yesterday
I started my day yesterday with a cup of sage tea.
With honey.
Why sage? Well, I had some store-bought leaves left over from a recipe I tried that hadn't worked out.
I'd planned on roasted vegetables with a sage-butter dressing. My niece G had made the same for our Christmas dinner and it was very good.
Mine started out well, when the sauce was ready, I turned off the heat, but forgot to take the pan off the hotplate. Being an electric hotplate, it took a while to cool down, a long while, and in that time the butter-sage sauce burned. I was out of butter now, so I made gravy instead.
Dinner was fine.
But I had sage leaves left over and they sat in the fridge mocking me every time I opened the door.
Yesterday morning my hand reached for the plastic sleeve of leaves all on its own. I rinsed a few leaves, chopped them reasonably finely, stuffed them into the infuser and made a cup of tea.
With the first sip I was transported back several years to a time when I drank sage tea often, from leaves I had grown myself.
I also grew mint, pineapple sage, lemon balm, (also known as Melissa) chamomile and oregano, (also called golden marjoram), parsley, basil.
Have you ever had a cup of sage and lemon balm tea on a hot summer day? Or iced mint tea from crushed mint leaves you have freshly picked?
How had I grown away from this?
When did the coffee loaded with sugar take over?
I need to turn my life around.
I'll be heading to the nursery as soon as I can, to buy herbs which I will plant in the gaps in my garden.
Sage, mint, lemon balm and chamomile.
Oregano too and parsley. Maybe some feverfew for the pretty little flowers.
Dill? It grows rather large, my book says 90cm, but my last plants grew taller than me, it attracts bees and helps with digestion of fatty foods, which is why dill pickles are added to Macca's burgers and should be eaten not picked out and thrown away.
The mint will go into a pot so it doesn't rampantly spread throughout the garden.
I will make my own teas again.
I finished my day with another cup of sage tea. With honey.
With honey.
Why sage? Well, I had some store-bought leaves left over from a recipe I tried that hadn't worked out.
I'd planned on roasted vegetables with a sage-butter dressing. My niece G had made the same for our Christmas dinner and it was very good.
Mine started out well, when the sauce was ready, I turned off the heat, but forgot to take the pan off the hotplate. Being an electric hotplate, it took a while to cool down, a long while, and in that time the butter-sage sauce burned. I was out of butter now, so I made gravy instead.
Dinner was fine.
But I had sage leaves left over and they sat in the fridge mocking me every time I opened the door.
Yesterday morning my hand reached for the plastic sleeve of leaves all on its own. I rinsed a few leaves, chopped them reasonably finely, stuffed them into the infuser and made a cup of tea.
With the first sip I was transported back several years to a time when I drank sage tea often, from leaves I had grown myself.
I also grew mint, pineapple sage, lemon balm, (also known as Melissa) chamomile and oregano, (also called golden marjoram), parsley, basil.
Have you ever had a cup of sage and lemon balm tea on a hot summer day? Or iced mint tea from crushed mint leaves you have freshly picked?
How had I grown away from this?
When did the coffee loaded with sugar take over?
I need to turn my life around.
I'll be heading to the nursery as soon as I can, to buy herbs which I will plant in the gaps in my garden.
Sage, mint, lemon balm and chamomile.
Oregano too and parsley. Maybe some feverfew for the pretty little flowers.
Dill? It grows rather large, my book says 90cm, but my last plants grew taller than me, it attracts bees and helps with digestion of fatty foods, which is why dill pickles are added to Macca's burgers and should be eaten not picked out and thrown away.
The mint will go into a pot so it doesn't rampantly spread throughout the garden.
I will make my own teas again.
I finished my day with another cup of sage tea. With honey.
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I'm a big tea drinker, but I'm not too sure I could do sage tea. I think it would smack too much of Thanksgiving turkey. However, I do grow - and totally waste - mint and lemon balm. I'll try to mend my ways when spring brings them back to my garden.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea dill was good for digesting fats.....I love dill pickles.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a garden--& a gardener!!
ReplyDeleteAn epiphany! Act on it Monday morning. And because it is Monday , I expect we'll see the little darlings tucked in the pots next post.
