Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, relax the studious and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise and will not use abstinence.

(I'm writing about tea? That's right, my life has been pretty quiet lately!)

I think I've mentioned already that living in the USA makes you feel more English. Well, drinking lots of tea contributes to this a little because Americans rarely drink hot tea. (However they do drink iced tea, which really is an abomination -- about as appetising as a hot glass of Coke!) In fact, I drink far more tea here than I did in Australia because the coffee here is weak and/or bitter. The best I can do for my morning coffee is buy an expensive Italian brand (Lavazza usually) and put it in my American dripolator. The rest of the day I drink tea.

At first it was just Twinings English Breakfast (or sometimes Irish, for a change). But when I was up in Montréal I just had to pick up some of Leonard Cohen's favourite tea, Constant Comment. And, even though I'm not so fond of green tea, a meal at Chinatown convinced me that Jasmine tea is not too bad occasionally.

I never took the whole brewing process too seriously, apart from making sure that the water is always very hot, but recently I was helping a friend move when she kindly gave me one of her spare teapots. Now I'm using it all the time. It lets me get two cups from each teabag and also allows me to try some other Chinese teas I'm starting to investigate, like Pu-erh.

Although I am becoming a little more adventurous (I couldn't even read the label on the imported Pu-erh tea) I still wouldn't be caught dead drinking chamomile "tea" or any other tisane. If it doesn't contain leaves of Camellia sinensis, it's not tea!

Independence Day

Today's the Fourth of July, that's Independence Day here in the U.S. of A. My first ever.

I'm going to a big party tonight and have just now got back from a trip with my American friends to the fireworks store. We bought about $60 worth of explosives for tonight! It's quite a novelty for me. While I do remember when fireworks we legal in NSW, I was always too young to let them off myself so my memories are all of my father and uncles doing it all. (Except for that New Years Eve when my cousin was able to procure some...) From what I can see, they have pretty much the same sorts here, except no bungers. Oh, but this being for Fourth of July, some of them are a bit more patriotic than any fireworks I've seen before. Like the Indiana Liberty Fountain, not only does it have a bald eagle over the Stars and Stripes but it's state-specific patriotism! (That makes it even more American, it's unbelievable how much emphasis they put on their specific states.) Oh, and it even has a quote from Thomas Paine on the side!

What's even more disturbing, though, is the existence of the Dixie Dynamite firecrackers! I've never understood the whole Southern pride thing here, but the reason this is crazy is because we're in a Northern state here. Racist overtones aside, it still makes no sense to me that they would sell such a South-specific item north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Meh, let's not think about it too much (after all, it's not my holiday). I'll just concentrate on blowing the things up!