Tag Archives: tea

READING CHALLENGES for 2012

by mwgerard Posted on January 1, 2012

Last year, the only challenge I entered myself in was a goal of 50 books, tracked by Goodreads. I hit my goal, but this year I wanted to mix things up a little and give some props to other book bloggers.  I found a great list of options at Novel Challenges. It’s searchable by keyword and by year. 


Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms Reading Challenge 2012

Focusing on Steampunk titles, including classics like HG Wells as well as newer graphic novels.  Levels are cleverly named Brass Gears, Flight goggles, Button-up boots and Clockwork Corset.

Merely Mystery Reading Challenge 2012
This challenge breaks down mysteries into sub-genres and the readers are encouraged to choose titles from the various types.  Choose from The Whodunit, Locked Room Mystery, Cozy, Hard-Boiled/Noir, The Inverted Detective Story, The Historical Whodunnit, The Police Procedural, The Professional Thriller, The Spy Novel, Caper Stories, The Psychological Suspense, Spoofs and Parodies.  And this one has a prize!

Victorian Challenge 2012
So this might not be much of a challenge since I read a great deal of Victorian literature already, but it will help me focus on some authors and works I have yet to delve into.  This one works more like a book club, setting authors in advance. January: The Bronte Sisters, February: Charles Dickens, March: Robert Louis Stevenson, April: Emily Dickinson, May: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, June: George Eliot, July: Oscar Wilde, August: Anthony Trollope, September: Elizabeth Gaskell, October: Mark Twain, November: Lewis Carroll, December: Louisa May Alcott.

Tea & Books Reading Challenge
From the site: This challenge was inspired by C.S. Lewis’ famous words, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”  You better settle in with a large cup of tea, because in this challenge you will only get to read books with more than 700 pages.
I’ve only committed to two, making me a “Chamomile Lover.”

What will you read this year?

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DAY TWO (cont’d): Edinburgh

by mwgerard Posted on September 20, 2011
After a lovely stop for lunch at Canonsgate Arms, we walked (trekked, as it turned out) to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  The walk was through a very cool part of town. 

When we reached the gardens themselves, I asked a very helpful man named Neil if there was anything in particular I should see regarding Robert Fortune.  Since reading FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA by Sarah Rose, I’ve become a bit of a groupie for Mr. Fortune.  He was from Edinburgh originally, but they said there wasn’t anything dedicated to him here.  

An incredibly large plant fossil

Dozens of pepper plants, or various capsasin content

Gorgeous architecture

These “lily pads” were at least 4 feet across.  
The “desert” hothouse 

A view from outside

Yay!  I found him.  One of the plants he “hunted” and names. 
With sore feet, we began the journey back to town.  

We took a breather and enjoyed some cider at Jekyll & Hyde.  Writer Robert Louis Stevenson is another of Edinburgh’s famous sons.

 We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Wedgewood’s, then took a different route back to our B&B past Greyfriars Kirkyard, home of the famous Greyfriars Bobby.

Grammarian! My hero!

It seems a bit redundant to compare a theatre to an asylum, but there you have it.

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A Truly Enchanting Palace – Kensington, London

by mwgerard Posted on August 8, 2011
Kensington Palace is open, believe it or not, to visitors.  None of the royals currently reside there (though Will and Kate are rumored to be moving in after his posting at Anglesea) but plenty of famous princesses have called the brick mansion home.  The exhibit created a labyrinthine quest for guests to discover the history of seven princesses.  It was utterly enchanting and artfully done.
Guests are even encouraged to open drawers, play with toys, sit on a throne and wander.  It was incredible.  And lovely.  I can’t recommend it enough.
{While photography was allowed, flash wasn’t, and the lighting was dim, so please forgive the graininess.}  

Princess Margaret’s wedding tiara

Dress worn by Princess Diana at the Bolshoi

Some of the garden areas were undergoing construction, presumably for the upcoming Olympics.  But the Sunken Gardens were still open and they were collecting secrets to be strung from the arbor.  Yes, we wrote one up and no, I’m not telling. 

“I have a secret crush on Prof. Snape!”
“I want to steal the crown jewels and wear all of them.”
“I sometimes wish I was an Arsenal fan.”
The Orangery in the background.
After a lovely stroll in the gardens, we took tea at the Orangery.  It was built in 1704-5 by Queen Anne as a greenhouse for citrus trees (mainly oranges, hence the name).  I had chocolate tea.  Yes, you read that right. CHOCOLATE TEA. 

Since we were in the neighborhood, and were already pretending to be royalty, we stopped by Harrod’s.  Just to say hi.

After that, a stop at Wellington’s Arch, the Tate Britain and the Chelsea Physic Garden… stay tuned!

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Edinburgh: Day Three

by mwgerard Posted on July 25, 2011
So these are from July 24th, our third day in Edinburgh.  We had to take it a bit easy since we wore ourselves out by walking at least a dozen miles the day before.  
The National Gallery of Scotland

The National Gallery is free and open to the public.  They house several noted works of art including some by Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne, Gainsborough, Rembrandt, and Monet – as well as numerous national works like the Reverend Walker by Raeburn.

