The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[RingTailedLemur]

When posters mention the food and drink they're supplying for a party, I see "Iced Tea" a bit.
The iced tea we have here (Aust) is brown, and very sweet - it really doesn't taste like cold black tea at all. Is that the case in the US? Or is it a packet mix? Just cold black tea?

Yes to all of the above, depending on the area and the person drinking it.  *I* prefer cold black tea, unsweetened.  DH prefers cold black tea with a couple of teaspoons of sugar. My Oklahoma kinfolk prefer sweet tea - boil a gallon of water, dissolve two cups of sugar into it, and add 8 teabags.  Refrigerate this tea-flavored syrup after cooling and serve over ice.  There are also packet mixes, which are also sweetened but not as much as sweet tea, and most grocery stores will also have sweetened iced tea or sweet tea in gallon jugs. The packet mixes usually also have lemonish flavoring.  You can also get sweetened iced tea in 12 ounce cans or 20 ounce bottles, like Coke.  There is no real consistency about what you get in a restaurant.  Better ask first.

I've often wondered, how do you stop it from going bitter and yucky? If I make a cup of hot tea and let it go cold, it's not very nice. Actually it happens to me practically every day at work and I just tip it out. No-one I know is happy to drink hot tea that went cold accidentally. So how do you make it different? Is it in the teas used, the chilling process or maybe in the brewing temperature?

It used to happen to me, too, until I bought one of these: http://www.prezzybox.com/usb-mug-warmer.aspx?gclid=CIHin_TPr7ICFQQLfAodg2oAaA 

[Thipu1]

In the south, iced tea is strong black tea, chilled. Sweet tea is the same, with lots of sugar.  I have only seen iced coffee as, well, coffee on ice.  The other drink you describe sounds like a dessert.

In NYC, iced tea is available two ways.  you can get  Nestea or Snapple in bottles.  This is quite sweet and flavored with fruit.  Lemon, peach or raspberry are popular flavors.  However,  we have seen unsweetened Nestea in Wisconsin. 

A more traditional iced tea in the Northeast USA is a home-brewed, strong black tea.  It's made extra strong because it has to keep its character in the presence of ice cubes.  No sweetener is added to the original brew.  Drinkers may add lemon and/or sugar if they wish. 

This beverage is prized because it has a slight astringency.  As Mr. Thipu puts it, 'It cuts the fuzz'
better than sugared drinks or even plain water. 

[Virg]

guihong wrote:

"We went to a Japanese "steakhouse" tonight for DD's birthday .  This was the kind of place where several parties of people sit around a hibachi, and the chef puts on a "show" with flying knives, chopping and tossing food around, and setting fires.  The food was good, but the main draw of the place is the preparation.  How authentic is the "show" in Japan, or is it purely theater?"

That's called teppanyaki, and it's both theater and authentic in Japan.  If you attend often, you'll see that (assuming the chef is good) the show is very exacting like a martial arts routine.  The accuracy to the routine is part of it, like a tea ceremony where perfect execution honors the guests, so the chefs rehearse as much as any dancer.  In fact, once at Teppan Edo (the teppanyaki restaurant in Walt Disney World), I said something offhand that got a really good response.  When our chef had finished and left, one of the other people at the table (not in my party) said, "he didn't say much, did he?"  I replied, "True, but his execution was very nearly flawless."  The manager nearby heard me say that and apparently told the chef, who returned to the table to thank me personally.

Virg

[blue2000]

I didn't want to start a whole new thread in the knowledge exchange folder, so I hope it's ok to put it here.

When posters mention the food and drink they're supplying for a party, I see "Iced Tea" a bit.
The iced tea we have here (Aust) is brown, and very sweet - it really doesn't taste like cold black tea at all. Is that the case in the US? Or is it a packet mix? Just cold black tea?

Also, when we were in Hawaii, DH asked at a cafe for a "iced coffee" - and got chilled black coffee with iced cubes. Is this usual? Ice/d Coffee here is a milk drink mildly flavoured with coffee, sold in cartons, or, at a cafe you'd get a fancy glass, with maybe some ice cream/cream on top.

It sounds like it is closer to Canadian iced tea than American. Ours is sold with the soft drinks and is quite often lemon-flavoured, but you can get peach, raspberry, or various other things.

Our iced coffee isn't plain coffee either. I don't drink it, but I know it is closer to a coffee milkshake than coffee with ice cubes.

