Directions: |
Directions: I did not get any recipes from my Grandma, Beth Schulte, but I did get the most wonderful memories of her. She really enjoyed having one on one time with me when she watched me during the day when I was little and my brother was just starting school.
She would bring me into the kitchen and let me help make toast while she boiled water for tea that she made from tea bags that she kept in a shiny metal bin-container with 3 doors on it, that would tip outwards when you pulled the knob so you could see what was inside. Even when that bin was empty I would pull it open and take a big sniff inside and smell the tea that normally filled it.
The bin on the end of the row was where Grandpa kept his mint flavored Chicklets and I would always take inventory of it so that I could ask for a piece later in the day. Sometimes we'd get the last 2 pieces in the box, she and I, and she taught me how to make a sort of kazoo-whistle by gently blowing on the open end of the open box and making the cellophane vibrate. It tickeled my lips and nose by I couldn't help making the noise as long as the box held up.
When the toast was made and the water was hot, we'd sit at her dining room table, just the two of us, and she'd pour the tea into her good china cups (always with the saucers) and put milk and sugar in my cup and then hers. Then we'd have a choice of grape or mint flavored jelly for the toast which for some reason always tasted better from her toaster.
Our morning ritual is one of my most powerful memories I have from my early childhood and I can remember how great it was to have that time with her and how much I anticipated it- even when my brother was there too. I also remember how much I missed it when it was over.
I've never been able to make tea quite that good again or toast quite that perfect- and I've lost the taste for mint jelly all together I’m afraid. But if you read between the lines and get this recipe right, you will never pass on a better secret to your kin. Of that much, I am sure. I love you Grandma. |
This recipe for Tea & Toast with Grandma is from