by Sam Tackeff | Sep 29, 2012 | Local stores, Restaurants
I think it comes with the territory, living on either coast – you spent more time sending away friends than you care to. I certainly understand the wanderlust, but it’s always sad when you have that last coffee with a friend before they head off to new things. I find it regretful that illustrious written correspondences are a thing of the past, and now we seem to only have the internet. The internet doesn’t make up for the days when it’s raining and chilly, and you both exhale as you walk into the cafe together and share warm comfort and the details of your day.
I made the trip in the pouring rain to 3 Little Figs in Somerville to say a bittersweet goodbye to Emily yesterday. She’ll be making her way out to San Francisco next week, and I’ll miss her.
3 Little Figs is remarkably cute. It was the perfect escape from the rain and grey that has settled over the city. The cafe is filled with more smiling friends having conversations over coffee and treats than silent folks with computers (although there were still some of these, though they shut off their wi-fi on weekends).
After discussing our futures, good people from Tiburon, and the merits of media mail, I sent her off into the rain, and headed over to M.F. Dulock to console myself and pick up my weekly pastured meat fix. The case was brimming with good stuff this week. Every time I go I’ve purchased something new.
I left with pork stir fry, ground beef, boneless beef shanks, a fresh ham steak, and some homemade chorizo. Before heading back, I made stops at Formaggio (for fresh eggs and black olives), Trader Joe’s (Sardines, coconut milk, a coffee sample, and a few goodies for Devon), and Whole Foods (all the vegetables growing in fall). Yes, I could have shopped in one place, but food shopping is my favorite activity ever.
When I got home, I made myself breakfast, a few eggs simply cooked with nothing on them.
In the afternoon, lunch was sardines. Yes, sardines, again. Two days in a row if you are counting. This time I made a salad of sardines and black olives, over several fistfuls of baby greens, with a few good squeezes of lemon.
To warm myself up, I spent all afternoon roasting things as I worked. There were carrots and parsnips in coconut oil with rosemary, a sliced acorn squash with cumin, salt and chile, and cauliflower florets with a handful of garlic cloves.
For the second round of the oven, I roasted zucchini with garlic, and a whole butternut squash.
For dinner I fried up some chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder.
Devon got his with a Caesar salad and some acorn squash. I made mine into a big salad with a few of each of the vegetables I roasted today.
For dessert, I snacked on a banana bread LÄRABAR. After dinner, we sat around and watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves because we were both too lazy to turn the channel.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 25, 2012 | Blogging, Challenge, Restaurants
Sometimes I deal with bouts of anxiety and sadness. It happens. After the absolute thrill of completing my very first race on Sunday, I got into a funk. I’m not quite talking about depression (that’s another beast entirely), but more of a general gloom. Time and again, what follows intense highs of accomplishment is self doubt, criticism, or anguish. Was it good enough? Does it matter? While I spent a lot of time worrying as a child that it might just be me, I’ve realized over the years that it happens to a lot of people, people I respect, people I love, maybe even you, and I shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I went to particularly competitive schools, worked with highly driven people, and this gloom was something that seems inescapable.
This is where writing comes in. It’s one way to find solace when you are feeling badly, to lift yourself up when you feel like sulking. After waking up glum, I took this picture of my morning coffee. And then I set about writing my race recap. I debated omitting my time – it’s too slow. they will judge. – and even pictures of myself – i’m sweating. my face is red. these gym clothes look ridiculous – and my favorite – who cares about this. it’s not even a big deal. But I decided to include everything, as honestly as possible. And I could not have been more thrilled at how many of you responded in big ways and small, to remind me that my accomplishment was really just that, something I should be proud of.
So for that, I thank you.
Another wonderful thing to combat gloom is spending time with dear friends. I was so lucky to get Caroline for one more day before sending her back off to Texas. We spent the afternoon running around her old grad school haunts at Hahhhvahhd, and took lunch at Upstairs on the Square.
I hadn’t visited the place since my senior year of college, and was happy to enter into the land of whimsy again. The interior is decorated as a 7 year old’s fantasy land, but the entire place has subtly macabre details, such as wall paintings of cheerful zebras being attacked by arrows. I love it.
