Hipster Sun Tea

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet     drinks, hipsters, Iced Tea, recipes, refreshing, summer, tea

What you’ll need…

1 TBSP organic earl grey tea

1 TBSP organic rooibos tea

1 TBSP organic honey

2 TSP organic cane sugar

1 organic lime (zest and juice)

1 vintage jar or bottle (approx 1L, as vintage as possible)

lemon or lime slices for garnish (not optional)

1 pair Ray-Bans (not optional)

(Disclaimer: Slight sarcasm in the following sentences) In a world that has become so ingrained with a ‘the faster, the better’ mentality, it’s sometimes nice to just plain take your time. Whether that means riding a one speed bicycle through a hilly area of the city, or using a vintage typewriter to make some labels for your spice collection (Rob Waye), or just steeping some tea in the sun…Ok, with the exception of the tea steeping, maybe sometimes faster can be better…I’m surprised hipster culture has not yet embraced the refreshing drink that is sun tea, or maybe they have, but I just wouldn’t of heard about it…Regardless, it’s time to embrace your inner hipster. I strongly encourage a trip to your local antiques shop (with that faithful one speed, of course!) to find a totally awesome vintage jar. Then toss it in your bicycle basket, and head home to make the sun tea of your dreams.

This is pretty much as simple as it gets. Place all ingredients in jar (please tell me you did take a field trip to the antiques shop?), then fill with water. Stir until the sugar and honey have dissolved. Place on a window ledge in direct sunlight (placing jar outside in sun will work as well). Let stand for an hour and a half. Well the tea is steeping in the sun, feel free to pop in that new Bon Iver vinyl and just relax. You deserve it!

When it’s time, take the jar out of the sunlight and place in the refrigerator to cool. Once chilled, strain, serve over ice and garnish with a lemon or lime slice. Earl grey + rooibos tea = the best home-made iced tea ever. Trust me, I wouldn’t lie! Now pop on those Ray-Bans and get outside!

Yields 4 cups sun tea

Total tea time…1 1/2 hours (not including chill time)

Top Chef Canada: Curtain Closing at Charcut

Dan    Calgary & Area, Restaurants, Thoughts     awesome, calgary, CHARCUT, chefs, Connie Desousa, cooking, Top Chef Canada

Call me crazy, but I’ve come to really look forward to Mondays. No, it’s not because it’s finally summer. No, it’s not because I can catch a rerun of Ghost Whisperer before going to bed…

It is, in fact, because, for the past thirteen weeks, I’ve spent my Monday evenings at Charcut, watching co-owner Connie Desousa rock it out on screen throughout the inaugural season of Top Chef Canada. From week one, her restaurant has been packed full of friends, family, and countless fans, all there sharing a common hope – to see Connie make it all the way to the end. Yes, she managed to do that, and, yes, she has officially become Calgary’s culinary sweetheart.

The mood was nothing short of Vancouver/Boston Stanley Cup final game-esque energy (minus that ‘potential rioting’ feeling, of course) at Charcut this Monday night. The evening marked the 13th and final week of their Top Chef Canada episode screenings.

For the past 13 weeks, I’ve seen Connie give her all on the show, presenting successful dish after successful dish with, admittedly, some misses along the way, but, hey, we all have our off days, right? The Charcut dinner menu has always been lightly ‘peppered’ with Connie’s competition creations throughout the duration of the series, but for the finale it was purely Top Chef. Favourites like her Smoked Trout Salad, Ackroyd-favoured Kielbasa, and Pork Croquettes all graced this evening’s menu, as well as many more.

Seeing as Connie was one of three chefs remaining in the competition, the restaurant was packed with ‘Team Connie’ supporters (a term which did end up trending nationally on Twitter during the finale). I, myself, had been a loyal attendee of Top Chef Canada evenings at Charcut, and I knew that no matter what the results were, it would be a fantastic night. My aforementioned loyal attendance had resulted in a group of my friends attending the screenings frequently as well, which then resulted in a set of fan shirts being made.

Yes, not only would ‘#teamconnie’ become a trending social media saying, but it would also be printed across our chests. For the record, this is my equivalent of being a hardcore sports fan (sans rioting)…

Throughout the finale episode there were cheers, hoots and hollers coming from various groups of diners. It didn’t seem to matter what Connie said/did on screen, her presence was…

You can read the rest of this piece on the Food Network Canada site!