I have watched you for years. You are such a ray of sun shine. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself to help motivate and encourage. I guess I want to just thank you for being YOU! ❤
I live in the Midwest of the U.S. and our tornado sirens sound just like that and are tested every first Monday of the month at 10 a.m. here. My cat looks freaked out but then goes straight for his carrying kennel, because that's where I've put him when we have actual threats of weather and we have to shelter. He is self taught 😂. It catches me by surprise every month.
So happy to see you speak about Västerbottenost! I live in the town where it's made 😊 The factory has a museum part in it where they tell you it's history. Apparently the cheesemaker was distracted by a handsome man courting her during the fermentation process and they discovered that distinctive taste 😂 Just a little fun fact for anyone who may read through the comments.
I never put sweetener in my tea when I make it. I just sweeten each glass to taste when I'm drinking it. This allows everyone to sweeten to their taste and type of sweetener.
I'd mix those 2 teas together and make some nice iced tea. Have you ever heard of 'sun tea'? You blend your tea/s, lemon slices, mint leaves in a large glass container and then set it outside in the sun (hahaha, if you have some there in Copenhagen) for the day. Bring it inside, take out all the tea bags, leaves, lemons and then put the jar in your fridge. You have a lovely large tasty container of iced tea that will last you a good week!
Re: Sweet Tea: we use “family sized bags”. I boil water and then soak five tea bags for 20 minutes for a gallon. It becomes the concentration. When the water is still hot after 20 minutes, discard the tea bags. Add 1 cup of sugar until sweetened, optional juice of one lemon. Then fill the gallon container with remaining amount of cool water and refrigerate. That’s how I do! Born and raised in the south.
Greetings from Msthrifty in CA! Been watching you for years; still working at flylady basic but majorly decluttering. The principles of keeping the sink/kitchen clean always makes me feel better if the rest of the house has gone to pot. I have to tell you that I followed your examples re dying some leather items like shoes and purses with great success. I love ice tea year round but I use an ice tea brewing machine. I like Chai, Green Tea, fresh ginger tea, etc. I of course do also drink hot tea at times too. I like and make Horchata which is a Mexican rice drink and is very refreshing. We get many text notifications re extreme weather conditions; earthquakes; air quality; missing people, power outages, etc. Well love ya, Diane!
Hi Diane! I've been following you for a few years but I've lost track of your videos in the last few months. I came across this one and I must tell you that your joyful and soothing manner really help me feel better. Thank you so much ❤
Hi. Mom of five in the south here. We make it by boiling a kettle of water and adding about six tea black bags to that boiling water in a gallon-sized pitcher. It will fill the pitcher about 1/3 of the way. Let the tea steep no longer than seven minutes. (Lots of people will tell you longer, but that actually won’t do anything but make it bitter.) Remove the bags and stir in two cups of sugar (it is a lot, but we are making sweet tea and it’s for an entire gallon.) The secret is a very small amount of baking soda (you may call it bi-carb?), like a quarter of a teaspoon. That is what makes it smooth and easier to drink, like Chick Fil A restaurants in the US. Then fill the pitcher the rest of the way with water and let it cool. Pour over ice to serve.
Our small town in the PNW had a noon whistle every day. It was also used for fires. Short siren in town fire. Long siren out of town fire so the volunteers knew which station to go to. Newcomers complained so they disabled it.
I live in the southern US. We always steeped tea (tea bags if you use them or loose tea in a tea ball) in very hot water for at least an hour. Then add sugar if preferred into the hot liquid so it devolves properly. Then cool it all down in the fridge, pour over glasses of ice, and enjoy with a slice of lemon!
In the Midwest of the United States, we have sirens like that for tornado warnings. They test them the first Monday of each month. They don't test the phone alerts, I think, but if there is a real tornado warning, which happens a few times each year, they will send an alert to all the phones in the area, as well.
Ice tea is delicious with no sugar! I've lived in the Southern United States all my life. I know there is a stereotype about Southerners drinking sugar but there are lots of us who don't prefer sweetened drinks.
I’ve lived in several states, but the majority in Virginia. You couldn’t even get unsweetened iced tea here when I was young! I only drink unsweetened. But a bit of sugar in green iced tea is nice since it can taste bitter. My go to method is to boil a lot of water in a pot, then set it aside and steep several black tea bags. For traditional iced tea, the best IMO is Luzianne (brand name) then Lipton. They both come in the small bags and also the large bags made for making iced tea in the US. Steep until it’s only a bit stronger than you want. Remove the bags. Fill a pitcher about 2/3 full with ice and pour the tea over it. It will melt the ice for the most part and dilute the tea. Be sure to use a pitcher that can handle the temp, like metal or plastic. It’s usually cool enough now to put in the fridge to chill the rest of the way. It’s a pretty quick process this way. You can pour from the pitcher into a glass with more ice, and it’s ready to drink. I personally would never use Earl Grey for iced tea but maybe you’ll like it. The strawberry one could be good but probably would be better with a bit of sweetener, especially since it’s a green and white mix. White tea has so little flavor typically. If they sell agave syrup in Denmark, it blends pretty well into iced tea, unlike granulated sugar which must be dissolved in the tea while hot. Good luck!
