the recipe

Chai Tea

3 – 4 cups of water
3 cinnamon sticks
20 whole cloves
30 whole cardamom
1 1/2 tsp – powdered ginger
Black pepper to taste
2 Tetley (or orange pekoe) tea bags

Combine all ingredients in a pot
and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Simmer for 10 minutes to combine flavours.

Strain to remove spices and then
add 2 – 3 cups of milk
(depending how strong you want it).
Also add honey & sweeten to taste.

a good stiff drink

well maybe that title got your attention! :) But let me say - you can have a good "stiff drink" without necessarily using the cliche shot of some sort of alcohol.......

take for instance this homemade Chai tea I have been making lately. Ok - lately it hasn't been too "stiff" but the 1st time I made it, I put wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much pepper in and I'm like - hello, didn't know chai tea can slap you in the face like that?! :) ha, ha

So ya........it seems a wintery type drink to me. Course I would & do drink it year round, but those clove type smells, cinnamon, it's almost Chirstmasy I'd say. Funny how certain smells do that.

I was thinking the other day how growing up I always had this idea in my head that Eggnog was Swedish! Ok, so if you haven't gathered yet - my background is rooted - on my Papa's side, in the good old Scandinavian land of Sweden. There were other traditional type Swedish things we had at Christmas - lefse, lutefisk (ok so I didn't have the fish.....) and I guess I just figured all the other things that only came out at Christmas were "Swedish" too.........

Needless to say that misconception has been cleared up........and where ever it came from, I love it!