With grateful hearts we wish you and your family all the joy, beauty and peace of the season from our snow clad Rochester, NY. Hannukah Sameach! Merry Christmas! Joyous Kwanzaa! Or, whatever brings cheer to your heart!Have a great New...
One of the main reasons for my recent trip to India was to attend my father's “barsi” - his first death anniversary ceremony. These rituals officially mark the end of the mourning period for the bereaved family, and invoke Chenrizig, the goddess of compassion, for the liberation of all souls.
Dawn breaks over Sukna, a small village in the foothills of Darjeeling. This is where my mother lives. This is where I was born 40 years ago, when elephants used to trundle down the dirt road in front of our house. Times have changed. Now young men walk the dusty lanes transfixed onto their cell phones just like anywhere else in the world.
In my previous post I mentioned Dussehra, the biggest Hindu festival of India, which happened to be underway as I arrived in the country. Traveling eastwards, where Darjeeling is located, I fortuitously moved into the epicentre of the celebrations - West Bengal, the "home" of Goddess Durga.
kEverytime I return to India it is as if I have never left. A few moments after emerging from the airport, I am swept into the heat, dust and chaos that feels so familiar that I soon forget there is anything else but that.
Nepal is one of the youngest tea producing nations in the world. It ranks 20th in the world in terms of total tea production according to 2012 data. Despite its young history, Nepal has earned a seat at the table with the “big boys” of tea.
"This 2014 First Flush Singbulli Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea is simply superb. The problem in writing about it is that there are so many different flavors in this tea that emerge depending upon preparation. Frankly this is true of all of the Darjeelings that I have purchased from Happy Earth. Mr. Lama obviously has a very cultivated palate, and as a result the leaf quality of his Darjeelings is of very high standard, permitting all kinds of variations in temperature and steeping time, without incurring bitterness. I have, at times, forgotten about my steeping, and so have partaken of teas steeped up to fifteen minutes! In all of these instances I have only discovered new flavors... never bitterness.
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How about some fine tea along side ikebana and pottery?! That's what we got coming First Friday, 9/5, at our Tea Studio at the Hungerford in downtown Rochester, NY! Ikebana International Chapter 53 will exhibit flower arrangements created by members...
