the drink of the gods:

i read this article this morning and it was all i could do not to shout "Amen!" out loud here at work. if you know me at all, you know my obsession with REAL sweet tea and my never-ending search for the perfect glass...

so for all of you who enjoy the good stuff as much as i do, read on:



I Wish I Lived in a Land of Lipton …What makes Southern sweet tea so special?
By Jeffrey Klineman Posted Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007, at 1:06 PM ET
Cool and refreshing

"It's rough. It's been rough on that food. It's different eating here than it is at the house. Ain't got no sweet tea, and ain't got no fried chicken."—Boo Weekley, PGA golfer from Milton, Fla., interviewed by the BBC on Day 2 of the British Open, 7/20/2007

You can't blame Boo Weekley for not knowing—before last month, the man had never left North America. And there are some fairly major associations between Great Britain and tea. But poor Weekley had the same awful realization most of us have when we leave Dixie: When you order sweet tea, you probably aren't going to get it. And even if you're lucky enough to find something bearing its name, it's probably not quite the same.
Drinking sweet tea is one of the oldest and most exceptional Southern traditions. As Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias puts it, it's the "house wine of the South"—a clear, orange-to-red tinted tea brewed from six or seven Lipton or Luzianne tea bags, poured hot onto a cup or more of sugar or a pool of simple syrup, and then diluted into a gallon pitcher in the fridge. It's served over a mound of ice in a huge glass—so cold that you can watch your napkin drown in a puddle of condensation.

By "sweet tea," we mean "sweet." As one food technologist told me, some of the sweetest glasses can hit 22 Brix of sugar. That means that 22 percent of the liquid consists of dissolved sugar solids, or, to put it in more meaningful terms: close to twice what you'd find in a can of Coke. Still, there's a balance to the flavor—the tea is brewed long and strong, so it gets an astringency that can only be countered by lots of the sweet stuff.
Southerners, of course, have a taste for sugar that is demonstrably stronger than what you find up North. We like our pecan pie and pralines sweet enough to make the dentist cringe. All of the major soda companies—the Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, Dr Pepper—started in the South. Bourbon, that sweetest of whiskies, is from Kentucky. A mint julep, that classic Southern cocktail, is basically a whiskey'd up sweet tea, with mint, ice, simple syrup, and booze.
One chef I spoke with—Scott Peacock, who spent eight years bunking and writing with the Grand Dame of Southern cooking, the late Edna Lewis—suggested that Dixie's taste for sweet may have evolved from the use of sugar as a preservative. Peacock's dad grew up in a small Alabama town where they didn't have much refined sugar. In towns like that, he said, they grew cane, milled it, and put it in jars. People anticipated the crystallization of the cane sugar with great excitement, eager to stir it into their tea.
Sugar worship might account for much of sweet tea's popularity, but I think its appeal lies in the ice. Southerners seem to have a particular fascination with ice. This may stem, most obviously, from the fact that the Southern climate is often steamier than a Rat Pack schvitz. In an early essay about Southern cuisine published by the American Philosophical Society called Hog Meat and Cornpone: Food Habits in the Ante-Bellum South, Sam Hilliard wrote that a container of cool—not even cold—water, pulled from a nearby spring, was a delicacy at the table. Tea was mostly a drink for the upper class, and early on, it was the rich who had access to the ice that came down on ships or in wagons, at least until icehouses were built in cities (Southern farmers had to wait for the arrival of the Model T). If ice was a luxury, then putting out a pitcher of ice-cold tea must have been quite a bit of hospitality. One historian, Joe Gray Taylor, wrote in Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History that the rural electrification—and, consequently, refrigeration—wrought by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s was "probably more appreciated for the ice cubes it provided … than for any of its other services."
Offering up a glass of sweet tea on a hot day in the South is as welcoming a gesture as passing the doobie at a Phish show. It's so ingrained in the Southern DNA—Marion Cabell Tyree included the recipe in a cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia as early as 1879—that people now post videos online of their infants sampling the stuff. It's a frequent menu item for the condemned, as well as a centerpiece at church suppers. As an April Fools' Day prank in 2003, Georgia State Rep. John Noel introduced a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor for a restaurant owner not to include sweet tea on the menu. Most Southerners can easily tell the difference between fresh sweet tea and the stuff from concentrate—and unless their sugar jones is too strong that day, chances are they'll send the latter back.