For lunch, I yet again found myself chatting with a supremely patient and friendly waiter about my food restrictions – no dairy, no gluten, and a few other things I can’t do. Another success – I ended up with this Salad Niçoise, with egg, Italian tuna, white anchovies, tomatoes, olives and capers, omitting the fingerlings and aioli. Instead of the vinaigrette, I ordered a side of oil and vinegar. I looked longingly at their delicious bread basket, but this was quite a good meal.
After lunch, we walked around for an hour, and headed to tea at Tealuxe right in Harvard Square. I ordered an iced Makaibari Darjeeling. I quite enjoy their tea selection, and their daily iced choices are always exciting.
After a few hours of fun, I had to send off my wonderful friend back to Providence to catch her flight back to Houston. When I got home, I sat down to work after getting myself a snack: canned Copper River wild sockeye salmon. This was one of the last shipments I received from the Copper River marketing board, and I was hesitant to open it so soon, but the stuff is so delicious I couldn’t help myself. I mixed it with a generous spoonful of homemade mayo, a few grinds of pepper, and a large handful of chopped dill.
In the early evening, I set to work making dinner: beef shank stew with carrots and gremolata.
Devon got his served on a big bowl of mashed potatoes, but I just took an extra helping of carrots.
For dessert, I polished off an entire pint of raspberries before realizing that I hadn’t snapped a photo. We were watching Breaking Amish. I was totally engrossed by the “English clothing”, illicit tattoo acquisition, and that one guy Abe who seems to have such a good head on his shoulders.
by Sam Tackeff | Aug 2, 2012 | Restaurants
Bites: In which I share with you short dish reviews and ratings from my adventures with Tasted Menu. The scale is from 0-10, where 0.0 equals “A traumatic experience” and 10.0 “A culinary epiphany”.
Padaria Brasil is a tiny shop on Harvard Ave. in Allston with a green and yellow awning that you’ll likely miss if you aren’t looking for it. Usually there is a spot you can pull into right in front, and get in line with a group of Brazilians ordering from the wide range of pastries.
Pão de queijo {8.0}
Mini: 50 cents.
It is always a formidably odd experience when you try something you’ve never had before and it tastes *exactly* like a food you grew up with from half way across the globe. This Brazillian treat tasted just like a little Turkish Kaşarlı Poğaça! Kaşar is a sort of tart hard cheese, like a Parmigiano but slightly more acidic – I’m guessing that they use Minas, but I’ll have to check for sure… {This was my first Pão de Queijo from Padaria Brasil, and now I understand what Amanda was going on about when she went to great lengths to get this place on my radar.}
Next up to try: the Coxinha (a deep fried chicken croquette).
Padaria Brasil
125 Harvard Ave.
Allston, MA 02134 Map
(617) 202-6783
by Sam Tackeff | Jul 17, 2012 | Restaurants
Bites: In which I share with you short dish reviews from my adventures with Tasted Menu.
A few weeks ago our office ventured out to East Boston to eat at Angela’s Café, a hole-in-the-wall family run Mexican restaurant. East Boston isn’t really a destination spot for folks in the Boston area, but perhaps it should be. After reading MC Slim JB’s ode to Angela’s a few years back, and Jen’s review last year, I’d been dying to try the place.
Which is funny, because I almost got myself killed on my trek to the restaurant! {Cue laugh track and groans.}
On the way, I encountered an asshat pick-up driver, who, “nonplussed” by the fact that I was choosing to legally go straight at the red light instead of left decided that he was going to honk loudly and “encourage me” to move forward. Forward…into the vehicle in front of me so he could make the turn. And by encourage, I mean, hit my bumper to get me to move despite the fact that the vehicle in front of me was literally four inches from my car and there was nowhere for me to go.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know what he was dealing with: my starving, livid, just-sat-on-the-Pike-for-60 minutes alter-ego, who decided that getting out of the car and snapping pictures of his license plate and screaming bloody murder at him was the appropriate response. Besides, I rationalized, if he decided to shoot me there would be lots of witnesses.
After suitably expressing my feelings about the matter, the light turned green, I got back into my car, and drove onto the restaurant. As I turned back for one last look, I noticed that he was now stuck on the curb he decided to drive over. Serves you right, jerk-face!
As parking karma has it, I made it to the restaurant on time, found myself a spot right in front, and was in for a treat for dinner.
