Archive for the ‘Drinks’ Category

Have you noticed that there is someone who will take the fun out of just about everything?

Mexican food. Chinese food. Movie popcorn. Now a cool pitcher of sun tea will make you sick.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Alcaligenes viscolactis, a bacteria commonly found in water, can flourish during the slow steep of sun tea. And it can make you sick.

sun-tea.jpg

Who knew something as simple as sun tea could be so dangerous?

I sip tea all day long during the summer. Currently, my favorite concoction is a mixture of green and chai spice teas. And since I’m just a risk-taking, adventurous kind of gal, I have decided that I will continue drinking my sun tea. After all, I’ve made it this far without getting ill. Let’s just see what happens.

For the rest of you, you might want to follow some safety precautions. These include:

-Scrub your sun tea container with hot soapy water. (Frankly, I assume everyone does this anyway.)

-Don’t leave the sun tea to brew for more than three or four hours. (Being the crazy kinda gal that I am, I will continue to brew mine for six to eight hours.)

-Refrigerate and drink as soon as possible. (No problem there.)

-Don’t prepare more than you can drink in a day. Throw out the leftovers. (None left anyway.)

And on one website, they advise you to throw away tea that has turned thick and syrupy or that has ropy strands, which are bacteria. Whaaaaaa? Who would drink that anyway?

So there you have it. Go forth and be safe. As for me, I will continue to live life on the edge with a cold glass of sun tea in my hand.

Robin
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Filed in: Drinks

Right Now at Bumblebee

March 7th, 2010

It’s official. Dawn over at Owl Hollow News won the Grocery Gardening drawing.  Congratulations, Dawn. I hope you enjoy the book.

What’s on your plate today? The weather here is sunny and at least not frigid. I’ll continue my early spring garden cleanup and also clean and repair bird houses. The bluebirds have made their return and are already checking out the real estate. What a joy to watch over my Sunday morning coffee.

Robin

March 6th, 2010

I find this one of the most anxiety-producing times of the year in the garden.

As I head outside and begin the winter cleanup, the whole summer garden thing just seems incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do. And I’m just one person out there. Honestly, I felt like sitting down to have a good cry about mid-afternoon. But I managed to put one foot in front of the other and actually got a good amount of tidy-up work done. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Thank you everyone who left a comment explaining how you approach reading and leaving comments on blog posts. The cumulative input has been extremely helpful. The overall consensus is that you’ll read comments if it’s an interesting discussion. You don’t usually subscribe to comments because it clogs up your email box. And you’ll only check back to see if the author has responded if you’ve left a question. That about sums it up.

On another note, I have selected by random number generator the winner of Grocery Gardening. She’s been notified. When she responds back, I’ll announce who she is.

Thank you everyone!

Robin Ripley

February 22nd, 2010

My lawn is a wreck.

I went outside to re-fill the bird feeders—AGAIN. The parts of my lawn that don’t look like the frozen tundra resemble a swamp. With every step I take my foot sinks down at least an inch. Walking to the feeders I can see my path in the mud.

I also see that we lost one small ornamental tree by the driveway as well as one of my rose trellises, which succumbed to the weight of the snow.

Spring better hurry up and get here. I have a lot of work to do.

Robin

February 17th, 2010

Are you sick of everyone talking about the weather? I am too, but here goes…

There is so much snow on the ground, I don’t know when it’ll all melt. On top of that, much of it has iced to the extent that moving it from one place to another requires a pick ax. Walking in the back yard to fill the bird feeders is like walking on a bumpy ice rink. There are trees and bushes that need a bit of first aid to remove partially broken branches, but I don’t dare risk skating across the ice with my pruners. Not yet anyway.

Still, there is hope. Although we’re expecting snow flurries today, the weather should warm up into the forties in the next few days, providing some melting relief.

But really, all this unrelieved WHITE is getting to me!

Robin

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