Lots to talk about today. First, you all know Kim Bultman from Cravings of a Lunatic? She has an interview series called Burning Down the Kitchen and today she’s interviewed ME ! I couldn’t be more stoked. It’s usually me writing about other food writers/bloggers but today I’m on the other side of the desk.
Kim writes clever questions and gives plenty of time to get the answers in and then she visits the interviewee’s blog and chooses a recipe to try. She said she’d been eyeing my apple and pear crumble and that’s the one she did on her post. It looks SO good. She didn’t stand the pear up in the crisp but chopped it, making it heaps easier to eat, I’m sure. Mine was a knife and fork effort. She also added pistachios – doesn’t that sound good?
Next, the Chef, the Photographer and the Blogger workshop for Saturday in Maleny has been put off til June 22nd. I’m not sure the reason but positive there is one. So much food stuff going on with the Noosa International Food and Wine Festival only a week away. It’s a big deal up here in the food bowl. I’m on one of the panels, I’ll be doing a Q&A with Tetsuya Wakuda
My sister arrives on the 18th from New York so she’ll get to go and see me work. It’s been five years since I’ve seen her so we have a lot of catching up today.
I haven’t told you much about Maleny but it’s a small country town in the hills in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. It’s about 30 minutes from our house and because winter is coming, it’s always much colder up there. It’s a beautiful tourist area and you can see all the way to the ocean from the hills.
Notice how all the cars are angle parked but backed in? Yes, that’s the rule in Maleny. It looks old-timey, doesn’t it? It is. There are less than 6,000 people in the town but it’s a huge food producing and tourist area with a very large dairy and a cheese company and other producers as well as farmers. Remember Lizzie Moult from Strayed from the Table? She doesn’t live far from there and she goes to Maleny’s farmer’s market with her garden’s produce.
Finally, I did enter the contest with my tea infused bread pudding for the Dilmah Tea company’s high tea challenge but when I went to submit, there was a requirement that in addition to a recipe using tea, we had to come up with a tea pairing. You could have heard me from where you are doing the AARGH!!
Since I love iced tea and I had raspberries left over from the bread pudding, I chose a raspberry iced tea. I know it was really boring but I wanted to have the tea stand out so I made ordinary scones and filled them with whipped cream and raspberry jam. THEN I was able to submit. Not overly clever but it’s in. 🙂
I should have read the form more closely. I’d had a peek and I thought it was an either/or so I chose the recipe. By the time I finished, my kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off, I was covered in flour and I’d nearly lost the daylight to shoot the final photo. Thankfully while I was upstairs editing the photo and filling out the form, my sweet husband went down to the kitchen and cleaned it all up.
“Do you REALLY need to use every single utensil in the kitchen, dear?”
“yes”
This tea was lovely and you can drink it unsweetened or with any sort of sweetener you like. Do you like iced tea as much as I do? When I lived in the South, there were two iced teas. “You want ‘sweetea’ or unsweetened?” was always the question. Nearly everyone chooses sweetea. I’m not sure when it turned into one word but it definitely was when I was there and sweet it was.
- 1 cup raspberries
- 2 tbs sugar (or to your taste)
- 6 tea bags
- 1 pitcher/jug of boiling water
- Place raspberries in a small saucepan with the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and cook until the raspberries seem to fall apart.
- Press through a sieve to remove all the seeds
- Make the tea by pouring boiling water over the tea bags and steep for 7 minutes - No longer.
- Add raspberry puree and stir well. It will be a bit cloudy but it's so good it's worth a stir every now and again.
Need some Mother’s Day ideas? The Cooking Doctor put out a magazine full of them!
Yum! I love raspberry tea, but never thought I could make it myself 🙂
Me either but it worked 🙂
You did have a lot to share, love it!!! I will make sure to hop over and check out the interview on Kim’s site, how exciting!! 🙂 My work requires us to back into spaces with our work cars….bluck! So I would fit right in to that cute little town:-) Your tea sounds really delicious, and so refreshing! Hugs, Terra
Thanks Terra. I can parallel park but it’s taken ages. Just think about doing it from the passenger seat. My head just never wanted to turn that way 🙂
Thank you Maureen for the mention and link, appreciate it :-). I am a big fan of iced tea too- thanks to the weather here! The scones look very tempting.
It turned out okay, Jehanne, although I would have preferred to have read the entire directions ahead of time and then planned ahead. 🙂
This looks perfect for scones – or anything really. And I can’t believe you haven’t seen your sister for 5 years, but am so excited for you that you get to see her now!
It’s a little bit cool down this way for iced tea at the moment, but I certainly regret not having it a bit more in the summer months, as I always enjoy it when I do come across it! Just one of those things..
