Gourmet Lady Blog

EMAIL FROM JEFF

 

Jeff is a very dear friend who I grew up with.  For the sake of brevity, and because this is a site dedicated to gourmet food, I will omit an epic length blog about Jeff and say simply that I adore him.  One of his finest qualities is that he really *gets* me and understands the way I think.  He is such a fine and intent listener, and when we are together he wears this look that says "I am truly fascinated with you and everything you have to say."  What's not to like about a guy like that?  Anyway, I wrote him an email this AM to say I was thinking of him, and he wrote back to say he was thinking of me too.  It was in the context of the topic of a tea shop that he visited with Katie and Laurie .... and I had to share the portion about tea here. 

 

"I was thinking of you on Wednesday, actually.  On the way to lunch Laurie had to stop by a quaint little tea shop next to some historic thing or another out in semi-suburban Maryland. This tea place oozed of femininity to the point that I was hugely uncomfortable, but the quirkiness of it made it interesting enough to keep me entertained. I can't for an instant imagine that you don't know exactly the kind of place that I'm talking about. It was full of little books on tea and greeting cards that included tea bags wedged into slits cut in the cover, tee-shirts referring to women in purple boa's and red hats (you know of what I speak, yes?) various tea-brewing accessories with British-sounding names, tea candies, tea mints, compressed tea packets that unfolded into flowers when you put them in water, tea air fresheners, tea stickers and tea paper weights and tea related writing utensils and books and magazines about tea and of course huge jars full of tea picked by monkeys and tea with all sorts of fruity influences and tea various exotic blends of tea all priced by the ounce. All this in a shop the size of maybe a very small single-car garage. And people were talking in exotic terms trying to describe and compare the flavors of the tea, and there were inquiries about making reservations for upcoming teas. And I thought of you being all dressed up and having tea and knowing just how many times to stir it and where to set the teaspoon after stirring it and being able to discuss the unctuousness of its bouquet and actually know what you were talking about.  So anyway I survived all that and we ended up having lunch and discussing the latest Harry Potter book."

 

Oh Jeff, yes, I know the kind of tea shop you are talking about.  And by the way, my shop is also about the size of a small one-car garage.  Please come see for yourself.  Bring your raincoat.