26 March 2009

On Ritual

Not THAT kind of ritual. Ritual in drinking. I know there are people who thrive on variety. Me? I thrive on sameness.

Ordinarily, the day begins with a pot of coffee, enjoyed with Matins and surfing the web or dealing with email. The grinder goes off at 6 and the coffee is hot and ready to go by the time I wander into the kitchen.

Come mid-morning and throughout the afternoon, it's tea time. We have a coffee maker we use for nothing but hot water, and we go through several pots of hot water a day. I usually alternate between Irish Breakfast and Green Tea - my two favorites. Though I do enjoy Darjeeling, which is Pastor Gleason's favorite.

Lunch and dinner invariably feature drinking large amounts of water.

Sometimes in the afternoon or evening, I'll make up a second round of coffee using the french press - which only makes about 2 and half cups.

I keep my eye on the clock for 7 p.m. That's when I get to enjoy my glass of wine. I've been sampling a variety of "Two Buck Chuck" vintages, and they've all been good, but to my Philistine palate the Franzia in the box is in the same league.

A day spent quietly at home, reading, praying, studying, writing - and punctuated by the arrival of the different beverages is my "perfect day."

So, now you know how boring my life is...but I like it that way!

11 comments:

Kiran said...

"I know!" as we have taken to saying.

Have you tried Orange Pekoe? It is a wonderful thing.

William Weedon said...

Dear Kiran,

Yes, Orange Pekoe (regular black tea, that), is a favorite as well. Give me Red Rose.

Dear Scott,

Lutheran, but not German. I was drinking that Mic Ultra, but you know if I have only one alcoholic beverage per day, I prefer wine.

Rev. Charles Lehmann said...

Rose tea? ONLY TWO WEEKS PER YEAR.

:-)

Rev. Richard A. Heinz said...

What a delightful day of delicious drinks!

Darjeeling is a favorite in our household for tea. (With milk and sugar, of course.)

Although, we LOVE a unique blend of black tea that has cinnamon and vanilla in it. We have taken to calling it "comfort in a cup." Absolutely delightful any time of day!

I blogged about it here: http://revfrheinz.blogspot.com/2008/01/comfort-in-cup.html

Unknown said...

This sounds like a positively delightful day....

I spend most of my days dealing with the ups and downs of middle schoolers

So, whenever I can enjoy days like the one described I thoroughly take advantage of them. :-)

Pax

Past Elder said...

Gee whiz, I'm English by descent and the only good reason I can think of for drinking tea is part of having Chinese! Or maybe being back in Mother England, but I haven't been there since 1969.

So is it coffee English style, which, DP may correct me, but when I was there was half coffee half milk, which I rather got to like, or, being an honourary Puerto Rican, Latin coffee is an entirely different thing, or good old Folgers out the Mr Coffee like everybody in Omaha except the got rich last week crowd?

Answer, the last plus Dr Pepper Diet Cherry Vanilla. As to being German, I'm not German at all, just grew up around them in Minnesota and went to a school founded with money from King Ludwig for God's sake, which my first Lutheran pastor said was God preparing me to be Lutheran later on, so I could lapse into German while ranting. Now I'M the guy saying we ought to sing Stille Nacht on Christmas Eve!

Anonymous said...

Not a tea drinker, but do enjoy my coffee. Would be interested in your wine favorites. I fell in love with the Shiraz/Syrrah variety in a past life and it still is enjoyable. It's a delightful flavor.

Jeremy

William Weedon said...

Not a tea drinker, Jeremy! Alas! What pleasures you deny yourself. "The kiosks of Pekin/ Fragrant of oolong."

About the wines: Shiraz is fine, but I prefer Merlot; and when I have a white, Chardonnay.

Rev. Charles Lehmann said...

We begin the day with a pot of coffee. The grinder goes off at 6:00 and frightens the Dickens out of the kitty if he's downstairs.

I drink most of the pot, but Jen has some. The rest of the day is water and sometimes tea or OJ. In the evening I will occasionally have tea, but usually hot chocolate.

We have an organic grocery in town that is stocking all sorts of high quality teas though, and I may try some of their herbals (though I'm not usually a fan).

We don't drink much alcohol anymore because of cost, but my father-in-law bought us some very nice wines at Christmastime that we've been pacing our way through.

We opened the last bottle last night, a wonderful old vine zinfandel.

On every other Tuesday we have a date night and often go to a local place for wings, garlic cheese bread, and $1 Yuengling drafts. Those Yuenglings are something I look forward to.

Anonymous said...

Beer? No Beer? And you call yourself a Lutheran;

Weeelllll -- I'm German and Lutheran but I'm right there with Pastor Weedon, I'll take a good sip of wine over beer any day.

I'll also happily join PE in some good English coffee as well as a nice hot cup of tea!

Christine

WM Cwirla said...

"I've been sampling a variety of "Two Buck Chuck" vintages, and they've all been good, but to my Philistine palate the Franzia in the box is in the same league."

"Philistine" doesn't come close to describing it. Watch out for the cheap stuff - it leads to drunkenness.

Don't forget a nice chilled rainwater Madeira before dinner, with a nice Port following.

As long as we're talking essential beverages, let's not forget my good friends Patron Silver and Don Julio. They're not just for breakfast anymore.