albanian chai

June 16, 2019 ~ Gillie ~ Leave a comment

I don’t drink coffee. I used to, lots of it, strong and without milk or sugar. But about 15 or years ago I fell out of love with it and hardly touch it now. Occasionally, maybe once a month I may have a mid morning coffee with friends, but certainly no more than one and it is a notable event.

However, tea is another matter altogether. I start the day like this. One pot of English breakfast tea (also without milk or sugar). Always in my chicken pot and always with my chicken cup and saucer. I am a creature of habit. I do vary the tea cosy! morning tea

However, on or around 10.00 am I switch to this.

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On our recent visit to Albania I saw somebody drinking a proper herb tea (i.e. the full plant not dried up bits in a tea bag – I HATE tea bags, but that’s another story). Curious, I asked what it was and ordered a pot with my lunch. Actually I did that the other way around and drank it first and discovered what it was afterwards!

Sideritis raeseri (not to be confused with Sideritis scardica or any of the other wild Sideritis many of which are at risk of extinction and should not be picked or indeed purchased), also known as ironwort, mountain tea, shepherd’s tea is the only Sideritis which is cultivated and has been drunk as a decoction for thousands of years (even mentioned by Dioscorides). It has a pleasant taste and I had it with breakfast every day and frequently during the day as well. It is a habit I have continued since I returned home. I brought plenty of the dried herb home with me and though I can replenish my supply through various well known internet sales sites it is not clear that I can be sure that it is the raeseri I am buying rather than one of the endangered species. So I am trying to track down some seeds. Unfortunately all I can find from a reputable (i.e. I know that the seeds will be what they say they are) supplier is Sideritis syricia. So I’ll have to try that out instead.

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The dried Sideritis raeseri

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Ready for the boiling water.

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Brewing.

It is traditionally taken as an aid to digestion and to strengthen the immune system. Considerable research has been undertaken on this unassuming plant and it has been proven to have anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant action. As we were travelling I restricted my tinctures to just digestive bitters and left the echinacea I usually take at home. Whilst we were away Stuart developed a monster of a cold which went straight to his chest. I drank my Albanian chai every day and remained entirely cold free despite all his coughing and sneezing 🙂

Love Gillie x

The reusable takeaway

July 27, 2016 ~ Gillie ~ 2 Comments

Following on from yesterday I’m keeping to a bit of a theme. The reusable takeaway. We all like a good takeaway, for my husband it is a doner kebab with lots of chilli, the girls and I worship at the door of our wonderful Indian takeaway Jalsa in Ushaw Moor (their Chicken Makatoni is to die for). BUT and there is a big but, all those plastic/styroform boxes are the pits. At least our lovely Jalsa uses tin foil boxes so they can be recycled but still, we can do better.

I don’t drink coffee much, and when I do I like plain black from a cafetiere so all the fancy coffee shops are lost on me. On the other hand I do like tea, I like tea a lot, I like lots of different types of tea. I’m not a great one for buying a tea on the go, but there are times when I am out and about or waiting for a train when the only thing that I really want is a good strong cup of black tea. But I don’t want a non-recyclable cardboard cup from Starbucks. And they aren’t easily recyclable see here . Those plastic coffee pods are bad, but those cardboard cups are just as nasty.

Did you know that almost every coffee shop / tea room will let you take your takeaway in your own mug/thermos so long as it has a secure lid? This is what I take my tea away in.

Joco glass mug with silicone lid. It also comes in a lovely sturdy cardboard tub that I now use to store my Earl Grey!

You met my water bottle yesterday. I fill it up with tap water if we stop at a cafe or restaurant. Most cold drinks come in their own bottles, but not all. Plenty of smoothies, juices and cold coffees are made to order and are served in plastic cups. I use my joco mug or water bottle.

Finally food. We have these brilliant stainless steel lunchboxes which come from the same company as the water bottle. I’ve not yet tried them at my Jalsa (will update you when I do). However, I have taken sandwiches, paninis, salads, pies and even a doner kebab away in it.

Don’t be afraid to ask, the worst thing they can say is no. I have yet to find a health and safety (the usual excuse) reason why I cannot use my own container so even if you do get a no, ask why!

Love Gillie x

greenery – drying herbs

June 13, 2014 ~ Gillie ~ 10 Comments

Back in the garden the greenery is doing greenery types of things. Essentially it’s growing. The Boss goes out with a frown and starts to remove the greenery which is growing where he has plans for other greenery. I run behind him and rescue his victims.

Then when he has had enough of killing off the greenery I want to keep he goes for a kip and I go and pinch (sorry forage) for more greenery in the fields and woods.

So far I have collected:

Chickweed
Cleavers
Nettles
Elderflowers
Plantain
Horsetail

From the garden I garnered:

Mint
Apple mint
Raspberry leaves
Sage
English Mace
Bay
Tarragon
Celery leaves
Comfrey

A particularly lovely and refreshing tea is nettle and mint. At this time of year you can use the fresh leaves (don’t forget your gloves!). But I’m stocking up for the winter months. You can dry leaves and flowers in a cool (50 centigrade maximum) oven, bottom of the aga or with a dehydrator. Alternatively if you want to be completely carbon neutral tie them in bunches and hang in a warm airy room. If you are drying flowers like elderflower which may drop off then place a paper bag around the bunch, but make sure to make several holes in the paper to ensure airflow. Our aga is off for the summer and I like the speed and convenience of the dehydrator. I dry a lot of plants and it is the easiest way to bulk dry without turning on the oven.

Plenty more to forage and garner but I have had enough for today and am going to settle down with a banana, strawberry, applemint smoothie thinned down with the whey from the cheese.

all hands on deck

August 19, 2013 ~ Gillie ~ 4 Comments

It is that time of year when it’s all hands on deck to pick, pickle, jelly, jam, syrup, or preserve in some other way.

There is so much free food out in the hedgerows and indeed your garden, and I don’t mean the vegetable patch. In the past I have been overwhelmed, unable to do everything and then become exhausted and slightly resentful that I missed out on something.

There is nothing different this year. In fact I should be more busy as I am taking my turn to chair The Durham Shopping Extravaganza, I am President of our village WI and this is the first full year that Liz and I have been running Messy Church. But I’m much more in control. I think I may have Mother Nature on my side. The late spring and summer has meant that the harvests are just a little bit later and sit nicely in the school holidays. Furthermore as I am not going back to work in September I don’t have to panic to get everything in before term starts.

Today I picked the rosehips. Our front garden (actually probably the side garden, but it’s a bit hard to explain) is surrounded by rugosa and dog roses. And the rosehips are looking splendid. I stuck to the rugosa today

and boiled them up for rosehip jelly.

As they are notoriously low in pectin I boiled up some bramleys which have conveniently ripened at the same time.

Now they just have to drip away overnight and jelly making tomorrow.

We never really use the rosehip syrup all that much so I may pass on that this year, although I will dry some and whizz them up to make rosehip tea.

Back to my old favourite lavender. I was going to make plum cobbler last night (not my plums, they are still green, but British ones nonetheless) but nobody was in the mood for something quite so heavy. Poached plums were requested for tonight and we thought we would experiment with serving them with lavender syrup.

They dehydrator is working overtime (currently filled with past their sell by date raspberries) but I managed to squeeze in a tray of lavender and as I type it is seeping away in sugar syrup.

I’ll let you know whether poached pears and lavender are divine or disgusting.

On the no plastic front, my stainless steel atomisers arrived today. I couldn’t find any without a plastic atomiser head. Do they exist? The next job will be to make up the cleaning fluids and fill them up 🙂