Decor Craft Inc., originally uploaded by timbu.

If I bought this keen cup I would probably break it by throwing it in the waste basket accidentally. It’s still cool.

I think it’s time for me to switch back to tea — I’ve been drinking far too much coffee in the last six months.

When I was in Darjeeling last month I ended up in a tea shop called Nathmulls. The staff at Nathmulls did a really fantastic job at helping me pick some teas that were really superb.

I usually have trouble when I buy tea because there are simply too many choices. My favorite local tea shop in Minnesota is great about letting you smell tea, but it’s very hard to correlate a smell and the taste of a tea. Nathmulls helpful staff helped me narrow down my choices to a few basic varieties and then let me try a range of teas for each variety. For instance, I knew wanted a white tea. They made four or five cups of white tea and let me sample them. The samples were expertly made, hot and steeped for exactly the right amount of time. I still had difficulty picking my favorite, since each batch had at least two great teas in it. In the end I bought a lot more tea than I expected. It doesn’t matter how you measure it — dollars, rupees, grams or ounces — it was more than I expected. When I got back to my room I actually wondered if it was going to fit in my backpack for the journey home.

Since I’ve gotten home, I have still been drinking mostly coffee even though I bought all this amazing tea. It’s not because I love coffee more or because I need the heavier stimulant dose of coffee. I’ve been drinking coffee for the immediate gratification that I can get by walking down the hallway and pressing a button. With tea, I walk down the hallway, press a button and then wait for the tea to steep.

The waiting is the real problem.

Lately I imagine I’m too busy to wait for tea. I’m too busy to watch the clock and make sure I steep the tea the correct amount of time. I’m too busy to sit and smell the tea as it develops that sweet scent.

This is why I need to switch back to tea. Waiting is an important discipline. Taking a minute or two to engage in a brief ritual, like brewing tea, is the kind of mental practice that actually makes you capable of accomplishing more. It’s tempting to think that staying busy is the best way to accomplish more, but real accomplishment may require avoiding the urgent in favor of the important. Making time for your ideas to brew and ferment can only lead to more clarity and purpose.

So is it coffee, tea or me? I think the answer is switching to tea means a better me.

Halloween was a blast.

The funny part for me was that the kids never once remembered their lines. They kept forgetting they were supposed to say something at each house. It’s not like their lines were complicated, it was just “Trick or Treat” followed by “Thank You!” after they got the candy. I feel a new kinship with the president’s speech writers.

It was so cold we put on layers and jackets underneath their costumes which is why they appear to be such bulky children.

Apple Pie, originally uploaded by timbu.

This is the first apple pie I ever baked from scratch. It was entirely from scratch including the dough. It turned out good. This pie looked and smelled amazing. The only minor problem was that the apples came out a little soupier than I expected and I should have left more crust around the edge of the pie tin. It wasn’t as good as my mom’s apple pie, but it was pretty good.

Today marks my first visit to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival for a wedding. I can’t wait to see how this turns out. Hopefully there will be something to blog about tonight.

Not knowing much about this event, I checked out their web site. Their weapons policy amused me. “Axes, Claymores & Maces – Are strongly discouraged but if you insist Axes must be sheathed and peace-tied.” Really they should make every business establishment in Minnesota post their axe, claymore & mace policy in addition to their concealed handgun policy.

The BBC reports that “There are now more overweight people across the world than hungry ones”.

Does this mean there be heart wrenching appeals for help, featuring Sally Struthers walking around the midwest showing the obese people waddling around at the county fairs. “For just $10 a day you’l be able to deny them the hamburger they had been stuffing their face with.” (This is actually how I lost the weight. A small village in a developing country pooled their money and decided to sponsor a chubby midwesterner.)

There seems to be a rash of restaurant names that use numeric designations instead of honest names.

The 112 Eatery, Five, 20.21 & the 128 Cafe all come to mind.

I predict that he next great leap forward in restaurant naming will be to start using an IP address for the restaurant.

“Where are you going to eat tonight?”

“We’re going out for a night on the town at 192.28.43.101 followed by dessert at 127.0.0.1.”

P.S. I’ve had good meals at all the numbered restaurants listed above, so maybe I shouldn’t kvetch about the naming convention so much.

Wow, there were a lot of people in my house on Friday for poker.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to play.

Special congratulations to Brooke who was the big money winner for the night.

In contrast to Brooke’s performance, I went out first. All my cards looked so shiny and full of promise, I just couldn’t fold them.

I hereby nominate Joe to have the next party.

I was glad that after painting almost all the main public areas of the house I managed to get things mostly put back together in time for the guests to arrive. Yeah, I know there were plenty of mistakes in the paint job. I got them mostly fixed by Sunday. Thanks for not actually circling them all the mistakes with magic marker.

I would have been happier if the A/C had managed to keep up better. It crept up above 80 even though the thermostat had been set to 62 pretty much all day. I was probably being screwed by the thing on the A/C unit that cycles power during peak demand. Seriously, if the electric company wanted to make money they could charge people an unlock fee where they would disable that thing for 24 hours in exchange for $10 or something. I would have gladly paid it on Friday.The heat made Toni’s Dilly Bars taste even better.

When I invited people over this time, I didn’t explicitly ask people to check their guns at the door. Thankfully, this wasn’t an issue this time and no one brandished any weapons.

I’m sitting at the “Front Porch” in Ely, MN. It’s a really nice coffee shop w/free wi-fi. I like the Raven’s Brew coffee at the Ely Surf Shop a little better, but the Front Porch has better scones, better furniture, a really nice selection of teas, really good food in addition to a really cool vibe. (Reenie, if you are reading this the third punch on your card is from me.)

The sign on the wall says, “Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.” Funny I am actually curious about how my kids would react to being hopped up on caffeince. Therein lies the differences between moms and dads I suspect.

Pistachio Macaroons, originally uploaded by timbu.

These are some of the best coookies I’ve ever made.

The recipe is from the book, “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”, by Nigella Lawson.

The filling layered in the cookies is a simple buttercream frosting with the addition of pistachio nuts which have been chopped up fine in the food processor.

My next batch of cupcakes will be made with this same frosting.