A nice cup of tea?

Being of mixed descent with a name and birthplace that was unpronounceable and strange to most of my friends, I do remember always feeling part of a bigger picture - that of the old British Empire and its colonies. In fact, most of my life was large and empirical. Take my family of ten brothers and sisters and countless aunts, aunties and cousins. I soon came to realise that not every family had twelve people living together in a semi-detached house, or with five girls and five boys to one bedroom. My sisters and I would need to chop six onions and wash three pounds of rice for our family meals, and my brothers would take up five machines at the local launderette for our weekly wash. Luckily though, there were enough of us to make up two fairly good teams so we could indulge in all our favourite sports without leaving our back yard. Football, cricket and rounders teams would be formed in fair and challenging dimensions, enough to warrant many broken windows, lost balls in neighbour's gardens but lots of fun, laughter and of course, competitiveness.

Mixed descent means also mixed cuisines and so I remember fondly not only savouring the delights of Burmese curries and Armenian dolmas but also the very British High Tea and fish and chips, although not all on the same night. High Tea would be waiting for us on our return from school with dainty sandwiches filled with cucumber, salmon or jam, and of course, scones with lashings of cream and even more strawberry jam. All rinsed down with a nice cup of tea.

There is no doubt that the bonds of food-sharing are the ones that remain unbreakable as each meal nourishes the family, the friendship and the deep seated complicity of tastes.

High Tea would be very much a part of my parents' culture back in Burma. My mother's grandfather had begun his life in Rangoon, Burma after leaving Bristol in 1906. He and his offspring remained true to most things British, including the British style of education and the tradition of afternoon tea. Burma was cultured and civilized like most other colonial countries of the Empire. (Cultured, civilized, colonial countries - is that too much alliteration?)

Now to bring this story up to date and back to New York! This afternoon, I ask my husband if he wanted a "nice cup of tea" on his return from work. "I was told you have to warm the cup before you pour the tea" he quips, proud of his newfound knowledge from an undisclosed source. I smile as I remember the quintessential points of tea-making a l'anglais, showing how the teapot is warmed by the hot water before the tea leaves touch the surfaces, the drop of milk that is splashed into the cup before the tea , the wait of at least five minutes for the tea to brew before pouring into fine bone china cups. Then it is taste, the memories, the complicity of many high teas that rushed back into my mind back in the days before I left Great Britain.