Blooming Tea! (Mother's Day Idea)

First, CONGRATS to Julie!!! Grace Under Pressure received a
*starred* review from Publishers Weekly! Check it out!!!

And now...
After eight months of weekly
blogging, I think it's safe to say
that I like the unexpected (tomato
soup cake, anyone?) the unusual
(pumpkin bread baked in a
coffee can) and the odd (frying up
the Hub's pet fish for dinner --
okay, I didn't do it, but I can dream,
can't I?)




So, it should come as no surprise that my latest discovery is again
of the variety of the unexpected and unusual (at least it was
for me). My neighbors and I pet sit for one another when we
travel. And lucky for me we do, because they always bring
back the coolest stuff (thanks, neighbors). Their last trip
was to China and this time they brought back flowering tea.
It is fabulous!

From a dried up ball of tea leaves, beautiful flowers unfold as
the tea steeps. It's the sort of thing that forces you to sit down,
relax, watch the flower open and be still for a minute or two or
ten.

Now Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9th. And if you're like me,
this holiday is a real head scratcher because both my mother
and my mother-in-law have pretty much everything that they
need or want. But I still want to give them something nice that
will make them feel special and let them know how much
I appreciate them -- especially as I'm a mother now myself and
have a WHOLE new appreciation for this motherhood thing --
but I don't want to clutter up their life. Enter the flowering tea!




Isn't that something?
And the tea is delicious,
too. It's a mild green tea
(healthy) and is flavored
with the flower it becomes
-- amaranth, chrysanthemum,
lily or jasmine -- to name a
few. The flowers are
sewn into the tea leaves
with cotton thread and as
the tea ball is immersed in
the hot water it slowly blooms.

In my research, I read that
these come from the Yunnan
province in China, but no one
is clear as to whether this is
a new art form in tea or
whether it is centuries old.

To see more on these teas, I found several excellent sources,
but this video is the best I've found. Enjoy! Oh, and if you want to
give your mom a copy of one of our books for Mother's Day,
well, that would be nice, too!

Have a lovely day!
And make sure you take a moment or two to just be...

Jenn

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jenn McKinlay
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
Available Now

aka Lucy Lawrence
CUT TO THE CORPSE
Available Now

Riley's April Contest

The first book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Delicious and Suspicious, will be released July 6. To celebrate its upcoming release, Riley is throwing a giveaway! :) Are you interested in winning Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate Grilling Rub Collection? It’s easy enter! Just send an email to MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com with “Contest” in the subject line.
Really, really want to up your chances? You’ll get one extra entry if you follow us on Twitter, one extra if you subscribe to our posts (in the right hand sidebar under “Subscribe”), and one extra for becoming a follower (by clicking the “follow” button in the right hand column under our book covers and blog roll.) Just send us an extra email at MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com and let us know what you’ve signed up for. If you’re already a follower or subscriber, let us know that, too!

DON'T FORGET! Avery's starting a fan club. Sign up to receive all the latest announcements and see how you can enter her contest to win a $25 Williams Sonoma gift certificate by clicking HERE.