Thoughts on Tea and Chocolate

If tea and crumpets are “a thing” what on this beautiful, heavenly earth would you call tea and chocolate?

Who cares? Go for it!.

I drink tea every morning, and much of the day, unless something unforeseen stops me, as in I am totally under the weather and can’t even move my pinkie finger.

I take my tea dark, even though I almost always mix black tea with green tea for the fabulous antioxidants. I used to add skim milk. Then I switched to whole milk. I pressed onward to half and half, and then hit the big time with whipping cream, un-whipped. Yes, I have imagination. This might sound unappealing, but it only takes a smidge, and I mean a SMIDGE (picture DROPS, not teaspoons) to make a HUGE culinary impact. Somewhere along the way, I figured it might make an impact on my body, so I now take my tea plain (most of the time).

When I was a child, I learned to drink tea, a favorite drink of my mother, but only after I added sugar (it was cubes back then, not granules) or honey. My mother took hers plain in an English tea cup made of bone china, on a matching saucer, even when she sat outside on a low stonewall in her gardens to enjoy its warmth and soothing touch. Can you picture this? In our new world of 20-ounce mugs?

At some point, my mother switched to coffee as a first choice of warm beverage. Not I. In over six decades, I have had exactly one cup of coffee, immediately following an indoor team tennis practice in high school. It was there for the taking ... so... wanting to be part of the coolness of it all, I poured my first cup of coffee and loaded it with fake creamer and artificial sweetener. It proved nauseating. Never again. Not even if I love coffee ice cream, which I do, or if I love the smell of coffee brewing, which I do as well. So happy to have high school days behind me, but this is for another day’s post.

For me, it is tea from now ‘til death do us part, which brings me to the chocolate part of this post. I hear a bit of chocolate is healthy. Could it add years, I wonder?  I take “high test.” 63 percent is the lowest I’ll go. Picture this: a couple of delectable chocolate morsels (with all their good antioxidants) melting in your mouth following a sip of equally antioxidant-rich tea. I guess this more than makes up for the absence of honey or sugar. In fact, I know it does, but hear me out...

It’s not as though I do tea/chocolate chasers all day. While I am pretty sure I am single-handedly keeping a number of tea companies in business, there ARE points in the day when I stick to tea alone. If truth be told, however, I am pretty certain some of you might also be snacking on morsels of chocolate chips now and again. I think we can all agree baking is overrated when the need for the morsel strikes. Anyway, I highly recommend you give this tea and chocolate thing – whatever it is called – a try. Let me know what you think of it. Send a comment. And please don’t judge!

Also, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter for more musings on tea and much, much more. (I’m full of ideas…) Click HERE to get my newsletter and FREE chapters of Clean Sweep: A Novel.

I’m Livin’ on Leaves… How about you?

“For all the Tea in China.”

You have heard this expression, yes? As in, I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China. It’s almost like saying, “You couldn’t pay me enough to do that.”

Well, over the centuries, China, indeed, has been a huge grower of tea plants and producer of tea.

My question to you is have you read the book by this name?

It is called, For All the Tea in China; How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History. The author is Sarah Rose.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it, but please know I am an avid tea drinker. (Insert smiley face here... with cup of tea attached to the smiley face... if such an emoji is available!) When I say, “I’m livin’ on leaves,” I mean it. Tea is with me alllllllll day. Others of you, I know, are livin’ on beans, as in coffee beans. For me, it is a definite, “Hold the beans!”

Yes, I love tea, and I loved reading this book. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British East India Company was losing its hold on the tea trade from China and daringly sent a Scottish botanist named Robert Fortune to steal tea plants from China so they could be grown in British plantations in India. Fortune’s travels were filled with danger and some remarkable discoveries. I am most grateful for his perseverance, even if his efforts were not always on the up and up.

Fast forward a bunch of decades. Let me share a few memories of a trip I took to China.

Would you make a tea plantation one of your only stops if you visited China? As I said, I am an avid tea drinker. Besides, it was a very short visit, so other tourist destinations had to step aside. FYI, my other stop was a series of terraced rice fields.

