Monday Feature: Stylish Chai

Setting the scene - fire roaring in the fireplace; tree twinkling and glistening under the soft glow of lights; stockings hanging, anticipating the joy of being filled; big, fluffy flakes of fresh, white snow float silently through the heavens, coating the world in pure, clean white; the aroma of freshly baked gingerbread, wafting through the house; your favourite Christmas movie playing on the TV; wearing your most comfortable clothes and snuggled next to your spouse, kids, animal, or best friend etc; holding a mug of hot chai tea, whose fragrance and spices tantalize the senses and warm you from the inside out with every sip. This is the setting of possibly the most perfect evening in my books. The sense of warmth inside your home, while the cold whips around outside.

Now let's get back to that glorious, hot beverage you're holding in the above scene. Enter Stylish Chai.
I first had the pleasure of discovering Stylish Chai this past summer, during the summer market season. As a tea lover in general, I enjoyed inhaling the different flavours and blends and couldn't wait to take some home to try. You can imagine my delight, as I am a HUGE fan of Rooibos tea, when I saw that Stylish Chai had a Vanilla Rooibos blend. Jazmyn Derdall spoiled me with a bag of this tea and I've been enjoying it ever since. It's absolutely divine. With the perfect balance of spices and vanilla, this tea doesn't need anything added to make it better. It's perfect just as it is. I'm looking forward to setting the above scene into place and sipping my delightful tea, courtesy of Stylish Chai.

Owner, creator and tea blender of Stylish Chai, is Jazmyn Derdall of Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Jazmyn and her husband, Troy, met about 12 years ago, in a little downtown cafe called "Marseille Cafe" that Jazmyn worked at for 3 years. Jazmyn recalls, "Troy would come in for coffee every day and we got to know each other. We began dating after my boss, a mutual friend, gave us a little push. Besides falling in love with my husband, I definitely found my love for chai tea and any and all coffee products, while working at the cafe. Troy and I were married 5 years later and we have now been married for 7 years."

Though Jazmyn and Troy now live in Medicine Hat, they were both Saskatchewan born and raised. Jazmyn moved to Medicine Hat from Swift Current, SK, when she was 19, to be a roommate for a friend who was going to college. Troy moved to Medicine Hat from Outlook, SK the next year, to take Visual Communications at the college. They both have called Medicine Hat home for almost 20 years.

Jazmyn and Troy have two very busy, young boys, that keep them active and entertained: Cohen who is 6 and Omri who is 4. "Last year, as Cohen was about to begin kindergarten, I realized my boys were growing up without me. Daycare had been taking all my salary and I was missing all those important milestones. We decided that I would leave my full time job and stay at home, to be with my boys. Now, with only one income coming in, we were struggling to make ends meet. Being at home for my boys everyday was so worth the challenges we had to face financially, but I was determined to find something I could do from home to help out."

After leaving the workforce, Jazmyn decided to go online and look for ways to make money from home. After doing a lot of research as to what "sells" and what doesn't sell, Jazmyn decided to combine her love of chai tea into a potentially money-making business. "Initially, I started a website to feature and sell other peoples products that I loved and respected, and make a percentage of profit from those sales. From the endless days and nights of researching everything chai, I had come to be quite knowledgeable in all chai and tea properties. My Sweet Pure Honey friend, Stella, said "Why don't you just make your own chai tea?" Could it be that easy?"

"My love of chai has always been present, as well as pretty much anything that warms me up and provides comfort. Needless to say, I have a large collection of blankets and hoodies as well. A hot water bottle in a cold bed is my best friend!"

Thus is was that this past Spring, Jazmyn decided to bite the bullet and go for it. "After I found a great tea supplier, I set out experimenting with blend after blend, until, according to my taste, they were perfect. With my husband as my only guinea pig (Troy has a great dislike for any chai tea), I wasn't sure if other people would like [my tea]. How would I know if I didn't get out there and see what the public thought." With this in mind, Jazmyn decided to become a vendor at the Medicine Hat Farmers Market. "My goal was to get my name out there and maybe, just maybe, I would get some sales. I had a great Summer, with great response to my teas."

Chai tea is traditionally called "Masala Chai" or "Spiced Tea" in its native India and South Asia. Chai is usually made from strong black tea, combined with milk, sugar and spices, however, not all chai tea is made the same. "There are so many combinations of spices that can be used. I wanted to keep it as natural and traditional as possible, with my own twist on a few blends. Our motto is, 'To provide natural, healthy products that warm your smile!'" This is so fitting as I do usually smile whilst sipping my tea from Stylish Chai. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm :)

All of Stylish Chai's tea blends are hand packaged and made with full, loose tea leaves and hand ground spices. Each bag is hand stamped to give it that unique look.