I’m so glad some one else is a messy cook. I get so into it that I forget about putting things away and cleaning as I go. And my husband asks the same question about using every utensil, do you think they’ve been conspiring? Love your tea, raspberries always call my name.
It was so nice to read more about you Maureen! And I like the sound of this using real raspberries! 😀
Love the tea! Raspberries are my favorite. This look just perfect!
Raspberries are my favorite too. When I had rows and rows of raspberry bushes I’d eat my way from one end to the other when I was supposed to be picking to freeze. 🙂
Oh, delicious. I love the look of that jam!
Congrats, Maureen! And the raspberry tea and biscuits look amazing!!! Wishing you a very happy Mother’s day.
I’m pretty enthusiastic about using all our cooking gear when I make something. But I usually clean up as I go (it’s taken me decades to finally learn to do this) so the kitchen usually isn’t too messy by the time I’m finished i it. And I haven’t seem angle parking like that in ages! Great picture. As is the tea – both great, and I haven’t had that in ages. So of course now I need some. 😉 Good luck in the contest.
I’m still thinking about your black walnuts! Thanks and I do clean but when I was under the gun to catch the light, cleaning was less important 🙂
He he he…. I remember a class with Gabriel Gate, who told the tale about how some cooks just cook with abandon and worry about the cleaning later, while others fuss, primp and polish the kitchen as they go. A lovely post Maureen.
I haven’t seen Gabriel Gate since I left Melbourne. 🙂 Usually I clean between dishes but when I realised I had to get the tea and scones done before the light faded, it all went to hell in a matter of minutes 🙂
You’ve been having adventures, darling! How nice that your sis is coming out AND she’ll get to see you in your element. Maleny sounds charming – I used to adore little country towns, but it’s quite hard to visit them with rambunctious and easily bored sons, and we got out of the habit of exploring when the boys were little. Will have to get back into it again! 🙂 Now, on the raspberry tea – do you think I could use frozen raspberries? They’re just so much cheaper..
I love small country towns. I used frozen raspberries. It didn’t show I don’t think. 🙂
Have fun with your sister, I am sure it will be so wonderful to see her after 5 years! I just had some iced hibiscus tea, I would love to try your raspberry tea.
I know. We do email a lot so it’s not like we haven’t been in communication but it’s not the same as sitting down with a cup of coffee and a cookie.
That’s the perfect summer treat and it looks delightful!
Great pictures, thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Daniella and I appreciate your visit and comment!
I’m not much of a tea drinker, Maureen, but your raspberry tea sure does look appealing. It will pari beautifully with your bread pudding. Good luck in the contest!
Tea is good for you 🙂
I’m not ANY kind of a tea drinker, other than sweetea, so I really enjoyed the bread pudding recipe but I would also enjoy the scones with raspberry jam and whipping cream or some of the crème fraiche in my fridge.
someone else who understands sweetea 🙂
I love ice tea, this would be perfect for the hot summer months ahead!
I will never forget the day I first had Southern Sweet Tea. Have never ben the same since. SO FANTASTIC!!!!
Finally, a raspberry tea worth making. 🙂
did they offer it to you using just one word?? I had a laugh the first few times and then realized everyone talked that way.
Oh I want some of this tea right now! Looks so refreshing and delicious!!
So much news! That’s great your sister is coming to stay. I love Maleny too. A friend of mine from school lives there and they have such a relaxing lifestyle. How lovely to be interviewed! It must have been such a thrill after having done so many interviews yourself. I love the look of your scones and raspberry ice tea sounds lovely – a great summer’s drink I think xx
As a woman with a sister, you’d understand how excited I am for a bit of family talk. We haven’t seen each other in a long time and in that time my mother died. She’s bringing me something she kept of my mother’s for me. She’s also bringing her young granddaughter Emma who can’t wait to play with Charlie and go to the Australia Zoo.
I’m a tea freak; can’t think of a day without a cup of tea. And I bet your raspberry tea would make my soul dance ! Never had it before. So thank you very much for the lovely idea.
Love.
I hope you try it. I really liked it.
I love iced tea and can’t wait to make this! Sounds wonderful.
I hope you think it’s good!
Oh sugar, I didn’t know you lived in Maleny: to me just about the perfect place to be Down Under! Some years back I was supposed to buy in Noosaville and made an incorrect life choice . . . life!!!! Learned to love iced tea way back when in Singapore and Hong Kong . . . still part of my summer . . .
I don’t live in Maleny. 🙁 I live in Minyama on the canal but Maleny is only 30 minutes from here. Noosaville is lovely and in stark contrast to Maleny.
