FESTIVE FEBRUARY
A MONTH FULL OF CELEBRATIONS
February can so often be a dull and dreary month and even more so with many people still in lockdown. Can you believe it has almost been almost a year since we have lived like this? How naive we all were to think the pandemic would be over in a few weeks or at worse, months!
In trying to think of ways to add some variety to the everyday routine, we decided to look for holidays and special days to celebrate.
One of the marvelous things about living in the USA is that being a country of immigrants, people have brought their different traditions from all over the world for us to enjoy. It is fascinating to learn about new customs and to add these festive days to our own lives.
Today, February 12, is the start of the Chinese New Year. We’ve decorated the office with red paper lanterns and Chinese New Year decorations found in Beijing on a tea buying trip. Tonight, we’re eating Chinese take-out and of course, drinking tea from China.
Here are a few other days we have decided to celebrate:
February 14 Valentine’s Day
February 16 Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday - https://www.whyeaster.com/customs/shrovetuesday.shtml
February 17 Random Acts of Kindness Day - https://nationaltoday.com/random-act-kindness-day/
February 20 Bill & Judy Larkin’s 50th Wedding Anniversary
February 25 Purim. (Will be writing a separate blog about this important Jewish holiday.)
If you, wake up and can’t remember which day of the week it is because every day seems the same, check out the following link for ideas to cheer things up.
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/february/
WINS DURING COVID?
What have you been doing these past months? Have you learnt new skills? Taken up new interests such as running, knitting, doing puzzles or just ways to move from one side of the sofa to the other? We loved to hear from you.
At our house we’ve been playing board games and have become quite addicted to Scrabble.
One of our customers shared that she and her husband now set a time aside to sit down and enjoy a new tea every afternoon.
I set myself a task of going through my cookbooks and files of recipes cut out from magazines. Came across a couple of recipes for baking with parsnips to share with you. Quite an unusual ingredient to find in a cake or pie but surprisingly very tasty and good with a cup of tea.
A recipe for parsnip pie can be found on the website at Recipes | The Larkin Tea Company
NEW PRODUCTS
In the next few weeks, you will find new items available for purchase. Look for marmalade, honey, clotted cream…. and more.