"I've always had an artistic, creative eye, that seemed to somewhat diminish after having kids. This venture has helped me to rediscover that side of me again. To be able to help provide for my growing family and enjoy life, with a cup of tea along the way, can't be so bad." I find this can be a common occurrence among us women when we start our families. We can sometimes feel like there's nothing left for us but to be a mommy (which is fantastic, don't get me wrong). But it's so important to find something that YOU love to do, and take time to do it and not lose yourself in being a mom. Whether it's like Jazmyn, making her tea, or me and my writing. Find your niche and thus rediscover that element of life again where joy emanates from your very core.

Stylish Chai - Tea and Products specializes in 4 different chai blends:

Chai Black Tea
Chai Green Tea
Rooibos Chai Tea (natually decaffeinated)
Chocolate Energy Chai

Spiced tea blends:
Hibiscus Spice
Licorice Spice

Green tea blends:
Premium Green Tea
Mint Green Tea
Licorice Green Tea
Berry Green Tea
Candy Cane Tea (new for the holiday season, available until Dec 25/12)

Candy Cane Tea

Decaf blends:
Vanilla Rooibos

All tea is available in three sizes: 4oz, 6oz, and 8oz bags. Prices vary according to blend and size. Price range for tea is: $10 - $25 per bag.

Stylish Chai will do custom orders as well. "If you can think it up, we can blend it up. Just ask!!!"

Stylish Chai also sells something that I'm very curious to try out, Stylish Tub Tea. "These oversized tea bags are filled with herbs, flowers, Epsom salts, powdered milks, citrus peels and many other luxurious scents, to tantalize your senses when dropped into your bath. These natural products are activated by simply placing them under the running bath water. They make an excellent gift or a soothing treat for yourself."

There are ten different varieties of Stylish Tub Tea for all ailments:
-Comfort (soothes muscles and body aches)
-Relax and Revive (cooling and refreshing)
-Tension (to calm the mind and ease anxiety)
-Drowsy (promotes sleepiness)
-Cold and Flu (warms the skin, opens lungs)
-Soft Skin (soften, soothe & revitalize skin)
-Baby Blues (to soothe diaper rash & calm baby's mood)
-Mind and Focus (cool & refreshing)
-Bedtime (restful sleep & mood lifter)
-Chai (warm & relaxing)

Stylish Tub Tea is not currently on Stylish Chai's website yet. Please email for inquiries.
Tub Tea prices: 2 for $5 or 5 for $10

For further information on Stylish Chai teas, blends, etc, please visit Stylish Chai's website at www.stylishchai.com.

Please go to Stylish Chai's facebook page and "like" it here to stay updated on new teas, promos, and markets where you can find Jazmyn and Stylish Chai.

You can also follow Stylish Chai on twitter @stylishchai.

If you have any further questions, inquiries, or to make an order, please email Stylish Chai at stylishchai@gmail.com or phone: 1-403-504-1857

Stylish Chai will be at the Old Tyme Christmas Market, Thursday Dec 6th, 2012 from 4-9pm. Jazmyn is trying to do the occasional market (follow on facebook and twitter to stay updated) and will definitely be returning to the Summer Farmers Market, Summer 2013.

Now, until Dec. 25/12, buy any two bags of Stylish Chai or Stylish loose tea blends and receive another 4oz. bag of your choice FREE!!!

Stylish Chai will deliver orders, free of charge, within Medicine Hat on order over $30. A $5 delivery fee applies to all orders under $30. HOWEVER, if you are a Growing Green reader (you obviously are, because you're reading this right now! :) ), ALL deliveries in town are FREE! Just mention "Growing Green" and that you read about Stylish Chai on here, and there will be no delivery charge on your purchase.

Stylish Chai products are perfect for Christmas and you don't even need to leave your house! Can life get any better?

Enjoy your mug of hot chai and stay warm this season!

next weeks feature hint: silky, sweet and decadent.

Moroccan - Style Stuffed Acorn Squash

The warm spices of India and surrounding area, are ever becoming a fast favourite and go-to when preparing a delightful dish for supper. We were given an acorn squash and I had no idea what to do with it. I'd never had an acorn squash before, but was up for the challenge. I googled possible recipes and stumbled upon the one I'm about to share with you on allrecipes.com. I thought I'd give it a whirl and see what happens.

The results were quite delicious. I would like to say that I savoured every mouthful, however the truth is, I was so hungry, and this dish so good, I pretty much scarfed it down in 30 seconds flat. :) I don't recommend eating it that fast though. :) So, with that said, go pick yourself up an acorn squash and give it a try! Enjoy!