Seeing tea plants, which were carefully manicured in row upon terraced row on a steep hillside, was a dream of a lifetime. The dream became a miracle when, after seeing careful demonstration of technique, I was able to pinch off fresh green leaf tips, in very labor-intensive fashion, to fill a small sac. There I stood, on what only could be described as extremely difficult land to farm, surrounded by terraced steps of tea plants. I mean, we are talking MAJOR INCLINE! Matterhorn! Terraced by rocks put in place by hand, I am certain.

With my sac filled with fresh tea leaves, I next learned how to heat and roll the leaves to make dried tea as I know it. From there, it was over to a dining table to see how white, green, oolong, and black teas are each prepared for one’s tea cup, how long each tea is seeped several times over, how the tea is strained, and how the process is repeated for different types of teas at different temperatures. I was honored to learn even the little bit I learned. I became more enamored than ever with tea – the plant, a type of Camelia, the beverage, and the many centuries of connection to human and family ceremonies, rituals, lifetimes, and lives. If Botanist Robert Fortune had needed a partner in crime, I might have volunteered! Cheers to tea and to this wonderful book.

Writing and Gardening - the Perfect Romance!

The Perfect Romance: Writing and Gardening!

As many of you know, I moved into my writing life fresh off a decade of work as a flower farmer. On a wish and a whim, I started my own little suburban flower farm, called Butternut Gardens, in Southport, Connecticut, and by the end of my flower career, I was growing and harvesting close to 100,000 flowers a year for retail and wholesale bouquets and events. Think of all those flowers! Sigh…

A question I am frequently asked is, “What did you do with all of your plants and your farm rows of flowers when you shifted to writing?” Thanks for asking. I NEVER WANT TO STOP TALKING ABOUT FLOWERS, no matter how many books I write!

During this upcoming growing season, if you follow my Instagram posts @eblee.author, you will see exactly what I have done with my plants because I want to share with you, my dear Readers and Friends, my journey of turning all the rows of flowers back into a home landscape of perennial plants (plants that come up year after year). Yes, I love writing. I also need breaks from time to time. No reason not to mingle with the flowers.

Last year, throughout the summer, I dug up some 20 rows, at least, of plants. Everything from phlox, coneflower, and black-eyed-Susans, to peonies, lady’s mantel, and more. These are four-foot-wide rows by 50’ to 60’ long. Some plants I gifted to a new flower farmer. Others went into my original gardens, which had been replaced by farm rows during my farming years.

Moving plants last summer was a ton of work. I am thrilled to have that part behind me. The more fun part of last summer’s endeavor was envisioning what is to come. Knowing in my brain what I expect will result from planting certain plants where I placed them is exciting. Now, comes the fun part of seeing this vision come to fruition over time. During the upcoming year, I will share news of my gardens on Instagram, so be sure to check my posts @eblee.author for photos and updates.

Also, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter so you will know when I am sharing garden thoughts! As a benefit of signing up for my newsletter, I will send you the first two chapters of Clean Sweep FREE. Just click HERE.

Stay warm, and think plenty of “flowerful” thoughts!

Just Hiding Out Here in Clear View

When I think of Spring, I think of colorful flowers, the wonderful scent and feel of soft garden soil, and the sounds of birds. What can I say? I will ALWAYS be a gardener! I bring this up in the middle of winter because one of my most enjoyable activities is escaping to the cozy confines of a greenhouse or plastic tunnel while snow covers the ground around me. Inside temperatures can easily reach one hundred, with humidity visibly high as condensation drips from the plastic above and makes rows of splotch marks on the soil landing pad. Talk about a major disrupter to Old Man Winter! And talk about Heaven on Earth!

Do any of you, my dear Readers and Friends, take winter trips to botanical gardens just to be in the manipulated climates of the greenhouses? To see and feel the tropical rainforests while wind chills break records on the other side of the glass? To catch an early glimpse of spring with landscaped gardens of forced bulbs? Two of my favorite destinations are New York Botanical Garden in The Bronx, New York and Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA. What are your favorites?

Partly because I have a thing for winter greenhouse visits, I incorporated an atrium into my novel Clean Sweep. To be sure, atriums are very different from greenhouses, but they, too, bring us closer to the magic of our outdoor world, even as we go about our indoor activities and work lives. With natural light, stone, green plantscapes, and glass walls and ceilings that let us connect to sun and clouds outside, we are allowed to connect a bit more with our own insides, as well as our surroundings.

