Tea Tower

For Christmas I received the cutest impractical gift.  A tea tower.  I say cute because it is red with polka dots and it all stacks nicely together.  Impractical because it is not microwave or dishwasher safe.  If you've never seen one, here's the link to what I received:
http://www.blueribbongeneralstore.net/5142-p-Home_Collection.html

They really are adorable, and it looks quite comfy sitting on my counter.  I just am not an impractical person, and having to boil water in another container to then transfer it to the teapot seems a bit ridiculous.  However, I didn't want to offend the givers, and since I knew it was an online purchase there wasn't any way of sneaking it back to the store for something more practical.  Phil suggested that I regift the tower, but that seemed strange too.  So I opted to keep it, and a few days ago called the kids over and we had a tea party.  I quickly boiled some water in the microwave and then steeped some peppermint tea (my favorite!). Loaded up the sugar bowl and added vanilla soy milk to the creamer dish.  I got out some coffee mugs for Abi and Lizzi, and a sippy cup for Wesley (that boy is not to be trusted with open cups, even though he knows how to drink from them he chooses instead to dump it down his front with a big grin and say uh-oh!).  The ladies sat up straight on the edges of their chairs and sipped sweetened creamy peppermint tea.  Wesley happily chugged the soy milk from his cup.  We had a good time, and when it was all said and done I was happy to have kept my tea tower.

I love getting ideas from pinterest,  and seeing how to make my own creamer intrigued me!  I love coffee creamers even though I don't like coffee.  I don't buy them because they are expensive, and well, there are a lot of things on the ingredient list that I cannot pronounce.  I figure if you can't say it, you probably shouldn't eat it, or at least not often!  Curious, I followed the link and saw that the author Carrie Vitt had managed a truly dairy free creamer recipe.  Hook, line, and sinker.  Make my own creamer with ingredients that I had laying in the house and it is dairy free too, count me in!

http://deliciouslyorganic.net/homemade-coffee-creamer/--check it out and make one of the numerous flavors that she's created, dairy and dairy free both.

The first creamer that I made was Carrie's almond joy.  I opted to leave the sweetener out since I had the cute little sugar cup that came with my tea tower.  I love how thick it looks while pouring it out of the creamer dish.  The almond joy lends a subtle chocolate flavor to my peppermint tea and I realized that it was kind of like having hot chocolate.  This of course made me curious to see how many calories would be in my little pot of tea (12oz).

16 calories/1tsp sugar
10 calories/1tbsp creamer

I guesstimate that I use around 2tsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of creamer for the whole pot.  So a little more than 50 calories for a delicious cup of tea.

I also have to add, that even though my tea tower is totally impractical, I am falling in love with it for more than just its cute looks.  I have found these last few days that taking the time to treat myself to a few slow moments is good for my mental well being.  There is something about the meticulous nature of serving the tea into the cup, pouring the creamer from the dish, spooning the sugar from the bowl, and gently swirling it all together, that is quite soothing.