* * *
Angela’s is a tiny spot in East Boston, with a handful of tables. I don’t have photos of the space, but picture it as a neighborhood joint, a little bit tacky, cozy and pleasant. We made a reservation (likely the only one of the evening), and when we walked in the place was pretty empty, but soon after we arrived groups of people started wandering in: couples, a group of women celebrating a birthday with lots of margaritas, a lone gentleman in office attire grabbing a meal after work, a group of international college students. The music in the background, a mix of classic rock and pop provided some incongruous entertainment – but really we were there for the food.
All in all, we really liked the place. Here are my reviews of the meal as posted on Tasted Menu, including my individual ratings. The scale is from 0-10, where 0.0 equals “A traumatic experience” and 10.0 “A culinary epiphany”.
We started out with the Guacamole {8.7}
Ripe avocado dip served with tortilla chips, $9.00
Ignore the kitschy animal shaped molcajete, because this is some serious guacamole. Perfectly ripe avocados, good seasoning, onion, a hint of lime. It becomes depressing when Chipotle is the best guacamole you can eat in town, so I was happy to find that Angela’s really hit the mark on theirs.
Favoritos de Angela (Serves 4) {7.8} Chicken Mole Gordita, Tinga Tostada, Taco Arabe , Ceviche Tostada, Taco Pastor , Rajas Poblanas, Verde Chorizo Gordita , and Nopales Tostada, $23.00
With a large group of friends to split this (or three really hungry people), I think this is a nice showcase of some of the different flavors of Angela’s. At $23, it’s also a pretty darn good deal for what you are getting.
Here were the individual dishes on the platter:
Nopales Tostada {5.0} Crispy corn tortilla layered with re-fried pinto beans, shredded lettuce, sour cream, Mexican cheese, and a slice of avocado
As an ardent nopales lover, I staked claim on this particular tostada at our table, and was sorely disappointed. As Alex mentioned – flavorless. This could have been so much better if the nopales had been slightly pickled, or even with a few squeezes of lime.. something!!
Tinga Tostada {6.8} Shredded beef sauteéd with onions in a mild spicy chipotle sauce
Maybe I just don’t love tostadas – or possibly I’m just bitter about the iceberg lettuce? Nevertheless, the tinga on this was nicely flavored. I would have gladly eaten it on it’s own without the starchy base.
Gordita Poblana {7.3} Unique in Boston, a handmade corn tortilla with mild spicy green or red sauce choice of chicken or Mexican sausage
We tried both the chicken and chorizo, and I do believe that the chorizo was the winner – however the mole (specifically the sauce) was pretty outstanding.
Rajas Poblanas {8.7} Sauteéd strips of Poblano pepper with red onions and sour cream served with Mexican cheese and two corn tortillas
Soft, meltingly tender, sweet peppers. I could have eaten a pound of these as my meal alone and I would have left happy. One of the best vegetable sides I’ve had in quite some time.
Taco Arabe {7.0} Roast pork sauteéd in a chipotle sauce with onions stuffed in a roll of soft flour tortilla
I tend to go corn rather than flour tortillas, but this taco arabe was a nicely balanced bite, and I’m always a sucker for the smoky depth that chipotles add to any dish.
Shrimp Ceviche Tostada {7.5} Crispy corn tortilla layered with re-fried pinto beans, shredded lettuce, sour cream, Mexican cheese, and a slice of avocado
Okay, so I still haven’t figured out the best way to eat a tostada without getting it all over myself… this was a good one, the shrimp was fresh and light, and the toppings melded into a happy combination.
Then, for dinner, we sampled three of the main dishes.
Mole Poblano de Angela {8.0} Variety of dried chiles, nuts, and seeds with sweet chocolate cooked over a period of several days, served with a choice of chicken breast or pork loin, $16.00
This deep, rich, and complex mole was wonderful, one of the better moles I’ve had. My dining partner ordered it with the chicken, but next time, I’ll likely order it with pork. (Having been raised largely porkless, I try to consume all the porcine goodness I can get to make up for it.)
Enchiladas Rojas o Verdes {6.0} Stuffed corn tortillas with shredded chicken, pork, or vegetables (onions, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, red and green pepper). Topped with sour cream, Mexican cheese, radish, onion rings, and a slice of avocado, $14.00
I have this bad habit of not ordering the Enchiladas Verdes, and then kicking myself after having a few bites of my dining partner’s inevitable plate of them. In this case, after dipping my fork a few times in the bland and boring enchilada sauce, I felt lucky that I hadn’t made the same mistake. Totally disappointing.