A pot of tea at Jenner’s, overlooking the gardens

A view of the castle from below at Grassmarket Square

Stumbled upon (quite literally) the grave of Adam Smith, noted economist

View of West Bow from above, near High Street

A quick interesting milliner’s shop in Grassmarket.

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I’m Thankful For …

by mwgerard Posted on November 27, 2010

The friends and family I get to see every year at the fair.  It is comforting to have a reunion in a place as lovely and peaceful as Greenup, Illinois — especially in the summer.

Books.  I can never have too many.  I love them so much my “dining room” is actually a library.
Old movies.  It is reassuring every once in awhile to revisit a classic film – when people dressed well, used grammar and looked fabulous.  Also when they all knew the words and steps to a song they’d never heard before.

Surprises.  It’s hard to get me as I am fairly observant, but that’s why I appreciate it all the more when someone manages to surprise me.

Tea.  I’m not sure I could go on without it.  It keeps me awake, calms me down, warms me up and cools me off.  It’s wonderful.
Halloween.  It’s my favorite holiday, for a number of reasons.  It makes it ok to look at the “dark” side and have fun with it.  Scary stories, history, ghosts, and candy.  But mostly I think I like it because it hasn’t been *too* ruined by commercial enterprises.  A little mascara as a moustache and you have a costume.  Plus, Poe rules.

Poe.  See above.

The 1893 World’s Fair.  It brought Chicago to the forefront, inspired a world and showcased dozens of inventions (including the Ferris Wheel).

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REVIEW: FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA by Sarah Rose

by mwgerard Posted on March 10, 2010
As a self-proclaimed theic (one who is addicted to tea), I am thrilled someone, in modern times,  has tackled this vast, interwoven tale of a name that changed so much but it little remembered.  Tea is like wine.  Growing seasons, climates, picking times, drying, storing  and shipping all affect the taste.  And there are plenty who prefer a potent earl grey to a warm green tea.  And it was plant-hunter and spy Robert Fortune who discovered (for the Western world) that these two very different teas grew from the same plant.  Author Sarah Rose delves into the seductive past and retrieves the best, most aromatic leaves for our enjoyment.  
(http://www.filmakers.com/index.php?a=filmDetail&filmID=1238)
The fortuitously-named Robert Fortune took on a great adventure in the name of tea and Queen.  The East India Company was losing money, so they decided to steal the secrets of Chinese tea and transplant them to India, where they still had power.  They tapped Fortune to be their spy.  This debut book by Sarah Rose, follows Fortune on his journey.  With stories gleaned from Fortune’s meticulous diaries and journals, Rose maintains an even keel between historical background and plant-hunting espionage.  Her descriptions of inland China, with terraced hillsides, fresh peaches, and blooming forsythia are intoxicating.  Wandering along the river, filling glass Wardian cases with exotic plants sounds divine.  This idyllic setting is counterbalanced by the danger of impersonating a Mandarin Chinese and avoiding suspicion.

Indeed, there are many intricate details of Chinese society that this tale of tea serves to enlighten.  While Fortune was a hero to the West, he was clearly an enemy to China and the East.  Through Rose’s telling of Fortune’s exploits, we see the emotional complications of respect for and exploitation of another culture.  It is clear that not only Fortune himself benefitting from this travels, but the economy of the strongest Empire in the world.

I spent a summer as a gardener at the Canterbury Shaker Village and one of my jobs was to harvest and dry the mint for their four mint tea.  It was a quiet, peaceful job, if not an easy one, but it is still the best job I’ve ever had.  Particularly in an age when we are once again learning to respect the value of a growing our own gardens, in some small way, I’d like to think I was following in Robert Fortune’s steps.  The gardening part; not the traveling and spying part.

(For more, check out the author’s article in Smithsonian Magazine here.  It’s tags are “crime” and “botany” – you know you want to read it.)

Thank you to Meghan and Holly at Viking Press.
FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose 
Book: Hardcover | 5.51 x 8.26in | 272 pages | ISBN 9780670021529 | 18 Mar 2010 | Viking Adult | 18 – AND UP



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CONTEST: Free Book

by mwgerard Posted on February 26, 2010

The good folks (Thanks, Meghan and Holly!) over at Viking were kind enough to send me a copy of FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA by Sarah Rose to giveaway on the site.

Book: Hardcover | 5.51 x 8.26in | 272 pages | ISBN 9780670021529 | 18 Mar 2010 | Viking Adult | 18 – AND UP
So, to win this book:
1. In the comment area below, tell me about your favorite flavor of tea, and why you like it.
2. Leave your email address in the following form: name (at) domain dot com — so we can avoid spammers.
3. Watch for my review of this book coming soon.
4. Go make yourself a delicious cup of tea!
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