It's the cozy time of year...I wore loose pajama type pants and a big t-shirt on Saturday. I don't like to sleep in pajamas. I prefer a gown for sleeping. But to sit about in on a winter evening, please let me have cozy pajamas and a robe that I can put on.
Something I mean to look for this year is more lounge wear for weekend wear in these cooler months.
Also a robe. I had a big heavy robe but I suffocated in it. I simply can't abide a super heavy robe. In the past I have had some really lovely robes...A soft stormy blue colored one with lace inserts down each sleeve comes to mind...and some really ugly ones, too. So I'm being picky. It must have some weight to it but not be super thick. It must be pretty. I'm not settling for ugly any more.
Ditto for lounge wear and pajamas. I want to feel fabulous in them and I mean that most sincerely! Fabulous in my mind is not necessarily glamorous but it does mean lovely, comfy, touchable. I don't want anything scratchy nor anything transparent.
We struggled for the covers this past Saturday night...The temperature dropped into the upper 40's and somehow my auto body heat was off, so it got pretty chilly. Something I've learned from Bess and Katie, and which I need to implement now that the cooler weather is here with us, is to have my own blanket on the bed. John is prone to get far more cold than I, and frankly if we snuggle, I get too hot. However, having my own blanket means that I do not have to fight for cover and that I can adjust my body temperature as needed without fear of losing any cover available. I've been using these lovely cotton quilts of mine, the antique ones but some of them are getting a big fragile for regular use. Still it's a lovely thing to snuggle down deep under a heavy old fashioned cotton filled quilt. I have a few family heirlooms but most of mine are scrap quilts I've picked up for $25 and under at the local thrift store. It's surprising how often she has a quilt tucked into a box there.
Now we'll discuss warming drinks...
I knew that roasting techniques made a difference in coffee. I personally prefer a dark roast but John prefers medium. Neither of us wants a blonde roast...But what does all that mean? Well Barista Joe's has a lovely simple tutorial on various roasts of coffee. You can fine it here.
By the way, since the Pandemic, we have ordered coffee, especially k-cups, from Barista Joe's. While I do seek out various price points, I haven't felt their costs were by any means excessive. Barista Joe's business was largely commercial, marketing to hotels and cruise lines, etc. When their business was threatened by shutdowns, they went into action and marketed the 100 k-cup boxes (that's about a six week supply for us) individually. I was very sensitive to struggling businesses during that time and decided I'd place one order to support them. Well...one led to two and then three and while they are not the exclusive supplier of coffee for our household, we have returned to them time and again when another source was out of stock of a favored brew.
At present we are using their Decaf blend. They ship quickly and are great to do business with. Give them a try for k-cups or whole bean full pound bags of coffee. And, no, this is not a sponsored post, but simply my personal opinion of a product I have found to be good quality.
This time of year especially, I enjoy a smoky tea. There's something especially warming and lovely as you breathe in that aroma from a steaming cup. I had tried Lapsang Souchong some time ago and enjoy it on a really chilly morning. While in St. Augustine, I visited The Spice and Tea Exchange and had the pleasure of smelling a blend called Russian Caravan tea. Oh goodness! If the smoky aroma wasn't enough to stir my imagination, the name spoke to my romantic side. For many years, I was fascinated by Russia (pre-Communist) and especially by Gypsies. So this name stirred up long lost memories of my youthful interests. I didn't purchase a sample as I'd already chosen two and they were pricey, but you can buy it for much less online. Amazon has a full pound bag of the loose tea for under $20. I'm not yet at the point I want a whole pound of any one tea. I am finding I enjoy having a variety so I'll look for it in a quantity that is better suited to my solo tea drinking. By the way the Spice and Tea Exchange has several locations, not just in Florida, and they sell on Amazon.
As a child, Mama and her work friends would make Russian Tea each fall/winter season as a favored afternoon break drink. This was a lovely hot drink to have on a rainy, chill day. It began with instant tea, included Orange Tang (a powdered drink mix), sugar, and a tiny red cinnamon candy called 'Red Hots'.
Taste of Home has a similar recipe on it's site. That one includes a packet of lemonade drink mix which I don't remember being in the tea but it might have been. Lauren Gruetman has a recipe that includes cloves and cinnamon and she suggests using decaf instant tea. All sites seem to agree that cinnamon and cloves are necessary components and Gruetman's recipe also calls for nutmeg, which I think I'll be sure and add. I love nutmeg! I think I'm definitely going to have to mix some of this up for myself this year, especially now that I've grown so fond of hot tea.
