Heaty-Cooling Happiness

Today, I am listening to French songs and making bad translations in my mind. I am playing Hell's Kitchen on Wii and burning the food. And I'm glad our sensitive stupid smoke detector won't smell the TV. I am in Asia, which is now home and when in Asia, do as the Asians do (but not so much on my part because I'm a brat). 


Today, as I've seen many do, I will drink green tea, drink lots of water, eat more vegetables, cut down on my sugar and smoke. And I will eat mandarin oranges because you might be over Chinese New Year but I'm not. (No punctuation intentionally in that last sentence. Am I talking to you or to Chinese New Year? Excuse my random thought.) It would have been great to surprise you and come up with some fancy Chinese dish that I don't know the authentic taste of, but I can't seem to get enough motivation to cook for myself when my husband is away. I try but my lonely kitchen adventures aren't as blog worthy.  So I tell you this: as of April Fools' Day, I'll start taking this more seriously. Ironic much?

So anyway, we were recently at a friend's house and it was explained to us that in... I don't know what to call it... Chinese nutrition habits/culture, there are "heaty" foods and "cooling" foods. These balance out the hot and cold energy in your body, which is basically balancing out your acid/alkaline balance. It just sounds more abracadabra when you say heaty/cooling.



But today, since there are no fancy Chinese dishes to be made in our kitchen because I am unskilled like that and since I was going to eat mandarin oranges (which are heaty and can give you a sore throat, according to Chiren and Pam's explanation; but just juicy, watery and sweet according to me) then I had to make something cooling and preferably also with Chinese origins. Now, go ahead and laugh but I'm teaching you how to make Iced Peppermint Green Tea and you should learn to drink green tea. Minus the sugar.  


Update: This recipe was featured on the Gojee Top 3 Drinks section for the first week of February 2012 under Non-alcoholic Drinks.

    

Iced Peppermint Green Tea: (Inspired by Memoria)

4 cups of water
3-4 peppermint green tea teabags 
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice
Ice


For those of you who want to sweeten it, you can add half to three quarters of a cup of sugar to your 4 cups of water. I personally recommend that if you choose to sweeten it, use honey. Honey, by the way, is a neutral food and has a balanced yin/yang. Don't ask me anymore questions about this. I don't know any more than I'm telling you. Besides, Google is your best friend. Just treat it right and it'll give you what you want. You can also use plain green tea and add dried mint or a drop of mint extract. I didn't use too much lemon because I can't take a lot of it but feel free to add more to your own.


Now, get your jug. Put your tea bags in it. Pour hot water over your tea bags until they're covered. Only until the tea bags are covered. Don't fill up your jug. Now let it soak while you count to 40 (or 41 if you don't like even numbers like me) for a milder taste and up to 2 minutes for a stronger flavor. I prefer a stronger green tea taste. Top up the rest of your jug with cold water. Add ice to your glass before you pour. Oh, and you can also add the lemon wedge like me. It makes you feel special. Now, go find a mandarin orange while I go get another one and another glass that I'm frosting in the freezer. Be gone.