Tea

A lovely change of pace from café au lait, cappuccino or hot chocolate, and lower in fat and calories, too.

Tea-marbled eggs are a time-honored part of Chinese cuisine. The outer shell of a hard-boiled egg is cracked (but not removed), and the egg is then soaked in tea, which gives it a lovely marbled appearance and subtle smoky flavor. We found traditionally cooked tea-marbled eggs — usually simmered for an hour — were too tough for our taste; this method yields more tender whites.

Spoon this over vanilla ice cream, or serve it with dollops of Mascarpone Cream or sour cream.

Here's a warming drink for a chilly day.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional sitting time.

For this recipe, use a fully cooked bone-in ham that has the natural shape of the leg, and has some fat and rind still attached. Do not substitute a “re-formed” oval canned ham or a deli ham. Serve a malty ale or French Gew‼rztraminer with the ham, and offer the Strawberry Basket Cake for dessert.