to make sure it works on your stove top if you have ceramic or other special conductive materials. Depending on the brand, styling, and materials, a decent teakettle can run between $30 and $60. (You can always find some more or less expensive but $30-60 seems average.)

Pictured above? Le Crueset's latest offering although they also have very classically designed models. As this whether begins to settle in, doesn't a hot cup of tea sound good?

Confessions of a Domestic Goddess

It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while, I get a craving to be crafty. It's kind of like that once a year craving I get for ice cream sandwiches. Usually one big trip to the store will satisfy it and I'm left with half a box of Klondike bars in the freezer. Who knows if it's the change of seasons or all the Halloween candy, but this weekend, the craving to be creatively domestic hit me. At a lack of ideas for anything to do my house, I turned to the kitchen.

I usually think of the kitchen as that room where I make coffee and get food from the freezer. It's where the microwave lives. But it's also where, when inspired, I can dig something adventurous from a cookbook and let loose. Today, I was in the mood to make preserves. After a good read through a few favorite cookbooks, I pulled down the jars, lids, rings and other accoutrements for making jellies, jams, and chutneys. I took a quick inventory, made a list, and hit the farmer's market. Apples, tomatoes, squash -- it's all in season and I made some recipe adjustments to match. After that, I hit the spice aisle at my favorite market, then Cost Plus for clever jars, then Marsh for lids, rings, and pectin. I've made a cup of tea, unpacked the fun, and I'm all settled in for a big Saturday night. (Well, really, a big Saturday night is making pate or pulling out the food processor, but this will work.) This recipe isn't jelly or chutney, but it's the first crafty thing I made today inspired by the great little flat jars I found at Cost Plus.

Chai Mix

We've all received various spiced tea mixtures as gifts over the years, some better than others. I'm a little partial to the Tang/lemonade/instant tea mixture from the 70s, myself. But this morning I stumbled across a great recipe for chai which also looks like a good way to use some of my favorite spices before they get stale. The original recipe comes from Food for Friends: Homemade Gifts for Every Season (Ten Speed Press 2000) but I made some adjustments. I also doubled it, so this can be halved:

10 tablespoons whole cardamom pods
4 tablespoons whole cloves
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons juniper berries
8 whole, long cinnamon sticks, broken up into pieces
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
4-5 whole star anise
2 teaspoons ground ginger

Toast all spices except the ginger in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-3 mintues. Make sure you keep stirring. After a few minutes, you'll notice the spices getting very fragrant and even popping a bit. Combine the spices in a bowl with the ginger. Then in small batches grind in a mortar or pulse in a spice grinder. (I use a small coffee grinder as a spice grinder.) Grind until the spices are a coarse blend with a few recognizable whole pieces. Yields about 1.5 cups.

Spoon the spice mixtures into clean, airtight jars or containers, label, and add to a basket with scones, scone mix, small cookies, or as the book suggests, a book of poetry. You can even put it in a small cellophane bag if you're going to give it away quickly. I packaged mine in small jars with a tea strainer and mug which may go in a basket. You could also probably add an actual plain, mild tea to this mixture if you were making more and wanted to economize, although you can find some of these spices fairly inexpensively at ethnic markets around town.

If you wanted to be *really* creative (and don't laugh but I almost did this), you could use fine mesh cheesecloth and make small ready-to-dunk tea bundles -- homemade tea bags. Just cut them in 3x3 inch squares, put about 1 teaspoon of the chai mixture in the cloth, then fold or gather up the bundle. Just make sure you tie them with culinary string that can go in hot water without bleeding color or chemicals. (We all remember the Bridget Jones' Diary blue soup scene.) Small tea bags would be great to pack in a mug and you could stretch one batch of mix a long way if you needed to make multiple baskets.

As the book notes, blending teas (and I use the term loosely since this mixture actually contains no tea leaves, but "chai" means "tea") is a bit of an art. I think I'd like mine a bit more tangy next time, so I'll try adding more coriander and some lemon or orange zest. I added juniper berry and extra ground cinnamon to one batch for a great scent and darker flavor. If you like sweeter teas, it would be good to try adding more clove, star anise and even some fennel seed.

One teaspoon or less of the mixture in a tea strainer makes a fine cup of spicy tea. Perfect for keeping this domestic goddess inspired.