My friend transferred to Chico State for school and after she graduated she ended up staying in Chico for several years. I would go visit her from time to time, and once when I went she decided to take me to the Tea Bar and Fusion Café. I LOVED it! From that time on, whenever I am in Chico I have to stop there and get tea or food.
The Tea Bar and Fusion Café first opened in Chico in 2004, down by the college and high school. They later opened another smaller location close to the Chico mall. A couple years ago they launched a third location in Sacramento, CA; (although I’ve heard the service is not as good there.)
The Tea Bar has an extensive tea menu, you can order Kombucha, hot tea (various ones), frosted tea lattes, blended tea sorbets, iced teas, sparkling teas, and hot tea lattes. I’ve had most of the items off their menu and everything has been absolutely delicious.
My absolute favorite (besides A pot of Earl Grey) is their Matcha Mint Frost (Matcha green tea mixed with ice cream and topped with fresh mint.) It is so delicious that I dream of it sometimes. I have tried to recreate it, but I can never quite get it as good as theirs.
Even now I can’t wait until it is warm enough to go purchase one.
With their lattes I love the Matcha Sin, Chai Tea, and the Honey Lavender. They are all so good!
Their food menu is small but everything on it is so good. You can order snacks like hummus and naan, edamame, etc or you can get a build your own bowl/wrap. With the build your own you have the option of a bowl or a wrap; choice of meat, greens, rice, and dressing. My favorite is the bowl with Cracked Pepper London Broil, Romaine Leaves, and creamy teriyaki sauce.
This place is so good that if you happen to be in Chico, I urge you to stop by. The food is healthy and delicious, the tea amazing, and it is a fun place to be with a nice atmosphere.
So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). This week was the last for TMN and we had Chai Tea, Cranberry Chai Scones, Cucumber Canapés, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Mini Shepherd’s Pie, and Snickerdoodles.
I though it would be able to post these faster, but I have really fallen behind. I’m trying though!
So I will not be sharing the Shepherd’s Pie recipe as my sister made it and made it up without writing down how to recreate it. Instead I will be jumping straight to snickerdoodles. This recipe comes from The King Arthur Flour Cookbook.
Ingredients:
1 cup (184g) shortening
1 1/2 cups (298g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups Flour
Cinnamon Sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar until smooth
Then beat in the eggs, again beating until smooth. The mixture will become lighter, and lighter-colored, as you beat; this is the result of air being absorbed.
Beat in the vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
Then add the flour, mixing slowly until combined.
Place about 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar in an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.
Drop the soft dough by tablespoonfuls into the pan with the sugar, about 6 to 8 balls at a time. Gently shake the pan to coat the dough balls with sugar.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2″ between them.
Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Repeat until you’ve used up all the dough.
Bake the snickerdoodles for 11 to 12 minutes, reversing the position of the pans (top to bottom, and back to front) midway through.
Remove the cookies from the oven once they’re set and just starting to turn golden. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
These were delicious and a perfect addition to our tea time.
So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). This week was the last for TMN and we had Chai Tea, Cranberry Chai Scones, Cucumber Canapés, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Mini Shepherd’s Pie, and Snickerdoodles.
I though it would be able to post these faster, but I have really fallen behind. I’m trying though!
And eat scones!
I found this recipe from Plum Deluxeon Pinterest. I wanted to do something a little different and this sounded delicious.
Ingredients:
1 lb of Asparagus
3-3.5 oz of Prosciutto
Directions:
Wash your asparagus by holding the stalks under cool water for 10-30 mins.
Cut the white ends from the asparagus.
Boil a pot of water.
Sprinkle salt into water.
Once water has boiled, add asparagus. Make sure they are completely submerged under the hot water.
Let the asparagus cook for 2-4 minutes.
Your asparagus will be ready when they turn bright green.
Place asparagus in ice cold water.
Set the asparagus on a towel and dry the stalks.
Wrap each spear in prosciutto.
These were delicious and a perfect addition to our tea time.
Tea first!
For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cinnamon Bun Scones
And now for the last of our Magician’s Nephew book club/Bible study/tea party: Chai Tea, Cranberry Chai Scones, Cucumber Flatbread Canapés, Mini Shepherd’s Pie, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, and Snickerdoodles.
As I was unable to share these earlier I’m catching up now and am starting with scones of course!
This comes from TeaTime Magazine’s November/December 2020 edition. This was originally supposed to be gluten free, but as none of us have a gluten allergy, I just made them with regular flour. You were also suppose to refrigerate the steeping milk and chai tea, but I hadn’t read that and steeped it for only an hour. They still tasted good.
YUM!
Ingredients:
3/4 Cup of Whole Milk
3 Tablespoons of Masala Chai Loose Leaf Tea
2.5 Cups of Flour
4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
5 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter, cubed
1/4 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Sugar (Granulated), divided
1/2 Cup of Dried Cranberries
2 Medium Eggs
1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
Directions:
In a pint jar with lid, combine milk and loose leaf tea. Steep for 6 hours.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Using fingers, rub in butter as lightly as possible until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and then the cranberries.
Using an infuser or fine-mesh sieve, strain infused milk.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons of infused milk, and vanilla extract.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture, and stir until dough begins to form.
Working gently, being mixture together with hands until the dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a floured surface, and gently knead by patting dough and folding it in half 3 or 4 times.
Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1-inch thickness.
Using a 2.5 inch fluted round cutter dipped in flour, and cut as many scones as possible from the dough.
Place scones on the prepared baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat ovens to 400 degrees F.
Sprinkle tops of scones with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Bake until scones are lightly Golden, 16-18 minutes.
Serve immediately.
These were extremely delicious and as you see, I enjoyed them the next morning as well with Purple Jasmine tea (this pic is from my Tea Advent Calendar Swap 2020.)
So the story starts with a grumpy queen who hates her cup of tea and sets off to find the perfect cup of tea.
She starts off in Japan meeting a little girl named Noriko, cuddles some kittens, and learns how to make Matcha tea.
Then to India where she meets Sunil and they play ball and make Chai Tea.
After that she journeys onto Turkey where she meets Rana, dances, and makes Turkish tea.
After all her adventures, she heads home where she makes a cup of English tea and thinks.
She then decides to hold a tea party and invites her new friends-having learned that true happiness comes from having someone to share a cup of tea with.
It is such an adorable book and introduces children to fun, friendship, and four different ways of making tea.
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