Step 1: Mix together ingredients until they look really pretty.
Step 2: Bake until your whole flat smells delicious.
Step 3: Devour!
PS: I used this recipe (which is in German). I added some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) to the egg mix. It was okay, but will not become a new favourite. If only I could find the recipe I used last year...the one that was seriously amazing and got me into this whole clafoutis thing in the first place...*dreamy sigh*
During Monday's tea party/tasting, I not only consumed many a tasty cup, but also squirreled away some of the many interesting varieties I did not have time to try into my bag. The loot:
As I needed some cheering up today, I tried two of them: London Tea's 'The Eminent Earl Grey' and English Tea Shop's Savory Blend, one of their special Christmas flavors.
I have in the past not been a big drinker of black tea, mainly being stuck on Yogi Tea's yummy spice blends and the odd cup of green tea in between. Lately, this has shifted a little, and I've drunk my share of black tea over the past few months, mostly with milk and honey to warm me up in spring. Some time this spring, I also had my very first cup of Earl Grey - astoundingly late in my tea drinking life, I know.
Anyway, this version of Earl Grey was quite nice. It smelled heavenly when I took it out of it's packaging, and it made for a lovely drink as well. I'm thinking that if my tongue weren't still slightly burnt from being too hasty (and possibly greedy) on Monday I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The fact that it was still quite nice (and didn't taste like vanilla at all *tiny obscure reference to Monday*) makes me think it must in fact be really REALLY good. It's also fairtrade, with a bag made from corn starch, so it's biodegradable. There's still the issue of the plastic wrapping etc, if you're looking into the green issue, but at least it's somewhat going into the right direction.
As for the savory blend, it smells like toffee in a cup. It tastes like toffee in a cup. Since it's a Christmas blend, there's also some hints of orange and other spices. Lovely.
Sadly, these are, afaik, not fairtrade, and again, there's that plastic wrapper. I know that's supposed to keep the flavours intact, but...I wonder whether that's really necessary.
The London Tea teas can be got in loose form as well...which fixes the wrapper issue. :)
And a final note, I drank both of these in the evening, and maybe I shouldn't have...I'm sort of sensitive to caffeine/theine, so drinking two huge cups of essentially black tea later in the day...makes for some lying awake. But then again, that's not exactly a special feature of these two blends, so if you're sensitive as well, you're probably being more careful than me anyway. ;)
So, that's how I felt today, until a few minutes to 4pm.
- I went to be too late.
- I slept badly and dreamt even worse.
- When I looked at my phone in the morning, it said something about it being 2°C outside.
- When I switched on my computer to sign up for an exam, I found that the exam date doesn't exist. I get nasty visions of the exam having taken place last week, with me being completely unaware.
- Because of that stupid shock, I ran out of time to eat breakfast.
- Before I dared go outside, I donned a wollen scarf, hat and mittens. A week ago, some girls were still running around in those really short shorts.
- My morning lecture, which I rushed to like a mad thing on a blue blur, started with the lecturer taking 15 minutes to get his power point stuff to work. Should have eaten breakfast instead of rushing there...
- When I went outside to go to work, it had started raining as well.
- At work, lots of emails of disgruntled coworkes not happy with how things are currently run. I agree, but then, I'm pretty sure my contract won't be prolonged *again*this winter, so my general attitude towards the whole thing is a bit philosophical anyway.
- I down two cups of coffee (something that I usually never do. Never ever.) and it doesn't help at all.
- Work ends, and I miserably phone my boyfriend, and complain, and it doesn't help either.
- I drive back to uni and tell my friend who works there that the best thing, or rather the only good thing, about the day certainly is my blue scarf, and nothing else.
So, I feel all sad and miserable and mistreated by fate and the weather.
And suddenly, things got better.
A colleague walked past the two of us commiserating, and invited us to a tea party.
I went to my afternoon lecture, and it turns out we'll be spending the semester analysing films. Yay!
I get out of my lecture, and I learn that it's not just a tea party, but a tea tasting. With scones and sandwiches and cake. And - as one glance into the meeting room reveals - lots and lots and LOTS of teas to try.
The rest of the evening turns into a happy blur of hot beverages and scones with jam and exchanged stories.
And then I come home and there's a hot shower and cuddles waiting for me, too.
What more can I say?
Karmic rebalancing at its best.
Montag, Oktober 10, 2011
Have I really not written anything here in ten months? Wow.
And that coming (or NOT coming) from me, who loves writing so much. Language. Texts. Words.
The one who always thinks about wanting to write, and then doesn't. Hah.
A friend, some months ago, quote Goethe at me. He said (and I take the liberty to translate):
Success has three letters: ACT. [Erfolg hat drei Buchstaben: TUN]
So, maybe now I will write again. After all, November is approaching. I should really be getting into gear.
I like to make separate posts for separate topics, so I guess I'll make a few of those now. But here's a picture, just for fun.
Taken at the beginning of June during a very rainy weekend holiday, in Villach, Carynthia. I call her the Ghostly Tentacle Woman. Not very imaginative, I guess. She might also be Tentacular Priestess Cor'Shazarr. Who knows. Anyway, I thought it was a rather scary image to be found on a church wall...
