Fresh Fog Afternoon Tea

The Fog is not as close to home as it has been this past month, but we are still enjoying the special "Fog Tea" to celebrate fog days. It has been a source of anticipation each day. I look for photographic opportunities to capture the different colors of fog in various times throughout the day.

To dispel some of the darkness today I "lit" a led tea-light in my lantern and made up a natural "white tea" with fresh ingredients.

This natural white tea consists of chopped cucumbers, mint leaves and grated lime peel, as you see in rows in the bowl, above.  Try each ingredient alone, or the combination.  

The mixture is placed in a strainer that sits inside a tea pot. These can usually be found in a kitchen store or a tea room that has a tea shop.

Hot water is poured over the mixture, and after a few minutes, the strainer is removed. 

It is not really a tea, since tea leaves are not used, but it makes an interesting hot drink and it is different  and interesting in flavor. Spiced, berries, herbs, fruits and vegetables and a few other foods make delicious "tea."

This is a delicious little salad with par-boiled, or "blanched" broccoli. The broccoli is steamed only until it is bright green but still crisp. The salad greens are curly endive, radicchio, spinach and varieties of lettuce.  It is served with a dressing made of mild olive oil and rice vinegar. If you have never tasted rice vinegar, I highly recommend it, as it has a pleasant taste and not too strong, as are many types of vinegar. It can be used on its own over salad, without the  oil. Tasty chunks of mild white cheese are sprinkled over the salad. Mmmm.