[AfleetAlex]

I've often wondered, how do you stop it from going bitter and yucky? If I make a cup of hot tea and let it go cold, it's not very nice. Actually it happens to me practically every day at work and I just tip it out. No-one I know is happy to drink hot tea that went cold accidentally. So how do you make it different? Is it in the teas used, the chilling process or maybe in the brewing temperature?

I drink hot tea at work and have noticed that if I leave the tea bag in too long, the tea gets bitter, and that seems to be accentuated when the cup gets cold. (I do put sweetener in my hot tea, for full disclosure.) Otherwise the tea isn't too bad cool, and I can always microwave it and get it back to the 'original' flavor.

[Elfmama]

I've often wondered, how do you stop it from going bitter and yucky? If I make a cup of hot tea and let it go cold, it's not very nice. Actually it happens to me practically every day at work and I just tip it out. No-one I know is happy to drink hot tea that went cold accidentally. So how do you make it different? Is it in the teas used, the chilling process or maybe in the brewing temperature?

I drink hot tea at work and have noticed that if I leave the tea bag in too long, the tea gets bitter, and that seems to be accentuated when the cup gets cold. (I do put sweetener in my hot tea, for full disclosure.) Otherwise the tea isn't too bad cool, and I can always microwave it and get it back to the 'original' flavor.

For me, it's knowing how many tea bags to use for a given amount of hot water.  I've never had a brew go bitter.  But then, I also never use the suggested proportion of one bag per cup of water.  Usually it's three teabags for two quarts of water (a little less than 2 liters.)  And for just plain black tea, I use Lipton.

[kherbert05]

When posters mention the food and drink they're supplying for a party, I see "Iced Tea" a bit.
The iced tea we have here (Aust) is brown, and very sweet - it really doesn't taste like cold black tea at all. Is that the case in the US? Or is it a packet mix? Just cold black tea?

Yes to all of the above, depending on the area and the person drinking it.  *I* prefer cold black tea, unsweetened.  DH prefers cold black tea with a couple of teaspoons of sugar. My Oklahoma kinfolk prefer sweet tea - boil a gallon of water, dissolve two cups of sugar into it, and add 8 teabags.  Refrigerate this tea-flavored syrup after cooling and serve over ice.  There are also packet mixes, which are also sweetened but not as much as sweet tea, and most grocery stores will also have sweetened iced tea or sweet tea in gallon jugs. The packet mixes usually also have lemonish flavoring.  You can also get sweetened iced tea in 12 ounce cans or 20 ounce bottles, like Coke.  There is no real consistency about what you get in a restaurant.  Better ask first.

I've often wondered, how do you stop it from going bitter and yucky? If I make a cup of hot tea and let it go cold, it's not very nice. Actually it happens to me practically every day at work and I just tip it out. No-one I know is happy to drink hot tea that went cold accidentally. So how do you make it different? Is it in the teas used, the chilling process or maybe in the brewing temperature?

My Mom was Canadian and liked hot tea
Dad was a Texan and liked ice tea.
They used the type of Tea bags, and the same tea pot so same volume of water. But Ice tea used 2 or 3 bags not one like the hot tea.


You let the ice tea cool some - so you don't shatter the glass. It is served in a tall glass filled with ice. If the tea is still hot the ice starts to melt. you stop and put in more ice. The liquid is brown - but translucent. (Dad could tell when I added so much sugar it stopped dissolving.) You add sugar and lemon to taste. Not decorative slices of lemon a good quarter of a small lemon squeezed in.


In the words of one of my youngest aunts - Your Dad takes perfectly good tea, dumps it over ice and adds sugar and lemon. Said with love - but honestly our first trip to PEI. Dad went out and bought like 10 ice trays because Nanna and Pop Had 1  with 7 people in the house. Dad's drinks were always more ice than drink.


Another variation - take  clear gallon jug, fill with tap water, dump in 6 - 8 teabags, sit in direct sunlight for several hours, chill and serve. I LOVE sun tea - of course TPTB now inform us we are all going to DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE HOOOORRRIBLE DEAAATTHHHs from sun tea. (bacteria can grow in it - make sure the container is clean and don't add sugar till ready to drink.)

[Doll Fiend]

*Sneaks in*

Alton Brown has a good eats about tea. Hot tea, iced tea, sweet tea. . . all nummy!

*Runs out giggling*

[Onyx_TKD]

My stupid question:
Around what age do kids generally get too big to be carried? There's obviously a stage where kids are old enough to walk fine by themselves but still get picked up and carried because they're tired or just can't easily keep up with longer-legged adults.