Have you ever mulled cider? I have and it is delicious! I use my crockpot to warm the cider and spices and fruits. I haven't made this in years but it was a common thing in my home in cooler seasons when we had lots of company dropping in to spend a cool day with us. There are just loads of recipes online and some for mulled wine as well, so have a look around and see which recipe would best suit your gatherings in this cozy season.
My recipe called for both cider and cranberry juice, orange slices, apple wedges, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks and whole allspice pieces as well as brown sugar. I sometimes couldn't find cider so would use apple juice, but it was still delicious.
I haven't done this in years upon years, but I think I could figure out how to do a single serving of cider if I played about with it a little...I think I will! I've tried the instant drink mixes and don't care for them at all.
And last, there are the lovely milk drinks of hot chocolate and Hot vanilla milk. Years ago, when I was a single working mom, Amie would greet me at the front door on a cold rainy day with a cup of hot cocoa and a plate of cinnamon toast. I don't know if you can imagine how wonderful it was to be ushered into a comfortable chair and handed such a treat to stop and enjoy before getting into dinner time preparations and homework after a busy work day but it was so lovely! It's one of my fondest memories of an otherwise difficult period of life and I always think of those days fondly because of her lovingkindness.
There are so many more things that might make a home a haven this time of year: candles, twinkle lights, fireplaces, snug little heaters, hot water bottles, lap rugs, shawls, thick and lovely socks, slippers...What are your favorite cozy things for this season of the year?
17 comments:
Hello! Last year I made a batch of the Russian tea. I was introduced to it my freshman year of college (many, many years ago) by a friend. We made huge batches of it and drank it all fall and winter in our drafty dorm rooms. I credit it with keeping us healthy with all that vitamin C. I found the recipe again in my old recipe box and made it. Finding Tang was interesting! It was on the very bottom shelf of the powdered drinks. I also found one box of Wyler's lemonade. I made a batch and was so surprised - it was so sweet! I love to drink tea but this just didn't work. I had a lot of Tang leftover and keep it in my emergency food supply.
The town I went to college in after my freshman year was Fredericksburg, VA. At George Washington's sister and BIL home, Kenmore, they served Constant Comment tea and gingerbread after the tour. As a college history major we were allowed to tour free (college was Mary Washington College - now University and name after Geo's mother who had a small house in town that was a museum as well). I loved that tea and have found it in decaf now.
You've sure sparked a lot of memories!
I found a tea years ago by Hyley - a lemon green tea. It was at T.J. Maxx and I could find it every so often. I went to Amazon and found it there and ordered what I thought was a box. It was 12 boxes - lol, so I was set for a long time and gifted it to others who like a milder tea.
One of the 'must haves' for stocking up for our emergency stash has been tea and coffee. There is just something about a hot cup of coffee in the a.m. (I drink only one but that one seems mighty important!) and cups of tea throughout the afternoon and early evening. I have some favorite mugs that make it special as well.
I've often thought of how important tea was during WWII. The Brits drank gallons of it and they must have managed somehow to get it from the Far East even with the war raging there. And for the US it was coffee - my Dad said that coffee was such a treasure that it was never wasted - grounds were used over and over.
Your memories of tea and toast reminded me that one of the first things I learned to make coffee (I was oldest). I'd get home from school before our Mom and would put on a pot of coffee for her. When she got home she would change her clothes (she was a nurse back in the day with uniforms and nurse's cap). The coffee would be ready and she would read a letter from her mother (they wrote weekly or more often - including slips of fabric or Erma Bombeck columns, etc.) or read a magazine (usually New Yorker) and have a few quiet moments. Again - thanks for the memory!
Mary
My family drank Lipton Iced Tea in the summer. Not instant tea. We only had it in the warm months. We never drank hot tea. I never was much of a coffee or tea drinker.
Several years ago, my son met a young woman of English heritage, and when he was visiting her in England her family drank PG tips tea. He sent me a box for Christmas one year. It was very tasty to me. I drank it with milk and a sugar cube. My son said that was how the young lady and her family drank it. My little Fuzzy Pomeranian wigged and wagged and spun round and wagged some more for just a bit of that good milky scented tea, so I got a little salsa dipping bowl and poured a tiny bit of my tea with milk and sugar in it for him, so for a while we enjoyed our warm milky sweet tea every morning. We still have some PG tips decaffeinated milky tea every once in a while on a cold morning.
