Favorite Thing of the Week, December 7th

And while we're talking about delicious beverages (and when are we not?), here is my favorite thing of the week: Jamaican Roast Yogi Tea. This stuff is great because it satisfies my burning desire for (caffeinated) chai, but is completely caffeine-free. Oddly, I can't find it on the Yogi Tea website, but I strongly suspect that DeCaffe` Roast is rather similar in taste and ingredients.

I think I have Mignon to thank for reawakening my interest in tea. I have long been a Celestial Seasonings girl, but somewhere along the way I fell back under the spell of coffee (I blame my husband). It was always decaf, though, much to Booby's chagrin - though he only realized that was the case by accident. In any case, she commented about a red bush tea she tried that was delicious, and it sparked a neuron in my brain. "Tea? Yes, tea! Tea is good!"

Since then I've been all over the orange pekoe decaf, the lemon ginger, and the occasional cranberry apple (although that last is rather disturbingly red). And check this out: Mother-to-be tea. How great is it that there seems to be a tea for everything from "moon cycle" (i.e. PMS - but what a very interesting terminology, no?*) to nursing to fasting. Now, fasting cannot be a good idea, but I guess fasting while drinking herbal tea certainly makes it a slightly better one than just fasting alone. I myself am a proponent of the "grazing" style of eating, in part because I'm a big snacker. As I speak, there is a box of wheat thins taunting me from the corner of my desk (shamefully, I've already ingested several handfuls).

*I have a friend who dated a Middle Eastern guy years ago, and he was given to saying things like, "Oh, you are on your moon time; we must not be together." His other well-discussed comment to her was less cute: "You would look so beautiful in a veil." But hey, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, right?