Gentle readers (assuming there still are some, and you haven’t all given up on checking this blog, out of despair at my two-month silence) – I am still here. I apologise MOST sincerely for the lack of posts. However, I offer what I think is a reasonable excuse: I’m pregnant with our first baby (!!!!) and due to bizarre hormonal changes, the mere thought of making, or drinking, a cup of tea of almost any kind has made me feel ill…
Cruel fate!! It has in fact been two months of very little joie de tea for me. I have not read my TeaMail… in fact I have been unable to face even reading about tea online anywhere, let alone opening one of my beautiful books about tea… the idea of writing about it has been making me nauseous… I haven’t been inspired to cook with it…* My gorgeous teawares have been languishing unused… water and the occasional orange or apple juice have been my only tipples.
Nonetheless, while I have been very afraid that I shall never be the same again, I hold out hope that my joie de tea is slowly returning (as my overall queasiness also, fortunately, subsides)… Witness: I can drink peppermint, fennel, chamomile, and other (safe in pregnancy) herbal tisanes daily, in fact several times a day now… and while I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to make or drink any kind of green tea, or the new oolongs that I mentioned in my last post, I can manage – a few times a week – a cup of something black and relatively milky. So perhaps I shall gradually make my way out of this long dark tea-less time of the soul after all. Please stay tuned… I will be back!
PS – and for those who are interested, the baby is due at the end of October… just past the 12-week mark and all seems to be well!
*although the sight of the delightful looking chai tea cakes with Earl Grey syrup that feature in the May edition of Notebook: magazine is extremely tempting, and may inspire me next weekend (the recipe isn’t up online yet, but I’ll keep an eye out and draw your attention to it when it is).