In our house we don't like the grittiness you get when the sugar doesn’t totally dissolve. We use simple sugar (sugar that's heated and dissolved in water). You can either add some to the brewed tea or add individually to each glass to your taste. Our tea favorites are raspberry tea or peach tea. ❤
I love your new gadget. I need to buy one for me and one for my swimming pal. For iced tea I love licorice/mint tea (the tea bags from Yogi Tea). I just make a very strong tea, make ice cubes of some of it and cool the rest in the fridge. No sugar needed.
As it warms up outside, Sun tea would be great with your Earl Grey with lemon-use a glass pitcher or container with a cover, fill with water(cold or warm), cut up lemon and/or lime and add. If you want it sweet but not like syrup, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar per gallon-this is about 1/2 the sugar recommended in the US Deep South. Let it brew in the☀️for the afternoon-about 3-4 hours. Most of us born in the US use tea bags for this so just use the amount of tea in a strainer you would normally use for the volume of your glass container.
Thought of You and Your menus yesterday, wondered if You had Coronation Chicken ;) Pretty chilly still, defintely prefer hot tea so far. My Ice Tea is I just make a large pot and put leftovers in the fridge, no sugar, I cannot stand sweet tea, but serve with ice, and slices of lime or lemon. Västerbottensost rules. I say that people use Parmesan bc they do not have Västerbotten. Oh, You also test "Hesa Fredrik", here it is the first Monday of the Quarter 15:00 ...
Here in my state in the US, we test the first Friday of every month through the Spring and Summer. I have an alert system siren right in my backyard. Almost had a heart attack, when I forgot what day it was and the siren went off as I was taking care of some yardwork. Alert systems are handy, but friends in Florida had their cell phones blaring the alert at 4AM. The governing agency sent the test out incorrectly and what was supposed to be a television alert, when most people are asleep, went instead to cell phones that automatically turn on and alert you. Lots of apologies went out after that error.😊
I make it sweet by adding in the sugar while the tea is hot. My son and I like it really sweet so we add about a cup of sugar to a gallon. It is super sweet. I would add whatever amount you like best. Also, the sirens go off here every Wednesday at 1 pm and have since my oldest sun was little. I look at it as a reminder it is Wednesday.
My fav iced tea - stovetop or sun tea - is 4-6 cups of water with 3 green tea bags plus 1 flavored tea bag like mint or peach. Just a hint of flavor and very refreshing!
The first Tuesday of every month our tornado sirens are tested. They are loud. Its great to have these warnings. Thanks for sharing your sirens. Love to watch your videos. I often recount your messages with my 40 year old son. He has accumulated "stuff" like I have. He is slowly coming around to decluttering. It took me a while to get better at decluttering, so I just keep encouraging him. He will get better at it as well. Thanks for the motivation.
If you have a tea that the flavor is just too much I make a double serving and do one serving of the strong flavor and one of plain base tea (Like brew that strawberry with a plain green). Or I mix flavors. Like a lemon tea would go nicely with any berry tea. I find many berry teas taste like warm koolaid or soda to me. When you mentioned iced tea I was shocked, but yes with your son being in the states, we do like our iced tea. Love the midweek pep talk, sitting down with coffee is so much nicer. Thanks Diane.
I remember the siren in my great grandparents town in the 50’s. It was used for the workers dinner hour at a local factory. Originally it was an air raid siren in WW2.
Lovely catch up video Diane . If a siren went in uk most people would be walking round going “ have you heard that ruddy siron it’s been going off two Ruddy days without taking a blind bit of notice , the other half would be running into sheds or dog kennels trying to find a bomb shelter, or thinking the Martians have landed xx
I usually don't add sugar to my tea. Make the tea up and let each person add their own sugar and/lemon to their glass. As suggested, sun tea is a great way to make iced tea. You can use either cold or hot water. I just use cold filtered water. Add a couple of tea bags or a tea caddy filled with about 2 good tablespoons of loose tea. Either flavor of tea would work. Add plenty of ice cubes to your individual glass if the taste needs diluting. Here's to iced tea weather! We have the same sort of system in Michigan, only it's done on the first Friday of the month.
Here in New Zealand, major national alert sirens are sent to mobile phones along with text advising action. Locally sirens sound out calling volunteer service people to their local stations, usually for a major accident or fire etc. Can be slightly alarming but useful. I make Rosehip Iced tea in a 2 litre jug, using 2 Rosehip teabags steeped in hot water and then cold water and a dash of Ribena. Very refreshing in summer.
Greetings Diane from the Treasure Coast of Florida ❤. We live about 10 miles from a nuclear plant here. The plant is on Hutchinson Island- a barrier Island on our coast. Each end of the island has a bridge over to the mainland. Periodically we have testing with loud speakers that are placed in many locations on tall poles. It is unnerving! 😮😮😮😮😮
I make ice tea all the time Diane and I never add sugar. You can boil it and then let it sit and steep (cool down) then add cold water. The amount of water you add depends on how strong you like your ice tea. If you use ice with it, it will dilute it even more. You can also put the tea in a jug and sit outside and make some sun tea. It doesn’t get cloudy. Have fun it’s actually hard to mess it up.
Thanks, Natalie! I love the sound of sun tea! Do you normally add sugar? I don't use sugar in my hot tea or coffee but somehow I feel I need it in iced tea! LOL!
