My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Oklahoma

Wikipedia always gives me good background info on the states I'm looking at each week, but the thing that surprised me most about Oklahoma is the meaning of its name: "The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning 'red people.'" Okay, but are they tea people?

• Miss Addie's Tea Room in Muskogee, Oklahoma, originally began life as a drug store and soda fountain. It became a tea room in 1992, and today it's a pub! When I spent a year researching tea room recipes back in 2013, I came across this recipe for the Tuna Noodle Casserole from Miss Addie's, tweaked a few things, and quickly added it to my list of tasty casserole recipes. Go here if you'd like to add it to yours!

• Waurika, Oklahoma, is said to have had a haunted tea room. According to the book “Dinner & Spirits: A Guide to America’s Most Haunted Restaurants, Taverns, and Inns" by Robert James Wlodarski and Anne Powell Wlodarski, a source speaking of the Moneka Mall and Tea Room claimed the house was "haunted by the presence of a robber killed in the dining room. Today, the robber’s specter and other spirits are frequently sighted in the building. Footsteps can be heard in the unoccupied upstairs area, and an unattended typewriter has suddenly begun typing on its own.” I'm a skeptic when it comes to such tales, but they're certainly interesting to consider! 

• A University of Oklahoma study found that patients who drank 4 cups of green tea a day "significantly decreased body weight and BMI." Do any of you drink tea for weight loss? I like to think I drink tea mainly for the pleasure it brings me, but when I read this study of how some obese people lost weight by drinking 4 cups of green tea a day, it definitely made me interested in plundering through my tea stash and focusing on the greens for a while. Here's a link to a brief summary of the report's findings if you're interested!

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