oh, and just for the record...my perfect glass as of right now is Beacon Drive-In's original...

blessings...

i just want to take a minute and brag on my students at manley. ever since we got back from camp...well, really before that- i've been noticing the beginning of change for a while now... they are really beginning to grasp all that God has called them too. listening to their prayers and watching them worship their Savior really blesses my heart. they are beginning to really have a heart for their lost friends and i really believe they want to see them come to Christ. i gave them a talk last week about keeping away from "spiritual highs and roller coasters" and i think it really made sense to some of them. i have a feeling that they are on the verge of breaking out and really becoming "soul'd out" for Christ.

i had my reservations about staying at home this summer, but it has been awesome being a part of God's work right here and discipling some awesome kids. keep them in your prayers cause God's about to do some awesome things in morristown...

Joshua 3:5-- "Sanctify yourselves today, for tomorrow the LORD will do great works among you."

miley

so i decided that since i'm going to be a vet, then i better have an animal to practice on... insert miley (pronounced MIGH-lee), my beautiful new baby girl, 100% golden retriever and 100% the best dog ever! she's got this beautiful strawberry-blonde, feather-like fur that feels like down, no lie, and dark brown eyes that a girl could just get lost in.

she's only 6 weeks old, but i swear, she already has this little attitude that lets you know that she's gonna be a mess. her name is hawaiian for "joy" cause she can always make me smile. there are sometimes when we're playing and she just looks up at me and it's like she's reading my mind and then she just smiles. (yes, dogs smile).

being just a baby she sleeps A LOT, but when she's ready, she's gonna be the best running partner in the entire world. i hope she learns to love the trails as much as i do. but for now we're settling for the basics like, "no chewing/biting" and "pee OUTSIDE!" she's so smart, i'm sure she'll get the hang of things in no time at all.

on a totally different note, i'm in training again...this next triathlon is august 11 and i want to beat my time of an hour and 22 minutes. stay tuned for the continuing adventures of laura and miley!

i did it!!!!

okay, so guess what??? I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AS OF MAY 28, I AM NOW CONSIDERED A TRIATHLETE! holy cow, that's so amazing! i was so nervous the night before, i hardly slept at all! rachel and i woke up at 5:30 (!), ate some oatmeal and headed out to the park...man, i was so so scared as we lined up and got ready to jump in the FREEZING COLD pool. i did great on the swim and was feeling so confident coming out of that leg...the on to the bike...(begin scary music now). brent passed me about that point...along with about 50 other people, but that's not what i was focusing on. it was that big ole huge hill that i had to climb!!! i honestly thought about throwing up as i was crawling up that hill, but i made it through. i freaked out a little when the guy in front of me wrecked...who wouldn't??? when i got back, the guy from the tri store was there to check people back in to the transition area, and i'm sure i had the biggest goofy smile on my face, just proud that the hard part was over. i took off running, having the time of my life. it was so encouraging; people i didn't even know were cheering me on, wanting me to perform at my best!!! the last part of the run was straight uphill and i was sure i was gonna cave except that i could hear everybody at the finish line around the corner...and my friend brad above it all yellin' "you better get here soon!" so i dug in for that last little part and finished in...well, i'm not sure of my time yet, it's not posted, but it was less than an hour and a half!!!!!!!! woo hoo goal met!!! i was so tired, i didn't even want to eat... but holy cow it was so much fun!!! training starts next week for the one in august!!! goal is an hour fifteen!!!

triathlon update 5/14/07

swim: 1/2 mile (800 meters) i'm pretty confident with that...

