Caribou's New Tea Latte Fusions

Caribou Coffee has rolled out four new tea lattes (that is, brewed tea mixed with steamed milk), Caramel Earl Grey, Black Thai, Cinnamon Rooibos, and Pomegranate Vanilla Oolong. Caribou has never been the place I go for tea (though I prefer their choices to Starbucks) but I'm always excited to see new tea options offered anywhere. I've only tried the Caramel Earl Grey so far, and hey, it wasn't too bad. I would have held the caramel, though. I'll try the Black Thai next time.

Recipe: Shrimp Couscous with Seafood Broth

After trying a couple recipes for seafood couscous, this is my favorite! Making the broth is kind of time-consuming, but not hard. It's adapted from a Cooking Light recipe; the directions are my own.

Ingredients:
1 lb unpeeled shrimp
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 big can diced tomatoes
4 cups water
1 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
Dash pepper
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup dized red bell pepper
1 cup diced yellow squash

Directions:
1. Peel shrimp (save shells a bowl!) and pop the shrimp in the fridge.

2. Melt 1 tsp butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat; add shrimp shells, onion, celery, carrot, thyme, and garlic. Toss for a few minutes until the veggies start to soften and the shrimp shells are pink; add the tomatoes, water, wine, and tomato paste. Let boil, then bring down to a simmer and let bubble for 35 minutes.

3. When the broth ingredients are done, carefully transfer to a blender (in batches) and purée. Strain the puree into a bowl.

4. Pop 1 cup seafood broth, 1 tsp butter, salt and pepper into a saucepan and let boil; slowly stir in couscous. Take off the stove, cover, and let sit for five minutes.

5. In a large skillet, sauté shrimp in olive oil for one minute, then add pepper and squash and sauté three more minutes. Add couscous and another 1 1/2 cups broth; cook one more minute and serve!

The Perfect Cup of Green Tea

Okay, enough politics for awhile. Back to the tea.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which is a weird name for a paper (I'm gonna intelligence you), up to 80 percent of the healthy antioxidants in green tea lose their power in stored tea or in your intestine and don't get absorbed at all. Sadness! How to combat this? Brew fresh tea and add lemon. According to "researchers" (I would feel more intelligenced, Seattle P-I, if you told me which researchers) a 50-50 citrus/tea mix will best preserve the antioxidants in green tea. Lemon works best, followed by orange. Yum!

Obama Invited to Take Tea with Queen

According to the Telegraph, the Queen has invited President Obama to take tea with her when he's in town for the G20 summit in April. Some in the British press (notably, the Telegraph reporter Iain Martin) are apparently annoyed at Obama's eagerness to accept her invitation after he gave Gordon Brown what they judge lame gifts including a DVD box set and some toy helicopters. Whatever, Iain. I'll take those DVDs if you don't want them. It would be totally cool to have tea with the Queen, too, but I think I'd be so nervous I'd drop my priceless teacup. I bet they'd have really good snacks, too.

Oregon Church Fights to Drink Hallucinogenic Tea

A Brazilian Christian congregation in Oregon is fighting for its right to drink hoasca, a tea with hallucinogenic properties made from the bark of tropical vines. According to ABC News, "Believers say the tea allows them to have visions and enables talks with God and communications with spirits."

The Justice Department classifies hoasca as a banned substance, but a federal judge is considering whether the church should be allowed to use the tea in its services through the religious freedom restoration act. For example, some Native American tribes are allowed to use peyote (a cactus with similar properties) as part of their ceremonies.

I'm not sure how I feel about hallucinogenic tea. What if these believers saw a vision of God telling them to kill somebody? Religious folks are crazy enough without visions. I do like the possibilities for a marketing campaign, though: "Drink tea. See God."

Right-Wingers Co-op Tea

Last Friday, conservatives across the country held "tea parties" to protest Obama's stimulus package. These "parties" were inspired by a rant by Rick Santelli, an analyst on CNBC. It's kind of unclear how tea was actually involved...looking at pictures I don't see much tea. Maybe some people put some tea bags in a fountain?

Anyway, it seems to me a very minimal tea connection, and a poor excuse to tie tea to conservatism! I don't have an incredibly strong view on the stimulus package myself, but I am sure that tax cuts are not going to save our economy. Personally, I think we should limit all salaries to one million a year. You can't POSSIBLY need more than that, let's be serious.

Update on Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese vendor will be taking over the tea house! (See my previous entry here) I simply must visit once the change is made and see for myself.