Who loves Orange Soda?

I do I do I doo-ooooh!

Are the 90s really back already? Nickelodeon has embraced it, Netflix is in on it, girls on the street are dressed to audition for The Real World's first season, and now there is orange soda in my kitchen. I'm not complaining, the 90's are the first decade I have real nostalgia for, but it does kind of feel like it's too soon, right?

Except for the orange soda part, obviously, because when I can turn a million pounds of fresh oranges gifted to me straight off a tree into a super easy, simple syrup and then turn that into delicious homemade soda? It's never too soon for that. I will complain about the actual carrying the oranges part, though. It wasn't really a million pounds of citrus, of course, but it was at least 20, I'm sure.

Anyway, after I neglectfully let about half of my orange bounty grow sad and moldy, I rescued the remaining survivors and promptly zested and juiced them, then added some sugar and tarted them up a bit with citric acid. The result is a syrup that combines with sparkling water or club soda into a not-too sweet, just sour enough orange soda straight out of my Orangina dreams. Sunkist this is not.

It might not be exactly what Kel went into rapture over, but it does go excellently with re-runs of Guts and Legends of the Hidden Temple.

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Homemade Orange Soda

Adapted from Serious Eats

zest from 2 oranges
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 1-2 oranges)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp citric acid
club soda or seltzer

1. Combine orange zest and juice in a small pot with the sugar, water, and citric acid and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool completely.
2. To make soda, mix 1 part syrup with 3 parts club soda or seltzer.

Chocolate Cashew Milk

Growing up as army brats, my sister and I never really lived close to extended family, so our parents started a tradition of sending us off for the summers to spend a month with each set of grandparents while our parents set up house in whatever new place our Dad had been reassigned to. We'd start off either with our Mother's family in Georgia or our Dad's parents in Virginia and then switch midway through the summer. Conveniently, our great-grandparents lived in North Carolina, providing a halfway point where we would spend a few days while waiting to be picked up by whoever was hosting us for the last half of the summer. 

I have very vivid memories our time at that little house in North Carolina. We'd drive up around the back and run across the sandy yard to our great-grandmother opening the back door, then through to the living room where our great-grandfather could always be found listening to his police scanner. We'd go walking with our great-grandfather to the K Mart that sat right behind their house, where we would each pick out a toy and walk back home in time for dinner, to a table groaning with fresh biscuits, chicken dressing, ham, greens, and what always seemed like five kinds of beans. And no matter how much our great-grandmother had cooked, I remember our great-grandfather always went out for a bucket of KFC to supplement the meal, just in case. To wash it all down, we'd have giant goblets of insanely sweet tea, or best of all, our great-grandfather would go to the refrigerator and bring out the cartons of Nesquik he bought especially for my sister and I.  Chocolate milk was not something we were allowed at home, and I'm pretty sure we each put away about half a gallon during those visits.

These days, my milk consumption is limited to baking and ice cream, yet I sometimes really want a cold glass of chocolate milk. Unfortunately, as good as it tastes, it always leaves me with that heavy, regretful feeling from way too much sugar, so I decided I needed a lighter version to sate my cravings. Enter cashew milk, light, refreshing, and best of all , easy to make, requiring no special nut bags or equipment beyond a blender. Sarah Britton has a great all-purpose nut milk formula in her book, My New Roots, which I used as a base for my chocolate milk. The result is a creamy, chocolatey treat straight out of childhood, but perfect for adulthood and all it's pesky responsible eating habits.

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Chocolate Cashew Milk

Adapted from My New Roots

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
4 cups filtered water
1/4 cup cacao powder
2 medjool dates, pitted
pinch of salt

1. Soak cashews for at least 8 hours or overnight. 
2. When ready to use, drain cashews and place in a blender. Add water, cocoa powder, dates, and salt.
3. Blend on high speed to combine until completely smooth. This may take a few minutes in a regular blender, less time in a high-powered model like a ninja or Vitamix.
4. Divide among glasses and enjoy!

Blood Orange Sorbet Mimosas (Allie Posts A Lot!)

ONE YEAR. How?

It's still January (for another day, at least), so please forgive the reflective, resolution-y journal entry you are (maybe) about to read.*

*Otherwise, please feel free to skip down to more photos of pretty oranges and cocktails. 

Last January 30, I started this blog thing with a toast to the view of the (fogless) Bay from my living room and a real curiosity as to whether it would hold my interest or if I would even remember to post. A year later, I guess I have the answer to that last question, 72 times over (!!!) and I'm far from bored. Most days, Tea and Fog feels like a second full time job, except actually fun, and I'm so excited to see where this thing takes me in Year 2 (spoiler alert: there is a bone broth bandwagon situation currently simmering in my Crock-Pot, a ton of roast chicken on the way, and I still heart kale).

After going back and re-reading my first post, I have to say 1) I didn't cringe as much as I thought I would, 2) not too much has changed, and 3) yet everything has at the same time. It's January again, so I'm back to mainlining veggies and kicking ass with my fitbit,** and I'm full of plans and recipe ideas. Seriously, just looking at the list on my phone gives me anxiety.

**Current step count: 130,892

But the best thing to come out of this blog is that I have a space for myself to be creative in so many ways, from dreaming up weird dishes to eat to then making them to writing about it, to that one time I made a video. Thinking about the experience of the last year, the writing is the part I'm most thankful for, even if I'm only writing a few words on my excitement for the new Avengers movie or writing a thesis on why we shouldn't work so hard to make desserts healthy, or trying to describe my food tourism adventures in a more exciting way than "I ate this, then this, then that." Just recording my words and sending them out into the digital ether has become a weekly process I look forward to, something I didn't even know I was missing until I made it a part of my life. It makes me happiest when friends or family tell me, "It sounds like you!" or "That made me laugh!", and I even appreciate the ego checks, like when my mom told me "You're witty, but not funny", or my sister told me she didn't like the asterisks,*** because hey, at least it means they're reading. And that's what I want to do with this thing, to tell people about the food I discover and my stories that go along with it, maybe convince them to stay and read in spite of the sad photos, and hope they find it all as fascinating as I do. Food is life, it's community, it's culture, it's the easiest and fastest way to share ourselves with each other, and Tea and Fog is me, sharing with you. Thanks for reading!

***So many, Claire, just for you!

Sorry, maybe it was the champagne, but I got a little sappy there. Please don't leave me! I made us drinks!

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Blood Orange Sorbet Mimosas

For the mimosas:

• Blood orange sorbet, homemade or store bought (I made this one from David Lebovitz)
• Champagne or other sparkling wine
• Blood orange peel (optional, for garnish)

1. With a small cookie or ice cream scoop, drop two scoops of sorbet into each glass.
2. Top with champagne and garnish with orange peel, if using. 
3. Repeat as desired.

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