MOROCCAN-STYLE STUFFED ACORN SQUASH

(gluten-free, vegetarian)

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp butter, melted

1 Lg acorn squash, halved and seeded

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 clove organic garlic, chopped

2 stalk organic celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 cup organic garbanzo beans, drained (if using dry organic garbanzo beans, soak overnight before using)

1 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

14 ounces organic vegetable broth

1 cup uncooked couscous

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

- Arrange squash halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender. Dissolve the sugar in the melted butter. Brush squash with the butter mixture and keep squash warm while preparing the stuffing.

cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds

After squash is cooked, brush with brown sugar/butter mixture

Keep squash warm while preparing the stuffing.

Get your stuffing ingredients together and ready

- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook for 5 minutes. Mix in the garbanzo beans. Season with cumin, salt and pepper and continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.

- Pour the vegetable broth into the skillet/deep frying pan and mix in the couscous. Cover the pan and turn off the heat. Allow the couscous to absorb the liquid for 5 minutes.

- Stuff squash halves with the mixture.

- Serve hot and enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Monday Feature: Chinook Arch Meadery

I love reading. Ever since that fateful summer, when my mother gave me a reading challenge, (you know the kind, if you read this many books, you'll get that in return) I was hooked and have never looked back. To this day, I still love to curl up with a great fiction book, purely for entertainment's sake and a reprieve from the real world, if only for a few moments. A couple of my favourite genre's are historical fiction and fantasy (not futuristic fantasy, but in a way, historical fantasy, such as Lord of the Rings).

I bring up my love of reading for one reason. In these epic tales of war, victory, love and tragedy, sitting around the cook fires, in the vast, fire lit halls, and in the cheery pubs, no matter if during war or celebration, men and women raised their mugs of mead and drank to a brighter day. Vats of mead were prepared for festivities and it was mead that was praised for its perfection and noted for it's divine taste.

Molly and her bottomless Mead Mug 

With this ever in my mind, and Hayden's as well, for that matter, we longed to try this mythical "mead."  Was it just a drink of stories long past, or did mead truly exist. Our search was rewarded one evening, when Hayden stumbled upon a bottle of mead at one of our local liquor stores.

Now you may be wondering, what the heck is mead? Most people do. Unless you read the types of books that we do or historical books in any genre, most have no idea what mead is or that it even exists for that matter. When I would tell people, with jubilant excitement, at our discovery, I was met with a quizzical look and an astute reply of "you found what?" Mead is honey wine, made from the fermentation of honey and water. If you like honey, and you like wine, then there's a strong probability you will LOVE mead. :)

Random casks in a cellar

It was with great anticipation that Hayden and I opened our first bottle of mead, and although delightful, it did not live up to the expectations we had placed on this historic beverage. Having never tried mead before, it was sweet and delicious and quite pleasant, but yet I was still slightly disappointed. I had imagined a much more grandeur drink, worth singing about by the bards. Hayden and I have tried a few varieties of mead, as it is slowly gaining popularity and becoming easier to find, but none have ever sufficed or overtly impressed. That is, until this past summer.

During one Saturday, at the Millarville Farmers Market, Hayden was placed next to Chinook Honey Company. When I arrived at the market, it was then that Hayden told me, with much excitement, that they made and sold mead and were giving out samples...and it was incredible. Well, I had to taste for myself and I meandered over and proceeded to sample 8 different meads from Chinook Arch Meadery. In that span of 10 minutes, my life was transformed, as that liquid honey ran down my throat, as though I were drinking light itself. This mead was smooth, clear, and pure, with not a trace of after bite. Just a lingering, delicate, absolutely delightful sapidity, left to entice the taste buds for more. This was what I had always imagined mead to be. This was the drink that was so praised, loved, and prized in those beloved stories. We had found it at last.

Owners of Chinook Honey Company and Chinook Arch Meadery are Art and Cherie Andrews. When looking back on their journey to where they are today, Cherie recalls, "The development of Chinook Honey Company has been a life journey for my husband, Art, and myself. We were both working in the airline business when Art decided to buy a few bee hives to help pollinate our vegetable garden. The "hobby" slowly took over our lives - bees are that fascinating! So much so that we eventually took early retirement from the airlines in order to commit ourselves to developing unique honey products, one of which is mead (honey wine)."

"Mead was the natural extension of producing honey and it helped that Art had been a hobby beer maker for many years. Making mead is a challenge - it is so simple in concept - honey, water and yeast - yet can be so complex when trying to make a top quality wine. And we love challenges!"