In Clean Sweep, I introduce one particular atrium in a way that speaks as much to atrium visitors and to social issues, as it does to the particulars of the atrium itself. It is a vehicle for provoking thought as well as a story element.

If you have read Clean Sweep, I would love to hear your thoughts on the atrium and the atrium scenes. Please, send me an email at eblee.author@gmail.com .

If you have not yet read Clean Sweep, pick up a copy today. It is available in hardcover, softcover, ebook, and audiobook. Get your copy through any of the outlets listed on my home page HERE.

A Beautiful Thanksgiving Rescue Story

Twelve years ago, the day after Thanksgiving, another beautiful rescue story had another beautiful beginning. That’s the day one of my daughters rescued the little brown dog - Quinnifer a.k.a. Quinn. It wasn’t the first home into which the little brown dog had been welcomed. It wasn’t even the second one. Quinn’s first year of life is a mystery to us all, but we know she was “adopted” and returned by at least one other family before she came to be Quinnifer Lee. Looking back, she almost didn’t make it through the first week as a Lee.

Quinn’s earliest days might have been in Durham, NC. Or they might have been somewhere altogether different. I have no idea. She came to my daughter out of a Durham shelter. I are most grateful for the work this shelter and so many others do to save the beautiful animals who have been given a rough lot in life - no home, abandoned, unwanted, or left behind by a loving family that moved or an elderly owner who passed. The wonderful people working at shelters across the country, and around the globe, open up their hearts on a daily basis to make the lives of these wonderful strays whole again, and to help heal them physically and emotionally to the best place possible. Thank you, one and all.

As I said, Quinn came to my family the day after Thanksgiving, and almost didn’t make it the first week. No one in my family had ever had a dog. Cats? Yes. Dog? No. Quinn came with a lot of anxiety, and did a lot of things we had never seen done by a cat. Clearly, she needed a home and a generous, loving heart. My daughter supplied both as she and Quinn patiently came to know one another and worked on helping Quinn become a family member.

Fast forward a few years, and Quinn moved in with me. How many of you reading this have “hand-me-down” pets from your children? It is wonderful watching children take next steps in adulthood, and it is a gift, albeit not a life plan, to receive your grown child’s dog or cat when your young adult takes flight and realizes it is best done solo, instead of with the responsibility of caring for another. That’s how Quinn became a “farm dog,” joining me at my former flower farm in Connecticut. It’s also how dogs became a wonderful part of my daily life, and also my writing life. Quinn has taught me nearly all I know about dogs.

When I say Quinn followed me everywhere as I grew and harvested thousands upon thousands of flowers a year, I mean she followed me everywhere. She was a star participant! Still is, but now it is a writing life she is learning. As a flower-farming dog, Quinn helped plant, dig, plant, dig, cut flowers, water flowers, assemble bouquets, and more. She was an expert supervisor, rising from the ranks of newbie intern very, very quickly. What a joy it was to have her at my side. If we had to make eight trips back and forth from field to barn with buckets of flowers in hand, she nobly walked back and forth from flower row to barn eight times. In fact, she often led the way with an occasional glance over her shoulder to ensure I was on track. When we pulled out a hose to water new seedlings into their row, there she lay, within ten feet of me, one paw slung over the hose, apparently monitoring. When I made bouquets in the barn, she curled in a bed beside me, and rose every so often to do a check-in before resettling in a beautiful dog-curl repose.

Animals have long been important to me, and Quinn has been one significant life-lesson for me, as I know other dogs have been for many people. As she and I transition from a mighty flower-farming duo to an inseparable writing team, Quinn is diligently pursuing the learning curve alongside me. Had I not had Quinnifer in my life all these years, I would never have included Lila and Terrance in my debut novel Clean Sweep. I absolutely needed my dog experience to come up with the idea of including these two little dogs in the story, and being able to add details with which readers could relate.

As I awaken daily to the very happy heart of my little companion hound, I am grateful on a daily basis for this wonderful Thanksgiving Rescue story and for the work of the many rescue shelters and kind hearts far and near. They always say it is the person who is “rescued” and not the pet. I must say, I am one very, very lucky human rescue. Without this gift of a dog, my life would be far less full. Here’s to finding the love of others, both human and furry, feathered, or finned. Here’s to being thankful every single moment of each day, for all the wonder life holds. Here’s to gratitude for this good earth, and to the bonds we can make, rather than the ones broken.