Carne Asada {7.8} 10oz. grilled sirloin steak served with shredded Poblano pepper, black beans, and mango sauce, $17.00
I’ve been on a total steak kick in the past few months. Never the girl to order the slab of beef in the past, I’ve now been craving it and getting it every chance I can get. What has happened to me? I thought this was a decent carne asada, cooked a little more than my liking, but nicely seasoned. The sides of rice and beans were nice, and of course the little plate of rajas made me happy as a clam.
And there were drinks.
Michelada {7.5}
Alex is on a quest to find the perfect Michelada. While he doesn’t actually *like* Micheladas, I think it’s a point of pride to order them. He’ll drink ’em until he damn well does. This means that I’ve gotten tastes of several over the past few months at our work dinners. I thought this one turned out pretty well, although rather than his choice of Pacifico I might have gone with a Negra Modelo myself.
Sangria {7.5}
Everytime I drink Sangria, I think about Thanksgiving. Yes, U.S. turkey day. Six – seven years ago? There was sangria in a large vessel, Quelf, and weird adventure. Life changing. That’s all you are going to get about that one. {This particular sangria was fruity and good.}
And then, of course, desserts. Three of us, three desserts. That’s how we roll.
Crepas con Dulce de Leche {7.0} Mango sauce, chocolate syrup, and caramel sauce inside warm folded Mexican pancakes, $6.95
I could have done without the mango, but the crepe itself was delicious – almost like buckwheat? and the dulce de leche even more so. Did you know that you can make your own dulce de leche in your slow cooker? Now you do. Google it. Make it.
Panecillo de Chocolate Mexicano {4.5} Homemade chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, fresh forest berries and chocolate syrup, $6.95
Sometimes you eat something so off-putting that you want to cry a little bit. This particular dessert kind of horrified me. The mango and not particularly sweet chocolate clashed miserably. As for the panecillo itself, although Alex already stole my joke, I’ll repeat it for you. Two words: Hockey. Puck. Now the weird thing is.. I still.. kind of liked it? I feel like it had bones that could have been made into something delicious. Had this density had a deeper, richer, chocolate-y taste, it might have been something. Alas.
Flan Tradicional {9.1} Homemade vanilla custard, $5.95
Y’all should probably go out and try this flan. Without reservations, this was one of the most memorable flans I’ve ever had.. in my life. I would have placed it second to Don Ramon’s flan con coco in West Palm.. although, having not had that in about a decade, and not knowing for sure if it’s held up, I will in fact say that this flan takes top place. Soft, wobbly, quivering custard. Just a gorgeous mouthful.
Angela’s Café
131 Lexington St.
Boston, MA 02128
(617) 567-4972
http://www.angelascaferestaurant.com
by Sam Tackeff | May 7, 2012 | Filipino, Restaurants
Let’s pretend here that the photos in this post have proper white balance and focus, and ignore the cold, harsh reality that even if you get a fancy new camera with a phenomenal lens, it does not mean that you will be able to properly shoot with it if you don’t know what you are doing. Also, if you hand the camera over to anyone at all, you should watch carefully that they don’t adjust the settings resulting in all your colors being off. I’m learning! – Sam
To say I’m an adventurous eater is an understatement – I’ll likely consume whatever you put down in front of me, and happily so if it has strong flavors, is fermented, or is a recognizable part of an animal.
What I’m less comfortable with is going into a restaurant for the first time where I’m the only person not speaking the native language, and ordering with confidence. Even if I’ve done my research, which I always do, and usually fairly thoroughly, I’m skeptical that I’ll be served a traditional dish in it’s full glory. I worry that the spice will be dialed back, or I’ll get fewer banchan, or the fish paste will be curiously absent from my table.
There’s a reason why Anthony Bourdain meets up with a fixer in each episode – it always helps to have someone who knows what they are talking about, and can cry foul if something is amiss.
So here I found myself craving Filipino food, and needing some dining partners and a fixer. Enter Bianca, of the delightful blog Confessions of a Chocoholic who agreed to come with me and Alex (my boss at Tasted Menu, and the creeper up there in the photo) to JnJ Turo-Turo, the ONLY Filipino restaurant within a several hundred mile radius.
