C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

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AtoZBlogChallenge:T is for Transportation, Tea and Tea Salad

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My theme this year is Burma AKA Myanmar. I used to live in Laos, so I looked forward to returning to Southeast Asia. I spent a little over three weeks exploring this country, learning a bit about its culture: its history, religion, and language. I thought others might enjoy some of what I learned and see some of what I saw.

Taxi Along the Irrawaddy River

Somehow I missed getting the side of the wagon that had the sign painted on it. The driver had a very large dark one that said TAXI. I could see it as the boat pulled up to the shore. Photographer fail!

But I got this one from a friend!

It was a bumpy ride, but we got to where we wanted to go and back to the boat safely. The driver told jokes, but I didn’t get them. I’m not good in Burmese.

Burma has no shortage of Tea! And it’s delicious. 
So is the Tea Salad. I ate that for every meal. 
Answers to what do you know about stupas?
T 1. The origin of the stupa is India, and at the center of these there’s usually some kind of holy relic. (Usually it’s a Buddha statue, but in ancient times they often put precious stones or other items that lured looters. Bad Karma for them.)
T 2. Pagoda is an umbrella term that includes stupas along with temples and other Buddhist structures. (The stupa usually has distinctive bell-shaped dome, but it’s also considered a pagoda.)
NOW what do you know about tea in Burma?
T/F 1. When ordering tea, you should know what kind you want:sweet, strong, sweet and strong. There are many different combinations. 
T/F 2. You can order tea by the cup or bowl.

Answers tomorrow.

Comments

  7. That taxi is awesome, with or without the taxi sign. Tea salad is new to me-thanks for giving us the recipe in the comments. I've added it to my "to try" list, the one that's not seeing any action until the end of April.:

  15. Tea salad sounds fascinating! I think I'm going to try to make it! Had a cookbook w/ recipes for using green tea, because some people find it easier to take in with food rather than drinking it for the medicinal benefits. Food = medicine. I had the chance to listen to a tea talk by Kahu Lyons Naone, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner. The Hawaiian approach to tea and medicine was kind of mind blowing. He stressed the importance of protocols when picking medicine for tea, and not carelessly mixing teas for flavor without considering the effects of intermixing on the body. I'm going to include the direct link for this. http://www.mauijungalow.com/2015/02/hawaiian-healing-and-tea-with-kahu.html I know it's not part of the A to Z Challenge, but you might find it interesting. Your posts have been fascinating!

    • I loved reading what he had to say about healing and balance. This is wonderful. Thank you so much for posting the link here. I'm going to share it with others and maybe some of the people here will find it interesting, too.

  18. I would love to go for a taxi ride in that:) The teas would be so good there and would try the tea salad. Hmmm so far 50% but I will say true to both of these questions:)

    • This is the recipe I got from a local Burmese restaurant.
      ½ cup loose green tea leaves
      2 lemons
      6-8 cloves garlic, divided
      1 jalapeno
      1T fresh ginger
      3 green onions
      1 tsp galangal
      1T sesame oil
      3T peanut oil,divided
      Pea shoots
      6 cups chopped romaine lettuce or cabbage
      Grape tomatoes
      Moong dal
      Roasted peanuts
      Sesame seeds
      Vegan fish sauce, optional (3T vegetarian oyster sauce+ 2T pineapple juice)
      Salt

    • Wait. Followup question. How does this all come together? I assume the tea leaves aren't crunchy? Do you soak them in the lemon juice and oil? It looks like everything up to the sesame oil would be for dressing, yeah?

  25. And why not tea salad? It is, after all, a green leaf when freshly picked. Don't know if you have to know what kind of tea you want when you order, but I bet it comes in both cups and bowls.