Tea with Gran ~ CookingFood.Org

Sometimes a photograph can grab you and transport you back to a familiar place. Perhaps a place that was so full of love that you knew, even as a child, that you would someday have vivid memories of that time.

My grandmother 'taught me' to drink tea at an early age, perhaps seven. She was not as fancy as Tasha Tudor with her lace ruffles and all, but she always wore a dress and an apron. Her name was Mary.

I can still feel the tea-cup in my hand, warmed from the wood-stove and filled with 1/2 tea and 1/2 milk and a bit of honey. She would say "A little tea won't hurt you. It is good for your tummy." "Whatever"...we just wanted the hot beverage, and the goodies that were served with it, and to sit with our Granny for awhile.

Along with the tea was fresh bread, toasted on the wood stove, with her home-made strawberry jam. There was nothing like it. We each had our own special tea-cup. Mine was red and black and had a dragon on the side of it. I thought it was the most beautiful tea-cup in the world. She always kept the cookie jar filled with home-made cookies. I remember 'Hermits' mostly.

She taught me how to pour tea, to let it steep for 5 minutes and never clean the pot with soap.

"Just boiling-hot water and some lemon will do the trick", she'd say.

As I type this I can see her face and feel the heat of the stove on my face. I remember her little brown tabby-cat, Maggie always snuggled in her apron. How I loved that cat. I can hear the laughter of my cousins, who sat around the summer kitchen making these same memories. We shared stories and listened to music on the old record player. We teased each other and made plans for the next morning; what we'd do and where we'd go.

Everyday was an adventure at my grandmother's home.

Such wonderful memories of childhood. Summers at the old farm.

I don't have my grandmother's recipe for Hermit cookies but this blog has one very close to what I remember.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/HermitCookies.html

What I would give to have my grandmother share a pot of tea with me today.