From everything I had heard, it was so-so. But, after regular breakfasts in San Francisco of Silog in my old neighborhood, Hopia from Hilda’s, Señor Sisig, Hapa SF and the Adobo Hobo trucks, and Mitchell’s Ice Cream two blocks away serving up classic flavors from the Philipines including Buko (baby coconut), Langka (Jackfruit), Macapuno (coconut), and my favorite Ube (sweet purple yam) – I have learned that even not-very-good Filipino food is better than no Filipino food at all!
First we had to get there. This place is in Quincy, which is a bit of a hike from Boston. A thirty minute drive outside of the city got us there without too much hassle.
We made a quick detour to Kam Man Superstore right around the corner before heading in to dinner – a Chinese market about double the size of the Super 88 in Allston, and one of my favorite local places for Bento supplies. After picking up a coconut bun and a custard filled mocha bun – you can’t leave this place empty handed, no matter how hard you try – we headed over to the restaurant.
JNJ Turo-Turo isn’t exactly upscale. Turo-Turo means “point-point” in Tagalog, and generally refers to a small eatery where they have a few rotating dishes on the menu and you simply point to the ones you want. It reminded me of the places in Istanbul, neighborhood joints where working people eat or might pick up some dinner to take home after a long day. I found the place charming though, with it’s Ikea furniture, a group of friends speaking Tagalog at the next table, a quiet smiling woman cooking and serving our food, and Filipino tele-novelas dramatically unfolding in the background on the TV hanging above our table.
Bianca did the ordering, and I put in my requests – lumpiang shanghai, kare-kare and adobo and whatever else we needed.
To start, we got plates of cigarette shaped lumpiang shanghai (fried pork spring rolls) with a sweet chili dipping sauce, and slightly shorter and plumper lumpiang gulay (vegetable spring rolls filled with bean sprouts, carrots, potato and tofu) with a slightly tangy vinegar dipping sauce called sawsawan.
Taste-wise, these reminded me curiously of the latkes (Jewish potato pancakes) and mücver (Turkish vegetable fritters) my mom makes – I take particular delight when my brain allows me these cross-cultural associations when trying new foods.
The next dish that came out was our chicken adobo, which for me was the low point of the meal. While the chicken was moist and tender, the sauce was sweet and not particularly tangy at all.
From my limited experience with adobo, I was disappointed, and felt for sure that my imaginary grandmother in Manila would have made a better version. I really like the one Amy Besa makes, which I have the recipe for on this here website and have cooked many times. After thinking about it in retrospect though, I remembered when I posted a few years back about adobo, a reader mentioned that the adobos of the North were sweetened with sugar cane and are much less acidic – so it’s possible this was a good example of that? I digress.
To my delight, the next dish to come out of the kitchen was a whole fried milk fish, (called Bangus) served split, and boneless.
This fish, commonly eaten in the Philippines, but new to me, was crispy and brilliantly flavorful. I’m always happy when I get served a whole fish in a restaurant, and ashamed that I cook it so rarely myself at home, as it’s one of the more satisfying eating experiences one can have.
A bowl of kare-kare, a stew made with peanut sauce came out next, and was served with bagoong (shrimp paste) – which the cook looked at us skeptically and asked if we’d want. Of course I wouldn’t have turned down the opportunity to try it, and while I didn’t dislike it, I will advise you that it is not for the faint of palate.
The tripe in this was cooked well, and tender, but I had been hoping for oxtail which was sadly missing from this rendition.
Even though from all that I’d read about kare-kare it’s usually described as fairly bland, I think I was hoping for a punchier dish, and the foreigner in me wanted to douse it with something acidic or spicy. Sometimes though, learning to appreciate subtlety is more important than assaulting the tastebuds – although I’m guessing that this dish would be much more flavorful with better quality nuts, cuts of meat, and the ministrations of that imaginary grandmother from Manila. I’ll be sure to try it again.
Finally, my favorite dish of the evening, the Sisig:
This was my first sisig experience (Señor Sisig, my favorite food truck in SF, while delicious – the California burrito, silog style with the egg is a perfect food – doesn’t actually serve it’s eponymous dish on their truck.)
Sisig is a dish comprised of the bits and pieces of the pig, ie: the good parts, and is served on a sizzling hot platter. This one was full of crunchy cartilage, and liver (my favorite) seasoned with onions, garlic, and hot pepper. I contentedly scooped my second and third helpings to eat with rice, and pitied all the folks out there who can’t deal with texture in their food.
