Art of Tea
Jul. 14th, 2003 12:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishDammit!
And I probably would have bought it, too - John has a fondness for Ed.
Coming back from the docks on Friday, I was driving on autopilot and continued south on Ocean Blvd. instead of turning left on Alamitos to 7th St. and back to the office. After smacking myself for not paying attention, I decided, "What the hell, let's just take the scenic route." Before our office moved from downtown Long Beach to Los Alamitos, this was the way I usually drove home, and I miss it sometimes. The stretch between Alamitos and 2nd St. has been featured in a few music videos. There are islands in the harbor that have oil drilling rigs disguised as buildings; at night they are lit up and have waterfalls and such running. My friend Mike told me a few years ago the City of Long Beach was constantly getting calls about " how much are the apartments on those islands?" The islands are named after the astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 fire; White, Chaffee, and Grissom.
The Long Beach Art Museum is right on the bluffs above the beach (a nice beach, but I wouldn't advise swimming there, being as it's really too close to the mouth of the L.A River to be good for your health). It's been forever since I actually went in the place, but I always have good intentions. The museum consists of an old craftsman-style brick house, surrounded by a brick fence, and in recent years a modern building, half of glass was also added. This time I noticed a show I really would like to go see. Above the gate hovered a gigantic inflatable teapot, swaying back and forth in the breeze, with the banner "The Artful Teapot." It's there until sometime in September.
While I'm primarily a coffee drinker, I love teapots. I currently own maybe a dozen. Some I inherited, some I was given. I tend to prefer simple shapes and not the ones you find in gift shops that look like cutesy versions of something else, a rabbit at an oven perhaps, with bright colors and shiny glaze. An exception are the Yi Xing teapots, which are often in shapes depicting something else, but are made of different colors of Chinese clay. One John gave me is shaped like a briefcase with an umbrella across the top; the umbrella's handle is also the teapot's handle. I have a few tiny ones that were part of set that I gave most of away as Christmas presents - they all looked the same but were made of different colors of Yi Xing clay - yellow, blue, red, dark brown and more.
I don't usually care for teapots that are part of set of dinnerware, unless they have some uniqueness of their own. I have a Fiestaware teapot that belonged to my grandmother, and another from the same era in a pattern called Parade. This one is interesting because the pot has a hook that fits through a hole on the lid, and keeps the lid from falling off as you are pouring the tea.
I like the ceremony of making tea. Warming up a cup of water in the microwave for a single cup seems like a cheat. Filling the kettle with cold water (my beloved kettle looks like a granite curling stone, although my father dropped it and some of the enamel is chipped off the side), selecting what kind of tea to make - Irish Breakfast, a favorite of an old boyfriend, Earl Grey ("Tea, Earl Gray, Hot." as a certain good captain would say), Lapsang Souchong, which tastes and smells like a campfire - I acquired a taste for it in Australia and find it very difficult to come by here unless I visit special shops, or herbal - Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger is one of my favorites. Warming the pot with some of the water after the kettle begins to whistle. Then spooning the tea in if it's loose or teabags if not (I'm not a total tea snob) - one for each cup and one for the pot. I tend to succumb to the American flaw of letting it steep longer than a few minutes - I'll often leave the tea in the pot until I'm finished with it - I attribute this to my rather poor sense of smell and probably taste as well. My Australian friends would gag and complain that a pot tasted like poison while I was still drinking it. Ah well.
I'd like to get to that show. I'd better write it down in my planner or I'll forget all about it. M. is a big tea fan - maybe she might like to go with - if she can find a moment in her schedule.
And I probably would have bought it, too - John has a fondness for Ed.
Coming back from the docks on Friday, I was driving on autopilot and continued south on Ocean Blvd. instead of turning left on Alamitos to 7th St. and back to the office. After smacking myself for not paying attention, I decided, "What the hell, let's just take the scenic route." Before our office moved from downtown Long Beach to Los Alamitos, this was the way I usually drove home, and I miss it sometimes. The stretch between Alamitos and 2nd St. has been featured in a few music videos. There are islands in the harbor that have oil drilling rigs disguised as buildings; at night they are lit up and have waterfalls and such running. My friend Mike told me a few years ago the City of Long Beach was constantly getting calls about " how much are the apartments on those islands?" The islands are named after the astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 fire; White, Chaffee, and Grissom.
The Long Beach Art Museum is right on the bluffs above the beach (a nice beach, but I wouldn't advise swimming there, being as it's really too close to the mouth of the L.A River to be good for your health). It's been forever since I actually went in the place, but I always have good intentions. The museum consists of an old craftsman-style brick house, surrounded by a brick fence, and in recent years a modern building, half of glass was also added. This time I noticed a show I really would like to go see. Above the gate hovered a gigantic inflatable teapot, swaying back and forth in the breeze, with the banner "The Artful Teapot." It's there until sometime in September.
While I'm primarily a coffee drinker, I love teapots. I currently own maybe a dozen. Some I inherited, some I was given. I tend to prefer simple shapes and not the ones you find in gift shops that look like cutesy versions of something else, a rabbit at an oven perhaps, with bright colors and shiny glaze. An exception are the Yi Xing teapots, which are often in shapes depicting something else, but are made of different colors of Chinese clay. One John gave me is shaped like a briefcase with an umbrella across the top; the umbrella's handle is also the teapot's handle. I have a few tiny ones that were part of set that I gave most of away as Christmas presents - they all looked the same but were made of different colors of Yi Xing clay - yellow, blue, red, dark brown and more.
I don't usually care for teapots that are part of set of dinnerware, unless they have some uniqueness of their own. I have a Fiestaware teapot that belonged to my grandmother, and another from the same era in a pattern called Parade. This one is interesting because the pot has a hook that fits through a hole on the lid, and keeps the lid from falling off as you are pouring the tea.
I like the ceremony of making tea. Warming up a cup of water in the microwave for a single cup seems like a cheat. Filling the kettle with cold water (my beloved kettle looks like a granite curling stone, although my father dropped it and some of the enamel is chipped off the side), selecting what kind of tea to make - Irish Breakfast, a favorite of an old boyfriend, Earl Grey ("Tea, Earl Gray, Hot." as a certain good captain would say), Lapsang Souchong, which tastes and smells like a campfire - I acquired a taste for it in Australia and find it very difficult to come by here unless I visit special shops, or herbal - Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger is one of my favorites. Warming the pot with some of the water after the kettle begins to whistle. Then spooning the tea in if it's loose or teabags if not (I'm not a total tea snob) - one for each cup and one for the pot. I tend to succumb to the American flaw of letting it steep longer than a few minutes - I'll often leave the tea in the pot until I'm finished with it - I attribute this to my rather poor sense of smell and probably taste as well. My Australian friends would gag and complain that a pot tasted like poison while I was still drinking it. Ah well.
I'd like to get to that show. I'd better write it down in my planner or I'll forget all about it. M. is a big tea fan - maybe she might like to go with - if she can find a moment in her schedule.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-14 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-14 05:14 pm (UTC)In any case, it's something to warm your hands up. My office is always cold.