Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This weekend, we did a tea tasting in Berkeley. And for each pot of tea ordered, we got to try two cookies. I opted for a mung bean apricot thumbprint cookie and a tahini cookie. I was immediately inspired to create a version of my own! Ingredients 1 cup flour ½ cup rolled oats  ⅓ cup organic powdered sugar ⅓ cup tahini (sesame paste) 1 egg ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract or paste ¼ cup olive oil ½ teaspoon salt (I used some vanilla salt) 1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds 1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds 1½ Tablespoon organic granulated sugar Also needed: scoop, baking sheets, parchment paper   Procedure Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place flour, oats, powdered sugar, tahini, egg, vanilla, and olive oil in a bowl. With a pastry cutter, blend the dough until pea-sized chunks form. Press the dough into a ball.   Mix the sesame seeds and sugar together in a shallow bowl.   Form dough into 1-inch balls - I used a cookie scoop - and roll them in the sesame see...

This post is sponsored  by Masters Teas and Adagio Teas .  I received complimentary product for the purpose of review . All opinions are mine alone. You can read about how I ended up with some samples from  Adagio Teas  of their new line:  Masters Teas * . Head over to my first tasting -  Tai Ping Hou Kui + Dried White Mulberries . This time we brewed their Ma Liu Mi tea. The boys were curious about the description of "monkey-picked," asking if it was really picked by monkeys. I didn't know, so I did some research. The origin of 'Monkey Picked' oolong tea dates to the early 18th century, when this varietal of tea plant was discovered in the Anxi county of Fujian province. Legend has it that monkeys were trained by monks to pick the choicest leaves from wild tea trees growing in the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian Province. So, no, it isn't really picked by monkeys; but 'monkey-picked' refers to oolong tea of the highest quality. Unlike the T...

This post is sponsored  by Masters Teas and Adagio Teas .  I received complimentary product for the purpose of review . All opinions are mine alone. Based on previous collaborations, my contact at Adagio Teas emailed to see if I would be interested in trying out their new line - Masters Teas * . I couldn't reply 'yes' fast enough. We love tea tasting and the opportunity to try such special teas was one I couldn't resist. Masters Teas was created to share limited edition, small lot teas direct from the farms at which they were grown. I selected eight different teas and am looking forward to sharing my explorations with you. The first tea we tried was the Tai Ping Hou Kui . which was grown by Liang Yu Ming in Huangshan, in the Anhui province of China. The 2019 Tai Ping Hou Kui is grown at over 1000 feet above sea level and was harvested in early May. Can you see the woven or criss-crossing pattern on the leaves? After the leaves are pan fired, they ...

Today was the day: our first day to open up a box from our DIY Tea Advent Calendar . The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf was so excited. So, you'll be hearing about some of the new-to-us teas that we're exploring throughout this month. D climbed up on a chair, pulled down the first box, and opened it up. "Golden Monkey!" he declared, excitedly. Then we opened up the bag and each took turns smelling the tea. According to the Adagio Teas website , Golden Monkey -  or Jin Hou -  is a black tea whose leaves are said to resemble monkey paws.  Golden Monkey hails from the Fujian province of China and is hand-processed each spring by carefully plucking off only one leaf and one bud from the camellia bush.  The Precise Kitchen Elf was in charge of brewing. We prefer loose leaf tea instead of tea bags. And he brews straight into our mugs. This Golden Monkey has a strong, sweet nose. D mentioned a tropical fruit and R blurted out "mango....

With each of us having two boys each - three each, if you count our husbands - Jenn, Pia, and I don't get away often enough with just the girls. But yesterday, Pia took us - Jenn for a belated birthday, me for an early birthday - to a tea tasting at Hidden Peak Teahouse in Santa Cruz. Tucked into an alley off the main street, it was almost walking into another world, a relaxing, foreign land of all things tea. One of the things I loved about it: it's a digital-free zone. That means no phones, no ipads, no laptops Nothing. I was hesitant to pull out my camera, but Jenn encouraged me to ask if it was allowed. It was. Phew. We perused the extensive tea offerings and opted for two different teas, served Gung Fu style. At a very basic level, this is a tea ritual that involves just a few variables: 1. quality of tea (extremely high here!) 2. amount of tea (just a tablespoon or two) 3. water temperature (he had it in an electric kettle - I want one!) 4. ...

On Dylan's food tour, as part of his 3-day birthday celebration, we stopped at a tea tasting room in Chinatown. We tried a multitude of teas, including... ...rosebuds...   ...green tea... ...jasmine green tea pearls... Things we learned: we should only be drinking high quality, loose leaf teas. Green teas have less caffeine than black teas; it's the opposite of coffee where lighter roasts are more potent. And you can reuse tea leaves about 8 times. Everyone wanted to go back to the tea room the following day, but I had so many things planned, we couldn't squeeze it in. So, we have to make another trip up there. Wanna come?