<
s
c

s
Home / SmellyBlog / Tagged: Ginger

SmellyBlog

Ginger & White Tea


White Teas, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Cold rainy morning, and so I'm shivering and cuddling by the fireplace with my morning tea, wishing I would have not taken off my flannel pyjamas and imagining that I'm still in it...

Working too many days a week and too many hours a day sure takes a toll - especially when it cuts into one's sleep. I'm making a pledge with myself to got to bed super early in the next few days if I can help it. And by early I mean 9pm. Yup. I think I must do this if I want to get well for the next weekend show, which is followed by a soiree on Tuesday, leading to the OOAK show on Thursday (and these would be 14 hour days - 8am-10pm), counting commute, prep and clean up at the beginning and end of each day.

So today I intend to stay in, but not just blog/brag/complain about how hard I work and how tough it is to be a one-woman-show, single mother and a business owner in today's economy - I actually wanted to share with you my cup of morning tea :-)

Last year I've been talking a lot abut my ginger and amber perfume , which I created especially for days like today, when you feel under the weather and wish you could stay in your flannel pyjamas and cashmere underwear (apparently, there is such a thing, and although I am not fortunate enough to own a pair, I imagine they would be quite wonderful). This tea is the equivalent of that feeling the tea gives you - sweet and warm and fuzzy but very delicate, with white tea and vanilla and ginger.

Next year I am planning to dedicate to studying teas and the art of tea blending, and would love to bring out a some new teas if I am ready to show them to the world. For now, I'm just sharing with you this morning tea. I think it's simple, elegant and balanced. And it makes me feel a little bit better yet without feeling like I'm drinking medicine.

P.s. This tea was originally designed for my spring-welcoming tea ceremony on March 21st 2010.

Ginger-Tangerine Icebox Cookies


Candied Ginger, originally uploaded by Live♥Laugh♥Love.

As promised - finally, my candied ginger cookie recipe, which I've invented this holiday season (blame it on the 2 weeks of snow and very low temperatures - the perfect time to perfect one's skills in the kitchen). These turned out so well that I didn’t have a chance to photograph them before they were gone! I will do my best to take a picture next time I bake them before my in-house cookie monster claims them.

In this recipe, I tried to recreate the pleasure I've encountered in Squamish last spring with this decadent take on ginger that almost tasted like mastic and ginger. Of course, a cookie cannot taste like an ice cream but I wanted it to be special and very not gingerbread-like. Something more light and bright.

For the dough you will need:

7oz unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1/4lb. butter, softened at room temperature

1 Tbs. tangerine zest (preferably Murcott) - or orange zest if you can't find tangerines

1 Tbs freshly grated ginger

4 Tbs. chopped candied ginger

1/2 tsp. dry ginger powder

1 Tbs. fresh tangerine (or orange) juice

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the glazing you will need:

1/2 cup icing sugar

Lime juice from 1/2 lime

1 drop organic ginger CO2 extract

Instructions:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg and keep beating until evenly smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients - spices, citrus zest, juice and vanilla extract

3. Add the candied ginger and stir well.

4. Add the flour gradually until fully blended and start kneading the dough with your hands. Add more flour if required. Dough should be soft but not too sticky.

5. Split the dough into two portions and roll them into two logs. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for at least 2 hours.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

7. Remove from freezer, and slice the logs into 1/4" thick cookies. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

8. While the cookies are baking, prepare the glazing (if desired) by mixing all the ingredients together with a small whisk or a fork.

9. Cool on the cooling rack for 2 minutes.

10. Using a pastry brush, apply the glazing to the cookies (optional).

Enjoy!

Magnolia Lily & The Chinese Apothecary



Some Chinese herbs, originally uploaded by egle_k..
Just before the year ended, some packages with supplies that got stuck in the holiday mail arrived. One of them had a sample of CO2 extraction of Magnolia Lily (Magnolia fargesii) - a type of magnolia that smells nothing like white magnolia or champaca. It has none of the fruitiness or sweetn floralcy of either. Rather, it is camphoreous and medicinal and leaves the palette bewildered as for whether it is hot or cold. It reminds me a bit of ginger lily (only woodier and less reminiscent of ginger and roots) and I immediately knew I would have to try it out in my 5th mod of the Amber & Ginger perfume (by the way, this is only the working name for this perfume) - a perfume I started working on last winter when I caught a bad flu and needed something to warm me up. All the more appropriate to add to it an essence that smells like a Chinese Apothecary!

Incidentally, my spring cleaning also revealed some treasures. Literally. I found my lost formula for the 5-spice accord I was hoping to use in some upcoming revolutionary floral (I don't know what would be revolutionary about it but I can feel it). I also found 7 pendants, probably in the same drawer. Which a good thing because otherwise I would have needed to order more!

So, the 5th mod of Ginger & Amber features the abovementioned Magnolia Lily, as well as a hint of Egyptian jasmine grandiflorum absolute (a stellar jasmine if you ask me). I also created a 6th mod, in which there is even more magnolia lily and jasmine, as well as some ginger lily (the root, not the flower). It is still just as juicy and cozy as the 4th mod that I loved, but thanks to the floral heart notes it has less of the hollowness that typifies perfumes based on a top-note & base-note marriage.
Previous posts about Amber & Ginger's development:
March 3rd, 2008: Amber & Ginger
April 2nd, 2008: Amber & Ginger, Part 2
May 6th, 2008: Amber & Ginger: The Third Party

Mandarin Oranges & Sandalwood Incense



Tangerines & Sandalwood, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.
These two cute tangerines were given to me by Monique at my holiday soiree (they were fresher and brighter a week ago, I can assure you, but I procrastinated on this photoshoot) and they got me thinking again about the sandalwood-mandarin duo. As a result, I’m inspired to build something around this accord, or more likely - re-visit my ginger & amber perfume and add a sandalwood element to it.

I haven’t started working on this mod yet (scheduled to be mod #6). This week I was too busy baking cookies and entertaining as a way to cope with the snow and the extremely low temperatures (-8 during the day at times, which is very unusual for Vancouver at any given time). I still have to work on mod #5 with magnolia lily and jasmine to flesh out the heart and give the perfume more body. It sure is interesting to see how this perfume develops in teeny-tiny steps every time.

In the meantime, I’m using a shortcut and wearing some Obsession eau de toilette and resisting the temptation of taking advantage of the Boxing day specials and finally get myself the parfum extrait.
The large tangerines, by the way, were the best ones I’ve ever found in Vancouver in my 10+ years of living here. They turned out so great that I used them in a new ginger wafers recipe and it made it quite amazing really. I will post my recipe here soon, promise.

Mental Notes: Mix and Wear

Today I've been mixing a trial version of an Epice Sauvage reformulation, so that's what I'm wearing at the moment.
To the original formula, I've added two notes I've been dying to add to Epice Sauvage for a long time: ginger and orange blossom.
I still can't tell if I like the original better or this new version; better let it sit and mature a bit before I cast any judgement.
Back to the top