Otts Coffee, Lavender Iced Chai



Dan and Betsy are rocking the coffee and tea world!  I love their cute trailer and all the fun drinks they offer.  (I have seen them at several events since this one- I hope it is going really well for them. )

Look at all the options below!





I was in Wooster at the Home and Garden Show and had my first Ott's tea.  I got an iced Lavender Chai.  I thought it was really good.



$6.00 might have been a bit steep for a large iced chai, but it was hot and I was thirsty.  It was good and I did not regret getting a large, lol.  Both Dan and Betsy were super friendly and helpful as I decided what to order. They get 5 teacups for sure from me!


Garden tea party


My parents throw the most wonderful garden teas!  I love to help prep for these teas and attend them!!!  This year my flowers were looking so good, that we used mostly my flowers for the center pieces, so that was fun.

My mom has her list of what needs to be done at what time. She has right down to when she needs to get dressed.  Everything is scheduled out.  It runs like a well oiled machine, but then they have been doing these teas for over 20 years.

My aunt has been helping for years too.


These green set is one of my favorites.


My parents set up the tables in the garage.  Each table has a different tea set on them.  My mom always tells people, don't worry about breaking something- if something breaks it just gives them an excuse to buy another tea set.  Also none of these sets are family heirlooms.


Each table is just so beautiful!


The back porch hosts the food and some drinks.  Each table will get a pot of hot tea, but we also have water with lemon and mint, a peach tea, and I made some iced hibiscus tea as well.


Below you will see we have mini quiches, cucumber sandwiches, uncrustables- for the kids, egg salad triangles, chicken salad in tartlets. 


There is also lemon bread, nuts, these amazing raspberries bars, and lemon curd.


We have eclairs, pirouettes, and chocolate covered strawberries.


If you want to have friends over for a special meal- but have no dishes, have them over anyway!!!  They are not going to care how things are served- it is about time together.  It's community over a shared meal or tea.  

But, if you wonder where to get pieces- check second hand shops.  Around here, in Ohio, it seems easy to find cake plates, tea pots, and tiered dishes at Goodwills, Salvation Army stores, or Flea Markets.

My parents have been doing this for over 20 years- so they have had time to grow their collection.  And when I have people over my dishes are always mismatched, I like that style.  Just find what you like and go with that.


And if you think you could not pull off food like this- know that there were FIVE of us working in the kitchen.  And this was considered a light dinner- so we did have lots of food.  

Start with maybe one or two sandwiches and a few desserts.  And it is okay to buy things and not make everything from scratch.  Find a premade chicken salad and then just put it on the bread and cut the crusts off, or take a big cookie cutter to cut it out in for a fun shape.  We buy the eclairs and then just dust powered sugar on them.  We also buy the mini quiches.  The lemon bread is made a head of time and frozen.  Don't make it too hard on yourself.


I always get to have one table to invite special friends.  This year my friend Amy and her mom came.  It was so fun to dress up and have tea in the garden.


I was NOT gluten free today.  I could not help myself.  And the bites were small, lol.



I brought some fun props for the little girls that came.  I had some hats, photo props, and boas. 



My parents invite people from all aspects of their lives.  These are some sweet friends from church.


My mum and dad below.   She is the queen and he is the gardener, hahahahaha.  What a hot, but beautiful day for a tea!!!  These are special memories.


This is my dear, sweet friend.  I have loved getting to know her more this year.  She, her husband, and I have been trying to do one ethnic restaurant a month this year.  We've done: Ethiopian in Cleveland, Sushi in Wooster, Dim Sum- minus the Dim Sum in Cleveland, Mexican in Orrville, Vietnamese in Wooster, and Greek in Parma.


Party invitation below…


Pho Bar, Iced Saigon Milk Tea


I love different cultures and their foods. I could eat ethnic food everyday of the week.  My favorite is Indian and Thai.  But, then I will never turn down Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, or anything else for that matter.  I was super excited when this Pho, Vietnamese, restaurant opened across the street from where I get my hair cut. YAY!!!

After chopping my hair...and feeling like I lost another 10 pounds, I headed over for some Pho.  If my hair ever gets long again, please remind me to cut it short, lol.





