Teacup Tales

Happy May! I have been eager to share with you my new chai tea discovery! Chai is one of my favorite types of tea and flavoring. It has become quite popular and is infused in many other types of foods. I first discovered chai while on a vacation in Vancouver about twenty years ago. Starbucks was doing a promotion for their latest drink: chai tea latte. Since I wasn't a coffee drinker, I never had been inside a Starbucks before. The promotion lured me in with the enticing "gift" of a free coffee travel mug decorated with various stamps from Canadian provinces. Well needless to say, I was hooked! I'm not a huge dessert lover, so this is my treat: A tall nonfat no water chai tea latte I adore the mix of sweet and spicy in this chai syrup. Starbucks uses Oregon Chai which can be found in most grocery stores. (courtesy of amazon) I can make the latte on my own with the help of a milk frother, but somehow it tastes better when I go to Starbucks. (Yes, it i...

The Farmers' Market is the perfect place to witness the bounties of each season. I like starting the weekend with a visit to our local farmer's market Saturday mornings. Apples were the choice fruit! I purchased organic Gala apples and decided to make an apple crisp with them. When choosing apples, I do buy organic due to the high levels of pesticides found in the non-organic ones. The stand was selling Gala, Fuji and MacIntosh. I thought the Gala apples would add some natural sweetness to the crisp. Since I made a several cobblers over the summer, I was looking for a crisp with a different crumb topping. I found a recipe online (surprisingly) from Rachael Ray's sister. What I liked about this recipe was the graham cracker crumb topping. It was a nice change from the traditional oat one. Here's the  recipe  and how I tweaked it a bit. -I used eight small Gala apples. -I baked the crisp in a deep dish pie plate. -I omitted the white sugar. -I us...