I love Maleny and the cheese factory there, delicious. I am hoping to make it up to the Noosa food festival next week. Hopefully I will catch up with you then 🙂
Oh please! If I don’t recognize you.. and I probably won’t. Yell at me! I think I look just like the photo. 🙂 I’ll be the one with the American accent.
Yum, I would be keen to give that a go. I love tea so having something different would be a real treat. Looking forward to next weekend too Maureen. Can’t Wait.
Also I do the Montville Market not Maleny.
good thing I didn’t go to Maleny then 🙂 hopefully it will be fantastic weather for you!
I read the title of this post Maureen and assumed you were making Raspberry Leaf Tea which bough back many nostalgic memories of drinking raspberry leaft tea religiously throughout my last trimester while pregnant to induce labour.
This version looks MUCH nicer than the god awful stuff I was drinking!!
LOL did the tea work, Lisa??
Raspberries in tea? Brilliance Maureen. I bet it tastes wonderful. I do that too. I sometimes finish a big baking session and look around wondering how I could make such a mess in such a short time.
How exciting that your sister is coming to visit you! I bet you’re going to have the most amazing time. So much excitement on the horizon for you.
This is a fantastic year, Claire and I know it is for you too.
Love the sound of this tea; mess or no mess! Actually love it all; want it all too!
I was overwhelmed when I saw that he’d cleaned it all up. It’s not a cleaner-upper sort of man. He’s usually a step over it and pretend it’s not on the floor kind of person.
Our summer is just about to begin so your tea will have to bee one to try out soon. Congrats on all the happenings. Have a great weekend Maureen!
Thank you, Nancy, it’s going to be heaps of fun!
Congratulations on being interviewed Maureen it’s so lovely, I’m going to check it out as soon as I leave this comment. How nice that your sister is coming from NY, I can’t imagine not seeing my brother for five years. That iced tea looks very refreshing, I hope you win that contest!
I knew when I moved 10,000 miles away, seeing family would be sporadic at best. In the early years we had a lot of money and traveled back a few times a year. Then 2008 happened and we lost most everything. I’ve learned to cope. 🙂
Sweetea … in Canada, it’s on the Red Lobster menu and I always have at least 2 big cups, sometimes 3. Never any other time.
LOL my son’s first job was as an oyster shucker for Red Lobster and he worked with them through high school (including playing varsity foodball) and then during college and worked as a manager and regional manager too before going out on his own. I didn’t know they served sweet tea outside of the South though!
Maureen, those photos say “Come on in! Pull up a seat! Grab a plate!” Beautiful!
Enjoy the time with your sister – I guess lots of catching up to do after 5 years.
Thanks, Hester, it will be great to see Carole and her granddaughter. We talk frequently but haven’t done so in the same room for a long time. Last time she visited, my brother came too and it was the BEST time.
My husband always comes to my rescue as well after he says I have used every spoon in the kitchen. Sounds like we are very lucky. 🙂
or we’re very loved in spite of our messiness?
Even though I am not a tea or coffee person, I do love fruity ones. Your photos are stunning, Maureen. Have a great weekend.
I simply adore raspberries, but they are so very expensive here that, when I do buy them, I simply eat them straight. I don’t often get up to Queensland – might have to do something about that!
Oh my… I don’t know if I could live in Maleny…. I can barely back my car into my driveway. LOL! I would certainly need a refreshing glass of this raspberry tea if I had to do any backing up… it looks delicious. 🙂
LOL I don’t park there either. I park in the “car park” (not called a parking lot here) that’s behind those buildings.
I will be picking up some raspberries today! My sister is coming in tomorrow and she’ll love this as much as me. Enjoy visiting your sis! I know I’ll be enjoying mine.
I certainly will! I’m so looking forward to spending time with Carole and sharing sister memories.
Maureen! I love raspberry tea!! This looks divine. And aren’t you the celebrity being interviewed and on panels. You go girl!
Thanks Mary Frances, it’s a busy week!
I’m a tea-aholic, so this will be making many appearances this summer. 🙂 Enjoy your visit with your sister!
I can’t wait, Claire!
Did I not already thank you here for the link? somehow I couldnt see the comment, but Maureen thank you for the link!
This might sound silly but I didn’t know raspberry tea can be so easy to make! (Ok maybe it was a really silly thing to say!) I have raspberries in the fridge. I’m going to make the first thing after I drop off the kids in the morning!! Hope the biscuits will come with the tea too… 😉
For you? Biscuits come with the tea but those are Aussie scones served with jam and whipped cream. 🙂 You could have those too.