Time flies by, and an audiobook flies in!

Now out! Narrated by the very tallented Daniela Acitelli. I LOVE her voice for this story!

Fall, I love ‘ya, but where did Summer go? I’d like tell you I was diligently writing away all summer, finished my second manuscript, and had all manner of author appearances scheduled, but it would be a lie… fiction!

I spent the summer dealing with life! And all it throws at you. Nothing we don’t do all the time. My former business - a little suburban flower farm in Southport, CT - is now in the very capable hands of a new, YOUNGER flower farmer and his family. I am excitedly watching it grow as Butternut Farm, instead of Butternut Gardens, as I had called it. The farmer and I planted dahlias together in June, and I am thrilled to now see the incredible blooms heading into people’s homes, without my having to lift a finger! So, why did this stop the writing process? All summer, I was madly digging and moving plants, cleaning out a barn and workspace, and removing fencing to give plants and growing supplies to the new Butternut Farm and to recreate my own home landscaped gardens. Oo la la, I have gardens (not farm rows) again! On top of this, I was dealing with “the little brown dog,” who had her second CCL (like our ACL) tear and related surgery in less than six months and then, mid-summer, developed allergies and hives! Little Brown Dog and I will be dealing with this allergy business for a while! Finally, one of my family members needed my help when his body decided it was time to pop in the request for open-heart surgery! Oh, hooray! Thankfully, all went well. Needless to say, my writing did not! Oh well, life goes on.

So, what did I accomplish writing-wise? Well, I accomplished life, and this is a big help. I cleared some things off my plate, which needed clearing so I can now move ahead more freely. This is good.

In addition, I saw through the release of the AUDIOBOOK of Clean Sweep: A Novel. So, for all you travelers, or read-as-you-do-chores kinds of book people, here is a great opportunity to dive into Clean Sweep!

I want to share a bit about the process of creating an audiobook. It was new to me, and is likely something with which most of you are not familiar either. Here is the secret recipe: First, you find a narrator. I decided not to narrate my own book. I considered it, but chose a professional narrator instead. My reading of Clean Sweep would have sounded wonderful to me, as it would have been exactly how I hear the book, but it would not have been very dramatic or attention-grabbing. Enter the professional narrator to make the book come alive! I decided to find a narrator through Findaway Voices, which also does production and distribution of the final audiobook. Saves me the trouble, for which I am grateful. With a bit of information about Clean Sweep from my end, Findaway Voices suggested a number of possible narrators. I listened to their generic audition pieces through my computer and then selected a handful of these narrators to read passages of Clean Sweep. After listening to the Clean Sweep audition pieces, I chose the one narrator who would bring life to my novel in audio format. Daniela Acitelli, in my mind, has the perfect voice for Clean Sweep. I was listening for tone, inflection, cadence and overall feel. This last element might not be so scientific, but it mattered to me. Daniela and I exchanged emails pre-recording, so she and I were on the same page. She very professionally suggested I leave most of the narration decisions to her. Yes, I had to let go. I was not narrating. The result would not be my take on the narration. It would be Daniela’s. And I had to give her room to do her best professional work. Great advice!

As Daniela finished chapters, she sent them along to me to hear. This was after she had her own professional editor/proofreader ensure the words were narrated as they were written. Daniela’s narration was nothing short of spectacular. Oh, and did I tell you Daniela is in the UK, but produced the audiobook with an American accent, as requested? More impressive.

In nearly 100,000 words, I found less than a handful of words I wanted Daniela to say differently. For example, “BOGO” for Buy one Get one first came to me as a short “o” sound after the B, rather than a long “o” sound to which I am accustomed. Easy fix. And, I might add, Daniela did find a few words, which were misspelled in the text, and brought them to my attention. Outstanding!

Next, in the production process, I gave the okay for the nearly 12 hours of audio, after listening diligently days and days in a row. I gave the go-ahead to Daniela to include the Discussion Questions so book club members, who listened to the audiobook, could have the same questions as other members, who picked up a hard copy or read Clean Sweep in ebook format. So, all formats have the same discussion questions.

