Tea

...
There's something about Iced Tea. It's a southern tradition on the order of fried chicken and voting Republican. Though as traditions go it's been around longer than voting Republican.

When you go into a southern household or restaurant you're always offered tea. It took me a while after moving here to understand that "tea" meant Iced Tea. Not hot. And then there's Sweet Tea. Since it's so hard to dissolve sugar in cold tea some restaurants have two teas - one unsweetened and one called "Sweet Tea"- So you can get your sugar already dissolved.

My mom, who was raised in that northernmost southern city Washington DC loved Iced Tea. She made it by brewing hot tea then adding ice. The scalding hot water seemed to envelope the ice cubes in mere seconds and I loved to watch.

Now there's "cold brew" and that's where I've become involved with Iced Tea. My friend Mary is a great tea drinker. Like most southern ladies - though she, too, is from the northeast originally, she always has a pitcher of tea in her fridge.

She was coming down to visit and I bought some tea bags to accommodate her. That was months ago. I came across them about a week ago and thought I'd make myself a pitcher. Well the pitcher hasn't been empty since.

So now I'm considering myself truly acclimated. And it only took 33 years!

Fried Chicken anyone?