My Chai- part 1

I always thought I would post about my chai in the fall. During the cooler weather I always have a pot of chai going, and if you visit me you will have some too. But yesterday,  I woke up to a wet, chilly, 41 degree morning. I needed my chai. Like most foods or herbal concoctions that I make I don't  have a recipe written in stone. 

The spices I use are: cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, black pepper and bay leaf. This is the start of my favorite basic chai. 

The amount of spices shown here are for 6-8 cups of water.

Bring it to a boil and continue cooking for 30-60 minutes. If I'm not drinking it right away I'll leave it to steep and reheat later to finish. 

It turns a nice red amber color. The longer is cooks, the deeper it gets. Now, it's time to add the tea and the ginger. I use black or red (rooibos) tea, depending on my mood or the time of day (caffeine). I have also made it with green tea, for a cold chai drink (but I will leave that subject for another day). 

You will lose a cup or two of the water through the cooking process, so adjust your tea amount accordingly. I put the tea in to steep with a couple of tbs of fresh ginger. I use ginger paste. I take an entire ginger root (unpeeled) and Vitamix it.

When the tea is done steeping, strain everything out and add sweetener, vanilla or milk if you like. It already has a degree of sweetness from the cinnamon, but I like the extra flavor of coconut sugar. 

Yesterday, as I said, was such a dreary day. It took more than just my chai to take the chill out and brighten things up. I used my happiest cup and made a strawberry crumble with oats, coconut sugar, ww flour and butter. Yum!

My daughters didn't know what I was cooking up for tea time. The small one started jumping around and laughing when I showed them the strawberry crumble. "What's so funny?", I asked. 

Apparently, while I was busy making strawberry crumble, she was busy making a felt strawberry. 

Our life is chock full of these little moments of synchronicity.

Synchronicity: The experience of two or more events as meaningfully related, where they are unlikely to be causally related. The subject sees it as a meaningful coincidence.