My son had a chance to visit Beijing just before the Covid virus broke out, and went in to a tea store there and the owner and he started talking all about the various teas. (They used the translator, I suppose my son's phone has that feature, or maybe he bought a separate translator, I don't know). He said they sat and talked at a table in the little tea store for more than an hour, while the son of the store took care of the customers. He learned all kinds of interesting things about tea.
In the late night to help me settle down to sleep, I often drink a cup of warm milk with a bit of pure vanilla extract and a few drops of rum extract in it. It tastes so good to me.
I like Russian Caravan tea too, though I haven't had any in a quite a few years.... must get some again soon. My favorite tea is Twinings Irish breakfast tea. I also like chamomile, ginger and lemon, mint and verbena. I am not a fan of green teas (taste like grass to me). A cup of tea, a good book and me snuggled in my favorite chair with a throw on a cold winter day -- bliss.
I didn’t know you had a daughter named Aimee
You never speak of her
Hello! What a lovely, cozy blog post! For me, the transition from summer to fall is the most difficult seasonal transition. Thank you for helping me focus on the comfy, cozy things I can do to embrace the season. We have a shelf full of teas in our pantry but one of my favorite fall/winter treats is a London Fog. Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, vanilla extract or syrup and a tiny bit of sugar or agave. So fragrant and delicious! Blessings, Shirley
I’m not a tea drinker, unless I have a sore throat, and doctor it up with honey and lemon. I swear it’s better than an antibiotic. I’ve been on the lookout for some cozy lounge clothes myself. The problem is that most of what I’ve been seeing is rayon/spandex blend. I want cottons, and it’s near impossible to find. I don’t mind a little stretch, but I feel like sleeping and lounging clothes are better for your skin, so it can breathe. Plus I swear and those synthetic blends make it worse. Unfortunately the prices on cotton are through the roof. I can’t afford 30-40 dollars for each item! Anyway, have a great week, Liz
Liz, I'm laughing hysterically at your typo. I can just see (or hear) your swearing ratcheted up several notches when you wear synthetic blends.
I think flannel PJ's could be the answer for cozy lounge wear. Maybe even the ones for men? Maybe there will be some good clearance on them after Christmas. I rarely change to lounge wear in the evening except when we are at the lake. The idea sounds nice but if I am going to haul my cranky knee upstairs I am going to bed!
Lol @Anne, I didn’t even notice that😂😂😂, and you should hear me swear when I sweat! Thanks for the laugh
I'm so happy this post generated so many comments so quickly. I love when my mind is working on a train of thought that touches others!
Anne, I didn't notice Liz's typo but then I couldn't stop chuckling over it either, lol. And Liz, your comment on the typo really made me laugh out loud.
Lana, I stopped changing into pajamas early in the evening about 5 years ago, as I found I was often too cold to sit about in sleepwear...But then I discovered that pajamas or loungewear and a robe could be quite nice in truly chilly weather. I'm coming into this winter with plenty of long sleeved tops in my drawer of house clothes, but I have no pajamas nor a robe. Deficiencies I hope I can make up for here next month. We'll see. But agreed, if I had to go upstairs, I'd stay there!
Mary, I do recall that the tea was quite sweet and I'm not interested in having deeply sweet tea. I expect that's why Lauren Gruetmann's recipe calls for just 1/2 cup sugar rather than the massive amounts the other sites recipes called for. I don't typically take a sweetener in any tea of mine, preferring it unsweetened whether it's iced or hot.
Susie, I'm a new convert to hot tea. I picked it up last year during a 21 day fast and drank a cup each morning, as I'd given up coffee. This year, I did the same and found I liked tea so well that I just kept drinking a cup each morning, right behind my morning cup of coffee and now I'm seeking out a variety of flavors of hot teas. Don't ask me what I'll give up for the next 21 day fast, lol...I'm reluctant to give up both coffee and tea!
How sweet that your Pom loves the tea as well.
Mary, agreed, I'm not a fan of green teas except in summer I like the Tao brand of Peach Green tea which I will drink iced. Otherwise I'm a black tea sort of girl...