I'm wondering because of a story I'm writing (fanfic); it's a minor detail, but there's a reason the kid needs to appear in the story and I don't want anything to jump out as glaringly off. I don't know many little kids, so I don't have the greatest sense of what is typical for each age.

[sidi-ji]

Morning all.  It is more related to weight,  than age I'd say.  Then secondarily the maturity of the kid.  A tired three-year-old can usually be easily hefted, and is still used to being carted around.  So 3+ years is good.  I love fanfic btw.

[VorFemme]

It also depends on the size of the parent carrying the child - anyone under five feet tall is going to stop carrying a child earlier than a six foot tall parent - unless the child is built to the same scale.

I've seen tiny women with tall husbands who had to stop carrying kids (and found even stroller pushing got to be heavy exercise) when their built more like Daddy than Mommy kid hit half of Mommy's size before they were three.

Granted, there aren't many women that small with husbands that tall who are raising giant children.......but...

And "twenty pounds" was another milestone I remember a woman writing about (before blogging) - she mentioned that women learn what twenty pounds feels like because when kids hit that weight - they are usually walking and WANT to walk (and Mom's back is happier if she lets them).  Bit for the rest of her life - she can estimate the weight of almost anything as being REAL close to twenty pounds (or so).

I'm wishing I still had a copy of the short & humorous essay......or a link to an internet copy (I think it was in Readers' Digest - but years ago...

[Virg]

Onyx_TKD wrote:

"Around what age do kids generally get too big to be carried?"

As previous posters said, it varies with the child and carrier, but few people will balk at reading that a child under three years old got picked up and carried, and most will balk at mention of the same for a four-year-old child or older except under extreme circumstances like an injury or a carrier who's been described as strong.  For the year in the middle it could go either way so mention that the child is small (or large) if you bring it into the story.

Virg

[Dindrane]

I've often wondered, how do you stop it from going bitter and yucky? If I make a cup of hot tea and let it go cold, it's not very nice. Actually it happens to me practically every day at work and I just tip it out. No-one I know is happy to drink hot tea that went cold accidentally. So how do you make it different? Is it in the teas used, the chilling process or maybe in the brewing temperature?

I think some of it is the variety of tea used, and some of it is the method for making iced tea.

Iced tea in the US tends to be made with Lipton (or similar). It's a blend of tea that, according to their website, is Orange Pekoe and Pekoe cut black tea. The method that I am most familiar with is to either make hot tea, and pour it over ice before it has cooled all the way, or to make tea in a way that doesn't involve heating the water at all (sun tea or just cold-brewed tea).

When you pour hot-brewed tea over ice, it tends to get a little more diluted as the ice melts, and that helps keep it from getting bitter. When you brew tea without using boiling water, the acid content is lower, which helps with the taste.

One other thing I'll note is that most of the tea-drinking countries I'm aware of tend not to drink Lipton-style tea varieties. When I spent a semester in Ireland, the tea that was sold as just generic tea (usually in enormous quantities) was actually Irish Breakfast tea. Something like that, or English Breakfast, or Earl Grey, taste very different when iced than what you'd normally find in the US. I personally think they all taste terrible iced, no matter how you prepare it.

[Onyx_TKD]

Thanks for the responses! It sounds like it isn't too far off from what I was guessing.

Onyx_TKD wrote:

"Around what age do kids generally get too big to be carried?"

As previous posters said, it varies with the child and carrier, but few people will balk at reading that a child under three years old got picked up and carried, and most will balk at mention of the same for a four-year-old child or older except under extreme circumstances like an injury or a carrier who's been described as strong.  For the year in the middle it could go either way so mention that the child is small (or large) if you bring it into the story.

Virg

So, it would be fairly plausible for reasonably large, physically fit man to pick up a 4 or 5-year-old without undue difficulty, although he probably wouldn't want to carry him around for too long? Say, if the kid was injured, needed to be boosted over an obstacle, was being abducted by a ferocious cave troll in a game of pretend...

[Outdoor Girl]

When we go camping, we do a hike around the lake which is 4 to 5 km long.  This year, a 4 yr old boy walked the entire thing.  A couple years ago, when his big sister was 4, she had to be carried for the last km or so, by my 18 year old nephew, if I remember correctly.  The carriers tended to sit the kids on their shoulders, rather than carrying them in their arms.

So 4 to 5 year olds and reasonably fit person is definitely not unreasonable.