Love Sun Tea! No Sugar needed 😀place water in glass bottle/container half gallon is what i use and add 8 tea bags and let brew/steep on a sunny porch. Easy/Peasy
I grew up drinking ice tea and we never put sugar in it, but I’m from the north in USA. They do that in the south though, a lot of sugar! When I worked in a restaurant in Cleveland we poured hot, hot tea over a glass filled with ice cubes 🧊 that made crystal clear iced tea.
I’d like to add, if you like sweeter tea use Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger and add a little sugar. Love that. If you’re in Denmark they sell it at Søsterne Gren
I actually prefer to make my ice tea cold brewed. I put a jug of water (2L) with, say, four teabags in the fridge and let sit overnight. Cold brewing tea takes out the bitterness and makes it good with little to no sugar. Add a splash of lemon and a couple of tablespoons of sugar if you want some sweetness. You can reuse the tea bags for one more batch of tea. We have a siren in Sweden too, called husky/hoarse Fredrik. They test it at 15.00 on the first Monday of the month. Last year first Monday of June was our national day, so they changed it to the day after which wasn’t great - Russia had recently invaded Ukraine and everyone was worried, so I know quite a few people who (understandably!) panicked.
Hi, Diane, thank you for sharing! It’s a good idea to use the tea for ice tea. I don’t sweeten tea, so I mix in some orange juice, which fits perfect to strawberry taste, and sometimes fresh maybe 2 or 3 mint leaves, then I let it cool down, put it in the fridge or add ice cubes. So good! I’ll give that foldable bowl as a gift for hubby, who is soon on a bicycle tour, if I find it. So useful! Thank you for the idea! And right: if the feet are warm, you feel warm and cosy. We did once some winterbathing in Bornholm, where we had a cottage at the beach and I never ran faster after bathing… I never forget this 'hero-feeling' after the bath! 💪 Waiting for motivation to come after a bad fall where I hurt my right leg… now I feel a bit whiny🙄, but I’ll overcome that! Love, Monika❣
In the American South, they seem to love quite a lot of sugar - like a cup of sugar for 2 liters of tea. I use considerably less than that, if any. Start with a small amount and increase to your own taste. Flavored teas like you showed in this video would probably taste better with some sweetener rather than none. As for sirens, here in the U.S. most towns have a siren system that is tested monthly. The main use is for dangerous storm warnings (like a tornado), but we are to tune in to our most local radio station for information.
You look fabulous Diane, you really suit your hair like that and the pink and white are so lovely and fresh and joyful. I never bother with sugar in my teas hot or cold, but maybe pop a bit of ginger orange or something in. God bless, vera
Lovely uplifting video, you looked lovely in your pink. We are also hoping for a bit warmer weather in UK as you are probably aware!! Spring is so late as usual these days it will probably jump from 10deg. to 40!!!! Have a lovely day 🌿
Hi Diane, the way you are preparing your iced tea is great! You can play with the strength of your tea depending on the flavor of it. I’m from the south in the US but have lived outside of Louisiana over 30 years. I don’t put any sweetener in my hot or iced tea . I also use Earl Grey or any tea I have on hand to try different flavors to make my iced tea; my southern friends are baffled by my ways of making iced tea 😂. Enjoy!
Those sirens would have scared me half to death! We don't have anything like that here. My zone is the front and back yards this week! Finally the snow is gone but lots of clean up to be done!
You are always informative and motivational but I also find you entertaining. I live in Wisconsin, USA, and we have tornado siren testing at the same time every Friday morning , unless weather is threatening (then they don’t want to confuse people with inaccurate alarm). Our lakes are mostly springfeed and still just above freezing, plus I can’t find anyone to swim with -they think I’m crazy-so the local indoor 80 degree pool it is. I lo’ve your recipes. My mothers Norwegian recipes were lost before her death in 2021. I miss them! Thank you again for your knowledge and continued kick in the bahookie.
What Tracy said about the iced sweet tea ⬇! Have been in the doldrums -so it'svnice to have your sparkly spirit lifting me up. Will binge watch a few episodes to get me moving off my bahookie, my self care for today 😉
I make ice tea everyday. In the morning when I pour my cup of tea I pour a second cup into a heat safe thick glass. It goes in the fridge and then in the afternoon I put in a squirt of lemon flavouring ( the kind that’s used for flavouring water and has a bit of sweetener in it) as well as a lemon wedge and ice cubes. I use any and all flavours of tea - from Yorkshire Biscuit Brew to Twinings Honeybush Orange. It all works to make a refreshing afternoon drink.
Hi Dianne - I grew up in the American South (Georgia) and I now live in South Carolina, so sweet tea is a staple here. One of the comments said that we use a lot of sugar in our tea here, and that is true. When I order tea in a restaurant I always order half sweet and half unsweet. I have stopped making sweet tea myself since the amount of sugar is definitely not good for my health, but I can tell you how to do it. I do what you said and brew some strong tea - several tea bags - in boiling water, and if you are going to add sugar, do it while it is hot or it won't dissolve and will sit at the bottom of your pitcher. If you are doing 2 quarts of tea (how many liters is that? I don't know) you can start with 1/4 cup sugar and add more if that is not enough. Better to err on the side of caution or you will end up with what tastes a lot like sugar syrup! That's what is served in a lot of restaurants around here and southerners love it, but you may want to take it slow on the sugar. Once your sugar has dissolved you can add water to dilute it to your preferred strength. There really is no way to give you a recipe because it all depends on how big your tea bags are ( they make quart size tea bags here) and how strong your tea is. You can also put tea bags in a glass jar and fill it with water and sit it out there with your little red squirrel in the sun for a few hours and make a nice jug of tea that way. If you want to sweeten it, make a sugar syrup with water and sugar on the stove until the sugar is dissolved. Hope that wasn't more info than you bargained for! Not only do we know how to make sweet tea in the south we also know how to talk! Good luck! ♥♥♥
I love sweet tea but will only allow myself to drink it once we cross the Indiana/Kentucky state line going south. It is a rare treat to have sweet tea in Michigan although I will use Splenda in hot tea maybe once a week.