ReplyDeleteI've got a pot of sage growing in my poly tunnel, though have never made sage tea. Sounds refreshing so I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI have never made sage tea, but love mint and/or lemon balm tea. Thinking, thinking, thinking...
ReplyDeleteAhhh, so good, River!
ReplyDeleteSage is excellent for so many things! It's antibacterial properties make it perfect at the onset of a cold. A strong sage tea (cooled) when gargled 3 times a day will quickly cure a sore throat. It is excellent internally and topically for healing.
And, lemon balm + sage are good partners.
Lemon balm has so, so many benefits - I drink it daily in a special brew.
I once had an extensive herb garden on my little country property. I miss it so. There's nothing like picking your own fresh herbs for dishes, drinks and most importantly (for me) as medicine.
I have a large array of dried herbs in my apothecary cupboard now, and it is to there that I turn when I'm not feeling well, have a cold/flu coming on, for a digestive or just need a pick-me-up. Many natural remedies reside within my glass jars.
Looking forward to seeing herbs in your garden. Bring on the bees :)
Marty Damon; those herbs aren't entirely wasted, they'll be bringing bees to your garden, to pollinate other plants and to make honey.
ReplyDeleteDelores; I don't remember where I first read that, but since then I've always eaten the dill pickles on Macca's burgers. Well, until I gave up the Macca's burgers at least. It's the sour foods that get the digestive juices running, which is why meals should always contain sours as well as sweets. Something I've been forgetting lately.
fishducky; maybe you could grow a few herbs in pots? Or just buy them fresh every week if you just want to try teas. Is there a community garden anywhere near you? You could grow herbs there....
Joanne; it's way too hot to be planting anything at all now. also too hot to be hanging around at bus stops to even get to the nursery. As soon as we get a break in the weather (one is expected by next weekend) I'll get to the nursery and keep the pots of herbs inside where they'll be out of the heat.
Molly; it's a very mild flavoured tea and mixes well with other things like lemon balm or pineapple sage. mint can be used, but will overpower the sage flavour.
Elephant's Child; stop thinking and try it. With or without lemon balm. :) :)
Vicki; I remember when I drank these teas on a daily basis and had a whole shelf of glass jars with dried herbs, some I'd grown, others I'd bought. I remember mixing lemon balm or mint from my garden with Linden tea bought from the health shop. Hot in the winter, iced in the summer.
Reading this in cold, snowy Michigan......never tried sage tea but used to make a sage bread that was delicious. To add to Vicki's list, sage can be used as a tooth whitener too. Lemon balm tea is good but will try with the sage too. Oh dear, the pickle usually gets passed to the WT. Must do better......
ReplyDeleteI rarely drink tea of any sort...and then I'll have a run on it. I usually only have one cup of coffee a day (yesterday I didn't even have that one). I make myself a latte usually each day...but I never have sugar in my coffee or tea. The only time I have sugar in coffee is if it's instant coffee; but since I bought my little coffee machine a couple or so years ago, I've not had any instant.
ReplyDeleteI should get in the habit of have a cup of tea...I've got a few different types here...and I do have some green tea...time to get my act together! :)
Gillie; nice to see you here, it's been a while. I've had sage bread before, with olives, quite nice torn in chunks and dipped in olive oil. Try eating the pickle with a mouthful of whatever it is in to help absorb the taste until you get used to it.
ReplyDeleteLee; I used to have only one coffee a day, but instant with loads of sugar, then tea for the rest of the day. Latte is mostly milk I think? That would be too much milk for me, I can't drink coffee if I can taste the milk. Weird I know, it's the same with my summer milkshakes, I double up on the flavouring. I can only have two or three a week anyway because of the intolerance. I know my limits.
I've never tried sage tea, but I think I will now. That sounds really good! We have a huge sage plant/bush in the herb garden, and I'm never quite sure what to do with all of it. It's dormant now for the winter, but I have something to look forward to in the warmer weather. :-)
ReplyDeleteDanielle L Zecher; welcome to drifting. I don't have a sage plant yet, but I plan on buying one this coming weekend. I remember the last one I had several years ago, grew much larger than I expected. Sage tea is cooling and calming, great for a summer drink, hot or iced.
ReplyDelete