You just need to spend $5 on a bouquet of spray roses at Trader Joe’s.

Every year, in late February or early March, I place an order for a year’s worth of tea from a shop in New York City. I usually order somewhere around 8 pounds of tea across 10-12 types, but it varies, depending on what we’ve been drinking and what my tea supplier has in stock.

By January, I’m usually out of one or two kinds, but as you can see here, I’m still going strong, although I can see which teas I’m likely to be cutting it close on. (We bought a couple additional pounds during trips to New York City during 2018, so I’ll need to up my order for at least two kinds this winter.) And finishing up one or two types forces me to drink things I like, but like less than my normal six varieties.

I now know, for instance, that I need two pounds of Irish Breakfast tea to make it through the year. Keemun, which is the base for English Breakfast, was my go-to for a while, but a couple years ago there must have been a problem with the supply because the cost for the leaves went way up, and the English Breakfast blend is good, but not as good. Did you know that while English Breakfast tea is generally made from Chinese tea leaves, Irish Breakfast tea nowadays is a blend of two Indian varieties — Assam and Ceylon?

In case you’re wondering, the family go-to’s, in addition to our two breakfast blends, are Ceylon (if you buy the Ceylon from Porto Rico, skip the cheaper Ceylon OP for the Ceylon Kenilworth Garden (the name of the estate where it’s grown), because it’s a superior tea), Assam, and Yunnan. We also drink a lot of Earl Grey (my supplier makes a very nice version that has just the right amount of bergamot) and, depending on the mood, smokey Lapsang Souchong (that’s what’s in the ceramic jar) and Gurance, a citrusy Nepalese tea. We have a couple more in our rotation, including Java Santosa (an Indonesian black tea), Golden Kenyan (anything with golden in the name tends to mean it’s a less dark hues), and a custom blend from our second go-to tea shop in Greenwich Village (that has been in business since the late 1800s) that they say is the three-tea blend they made for Katherine Hepburn when she was alive.

I also have a large collection of Darjeelings, but Rudi and I have gone off them a bit in the last couple years (tea quality varies from year to year depending on the growing season and the drying process. I just hit a year that I didn’t love so much and can’t seem to force myself to drink it so I can buy a different year’s blend). They have the most number of grades you can buy, meaning you can pick your tea based on how big the leaves were before they started roasting them. In general, the more letters that appear when describing your Darjeeling, the better the tea. Nearly all the classifications (other than the lowest one, “D” for “dust”) end in “OP” which stands for Orange Pekoe. Orange Pekoe actually means tea leaf buds when used by tea growers, but the term seems to stand in for generic black tea when used by tea bag manufacturers these days.

Feel free to stop by for a cuppa!

I’ll be back tomorrow with some superlatives, but, in the meantime, happy 2019!

With a final long weekend of the year upon us, I have a few more things I’d like to get done before closing the books on 2018:

• Get outside. The weather in D.C. is supposed to be mild, and, in a surprise from the forecast of earlier this week, dry.
• Do some baking. I failed in all my holiday baking here (although I was somewhat more successful up north) and there are some recipes I’d like to make. I also received a macaron pan for Christmas, and I admit to being intrigued by the idea.
• Make a few end-of-year donations. I made more donations year-round in 2018, but there are a few more I’d like to send in.
• Ask at the hardware store about grow lights. My violets and orchids are mostly hanging in there, in my daylight-challenged subterranean dwelling, but they definitely aren’t thriving. I’d like to see if they have any recommendations.
• Finalize our list of New Year’s Eve movies. Sarah, Rudi, and I have put forward a list, and I’ll take a stab at coming up with a schedule that works for three of them.
• Cuddle with the cats. (Jeremiah said I should add that one to the list.)
• Visit the library. I have some things to return and a couple new items that came off the holds list this week.
• Send a last few Christmas cards. I know, I know. But we’re not even halfway through the twelve days, so I think it’s okay.
• Finish a few final books. I’ve pulled out several that have been in-progress for a while and/or are short, and will do my best to add them to the read pile.
• Knit a bit. And maybe get pictures of the final couple FOs of the year.
• Listen to some of my new music.
• Pick up groceries at the farmers market. Topping my to-buy list will be collard greens or kale (the latter will probably be easier to find) for our New Year’s Day meal. (This year, I may try adding cornbread to the menu, since I attended a talk recently that reminded me I should have been serving that alongside my black-eyed peas, as well.
• Stop at Riverby Books one last time. The used bookstore down the street from my dentist is closing at the end of the year, and they have discounted their used books by 50% before they lock their Capitol Hill rowhouse for good.

How about you? What are you hoping to check off your list this weekend?

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday, whether it’s being spent on the road or at home. We have one more day in Connecticut before we head back down south & I’m looking forward to filling it with good memories.

Because I got nothing else tonight:

1. Spending time with my family
2. Watching the Macy’s Day parade
3. Going on the breakfast run to Dunkin’ Donuts (I’m going to deliberately start using the old name now that they’ve announced they’re officially shortening it) with Dad
4. Singing along with “Alice’s Restaurant” (“You can get anything you want…”)
5. Piling on the side dishes
6. Eating pie (pumpkin and apple are the traditional flavors in our house)
7. Knowing I’ll get to see Karen in the days to come
8. Rooting for our respective football teams (although I only care about the Powder Puff game, and I think that’ll be done before we hit the road from D.C. this year)
9. Talking to loved ones who are far away
10. Kicking off the Christmas season

(I do not love the long drive, but it will be filled with audiobooks, podcasts, music, and an excellent traveling companion. But think of us when you head to bed on Wednesday night, because we’ll still be on the road.)

How about you? What do you enjoy about the holiday?