I ordered the iced Saigon Milk Tea.  The staff gets 5 teacups, the flavor gets 5 teacups, but the price gets 4 teacups.

I love the milk tea flavor.  It is like chai without the spices.  It is super smooth and a nice milk of black tea and milk.




I ordered the lemongrass chicken- I was shocked how much food I was given.  I had enough for almost 3 meals!!  The flavor was amazing.  I love all the aromatics in the broth. 

I do have to say- I have been back several times and my favorite is the seafood Pho.  The chicken was a little fatty for me.



Noodles, chicken, peppers, thai basil, bean sprouts...oh man so delicious!!!



PMD Chai Cinnamon



I discovered PMD Tea while on Instagram one day.  And now I love following them. I love watching the videos and listening to their accents as they talk, and I love their tea now too.  

This tea company has been around for nearly 75 years and is on it's third generation of a family owned business.

I decided to order some tea in hopes of video chatting with David and drinking some tea together.  I see on their website you can pay to have tea with him.  I think I am going to start offering this service as well.  For $40 I will make a cup of tea and video chat with anyone and talk tea.



It is so fun to get packages in the mail.  And from the UK no less.


I ordered some tea and they even put in some samples for me to try and a nice hand written note.


The first tea I tried was the Cinnamon Chai.  I love a good chai and decided I have been hearing more and more how healthy Cinnamon is, so I would get a Cinnamon Chai.


This black, Ceylon Tea is from Sri Lanka and it is all hand plucked!!  Can you imagine?  I love knowing that my tea has been hand plucked and treated so well.  This tea is sold in Harrods in London.  

I have been there, well, I window shopped Harrods and London.  And then I had tea around the corner from them.  I could not afford Harrods, lol.  But, PMD tea is sold there.  I even saw a picture the other day that they were teaching a class at Harrods on serving their tea.  That is so cool!

I like my chai with milk and sugar.  I used local maple syrup for my sugar this time. I steeped the tea in my water that was 195 degrees for 4 minutes.  I then added some maple syrup and frothed some almond/coconut milk.



I like to add my maple syrup to the milk when I am frothing.  This is unsweetened milk and does not froth thick, but the taste is still there.
 

This chai smells wonderful and love the spicy, yet smooth cinnamon tasting notes. I think the tea is rich and full of body. It makes me feel warm and cozy too.  This chai is comforting. 


This Cinnamon Chai is 5 out of 5 tea cups for me.  The flavor is great!!  I wish the shipping cost was not so high, lol.  But, it was a special one time treat.  I may not be willing to share with chai with others so it lasts a little longer.    I ordered an Earl Grey tea which I look forward to trying next.



Kabab and Curry, Indian Chai





The Saturday before Easter I headed to Canton for lunch.  I love Indian.  Indian and Thai are my favorite foods.  Kabab and Curry has incredible food.  And they do a $13.95 lunch special.

Easter is a special time.  Easter is when Jesus took all our sins upon Himself!!  Jesus, died on the cross, but He did not stay dead- He rose again!  Without Jesus we would have no hope, no grace, no mercy.  Jesus is hope, grace, and mercy.  We can have a personal relationship with Him, then we have hope, grace, and mercy.  It only takes faith to believe.  Through Him we have eternal life.
I'd love to tell you more about it, if you want to know.


This lunch menu is great.  You can try so many of their items.


I got the vegetable samosa as an appetizer- which I loved!
The Mushroom Masala, Aloo Matar, and Chicken Tika Masala were my 3 entrees.
I then got the Naan.  The Kismis Kheer was the fantastic desert, and the chai to drink.


I had so much food, I was able to take some home for lunch the next day.  You were able to buy some extra food for $3. I loved it so much, I bought some more.  The Mushroom Masala was my favorite.  This has become my favorite Indian restaurant!


I ordered the chai.  It was good.  I like a little more spice in my chai, but it was still good.


Chai comes with the meal, so the price is right.  The staff was super friendly.  The chai was good, but I do like more spice, but still it was good.  I give this chai 4 teacups.