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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Yuletide Toddy @adagioteas #teaadventcalendar #adventcalendar2021

My last tea in my Tea Advent Calendar is Yuletide Toddy. That sounds like something to drink after dinner on Christmas Eve, but I’m drinking it for lunch instead.

The tea contains rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, orange, ginger, cinnamon, cherries, cranberry flavor, cinnamon flavor, orange flavor, and ginger flavor. Wow that’s a lot of ingredients! It also looks like a non-caffeinated tea, which is great! When I opened the packet, it smelled deliciously tart, kind of like a mix of orange and cranberry juice.


I steeped it for 10 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. It turned a really pretty dark pink/purple color.

It tasted quite good unsweetened, like cranberry and cinnamon and apple, but I added sugar anyway. Sweetened, it was fantastic! It was like cranberry-apple juice but richer, with cinnamon and a hint of orange peel. I loved it!

Drinking the tea in my Tea Advent Calendar has been fun! There were a few duds, but on a whole this is a great sampler of some of the best flavored autumn and winter teas from Adagio.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
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