The first challenge lying before Art and Cherie was being able to legally sell their honey mead. Thus, they spearheaded the Cottage Winery Licensing for Mead with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. After that was taken care of, the next challenge was to perfect their recipes, as there is very little written about commercial mead production and even fewer experts available (apparently there are no dwarves from Alegasia* here, though they are praised for their exquisite mead).

"Much has been learned by trial and error, with occasional consultation with specialists in various areas. The culmination of all our preparation was the grand opening of Chinook Arch Meadery in May 2008. Since then, Art has continued to develop his techniques and recipes and our mead sales have become a major part of our business."

Chinook Arch Meadery produced 14,000 litres of mead in 2012 and hope to increase that to 18,000 litres in 2013. That's A LOT of mead! "To increase our production capacity, we are planning a new fermentation area in 2013. It will be able to hold at least 8 tanks (compared to our current 4 - 2000 L tanks), an improved mead transfer system and a higher capacity bottling system."

Fermentation Tanks

Mead has three main styles - traditional, made totally of honey (my personal favourite), melomels, made with honey and fruit, and metheglins, made with honey plus herbs and spices. "Art loves to use unique fruit in his melomels, such as black currants in 'Bodacious Black Currant', and even combine a number of berries such as in 'Berry Blisssss'." Chinook Arch Meadery's meads highlight, not only Alberta honey, but often Alberta fruits as well. "We use Evans cherries in 'Cherry Mi Amor' and [Art] is experimenting with Saskatoon and Haskap berries. Of course, coming up with the mead names can be a challenge in itself. We like to have fun with them. They often reflect the nature of each particular mead, such as 'Buckaroo Buckwheat' (Hayden's favourite) and 'Ginger Snapped', or the history of mead as in 'King Arthurs Dry'" Or my personal favourite, 'Excalibur'. Oh yum!

Chinook Arch Meadery have also released Canada's first Iced Mead. Last year it was 'Raspberry Ice' and this year they are featuring 'Frosted Blisssss'. "Iced Meads are very rich and potent at approximately 20% alc/vol. They are quite labour intensive, so they are specially priced, but not as high as Ice Wines."

Filtering before bottling

Bottling 'Cherry Mi Amor'

In addition to their love of creating and perfecting their mead, Art and Cherie also have enjoyed teaching people about mead. Like I mentioned earlier, many people have no idea what mead is. "In spite of the fact that it is the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, it is relatively unknown in most of North America. It may take one person at a time, but we're making progress! The number of people who have taken our Meadery tour and purchased our meads has increased at least 25% every year since we started. Also, we have a number of chefs in the Calgary area who are taking interest, not only with mead food pairings, but also to cook with."

In 2010, Chinook Arch Meadery's meads were featured in the prestigious Calgary chef's competition 'AGC Cooks'. Next year they will be highlighted in a program on Discovery Channel's 'Chef's Domain' with Chef Hayato Okamitsu.

"As an Alberta cottage winery, our mead distribution can take many channels. Our primary sales point is our on farm store, where we have a boutique setting which, in addition to our mead, also features our honey, honey made jams, jellies and sauces, beeswax products, apitherapy items and even a honey bee learning centre." The store is open year round and is located only 20 minutes South of Calgary.

In addition to their store, you can find Chinook Arch Meadery at two seasonal Farmers Markets - Millarville Market on Saturdays (from June till Oct) and Hillhurst-Sunnyside Farmers Markets on Wednesdays. They are also able to deliver their meads directly to liquor stores, instead of having to "depend on the ponderous, carbon hungry liquor warehousing & distribution centre, Connect Logistics, in St. Albert, AB."

Chinook Arch Meadery has their meads available in Calgary at Willowpark Wines and Spirits (Willowpark), Inglewood Wine Market and Highlander on 16th Ave W. "We obviously have limited production, so we are careful not to overextend ourselves. As well, mead still needs an advocate, so it sells best where it can be sampled and explained." Hopefully this feature helps with that as well.

Chinook's next special event is just around the corner! 'Christmas at the Hive' is Saturdays, Dec 1st and 8th. This event is free to attend and is a fundraiser for World Vision Beehives. There will be free tours of the meadery and apiary available, with plenty of tasting! woot woot. They will also be featuring their 2nd release of 'Fire 'n Spice' (a metheglin mead), which will be 10% off for those 2 days only. "It'll be a great family day in the country as we have 'Christnas Critters' to enjoy, snow candle crafts, horse drawn wagon rides and much more."