Yummy meals being served at your home this week😋Still cool and rainy so lots of different soups, piccata with roasted baby potatoes and veggies, chicken tagine with rice and salad & sandwich combos. Love the folding washing bowl and all the ways you'll be able to use it, your toesies will love it! I never thanked you for the idea of using a hot bottle in the evening while cozying in up in the winter while reading or watching TV - I did this often in my Canadian winter and it was wonderful. Iced tea in the summer here are my recipes: Herbal teas like peach, raspberry, mango etc. makes 68oz/2L (use a container that can hold this amount) ; fill a pitcher with 34oz/1L of hot water, add 6-12 tablespoons of loose tea (use a diffuser or a coffee filter and tied with cooking string) and seep to your tea's instruction, then remove the tea and add ice to fill the container. That's it no sugar added an no caffeine, it may sound like a lot of tea but you do want the flavor as it will water down with the ice - of just skip the ice and do a full 2L of hot water. The second recipe my mom made every summer. Just regular black tea bags 2 or 3 for a 2L container, add hot water with 2 or 3 sliced lemons and sugar to your liking I usually start with 1/8 of a cup and add as necessary this one I brew longer like 30 mins of so but I keep checking to our liking. I love ice tea in the summer and they are great to have as a mix for an adult drink with vodka or something else to your liking. Never lived through real emergency sirens but yes in Canada by province we do have testing and also boroughs depending if there are chemical plants or dangerous substances. We do get the warning through our phones and initial testing worked out the bugs. I still jump like the Looney Tunes cartoon cat to the ceiling when the warning comes through 🤣 Loved the video and let us know how your ice tea brewing goes!
Thanks for the reminder to make iced tea, has been several years since I did this. Have made a simple syrup of sugar to add as favored. As for sirens, I live near the school where they go off and sometimes they fail by going off slowly, kind of a pathetic wail. They’re done every Tuesday at 10 m. But I do have a story from my youth. There was an intense competion between baseball teams and the White Sox team ( a favorite of our south side mayor Daley) They won the championship 1959. Well some dumb person decided to sound Chicago sirens off for the win. I was a kid and my father who was well within immediate memory of WWII went outside and was looking everywhere skyward. The Cold War was in full fear mode. It’s a memory from my childhood that,well, like your story does stick in the mind. On a happier note, I do thank you you do inspire me to get of my bahooki!
Also a southern from the US. Cold unsweet tea. 1 cup of boiling water poured over 3 teabags of black tea....steeped for 4 minutes then allowed to cool for 1 hour. Then poured into ice cold water. My favorite beverage. Part of my afternoon routine. 😀
Sun tea is the way to go! To make it easy, look for the empty loose leaf tea bags (Amazon has them), fill one and I use a 2 liter pitcher. I like to let it sit in the sun for an afternoon. If you like iced coffee, you can make cold brew coffee the same way, and it is so delicious!
No help here on your iced tea question but just to say Hello and that I enjoy my iced tea unsweetened & same strength as my hot Lady Grey, just served over ice. However my dear, late mum (born in England) loved her morning tea with sugar and milk.
We make sun tea all through the year, Fill a quart jar with cold water and two bags( or what you want) and sit in the sun. Sometimes I add mint or some fruit juice. I drink everyday all day long. Never sugar. I will put some time on the front garden after I take a rest( good gym workout).
The lemon earl grey would be great with some raspberry purée, whole raspberries and honey over ice ❤ the strawberry -maybe some fresh mulled mint and cucumber and honey to taste. That is so nice of you to warn everyone about the sirens. It would be just my luck to be in Copenhagen for the first time enjoying the day relaxing with a glass of wine in town and those go off and I have a heart attack 😅
I have never added sugar for ice tea, I dont like sweet drinks as a rule. Those sirens are such a scary sound for me..we used to test sirens on Saturdays at noon when I was a kid, and it always scared me...nuclear scares, etc...You look so lovely in pink..love the garden in the backround too. Much love from AZ
Hi Anna-Marie! I often talk about my daily exercise and what I eat. Everything in moderation...three regular meals each day, plus two or three snack times each day. I move my body daily (either some stretching, a walk, out on my bike, a swim).
I'm following with interest! Like you, I usually drink my tea as hot as I can - steaming! I'm interested to try iced tea as I have some loose tea in the cupboard which would be ideal for this, too. 🎉🎉🎉
So funny! I was about to ask if your son was in the South! Can't get sweet tea in the North. If you check Whippoorwill Holler, she has a recent sun tea video. We use a lot of sugar in our sweet tea...and lots of lemon. It's a daily thing for me to make a 1/2 gallon of sweet tea. However, instead of my usual 3/4 cup of sugar, I use 1/3 cup of sugar and 4 packs of stevia. We use black tea. I live in Tennessee. Whippoorwill Holler is in Arkansas...just next door. Also Paula Deen has a video on sweet tea. It good too.
