Iced tea and sympathy

I feel extremely fortunate that every place I get lunch seems to have actual brewed tea, although I realize the McDonald's could change at any time. (If I've gone to McDonald's, it's probably just for the tea. For some reason the tea at McDonald's in L'Enfant Plaza is really good.)

Iced tea has always been my beverage of choice, even when I was a child. I strongly prefer it to soda, except when I'm craving bubbles. Most of the time I like mine unsweetened with lemon and a lot of ice; but if there's fresh mint available, it's OK to have a little bit of sweet.

My grandmother, whose 77th birthday would have been yesterday, always had a pitcher of iced tea on the counter. Her whole kitchen smelled like tea. She also liked it unsweetened, so she went against the grain and didn't make sweet tea.

For any yankees who might be reading, sweet tea involves boiling your tea on the stovetop, adding the sugar, then putting the whole thing over ice. Its advantage is that you don't get all that undissolved sugar down in the bottom of your glass. It's de rigueur in the South, because who doesn't want sugar in their tea? Only freaks like me and Grandma.

I miss her. Grandma, that is.

before - after