bike: 10 miles!!! i did it!!!

run: 5 miles!!! all at once!!!

last carbonated beverage: over 6 weeks ago


holy cow it's almost here!!! two weeks from today!!! it's gone so well these past few days. i think i experienced a little runner's high the first time i ran my 5 miles...about half way through i got this kick of energy and i really felt like i could have kept on running just fine. the first time i biked my whole 10 miles i almost started laughing out loud cause my A.D.D. kicked in around mile 8. i got so bored looking at the pavement and the road ahead that seemed to never change. even having some music wasn't cuttin it. today i actually did a "brick" of back to back events so i could start seeing how that would feel. let me tell you my legs felt like rubber when i first started running and then after the first mile they just went numb. total milage moved was over 14 miles!!! dang girl! and to add to everything else, i'm eating healthy and dropping poundage like crazy! always a plus! i'm actually starting to look forward to my workouts now and i'm gonna keep pushing really hard this week. next week i'm gonna let up quite a bit and give my legs a good rest before the big day! rachel and i are having a sleepover the night before the race (such girls :D) and her momma's promised a huge pasta dinner. i'm really starting to get pumped; this time in two weeks i'll be considered a triathlete!!! stay tuned for more updates!

frisbee

so there's this sport that i've discovered since coming to college. and personally, i think it's the best in the entire world. as soon as i decided on my school, my brother put me into "training" saying, "you're not going to go down there and not know how to throw a frisbee." and i've never looked back. i remember my first game of ultimate and i took a time out to stand there and think "holy cow, this is more fun than any human being should have." i remember lacing up my cleats for the first game out on the field. or the first time i caught a hammer in the endzone for the winning point. the first time we got to play in the football stadium underneath the lights. the first time i won an intramural t-shirt thanks to the game. the first time i completely laid out for a catch at the tournament--frisbee brought me all these great memories. and great friends. my team and i are thicker than theives and some of my closest friends.

one of the best feelings is being all muddy and scratched up after a game. i feel like i've actually worked hard when i'm bleeding or grass stained. there's just something about this game that makes my whole day better. disc golf, tossing with friends, and especially ultimate, they all put me in the best of moods. i could play ultimate all day, all night, barefoot or with my cleats and jersey, on the beach or at the gymnastics center; i love that game. where else can you find a sport that requires the endurance and agility of soccer, the toughness of football, the defensive skills of basketball, and the heart of a lion??? girls are as equal as guys out there and are usually the surprise scorers. even when we lose a game, it's not like i really lost, cause i got to play, and for me, that's enough. or when the game is "over" but we still keep playing because we just can't get enough. like the time we started a game mid afternoon and just kept playing til it was too dark to see, not even keeping score anymore, just playing the game.

possibly one of the best days ever was the tournament we had early this spring. we spent eight hours on the field doing what we all love...running as hard as we can up and down a field chasing a 175 gram piece of plastic. we didn't even win the tournament, but laying in bed that night, too exhausted to move with a sunburn on my face was one of the best feelings in the entire world. it really makes me sad that the season's over cause that means i'll have to wait until september to be reunited on that grassy field with my cleats digging in, diving for that catch.

triathlon update 4/23/07

just a quick update on how the training is going:

run: 3 miles (5 kilometers)

swim: 1/2 mile (800 meters)

bike: 6 miles (10 kilometers)...still...gotta work on that

transition time: still havent' practiced that one...kinda
worried about it.

last carbonated drink: 4.5 weeks ago (not really a tri requirement,
but i'm still proud of that one)

the race is may 28 in alcoa, tn. i've gotten to the point where i can do my swim and run back to back, so that's a step! the bike is in the "shop" (aka brent's house) with a busted tube right now, so as soon as that gets fixed (and not with duct tape!) i'll be on the road again. keep me and my knees in your prayers! they're holding up so far, just a little sore after a long day. we're almost at the 30 day point, so i'm starting to get really excited!!!