While eating, I couldn’t help be reminded of the Turkish dish called Kokoreç, a chopped plate of intestines and other bits of offal – which I stupidly refused as a child because intestines were pretty much the grossest things that I could think of, and the last three letters of the word are pronounced “retch”. You can imagine the fuss we kids put up.
After eating our fill (ie: everything on the table), we managed to leave room for dessert: the Halo-Halo.
This took me straight back to summer nights when we’d walk down the street in Noe to Mitchell’s, braving the lines for a late night cone. After moving away, I’d been feeling sorry for myself that I didn’t have access to their ice cream flavors… and then BAM – finding some dee-licious Ube ice cream topping my Halo-Halo at JnJ Turo-Turo pretty much made up for the entire year of Ube-withdrawal.
So, we had … beans, banana (which I could have sworn was plantain), assorted tapioca and jelly at the bottom of the plastic Solo cup, topped with shave-ice and two scoops of Ube ice cream the exact shade of purple I would have been obsessed with in 1992. This sounds and looks a little terrifying, but I was thrilled, and ate the whole thing despite being well past the point of uncomfortable fullness.
At the end of the evening, we were politely ushered out, having extended our welcome a whole half hour after they had closed, and we stumbled out smiling.
I found that while I’d gone in skeptical, this place had exceeded my expectations: it was a lovely evening, the food filled some deep needs of mine, and I was with excellent company. What more can you ask for?
JnJ Turo-Turo
143 Water St.
Quincy, MA 02169
(617) 471-8876
For more fun, here’s Bianca’s write-up of the very same dinner.
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 3, 2012 | Local stores, Restaurants, Tea
Tea Project
MEM Russian Caravan (pot, $2.50)
Cafenation, Brighton, Massachusetts
I thought it might be fun to create a list of different types of tea to try – the basis of my tea curriculum. So, I came up with one – that little flow chart in the picture above. Included are green teas, white teas, black tea, oolong, pu-erh, rooibos, mate and other herbal infusions. Some are true teas, others are not.
There is a lot of tea out there to drink. How do you narrow it down? Most grocery stores have a good half aisle devoted to tea. I actually snapped a few illicit tea photos in Whole Foods to see if I was missing anything obvious. It’s always shocking to me how many types of tea each brand carries! One possibility for this project is making it simpler for myself – working through all the teas imported by MEM Tea Imports and Samovar, but that still won’t get me to 500. (Although if either were to sponsor me, I’d be one happy tea drinker! Please??)
So, my goal, I think, is for quality rather than quantity, and making sure to get a good representation of different families of tea. I plan on working methodically, and going on the hunt for some really special experiences.
* * *
Another aspect of this project is the excuse to acquire tea paraphernalia. Even though I most commonly drink hot tea out of a glass (just like Michael Pollan, apparently), I’m fascinated with all sorts of tea cups, pots, kettles and brewing contraptions.
I love this wonderful infographic by Wendy Chan on the taxonomy of teas. It includes several tea drinking countries around the world, represented both by type of tea drunk, and the cups used. I love it!
And a close-up of the center of the tea wheel:
* * *
And finally, a few notes about my experience. Cafenation is in Brighton on Washington Street. It’s sort of an odd location, but the window ledge is a nice place to read a book and sip a pot of tea.
To drink, I went with the Russian Caravan, and added cream to complement the smokiness. I oversteeped it as I drew my little flow chart, but I never mind a little bitterness in my tea.
Russian Caravan is a blend of Chinese black teas, named after the caravans that used to import teas from China to Europe. It’s deep and smoky, and reminds me of old men arguing and playing backgammon.
There were three notable occurrences this trip, which reminded me how fascinating humanity can be:
1. I sat behind a fellow wearing big headphones who took out about 25 pens and put them on the ledge, and proceeded to organize them and stick them in some sort of putty like he was making a Christmas Pomander (an orange studded with cloves).
2. A Russian gentleman, who actually ordered Russian Caravan tea and asked for “room”, proceeded to pour what must have been more than 1/4 cup of honey in his cup.
3. Two people sat next to me one table over, hugging. Yes, hugging, in full embrace, for at least five minutes until their order was ready.
And that was it. I spent several hours there, unconnected, computer-less, writing lists and thinking about tea. I’m looking forward to seeing where this project goes.
What type of tea are you drinking?
