Tea Time

My sweet friend, Eliz Guyer, owner of Laughing Tree Cafe and Laughing Tree Teas invited me to the cafe to blend a special spring tea.










Eliz's got a million different flavors to choose from.

Eliz suggested we brew up a spring time detox tea. "Let's use Nettles and dandelions,' she said.  

Laughing Tree Tea, Fruit Tea

Ummm weeds, I ask? "These are so nutritious! They have nutrients you don't get during the winter. It's a way to get the nutrition of spring," Eliz tells me with her customary laugh at the silliness of life and in this case, me.

Turns out stinging nettle tea is good for allergy relief and is good for your skin, bones and urinary health. Dandelions reportedly help detox the body.  While you can grow both of these in the Cedar Valley, Eliz depends on an organic, fair trade supplier to supplement her 2 acre herb patch.

First she put a teaspoon of the nettles in one cup and a teaspoon of dandelions in another cup.

Eliz adds about 6 ounces of hot water and let's the dried leaves steep for about 7 minutes.  

We smell our steaming cups. Eliz says the nettles cup has a "grassy smell" and the dandelion cup smells like spring. Next we taste each of the teas to get the flavor profile.  I'm no help, the teas taste pleasant, if a little one dimensional.  Eliz, with an educated palate pronounces the teas complimentary.  We both agree they need some zip.

So she pulls out a bag of dried lemon peel from her cupboard of flavors.

Now we repeat the hot water, brew, wait, smell and taste.

Ah, now that's lovely. I can definitely taste spring. But still just a wee bit flat, we agree.

Now Eliz pulls out the big guns....Stevia.  At first I think she means the stuff in little packets.  But she's talking about a dried version of the plant.

She adds a half a teaspoon to our mixture. We brew, wait, smell and taste.  At first I'm in love.  Eliz however wrinkles her nose. "Too sweet," she says.

 "No, wait! I love it," I beg.  

Laughing Tree Tea's official Tea Log

"Take another sip," Eliz says.  When I do and then another, I agree too sweet.  "You have to be careful with the Stevia. It doesn't take very much. A lot of people don't like the annise after-taste of the Stevia sweetners, but you don't get that with the plants. This is natural, it doesn't have the after taste," she says.

After each blending session, Eliz records the combinations so that she can replicate them

So back we go to the mixing pot.  Eliz mixes one part Nettles,one part dandelion, one part lemon peel and just a pinch of stevia. Hot water, wait, sniff, taste.....ah perfection!

Laughing Tree Tea's newest tea Clari-Tea is crafted. 

Everytime I drink one of Laughing Tree Teas now I'll think of how Eliz thinks about her work "I joyfully hand blend loose leaf teas to enhance life's everyday moments."

You can find Laughing Tree Teas at the Laughing Tree Cafe in the Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial Street, Waterloo, or The Markit in Grundy Center or brewed daily at Cottonwood Canyon in Waterloo or Cedar Falls

Eliz does custom blends for customers to address health issues or because they have favorite flavor combinations.  Call her to order your custom blend at 319. 610. 7252 or email Eliz at eliz.guyer@gmail.com.  

As we settled into the cafe's beautiful chairs to sip our tea, 
looking out over the beautiful Cedar River, I asked Eliz why 
she does what she does.

Each of us has an inner compass that tells us when we’re on

 the right path. How do you know when your inner compass

 points True North?

I don't know if there is a "true north." That's too goal 

oriented.  You've got to have goals, but you need to say, 'I'll 

try this path and we'll see how it goes.  You know when you're

 on the right path when you smile and laugh and you attract 

people you want to be around and people who build you up.

Wendell Berry writes often that we are “given” our lives; 

meaning “we ourselves did not make these things, although 

by birth we are made responsible for them; second, that the 

world and our lives do not come to us by chance.”

What are you given?

"What I choose to suck out of life! I've been given a little bit 

of sass and sweetness. Enough sass that if someone says,

 'You can't do it!'; I'm going to do it. Enough sweetness that

 I'm going to enjoy what I'm doing."

How do you care for what you are given?

I choose to cultivate joy. I laugh a lot. I make stupid, stupid

 jokes. We often associate that you can't laugh and be

 responsible adult.  But you can!

What sustains you and gives you hope?

Every time I hit a low I learned that if I just give it another day or two, or just take another step, it works out. I found people to help me celebrate failure. It's OK to not be perfect and make mistakes, as long as I rebound and keep working on it.

Want your own special tea, or the newest Clari-Tea?  Just give Eliz a call, 319. 610.7525 or stop by Laughing Tree Cafe.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Riding Lessons

Wednesday night's forecast called for snow. The days of riding Lullabelle all over town are drawing to a close for 2015.

Riding on streets flaming with color this fall has been such a pleasure.

Starting as early as April, Lullabelle comes out of storage, gets a once over by the guys down at Bike Tech and hits the road. Lullabelle and I wander the streets of our town spring, summer and fall.

  

She's got nifty rear baskets for hauling, in addition to the front wicker basket.

The trickiest part of riding Lullabelle is deciding on a riding "costume".  Often I'm riding to a meeting, or lunch with the girls or some other social engagement which requires something other than

spandex or a proper English outfit.

I love wearing skirts and I have a closet full to choose from.

I thought this made a sporty riding ensemble.  As you can see the skirt is fitted through the hips. (lordy until I looked at the picture I had no idea how FITTED. Honestly, I thought (hoped) I looked like the lass in the English riding get-up.  In next week's post we will discuss the power of denial.) 

It's important to get the cut and the length of the skirt just right to preserve one's modesty and dignity.

The wind, ahead of the storm, was gusting up to 40 miles per hour and some of my ride was downhill straight into the teeth of the wind.

The skirt didn't start ballooning up around my hips until a mile into the ride, giving passersby the kind of peek show usually reserved for dark, damp, out of the way bars.

I was late for lunch, and halfway to my destination before I realized I couldn't possibly adjust this skirt  to provide even modest coverage. What to do?!

Loudly singing a merry verse of "I see London, I see France, I see somebody's under-pants," I sailed up and down hills, through intersections full of cars with people thinking, "Now Mother, that's not something you see every day: a woman riding her bike with her skirt flapping in her face." I rode past scandalized school children walking home for lunch.

Like Bob Dylan I improvised the time structure trying I See London in waltz, polka, and rap rhythms. 

The entire city sighed with relief when I reached my destination -- The Laughing Tree Cafe. 

Where my friend Eliz Guyer pours a mean cup of tea and serves locally sourced good food.

Eliz reminds me of a sprite.  She is a good soul, always willing to lend a hand, clever and able to make magic with food, tea and people.

When placing my lunch order I shared my ballooning, flying skirt problem. 

"No problem," Eliz said, "here's lunch, a spot of tea and a rubber band. When you're done with lunch bring me the rubber band and I'll show you a little magic with your skirt."

Curious and relieved at the possibility of not repeating the "show" on the way home, 

I met friends at a table overlooking the Cedar River.

After lunch Eliz worked her magic by pulling the back of the skirt to meet the front and wrap the rubber band around a quarter.  Now I sported the latest fashion trend:

Gauchos! 

No flying skirts on the way home.

 Prince Charming says I'm on my way to being a fashion plate for Matrons Wear Daily.

The weather's warming for the weekend....time to get one last ride in.  Wave if you see me on Lullabell!