Tea

I love a cup of tea. Nothing fancy, just a black tea of some kind, brewed in a pot and served British style, with sugar and rich milk in a ceramic cup.

You can't get a good cup of tea at any of the coffee places in Portland (because they don't seem to understand the concept of boiling water). There are tea places, but they are very tea-chesty and wafty and superiorly Asian-themed, and tend to look at you a little askance if you want sugar, let alone milk, as if their concept of ceremony is quite spoiled by dairy.

So I make tea at home. The thing is, I don't generally crave tea unless I'm coming down with a cold. So here I sit, sneezing and feeling a bit off, with a pot of Chinese black tea, and the bowl of sugarcubes that I keep in the freezer so that it's not a bowl of ants, and a pitcher of half milk, half cream, and a nice hot cuppa, and I just know I'm going to be sicky-girl by Thursday.

Damn.

*pours another cup*

Kitchen sink baking

I just made some gluten-free crackers. They aren't bad. They contain, on a foundation of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour (which is mostly garbanzo and fava bean flour):

• toasted white sesame seeds
• brown rice flour
• toasted black sesame seeds
• poppy seeds (caraway seeds would be good too)
• almond flour
• coconut flour
• potato starch
• parmesan cheese
• a little butter (coconut oil next time, I think)
• a little flaxseed oil (maybe some flaxseeds next time?)
• an egg
• a little curry powder
• a spoonful of Marmite
• baking soda
• black pepper
• xanthan gum

I sort of threw dry things in the bowl, then added fats and egg and water till it all stuck together.

Rolled out thin, cut into circles, and baked slowly till dry, they're pretty tasty, and they have a nice crunch. The texture is a bit sandy, but I'm beginning to realize that that's just a hazard of GF baking, because the flours that have any body at all are highly fibrous. I don't love the distinctly beany flavor of the bean-based flours, but I don't hate it, and using the much tastier coconut and almond flours would be too expensive.

I'd post a picture of them but they're just beige circles with black speckles. They taste good with sharp cheddar cheese on 'em, and I bet they'll be good with tuna, too.