Anon: I have mentioned Amie but generally refer to my children in birth order rather than by name. I would refer to Amie then as 'my oldest daughter'. Amie lives in North Dakota and has for 15 years now. We stay in touch via phone calls when she's not busy. She nor Jd, my oldest son, are great at keeping communication lines open with family which makes it difficult to maintain relationship but it's the way those two are made up unlike Katie and Sam who are both communicators even when they far away at times.
Shirley, I've tried Earl Grey and am not fond of the bergamot which surprises me as I love orange. I think a London Fog sounds rather nice though...
One tea I would like to recommend is Throat Coat if you have a sore throat. It works wonders!!
Is the Russian tea at all like Chai Tea?? The flavor notes sound somewhat similar.
I agree about the loungewear. I just purchased a pair of pajama bottom pants from Kohl's w/ my 30% off, so that did help. They are soooo soft!!
We had 80* here in Wisconsin today! That is somewhat unusual for Wisconsin (we are in Southern Wi). Knowing it won't last, makes it more dear than ever. We had many 90* to 100* days this summer. Still, I am not ready for winter at all. The colors are quite beautiful right now. I so enjoy your posts!!
chris
Chris, I've never had Chai...but this Russian Tea drink has cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon in it and I know that Chai is spiced tea.
It's warm once more here, too...Not so unusual for us, and not complaining as we've had many an October where the temperatures were nearer 100 than 80! lol Next week the temperatures are meant to drop.
I'm going to keep looking around for pj bottoms to wear about the house but aI also need to find long pants to wear. I have a bad tendency to wipe my hands on my pants and don't want to wear my regular jeans about the house. I think I have enough 'extra' though that I can devote a couple pair to at home wear.
I purchased a pair of knit joggers (from either Kohl's or Old Navy, can't remember) and have enjoyed wearing them in the evenings. They are a little nicer looking than sweat pants, but still soft and warm. So you might look into those.
Cindi, Thank you...I'll have a look at those!
Terri, this is a lovely post as I am definitely in winter prep mode and thinking of comfy and cozy things is the fun part of that! I rarely buy new pajamas or a robe, but I splurged a bit earlier this year and bought both through Vermont Country Store catalog. I have admired their flannel nightgowns and robes for years and I happened to look just wen they had an especially admired robe on sale (just one color) so I snapped it up and then decided to buy the matching nightgown. It is usually more than I would pay, but I feel so pretty in the ensemble and it certainly is something I could wear in front of company (not that we have any stay-over company now.). Most of my pajamas and one robe were looking quite worn. I do know that Lands End seems to have a good sale toward the end of the year on these things.
I also made sure that we had in a good supply of coffee, tea, and chai tea for the winter. I have one cup every morning, and then it’s herbal tea. Since I have been studying and playing around with herbs, I am starting to blend my own from leftover dried herbs that I have. I really want to make homemade speculaas cookies right after we get winter prep work done! I think they are just wonderful and remind me of my Dutch grandfather. Your story about Amie meeting you with hot cocoa and cinnamon toast brought a tear to my eye! I was a single mother for a few years with my oldest and sometimes had to work two jobs to make ends meet. I remember being bone tired much of that time.
When I had my knee replacement I decided to use my own blanket and Gramps could use his own. Best idea ever. He always said I was a blanket hog. I don't believe it for a minute! Lol.
I used to make quite a bit of Russian Tea at Christmas for gifts. I will have to look up the recipe again, and see how many carbs in a cup. It really is delicious.
In the winter I often wearva warm sweatshirt instead of a pajama top. It doesn't stick to flannel sheets like flannel pj's do. Also nice and warm.
Fun letter this week. Stirred up some memories. Gramma D
Karen, Now that you and someone else has mentioned flannel, I might look into that for a robe. I definitely don't want anything super heavy and fleece makes me too hot. I'll check out Vermont Country Store for clothespins and for robes...and maybe pjs!
Gramma D, I used to dress the children in sweat shirt and pants as pajamas, along with thick socks when we lived in hard to heat houses. I am sure the carb count on Russian Tea is out of the atmosphere but...I am equally sure we might make it with no sugar or considerably less. I like plain unsweetened tea iced or hot, but I am pretty sure the spices and orange flavor are what I'm really after. I should think we could somehow get around that but will need to play with the recipe a bit to figure it out. Orange Zest for instance could subbed in for a portion of the Tang, or even unsweetened Orange Koolaid. Yep, I foresee some sperimentin'!
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