Now, it was time for production. Well, not much for me to do except give the go-ahead to Findaway Voices to use the narrated files, create some metadata for potential buyers, choose my distribution options, and upload the audiobook cover. Uh oh! Emergency request to my graphic designer required! Yes, I forgot to ask for a “cover design” in audiobook size, and I absolutely wanted to give credit on the cover to Daniela Acitelli for her narration. Well, thank you to Kathleen Lynch of Black Kat Design for creating the audiobook cover in a pinch so I could make my September 14 release deadline.

With a few more clicks on the computer, the Clean Sweep audiobook was headed for final production with Findaway Voices and its distribution partners. It is all yours to listen to! Enjoy, and tell me what you think of it by contacting me through my https://eblee.me/contact form!

Until next time,

E.

Of cycling in novels and real life

Have you bicycled recently?

I adore bicycling. It allows the perfect pace for travel. I can go fast enough to see more than if I were walking, but slowly enough to see so much as I go.

 Clean Sweep includes several references to bicycling. In Manhattan, no less. Have you gotten to this part in the novel yet? If not, get ready to meet Royal, a thick-tired bike with royal blue fenders. Royal belongs to Grant, but you will be able to imaging riding double, on the handlebars ... in the middle of the night, as Grant takes Carli for a ride!

Here’s a cool bicycle opportunity for you, if you happen to live near Manhattan.

It’s called Summer Streets. For several Saturdays in August, nearly 7 miles of NYC’s streets are open for people to play, walk, bicycle, skateboard, and even walk your dog (or skateboard with your dog) along Park Avenue from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park and on some of the side streets, while auto traffic is kept away. I have done this for about 5 years now.

 You, too, can bicycle without cars on Saturday, August 14. Yesterday was the first of this year’s Summer Streets. Next Saturday, August 14, from 7 AM to 1 PM, is the second and last Summer Streets for 2021. In 2019, nearly 300,000 people enjoyed the open streets! 

Check out the schedule of activities along the route here (there are some fun ones!) and other details of Summer Streets here: https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/html/route/activities.shtml

Enjoy!

Launch Day is Here for Clean Sweep: A Novel

E.B.Lee receives a congratulatory shake of hand/paw from Quinnifer, the dog behind Little Brown Dog Press

Today, July 20, 2021, Little Brown Dog Press released my book, Clean Sweep: A Novel by E. B. Lee. I am so happy to finally be able to share this story with you, dear readers!

Clean Sweep: A Novel is currently available in eBook, softcover, and hardcover. An audiobook will be released in September.

Here I am enjoying a congratulatory shake of hands/paws with the little brown dog behind Little Brown Dog Press.

We DID IT! Come read and ENJOY, dear Readers and Friends!

E.

Having a Banner Week Here!

Look who’s getting the star treatment!

Release day is approaching! Clean Sweep will be available July 20th, although you can preorder the ebook right now, if that is your preferred reading platform.

In the meantime, I want to share what some of the advance reviews are saying:

“Author E. B. Lee tells the stories of the homeless characters with incredible warmth and compassion, never forgetting that these are human beings with pasts—and futures.”— IndieReader

Clean Sweep: A Novel gets a Starred Review as Blueink writes, “Tackling important, societal concerns in a well-written, finely-paced style, this novel provides a satisfying and engrossing read ... While set in New York City, the story could take place anywhere in the country ...  Author E.B. Lee writes in a straightforward way that’s vivid and authentic.”— BlueInk Starred Review

Love Reading, the UK’s leading book recommendation website considers Clean Sweep one of the “Indie books-we-love” and has this to say: “A serious book that focuses on the very important topic of homelessness in a way that is engaging and compassionate. This is a very worthwhile read...”

Meanwhile, back in America, Manhattan Book Review calls Clean Sweep “Insightful and engrossing,” with the reviewer adding, “I felt attached to each character ... the plot twist in this novel ... will catch you off guard in the best way possible. Those interested in serious fiction would appreciate this book and the many topics it explores ....”

Preorder your ebook today or keep the countdown going to purchase your paperback or hardcover edition on July 20th. That’s next Tuesday!

Until then —Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your personal story. Embrace life.

E.