The Bristol Wine and Food Fair was last weekend, and a certain tea company was celebrating their one-year anniversary. Jock’s good friends, Kate and Neil Gover, run a loose-leaf tea company called Lahloo Tea. Kate’s passion for tea led the way and she named it after the famous tea clipper her great-great grandfather sailed on. They were promoting their products at the festival, and were able to snaggle us a couple of tickets to which we were greatly appreciative. It’s unbelievable how well she’s done in a year – getting her teas into michelin-starred restaurants, Liberty department store in London and PUREbliss in the Cotswolds.
Honestly, I have to say it was the best tea I’ve ever had. Being an American, we’re not known for being huge tea connoisseurs. However being a partial Californian, I have figured out that we might know more about the herbal varieties than perhaps the average British English Breakfast tea with milk drinkers. The freshness of their teas compared to cheap store-bought ones is so obvious.
The White Mulberry and Mr Aoki Green tea was my favorite, especially paired with these burst-in-your-mouth chocolates they put out. Tea and chocolate?! Yup, it actually works.
And who knew you could make alcoholic cocktails with them! I’m hoping to snatch Kate for a meeting of “Ladies Who…” and learn her recipes for these cocktails. I know what everyone in America is getting for Christmas this year! Their booth was adorable, although my pictures don’t do it justice. I love the colors she picked and the packaging is so unique.
Other than the tea, there was wine. We did taste a lot of it. I may have gotten tipsy. The cheese was to die for, and although we didn’t actually buy any cheese or wine – we did manage to purchase a few quiches, a couple of cupcakes and lots of ice cream. You pretty much had to roll me out of there.
On a more personal note, this weekend Jock and I are heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon where I plan to meet Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway and maybe Juliet (if she hasn’t already killed herself). Jock is taking me there for our year anniversary. This time a year ago, I was packing my bag, saying toodle pip to LA, bring it on Chicago, and wondering if Jocko was everything he was in real life as he was on paper. Courtney was helping me decide what to wear for our reunion, and trying to reassure me that this was indeed a good idea. It’s weird to imagine that I had only met Jock for eight hours four months earlier, and thought jumping on a plane alone to a place 1500 miles away was a good idea. Daddy, you should be ashamed for letting your daughter out of the house!
It turned out alright after all! Here we are in the early days.
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