Direct from Korea.

Though these Green Tea Kit Kats are made in Japan, Paul brought them back from Korea.

As you can read here, I quite like this flavor.  I was happy to receive more.  Thanks, Paul!

It seems that Nestlé will incorporate almost anything edible into a Kit Kat, but they seldom sell in the U.S.  The Japanese may have the most exciting choices.  Have you tried or seen any unusual ones?

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Breakfast in the car.

I got flustered at the bagel shop, and couldn't buy anything there for our car ride out to Cold Spring on Saturday.  Luckily, we made a stop at Boneshakers for beverages.  Their chocolate chip scone (with oatmeal) was perfect -- sweet, but not too sweet; chewy, but not too chewy.  They made me a swell iced chai, too.


Boneshakers
134 Kingsland Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 963-0656

Still Life with Chai

• A handsome doorway on 11th Street
• Perfectly made chai latte from Spruce Street Espresso
• Philadelphia, PA

The search begins. Again.

Last year, when I was visiting my in-laws for Thanksgiving, I learned that Pepperidge Farm had dropped a limited edition supply of Australia's famous Tim Tams into Target stores across the US. Though I had never eaten Tim Tams, I was convinced by the internet buzz that they would change my life. I ran out and bought several packages (the only variety I saw was caramel), shared a few, tasted my life changing, and then hoarded the remainder.

I ate them sparingly in the following months, usually as part of a Tim Tam Slam with hot tea or cocoa, and treasured every bite, knowing that they were no longer on the shelves at Target and that Pepperidge Farm had not committed to producing any more Tim Tams in the US. I wanted to introduce more friends to the glory of Tim Tams, but I couldn't spare the cookies. I needed them to last. I'm sorry, friends.

Nearly a year later, I have eaten my final Tim Tam from that batch. Last night, I "Slammed" two with some vanilla jasmine tea and then ate the last one dry. Slowly, sadly, the world of Tim Tam slipped away from me. There are but poor substitutes.

But I live in New York City. Surely, in this beautiful land of expats and foreign markets, there is a supplier of real, Australian, Arnott's (for they should not have been Pepperidge Farm's at all) Tim Tams. I want to try the double coat! I want to have a party and force my friends to slam!

According to Wikipedia (and this was news to me, as I researched while writing this post), P.F.'s US Tim Tams will be released roughly October through March each year. They should be in Targets again now, but I doubt the supply is sufficient. Has anyone seen them? I don't live very near a Target store, but I will attempt to get to one this month to check on their availability. They are supposed to be in "other supermarkets," too. Where are you, Tim Tams?

I know I seem obsessed, but if you've had them you should understand. This "Tim Tam season" scheme is evil. Pepperidge Farm, this will not do. Don't be stingy; flood the market, sirs and madams in charge! I need these cookies in my life every month.

Bottom line: Let me know if you see seasonal Tim Tams out and about (at Target or elsewhere). And if you know of a year-round Tim Tam purveyor or Australian grocery in NYC, please leave a comment. In return, I will let you know if I find any, though I will be ever so tempted to keep their location to myself.

I Break for Tea

Saturday morning, I finally got around to trying the green tea Kit Kat Nick brought back from Japan.

I would only complain that the packaging is a tad excessive. Inside each cardboard box, the four Kit Kat sticks are separated into two small plastic-wrapped packs of two sticks each.

A small plus? The slogan seemed less strident in this version than in the American campaign. For this Japanese permutation, they've replaced "Gimme a break...Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar" with "Have a break, have a KitKat."

Enough about the package, though. The snack's the thing. Kit Kat has well-captured the lighter-than-pea-green color of the tea. The candy smells sweet, milky, and almost of almond. The flavor is very similar -- sweet, with subtle green tea and milk notes, but without the bitterness that green tea can sometimes have. The wafer layers add a nice crunch.

I quite liked this -- more than original chocolate Kit Kat, I'd say. In fact, I'd be happy eating some more. Who's going to Japan next?

Poetry Tuesday: Drifting, Drinking

Anastasia sent this Chocolate Chai from England.

First snow, lofty flakes straining finer in time
Cats snore, bird rings bell, everyone hums
See the suet set outside, feeding feathers flick
Orange leaves waver beyond the stream of flakes
The path to the park is empty, there is someone on the path
Trees shrug open to white, bark stacked with papery edges

This tea in this thick mug steeped long minutes
I steep, cats and birds and suet and leaves in seedpods
Steeping, bits and bobs of spice swell and wilt
The kettle shifts as it cools, snow is milk and sugar
Pages of weather turn, things float down, whirling
Everything is pulled to earth and all a blanket
Cocoa in the tea and my toes tucked under me.


photo by Dan.

Direct from Spokane

Washington Wild Huckleberry Tea ("Slightly Sinful") is made in Spokane, Washington.

Spokane, eh? I can't say I've had the pleasure. But have I tasted you through your Huckleberry tisane? Have you been steeped too long and become slightly bitter, soapy, and over-perfumed?

Wait. That's my fault, not the tea's. We added hot water to the concoction and made it much better, cleaner, and berrier. Nice aroma, too. Yumz.



Thanks, R!

Puffed up

Let's talk tea. I am in love with genmaicha these days.

Mmm...toasted rice and green tea. Little pieces that have popped like puffed rice cereal. Unique, nutty flavor. Smooth and warm and comforting.

I've been drinking it at home and on the road.

Green Tea Bark

Green Tea Bark, originally uploaded by jennybunny.

In Seattle, Eva offered me a Sequoia Chocolate, which does have cocoa butter in it but not much chocolate flavor. The dominant flavor is green tea, which comes on strong (and I like it!), and there's a background note of fruitiness. My best guess about the name, as most of the information on the package is in Japanese, is that the lines etched into the green tea chcolate (surrounding wafers and more green tea chocolate layers inside) are meant to resemble tree bark.

Hey, whose toes are those?

To a tea

I think it was my grandmother who gave me these three miniature tea cups and saucers (pictured above) when I was small, which I treasure in that I-love-you-but-don't-want-to-break-you way. I also loved my Holly Hobbie tea set, and it was both very sturdy and had a tiny teapot so that was the one I played tea with. I never drank real tea at my tea parties. "Pretend tea" was water, milk (into which I dunked cookies or graham crackers, which wasn't the best idea, as the cups were too small to clean easily), or an empty cup.

I never became a coffee drinker (one Santa Lucia celebration in 3rd grade nixed that for me), but I do drink real tea and tisanes (in a bigger cup) these days.

Soon, I'm going to a real, live ladies' tea party. I've made cheese puffs with black sesame seeds (with that spicy cheese finally procured from the Union Square Green Market), zucchini bread with lemon curd, and mini pavlova with berries and cream. I'm taking a Rooibos (fair trade and organic certified) tisane, one of my favorites because you can't over-steep it, and a Moroccan mint tea made of green gunpowder tea (to which some fresh mint will be added). I am really looking forward to tea and high-class snacking.