January is Hot Tea month so it seemed like a good idea to do my second tea post sooner rather than later. ;-)

You Wouldn't Want to Be At the Boston Tea Party! Wharf Water Tea You'd Rather Not Drink, written by Peter Cook and illustrated by David Antram. A nice children's book about the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party, what they were and why they were so disliked.

I selected The Ultimate Tea Diet, by Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra, with Sharyn Kolberg mainly because of the title and I thought it would fit well in a tea post. Yes, it is a diet book, but with an attitude I like. Seems tea is good for boosting your metabolism, shrinking your appetite and so forth. There's a bit of tea history (the Ukra family has been in the tea business for a long time), what tea to use for various cravings, and a nice collection of recipes using, oh, tea rubs and so on. There's a nice appendix of other books on tea, too.

Steeped in Tea, Creative Ideas, Activities and Recipes for Tea Lovers, by Diana Rosen took tea off in a more creative direction. One section is how to create an atmosphere for tea served in various rooms. Teas, the tea service and recipes are included. There are ideas for gifts for tea lovers, how to display cups, or pots, and how to build a display shelf. There are even a few ideas for creating a tea garden, including an apartment sized one in a terrarium.

I love coming across something unexpected, and this was the case with Totem Poles and Tea by Hughina Harold. The intriguing combination of tea and totem poles caught my eye, what could that be? In 1935 a young woman took a job as a teacher/nurse on Village Island (off the BC coast). It's primitive and isolated, there are language and cultural barriers, but she comes to love the people and the area and writes long letters home. Later, she used them for the stories she wrote for CBC radio, and then this book. It makes a good companion book to Nothing Daunted (from the April 12, 2014 post).

Reading Hermit With Dog