"So our life journey continues! It's all about learning and teaching and we've never regretted leaving the comfort zone of mainstream occupations."

I, for one, am oh so thankful that Chinook Arch Meadery ventured into the world of mead, to bring to my palate the very taste I always envisioned with every word ever read, in all those beloved stories.

For more info, please visit Chinook Honey Company's website (Chinook Arch Meadery has a tab within their main website) at www.chinookhoney.com and take a look at the different varieties of mead available at this time as well as a plethora of other information for the gleaning.

If you have any further questions, would like to book a tour or inquire about some mead, please feel free to call 1-403-995-0830 or email at info@chinookhoney.com.

Please go to Chinook Honey Company's facebook page and "like" it here.
Follow Chinook Honey Company on twitter @chinookhoney.

As a special for my Growing Green readers, give the PROMO CODE Mead me @ Chinook Honey and receive 5% off a bottle of 'Fire 'n Spice' during the month of December, 2012. Don't delay! Go experience this heaven in a bottle!

For those of you who have tried mead, what did you think? I'm curious to know what kinds/brands other people have tried and your thoughts on the world's oldest alcoholic beverage.

Next week's feature hint: Hot and spicy

*Alegasia is the land found within the "Inheritance cycle"

DIY Christmas Wreath

Christmas is hands down, my favourite holiday. I love the closeness it brings with family and the prospects of sitting in front of the fire, sipping on an assortment of hot, spiced beverages, cozy in an oversized sweater, leggings and big, fuzzy socks. I love the soft, warm glow of the lights adorning a tall, fragrant tree, covered in decorations that bring back a flood of memories. Small dishes are in every nook, cranny and on every flat surface, filled with nuts, fruit, chocolate and treats of every kind. Pleasant music plays softly in the background as the sounds of conversation and laughter fill the house, all the while, outside, large, fluffy snow flakes float down silently from the heavens. Reflection, thankfulness, contentment, hope, and excitement for a new year, looms in the forefront of the mind. This is bliss.

I still remember our first Christmas after Hayden and I were married. I, of course, was so excited to put up a tree and decorate our home and make it all "Christmasy", but Hayden wasn't keen on getting a tree, because we wouldn't be here. What was the point? Neither of us are from Medicine Hat, and thus we are always away at one of our family's homes for the holiday's. We wouldn't be here over Christmas, so why spend the money. That first year I had a hard time with this idea, feeling like something was missing, but the idea has gotten easier and now, as we near our 4th Christmas together, I'm totally in agreement, as far as the tree goes (once our wee family is a bit older, however, that will change :)) Other holiday decorating, however, is fair game :)

I just love the cozy, warm feelings that go along with the decor and the time leading up to Christmas is the best time to enjoy it. I'm not going to go over the top, mind you, but I started this season off with making our very first wreath for our front door that we can now use every year. I was so excited and found many different styles of wreaths I could attempt. With limited time and funds, however, I opted for an easier style which would be very cost effective. I believe that the more we can make and do ourselves and the less we buy from the stores, the "greener" we can be! Why pay $50 for a wreath when you can make one for $7.

Thus I'm sharing with you my wreath and how I made it, incase you too would like to endeavour in creating your own, personalized wreath. It honestly took very little time and energy and it was a proud moment when I hung it on our door.

The supplies you'll need to make this wreath are:

- Hot glue gun

- Hot glue sticks

- Wooden letter of choice (I chose "W" for our last name) (If you're feeling extra artsy, you could make your own letter out of reclaimed wood for an even "greener" wreath :) )

- Grapevine wreath (Michael's Store. $2.50 with a 50% off coupon)

- Flowers of choice (if you want to use flowers) 

- Paint color of choice

- Sandpaper

- Any other adornments you may like. The sky is the limit!

We love earth colours, thus I found some fake green and orange flowers for our wreath. I also got some fake pearls to place in the centre of the flowers.

First I painted my W in white. I aimed for a "distressed" look, so I only did one coat as I wanted the wood to show through. 

I then used the hot glue gun to glue pearls into the centre of the flowers

I then placed the flowers where I wanted them on the wreath, planning it out and re-arranging till I got the look I wanted, and then hot glued the flowers into place. I then added some of the leaves to fill in the gaps and make it full.

 I then used 120 grit sandpaper and sanded down the edges of the letter, to distress it some more.

I then placed the letter where I wanted it and hot glued it to the wreath.

My completed wreath hanging on our door! I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and look forward to using it every year :) It's not too Christmasy that I could actually put this out once fall is upon us each year and leave it up for a few months. I like that idea.

What's your favourite Christmas decoration that you've made?

Till next time.