Preparations for Valentine's Day begin early around here.
We start by reviewing table manners:
* Pass serving dishes to the right.
* Do not reach across the table.
* Wait to begin until everyone is served.
* Place your napkin in your lap.
* Chew with your lips together.
* Enjoy quiet conversation.
* No "goofing around" or playing with food.
* Keep your elbows off the table.
* Use utensils for their intended purpose.
* Stay at the table until everyone is finished.
The children use lunch in the cafeteria to practice for a series of days.
Next, we get out the world map and have a lesson on tea growing regions, different tea traditions around the world, and the types of tea.
White tea--Only the newest tea leaves are picked with the white fuzz still on the leaves.
Green tea--fresh tea leaves are dried and rolled or ground into a powder for the Japanese Matcha.
Oxidized, fermented, and compressed Pu-Erh. This tea is so compressed is requires a special tea needle!
Black tea
On the day of our tea, families send supplies: heavy cream, lemon curd, sugar cubes, scones, madeleines (a French tea cake), ginger snaps, and tulips. The children then use a whisk to whip the cream,
arrange the food beautifully on trays and in baskets,
reorganize our desks and chairs into a long table, and set the table with flowers, teacups, plates, and napkins.
We brew four kinds of tea: a white blooming tea (always spectacular!), genmaicha (a green tea with roasted brown rice), oolong, and ginger peach black tea. Finally, we sit down together to enjoy.
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