Our sirens get tested every Tuesday at 10:30 am and the noise does not even register with me any more. When I was a child, sirens were built on every school and every Tuesday, the children practiced getting away from glass windows and sitting along corridor walls with our arms over our heads, like you do for an airplane crash. At about the same time that cold war threats were subsiding, our dangerous weather prediction technology improved so we converted the equipment and behavior culture for tornado warnings. Hundreds of lives were saved. Warnings with more specific information are available on television and we also get gps-specific warnings on our cell phones. Two years ago, I was out doing errands in my car facing away from a storm and my cell phone warning went off. Surprised, I was able to pull into a fast food restaurant and shelter away from glass in the rest room. We were able to watch the storn pass on my radar app and leave safely. Technology never ceases to amaze me. Feeling grateful...
I typically make black tea. So I boil some water with 1/4 cup of sugar. Steep the tea in that, and then I dilute the mixture in a pitcher filled with ice and cool water. It holds about 3 liters.
I have watched you for years. You are such a ray of sun shine. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself to help motivate and encourage. I guess I want to just thank you for being YOU! ❤
Aww, thank you so much, Jennifer!
I live in the Midwest of the U.S. and our tornado sirens sound just like that and are tested every first Monday of the month at 10 a.m. here. My cat looks freaked out but then goes straight for his carrying kennel, because that's where I've put him when we have actual threats of weather and we have to shelter. He is self taught 😂. It catches me by surprise every month.
Kitty should get a treat and praise every time he goes to the carry kennel with the siren. Good that he is emergency prepared.
Oh my gosh...I really needed to see your cheerful self today, THANK YOU !
😊
So happy to see you speak about Västerbottenost!
I live in the town where it's made 😊
The factory has a museum part in it where they tell you it's history.
Apparently the cheesemaker was distracted by a handsome man courting her during the fermentation process and they discovered that distinctive taste 😂
Just a little fun fact for anyone who may read through the comments.
How fun!!!
I add one cup of sugar per gallon of tea. We make it by the gallon in Texas 😊
Just thinking of you today Diane (May 4th)
May the Fourth be with you! ❤️
I never put sweetener in my tea when I make it. I just sweeten each glass to taste when I'm drinking it. This allows everyone to sweeten to their taste and type of sweetener.
I'd mix those 2 teas together and make some nice iced tea. Have you ever heard of 'sun tea'? You blend your tea/s, lemon slices, mint leaves in a large glass container and then set it outside in the sun (hahaha, if you have some there in Copenhagen) for the day. Bring it inside, take out all the tea bags, leaves, lemons and then put the jar in your fridge. You have a lovely large tasty container of iced tea that will last you a good week!
Re: Sweet Tea: we use “family sized bags”. I boil water and then soak five tea bags for 20 minutes for a gallon. It becomes the concentration. When the water is still hot after 20 minutes, discard the tea bags. Add 1 cup of sugar until sweetened, optional juice of one lemon. Then fill the gallon container with remaining amount of cool water and refrigerate. That’s how I do! Born and raised in the south.
Greetings From Texas!! I use the same method but minus the lemon. Add sugar while water is hot. Sweet tea is a regular around here.
Love your pearl-heart brooch 🌸💖
Greetings from Msthrifty in CA! Been watching you for years; still working at flylady basic but majorly decluttering. The principles of keeping the sink/kitchen clean always makes me feel better if the rest of the house has gone to pot. I have to tell you that I followed your examples re dying some leather items like shoes and purses with great success. I love ice tea year round but I use an ice tea brewing machine. I like Chai, Green Tea, fresh ginger tea, etc. I of course do also drink hot tea at times too. I like and make Horchata which is a Mexican rice drink and is very refreshing. We get many text notifications re extreme weather conditions; earthquakes; air quality; missing people, power outages, etc. Well love ya, Diane!
Hi Diane! I've been following you for a few years but I've lost track of your videos in the last few months. I came across this one and I must tell you that your joyful and soothing manner really help me feel better. Thank you so much ❤
Glad to have you back here, Sandra!
Hi. Mom of five in the south here. We make it by boiling a kettle of water and adding about six tea black bags to that boiling water in a gallon-sized pitcher. It will fill the pitcher about 1/3 of the way. Let the tea steep no longer than seven minutes. (Lots of people will tell you longer, but that actually won’t do anything but make it bitter.) Remove the bags and stir in two cups of sugar (it is a lot, but we are making sweet tea and it’s for an entire gallon.) The secret is a very small amount of baking soda (you may call it bi-carb?), like a quarter of a teaspoon. That is what makes it smooth and easier to drink, like Chick Fil A restaurants in the US. Then fill the pitcher the rest of the way with water and let it cool. Pour over ice to serve.
We test sirens in the American midwest too! It is 11am on the first Wed. of the month. :)
In Australia we don’t have the sirens but we do get alerts on our mobile phones about bushfires and flooding. ❤❤
Our small town in the PNW had a noon whistle every day. It was also used for fires. Short siren in town fire. Long siren out of town fire so the volunteers knew which station to go to. Newcomers complained so they disabled it.
