Tea Cuisine

In the beginnings, tea cuisine quickly expanded in range to quickly include wafer thin crustless sandwiches, shrimp or fish pates, toasted breads with jams, and regional British pastries such as scones (Scottish) and crumpets (English).

At this time two distinct forms of tea services evolved: “High” and “Low”.

• “Low” Tea (served in the low part of the afternoon) was served in aristocratic homes of the wealthy and featured gourmet tidbits rather than solid meals. The emphasis was on presentation and conversation.
• “High” Tea or “Meat Tea” was the main or “High” meal of the day. It was the major meal of the middle and lower classes and consisted of mostly full dinner items such as roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas, and of course, tea.

Coffee Houses

Tea was the major beverage served in the coffee houses, but they were so named because coffee arrived in England some years before tea. Exclusively for men, they were called “Penny Universities” because for a penny any man could obtain a pot of tea, a copy of the newspaper, and engage in conversation with the sharpest wits of the day.

The various houses specialized in selected areas of interest, some serving attorneys, some authors, others the military. They were the forerunner of the English gentlemen’s private club. One such beverage house was owned by Edward Lloyd and was favored by shipowners, merchants and marine insurers. That simple shop was the origin of Lloyd’s, the worldwide insurance firm. Attempts to close the coffee houses were made throughout the eighteenth century because of the free speech they encouraged, but such measures proved so unpopular they were always quickly revoked.

Tea Gardens

Experiencing the Dutch “tavern garden teas”, the English developed the idea of Tea Gardens. Here ladies and gentlemen took their tea out of doors surrounded by entertainment such as orchestras, hidden arbors, flowered walks, bowling greens, concerts, gambling, or fireworks at night. It was at just such a Tea Garden that Lord Nelson, who defeated Napoleon by sea, met the great love of his life, Emma, later Lady Hamilton. Women were permitted to enter a mixed, public gathering for the first time without social criticism. As the gardens were public, British society mixed here freely for the first time, cutting across lines of class and birth.

Tipping as a response to proper service developed in the Tea Gardens of England. Small, locked wooden boxes were placed on the tables throughout the Garden. Inscribed on each were the letters “T.I.P.S.” which stood for the sentence “To Insure Prompt Service”. If a guest wished the waiter to hurry (and so insure the tea arrived hot from the often distant kitchen) he dropped a coin into the box on being seated “to insure prompt service”. Hence, the custom of tipping servers was created.

Humor the antidote to upsets

Humor is a wonderful stress reducer, an antidote to upsets. Laughter relieves tension. In fact, we often laugh hardest when we have been feeling most tense.

• An example would be a person who was lamenting the 10 pounds she gained over the winter and the fact that she could not get into her bathing suit. She had always been sensitive about her weight. While talking about her upset she suddenly stopped, her face softened and a smile came to her lips. “You know what? I’ve just decided,” she said. “I’ll swim in the dark this year.”
• Another case could involve a man who worked in a busy company and dealt with customers at the counter, customers on the phone and staff members who needed his help. He felt besieged often from several directions at once. He could tell himself to use a phrase which would help him cope and make him a laugh; “I love it when they fight over me.” In both cases, people generated their own humor and reduced their stress.

Humor is an individual thing – what is funny to one individual may be hurtful to another. It is wonderful when people can poke fun at themselves. We can also do this with stressed friends, but we have to be careful and respectful in what we say. If you think of something funny that may help the friend, say it if you feel it will ease their tension and not be offensive. I will often throw in a quip or joke when I think it is appropriate. When it is done sensitively, laughter is a great gift to people you care about.

Lunar herbs

by Ingrid Naiman

Traditionally, all herbs had a planetary and Zodiacal rulership. To enhance the pharmacological properties of an herb, it was planted, harvested, prepared into medicine, and consumed when its ruler was rising, culminating, and setting.

A Swiss man who was interested in astrology tried applying these ancient rules in his own exquisite Zodiacal garden and found that he could increase the potency of the herbs by more than twenty times by following these rules. The traditional rules are obviously also the source of our modern prescriptions requiring that we take medicine three times a day.

The Moon rules all plant growth in general and specific herbs in particular, mainly those that affect bodily fluids, fertility and sexuality, childbirth, sleep and dreams, and memory. Being moist, the most lunar herbs are the ones that are used to antidote excess heat, especially fevers that are cyclical like the Moon, such as malaria and undulant fever.

Some of the herbs that promote circulation are salty like the fluids of the body itself. These include the various sea vegetables as well as Irish and Icelandic moss. Others are simply very moist and more sweet, like comfrey, marshmallow, and slippery elm. These are soothing and aid tissue regeneration.

The second chakra is the water chakra in the body, and it governs all aspects of procreation from development of secondary sexual characteristics—such as curves in a woman and deepening of the voice and growth of chest and facial hair in a man, fertility, and libido—as well as the body’s capacity to replace and repair damaged tissue, regenerate itself, and sustain itself into old age. As such, herbs in this category tend to promote both fertility and longevity.

Some typical gynecological herbs are shatavari (wild asparagus from India), dong quai (angelica from China), black cohosh, blue cohosh, squaw vine, and papaya and the now very famous wild yam that is used in the creams for post menopausal women who do not want to use estrogen replacement therapies.

The states of the unconscious that are most affected by the Moon are sleep and dreams. Interestingly, many of the herbs of this type are deeply protective, nutritive or tonic, and also sometimes narcotic. It is a good mother who protects her children from pain by inducing sleep and peaceful dreams.

The most elegant and esoteric of the lunar herbs are those that support the memory. These affect the brain, strengthen the powers of association, and often aid the unfoldment of higher senses. Gotu kola, the real gotu kola, brahmi from India, aids rejuvenation, longevity, and memory. Lotus seeds and root are cardiac and seminal tonics; they silence the restless mind and aid meditation.

read more here:  http://www.astroheal.com/articles/lunar_herbs.html