Murder by Death

I really hadn't planned on doing this one because I'm a proper US Southerner and I drink my tea iced, sweet and black.  MT and I do have a pot of tisane each night though (don't we sound stuffy?).

But MT and I were out in the 'country' this weekend, helping his younger brother celebrate his birthday.  Red Hill, Victoria isn't known for much outside Victoria, although it's a heavy agricultural area, but to Melbournians, it's the place you go for one of the best markets around.  Once a month for 3 seasons out of 4 (closed for winter) the local cricket grounds become over-run with vendors selling fresh veggies, pastries, breads, jams, and every kind of art and craft you can imagine.  It's huge.

So our weekend kicked off with a general meet up at the market, and (amongst other things) I fell in love with a teapot.  I ogle this potter's work every time I'm there, but I could not pass up this teapot and so, dear reader, I bought it.  It's perfect; colour-wise it's a departure for me, but design-wise... so many thoughtful details went into this teapot.  The lid is counterbalanced so it doesn't fall out when you tip the pot; the lid opening is generously wide to fit the largest mesh ball; there's a 'handle' at the top to hold it steady while you're pouring that doesn't get hot.  But best of all... it's DISHWASHER safe!

Now that I've rasped rhapsodic about my tea pot, we'll move on:

My tea/tisane is my own concoction.  We started out strictly with chamomile, which was nice; it's got a great taste but what's up with the wet hay aftertaste?  So I started putting a small teaspoon full of spearmint in to, you now, mask the wet hay.  Then, while foraging around in my pantry I found lavender flowers and thought why not?.  It works really well together and it's become a 'thing' we do.

I happened to have just brewed a fresh pot of iced tea at the same time, so I figured for strict accuracy, here's a picture with 'real' tea behind my new favourite teapot of herbal. (And if you have VERY good eyes, a sneaky Easter-cat photo-bombing.)

Ta-da!:

Betcha can't guess which cup is mine?   ;-)