I live in the southern US. We always steeped tea (tea bags if you use them or loose tea in a tea ball) in very hot water for at least an hour. Then add sugar if preferred into the hot liquid so it devolves properly. Then cool it all down in the fridge, pour over glasses of ice, and enjoy with a slice of lemon!
Yes! That is the trick! You MUST add sugar while its hot!! I also will sometimes make it without sugar and make a simple syrup to add to it!
Watching from London UK. ❤
Hello in London! 👋
WherenI grew up in the US, during the spring/summer (when there is more tornados) they would test the sirens the first Wed of the month at noon.
In the Midwest of the United States, we have sirens like that for tornado warnings. They test them the first Monday of each month. They don't test the phone alerts, I think, but if there is a real tornado warning, which happens a few times each year, they will send an alert to all the phones in the area, as well.
Wow! You pronounced tyropita really well!
Ice tea is delicious with no sugar! I've lived in the Southern United States all my life. I know there is a stereotype about Southerners drinking sugar but there are lots of us who don't prefer sweetened drinks.
I’ve lived in several states, but the majority in Virginia. You couldn’t even get unsweetened iced tea here when I was young! I only drink unsweetened. But a bit of sugar in green iced tea is nice since it can taste bitter. My go to method is to boil a lot of water in a pot, then set it aside and steep several black tea bags. For traditional iced tea, the best IMO is Luzianne (brand name) then Lipton. They both come in the small bags and also the large bags made for making iced tea in the US. Steep until it’s only a bit stronger than you want. Remove the bags. Fill a pitcher about 2/3 full with ice and pour the tea over it. It will melt the ice for the most part and dilute the tea. Be sure to use a pitcher that can handle the temp, like metal or plastic. It’s usually cool enough now to put in the fridge to chill the rest of the way. It’s a pretty quick process this way. You can pour from the pitcher into a glass with more ice, and it’s ready to drink. I personally would never use Earl Grey for iced tea but maybe you’ll like it. The strawberry one could be good but probably would be better with a bit of sweetener, especially since it’s a green and white mix. White tea has so little flavor typically. If they sell agave syrup in Denmark, it blends pretty well into iced tea, unlike granulated sugar which must be dissolved in the tea while hot. Good luck!
In our house we don't like the grittiness you get when the sugar doesn’t totally dissolve. We use simple sugar (sugar that's heated and dissolved in water). You can either add some to the brewed tea or add individually to each glass to your taste. Our tea favorites are raspberry tea or peach tea. ❤
I’ve heard them test sirens in the Netherlands. I think they do it at the start of each month. Love that brooch on the pink top.
I love your new gadget. I need to buy one for me and one for my swimming pal.
For iced tea I love licorice/mint tea (the tea bags from Yogi Tea). I just make a very strong tea, make ice cubes of some of it and cool the rest in the fridge. No sugar needed.
As it warms up outside, Sun tea would be great with your Earl Grey with lemon-use a glass pitcher or container with a cover, fill with water(cold or warm), cut up lemon and/or lime and add. If you want it sweet but not like syrup, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar per gallon-this is about 1/2 the sugar recommended in the US Deep South. Let it brew in the☀️for the afternoon-about 3-4 hours. Most of us born in the US use tea bags for this so just use the amount of tea in a strainer you would normally use for the volume of your glass container.
I live in a tiny village in Michigan. We still have daily siren checks each noon.
Thought of You and Your menus yesterday, wondered if You had Coronation Chicken ;)
Pretty chilly still, defintely prefer hot tea so far.
My Ice Tea is I just make a large pot and put leftovers in the fridge, no sugar, I cannot stand sweet tea, but serve with ice, and slices of lime or lemon.
Västerbottensost rules. I say that people use Parmesan bc they do not have Västerbotten.
Oh, You also test "Hesa Fredrik", here it is the first Monday of the Quarter 15:00 ...
Great brooch/pin. A keeper! Love the pink top too! That camping bag/foot soak is cool! Lots of uses.
Here in my state in the US, we test the first Friday of every month through the Spring and Summer.
I have an alert system siren right in my backyard.
Almost had a heart attack, when I forgot what day it was and the siren went off as I was taking care of some yardwork.
Alert systems are handy, but friends in Florida had their cell phones blaring the alert at 4AM.
The governing agency sent the test out incorrectly and what was supposed to be a television alert, when most people are asleep, went instead to cell phones that automatically turn on and alert you.
Lots of apologies went out after that error.😊
Gosh, that must have been annoying with alerts going out at that time of the morning!
Just FYI, I love your word "inspo." Anybody who uses slang for INSPIRATION is tops with me. 😀
I make it sweet by adding in the sugar while the tea is hot. My son and I like it really sweet so we add about a cup of sugar to a gallon. It is super sweet. I would add whatever amount you like best. Also, the sirens go off here every Wednesday at 1 pm and have since my oldest sun was little. I look at it as a reminder it is Wednesday.
In the Czech Republic they test sirens every first Wednesday of the month, not just once a year 😁
Summer is coming so a nice ice tea recipe is always welcome. Thanks to all of the ladies who shared their recipes!
