Czech this out!

Two weeks ago, my friend Liz left for a trip to the Czech Republic and promised to bring me a souvenir. Since I know what it's like to drag shopping bags full of breakables through airports and hotels and busy city streets, I warned her not to attempt to bring me anything large or anything breakable. Blessedly, she didn't listen to a word I said.


I may have detected the teensiest bit of a glare when we met yesterday for her to hand over my "loot," as she called it. Surely everything in that shopping bag wasn't for me? Friends, it was! Oh, it was!


My favorite part of the "loot" was, of course, a beautifully-gilded set of two pink cups and saucers with roses on them. I even love the satin-lined box. She also got me five boxes of tea, some cocoa flavored wafer cookies (which are great) and a bar of white chocolate. I can't read the names of most of the teas, but the images tell me they include pear, apple and raspberry flavors. I started with the pear, and it is incredibly delicious. I took a first hot sip to see if it required sweetener, and no, it had a strong pear taste with an amazingly sweet aftertaste. Later, I tried the Earl Grey and it was delicious as well, tasting as if it had extra bergamot flavoring. So now I'm broadening my experience in international tea tasting, and I have to say - I like it!