Ginger Bubble  Tea 

Ginger Bubble Tea Ingredients

Fresh Ginger, Lemon, Rosemary

Boba tea is my latest obsession, but if you live in a small town, it is a rare find in a shop or restaurant.  After trying it several times on vacation, I decided to make it at home.   This tea delivers a refreshing drink and a satisfying snack to chew all in one tasty package!  Also know as "bubble tea" the boba or bubbles are large, black tapioca pearls.  They can be found in Asian markets or ordered online, which is my only option. Order boba here or use a search engine to find other options.  **Link is not promotional in nature.  **Boba tea not recommended for young children as it may present a choking hazard.  

Allow to Cool

To prepare 2 servings of Tea you will need: 

12 thin slices of fresh ginger 2-3" long 

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 small sprig of fresh rosemary

2 cups cold water

Bring all ingredients to a boil, turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool.  Strain solids from tea and refrigerate.

**OR**
Prepare 2 bags commercially produced ginger tea, available in most grocery or health food stores, according to directions on box. This will make a more strongly-flavored ginger tea.

To prepare Boba:

1/2 cup dry boba

4 cups water

Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 20-25 minutes achieving a chewy consistency. Strain out water and drop boba into Simple Syrup, cool.

To prepare Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cup water

Warm water on stovetop, stir in sugar until completely dissolved, cool.

To assemble Bubble Tea:

Add 1/2 of the prepared boba to the bottom of a pretty glass.  Be sure to scoop in some Simple Syrup, as it is the sweetener.  Pour in 1/2 cup ginger tea and 1/2 cup milk.  I prefer using skim milk, but a higher fat content will result in a creamier tea.  Add a "fat straw" to your glass, find a relaxing spot to  sip and chew your way to bubble happiness!  ***Note: boba only hold for a few hours and will begin to lose consistency, turning dry even when held in syrup. 

Boil Boba for 20-25 Minutes for Chewy Consistency

Boil Boba in 4 cups Water for 1/2 cup Boba

Prepare Simple Syrup to Hold Boba

Strain Cooked Boba

Add Strained Boba to Simple Syrup

Spoon 1/4 cup Boba into Glass

Use a Pretty Glass 

Cooled Ginger Tea, Boba, Milk

Pour Glass Half Full of Ginger Tea

Pour Equal Amount of Milk

Enjoy Sipping with a Fat Straw!

Frosty Food Furnishes Family Fun

Mmmmmm!  Mango!

Last weekend we visited our best friends from college days.  They live in a town that is only about a four hour drive from our home, but we don't see them as much as we would like.  When our two boys and their three children were younger, we vacationed together every few years and have some great stories and running gags from those trips.  All it takes to get the entire crowd laughing is for someone to say "minner cheese," an inside joke from a long-ago trip to Hot Springs. Since all the children are grown and our friends' children have little ones of their own, we were past due for a get together.

A Chef in the Making

The girls have followed the blog and when the granddaughter visiting from Chicago requested a lesson in paleta making, I was thrilled!  Evelyn is quite the precocious four-year-old and she eagerly made the trip to the market to choose flavors and find the best fruit available.  At the check stand, she twirled on my fingers and we danced while the groceries were bagged, anticipating the fun!  Back at the house she juiced lemons, pulverized the fruit, added the sugar, and did the critical taste testing required for proper paleta preparations.   We rushed to get the desserts in the freezer by noon so everyone would have frosty treats for the evening's dessert.  When we were finished, every surface of the kitchen was sticky, but we had, with the help of the little one's mother and grandmother, prepared 42 paletas in sweet, pink watermelon, mouth-watering mango, scrumptious strawberry banana, tangy orange-lime, and enticing vanilla-soaked cherries in chocolate almond milk.

What a celebration we had that night with 16 and two more on the way! And even though we call them friends, the term chosen family is a better fit.  When generations come together to play, laugh and learn from each other, paletas are a tasty treat, but extraneous for joy abounding.  The pleasure is in the work of furthering relationships and sharing passions with the next generation.  I recommend bringing children into the kitchen.  It's a recipe for discovering fun!

Sweet Watermelon Paleta

Delish Dessert

Healthy Treat for a Growing Boy

Mango Lime Recipe

Enjoying the Fruits of Her Labor     

2 1/2 cups fresh peeled mango, cut in 1 inch chunks  
1 lime, zest and juice
1/4 cup sugar or to taste
2 t fresh ginger grated or 1 t ground ginger

Combine mango chunks, the zest and juice of 1 lime, sugar and ginger in blender or Cuisinart and pulse until smooth. Divide evenly into molds. Add sticks and freeze 4-6 hours.

Peaches or Pits?

My walking partner and I made a run on peaches, warm off the tree, juice-dribbling-down-our-chins, sticky, syrupy peaches.  She dreamed of baking crisps and cobblers while I envisioned peachy paletas, sweet and tangy, freshly frozen.  We made a plan and offed to Efurd's Orchards, to bring home as much blushing fruit as my Mini Cooper would carry.

Pleased with our purchases, and having no other appointments or to-do lists for the day, Becky and I drove into town for lunch and a peek into a past century at a tiny museum.  We delighted in our no-plan agenda of selecting produce at the road-side stand and doing as we pleased.  Like the peaches in the boot of the Mini, the day had a cheerful glow, having met our expectations as we headed home.


Then there was a rock that sounded like a boulder.  Sailing through the air it banged into the three-week new windshield, precisely in my line of vision with no chance to ignore it or look away.  The rock, this malevolent speck, bounced away shattering my contentment, leaving a scar so deep it nearly pierced the glass.  My peachy glow paled to liquid green with a punch to my suddenly churning stomach.

There was a decision to make.  Would the rock in the road ruin my experiences at the orchard?  Would it color my delight in creating peach paletas, turning everything lifeless or sour?   Would I add it to my lengthy list of recent woes, or could I choose to patch it up, regain strength and retain the sanguine spirit of the day?

Evil intruded into my life uninvited, but I could not allow it to change my spirit.  It did not take minutes or hours, but days to choose delight over dejection.  Before the Mini was repaired, with the windshield replaced once again, peach paletas were made and pleasure was reinstated.  I picked peaches over pits.  It is always the better portion.

Peach Paletas Recipe

3 cups fresh peaches, pitted and peeled, retaining a few ribbons of skin on each peach

1 lime, juice and zest

1 t fresh grated ginger

1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste

1/4-1/2 cup water or club soda, optional*

Combine peaches, lime juice and zest, ginger and sugar in Cuisinart.  Pulse until smooth.  If a denser paleta is desired, leave out water.  If an icy, crunchier texture is preferred, add water or club soda.  Pour into molds.  Freeze 4-6 hours.