My fav iced tea - stovetop or sun tea - is 4-6 cups of water with 3 green tea bags plus 1 flavored tea bag like mint or peach. Just a hint of flavor and very refreshing!
Thankyou as always for all the effort you put into your work! Always a treat! 👍
The first Tuesday of every month our tornado sirens are tested. They are loud. Its great to have these warnings. Thanks for sharing your sirens. Love to watch your videos. I often recount your messages with my 40 year old son. He has accumulated "stuff" like I have. He is slowly coming around to decluttering. It took me a while to get better at decluttering, so I just keep encouraging him. He will get better at it as well. Thanks for the motivation.
If you have a tea that the flavor is just too much I make a double serving and do one serving of the strong flavor and one of plain base tea (Like brew that strawberry with a plain green). Or I mix flavors. Like a lemon tea would go nicely with any berry tea. I find many berry teas taste like warm koolaid or soda to me. When you mentioned iced tea I was shocked, but yes with your son being in the states, we do like our iced tea. Love the midweek pep talk, sitting down with coffee is so much nicer. Thanks Diane.
I remember the siren in my great grandparents town in the 50’s. It was used for the workers dinner hour at a local factory. Originally it was an air raid siren in WW2.
I love to drink ice tea in the summer cause it's refreshing. I don't add sugar to it at all. 😊
Lovely catch up video Diane . If a siren went in uk most people would be walking round going “ have you heard that ruddy siron it’s been going off two Ruddy days without taking a blind bit of notice , the other half would be running into sheds or dog kennels trying to find a bomb shelter, or thinking the Martians have landed xx
LOL!
We have tests every first monday of the month on 12.00 hour to.
Over here in Singapore 🇸🇬 we have some siren is on 1st of every month.
I usually don't add sugar to my tea. Make the tea up and let each person add their own sugar and/lemon to their glass. As suggested, sun tea is a great way to make iced tea. You can use either cold or hot water. I just use cold filtered water. Add a couple of tea bags or a tea caddy filled with about 2 good tablespoons of loose tea. Either flavor of tea would work. Add plenty of ice cubes to your individual glass if the taste needs diluting. Here's to iced tea weather! We have the same sort of system in Michigan, only it's done on the first Friday of the month.
Here in New Zealand, major national alert sirens are sent to mobile phones along with text advising action. Locally sirens sound out calling volunteer service people to their local stations, usually for a major accident or fire etc. Can be slightly alarming but useful.
I make Rosehip Iced tea in a 2 litre jug, using 2 Rosehip teabags steeped in hot water and then cold water and a dash of Ribena. Very refreshing in summer.
Greetings Diane from the Treasure Coast of Florida ❤. We live about 10 miles from a nuclear plant here. The plant is on Hutchinson Island- a barrier Island on our coast. Each end of the island has a bridge over to the mainland. Periodically we have testing with loud speakers that are placed in many locations on tall poles. It is unnerving! 😮😮😮😮😮
I make ice tea all the time Diane and I never add sugar. You can boil it and then let it sit and steep (cool down) then add cold water. The amount of water you add depends on how strong you like your ice tea. If you use ice with it, it will dilute it even more. You can also put the tea in a jug and sit outside and make some sun tea. It doesn’t get cloudy. Have fun it’s actually hard to mess it up.
Thanks, Natalie! I love the sound of sun tea! Do you normally add sugar? I don't use sugar in my hot tea or coffee but somehow I feel I need it in iced tea! LOL!
Love Sun Tea! No Sugar needed 😀place water in glass bottle/container half gallon is what i use and add 8 tea bags and let brew/steep on a sunny porch. Easy/Peasy
never put sugar in my ice tea, it's to taste like any other tea/coffee beverage imo
I grew up drinking ice tea and we never put sugar in it, but I’m from the north in USA. They do that in the south though, a lot of sugar! When I worked in a restaurant in Cleveland we poured hot, hot tea over a glass filled with ice cubes 🧊 that made crystal clear iced tea.
I’d like to add, if you like sweeter tea use Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger and add a little sugar. Love that. If you’re in Denmark they sell it at Søsterne Gren
I actually prefer to make my ice tea cold brewed. I put a jug of water (2L) with, say, four teabags in the fridge and let sit overnight. Cold brewing tea takes out the bitterness and makes it good with little to no sugar. Add a splash of lemon and a couple of tablespoons of sugar if you want some sweetness. You can reuse the tea bags for one more batch of tea.
We have a siren in Sweden too, called husky/hoarse Fredrik. They test it at 15.00 on the first Monday of the month. Last year first Monday of June was our national day, so they changed it to the day after which wasn’t great - Russia had recently invaded Ukraine and everyone was worried, so I know quite a few people who (understandably!) panicked.
Hi, Diane, thank you for sharing! It’s a good idea to use the tea for ice tea. I don’t sweeten tea, so I mix in some orange juice, which fits perfect to strawberry taste, and sometimes fresh maybe 2 or 3 mint leaves, then I let it cool down, put it in the fridge or add ice cubes. So good! I’ll give that foldable bowl as a gift for hubby, who is soon on a bicycle tour, if I find it. So useful! Thank you for the idea! And right: if the feet are warm, you feel warm and cosy. We did once some winterbathing in Bornholm, where we had a cottage at the beach and I never ran faster after bathing… I never forget this 'hero-feeling' after the bath! 💪 Waiting for motivation to come after a bad fall where I hurt my right leg… now I feel a bit whiny🙄, but I’ll overcome that! Love, Monika❣
In the American South, they seem to love quite a lot of sugar - like a cup of sugar for 2 liters of tea. I use considerably less than that, if any. Start with a small amount and increase to your own taste. Flavored teas like you showed in this video would probably taste better with some sweetener rather than none. As for sirens, here in the U.S. most towns have a siren system that is tested monthly. The main use is for dangerous storm warnings (like a tornado), but we are to tune in to our most local radio station for information.
