Year after year, growing up in my part of the world during the late 1950s and, early 1960s, you drank iced tea. Starting just before the Kentucky Derby (1st weekend in May) you iced your way past Thanksgiving when that glass of tea was the most special of the year at Mother's and Dad's. This was the annual family gathering. Mom's "ice tea" was the best! Just how she did this was somewhat of a mystery and, it occurred to me one day to ask.
Together, we had her special 1950's saucepan, colored yellow, black handled and, well worn by the many years of tea making. (It was always used in making her tea.) In went the water to that just right, stained level inside the pan, to about 1 inch down from the inside small black circle ringing the top. Next, out came the tea box full of tea bags. You remember, those kinds of tea bags that could be pulled out of the box, one by one, by a paper tag at the top, attached to a thin string, then to a white, almost gauze looking nest of tea. Mother would take one tea bag out at a time, the tea to the water and, she would then hang the paper tag over the edge of the saucepan to the outside. On and on it would go, forming a paper circle of tea bag's tags at the top. You can imagine what this would have looked like with a circle of white tags draped over the top and, a circle of tea bags draped on the inside.
So far, so good ... simple enough was my thinking. How many tea bags do you use came my question. Enough ... came her answer. What! You have got to know how many tea bags it takes to make your special tea? Come on now ... how many bags? Enough.
Experiences in life will often teach us many lesions if we care to hear ... sometimes, enough is enough.