You look fabulous Diane, you really suit your hair like that and the pink and white are so lovely and fresh and joyful. I never bother with sugar in my teas hot or cold, but maybe pop a bit of ginger orange or something in. God bless, vera
Lovely uplifting video, you looked lovely in your pink. We are also hoping for a bit warmer weather in UK as you are probably aware!! Spring is so late as usual these days it will probably jump from 10deg. to 40!!!!
Have a lovely day 🌿
Hi Diane, the way you are preparing your iced tea is great! You can play with the strength of your tea depending on the flavor of it. I’m from the south in the US but have lived outside of Louisiana over 30 years. I don’t put any sweetener in my hot or iced tea . I also use Earl Grey or any tea I have on hand to try different flavors to make my iced tea; my southern friends are baffled by my ways of making iced tea 😂.
Enjoy!
It was my first siren test today. We had been warned thankfully otherwise I would have freaked out for sure!
Those sirens would have scared me half to death! We don't have anything like that here. My zone is the front and back yards this week! Finally the snow is gone but lots of clean up to be done!
Oh västerbottenpaj is so yummy! As a Swede I’ve had it a lot! A classic for midsummer and “kräftskiva” and pretty much whenever 😂
You are always informative and motivational but I also find you entertaining. I live in Wisconsin, USA, and we have tornado siren testing at the same time every Friday morning , unless weather is threatening (then they don’t want to confuse people with inaccurate alarm). Our lakes are mostly springfeed and still just above freezing, plus I can’t find anyone to swim with -they think I’m crazy-so the local indoor 80 degree pool it is. I lo’ve your recipes. My mothers Norwegian recipes were lost before her death in 2021. I miss them! Thank you again for your knowledge and continued kick in the bahookie.
Hi neighbor, in Michigan here, no one to swim with either.
Awesome video! Thank you so very much.
So lovely to see you!!! Don’t know what day it is with all these Bank Holidays in the U.K. at the moment!!! 😂❤
LOL! Sounds like that no man's land between Christmas and New Year!
@@DianeinDenmark yes with slightly less cheese…..😂
Loving the extra Bank Holiday here in UK! Thank you King Charles 👍🏼😅
What Tracy said about the iced sweet tea ⬇! Have been in the doldrums -so it'svnice to have your sparkly spirit lifting me up. Will binge watch a few episodes to get me moving off my bahookie, my self care for today 😉
Hello Bea sending a big HUG to make you feel better xx
@@tracywaring3769 so thoughtful, thanks!
Thank you Diane 💖👋
I make ice tea everyday. In the morning when I pour my cup of tea I pour a second cup into a heat safe thick glass. It goes in the fridge and then in the afternoon I put in a squirt of lemon flavouring ( the kind that’s used for flavouring water and has a bit of sweetener in it) as well as a lemon wedge and ice cubes. I use any and all flavours of tea - from Yorkshire Biscuit Brew to Twinings Honeybush Orange. It all works to make a refreshing afternoon drink.
Hi Dianne - I grew up in the American South (Georgia) and I now live in South Carolina, so sweet tea is a staple here. One of the comments said that we use a lot of sugar in our tea here, and that is true. When I order tea in a restaurant I always order half sweet and half unsweet. I have stopped making sweet tea myself since the amount of sugar is definitely not good for my health, but I can tell you how to do it.
I do what you said and brew some strong tea - several tea bags - in boiling water, and if you are going to add sugar, do it while it is hot or it won't dissolve and will sit at the bottom of your pitcher. If you are doing 2 quarts of tea (how many liters is that? I don't know) you can start with 1/4 cup sugar and add more if that is not enough. Better to err on the side of caution or you will end up with what tastes a lot like sugar syrup! That's what is served in a lot of restaurants around here and southerners love it, but you may want to take it slow on the sugar. Once your sugar has dissolved you can add water to dilute it to your preferred strength. There really is no way to give you a recipe because it all depends on how big your tea bags are ( they make quart size tea bags here) and how strong your tea is. You can also put tea bags in a glass jar and fill it with water and sit it out there with your little red squirrel in the sun for a few hours and make a nice jug of tea that way. If you want to sweeten it, make a sugar syrup with water and sugar on the stove until the sugar is dissolved.
Hope that wasn't more info than you bargained for! Not only do we know how to make sweet tea in the south we also know how to talk! Good luck! ♥♥♥
I love sweet tea but will only allow myself to drink it once we cross the Indiana/Kentucky state line going south. It is a rare treat to have sweet tea in Michigan although I will use Splenda in hot tea maybe once a week.
Yummy meals being served at your home this week😋Still cool and rainy so lots of different soups, piccata with roasted baby potatoes and veggies, chicken tagine with rice and salad & sandwich combos. Love the folding washing bowl and all the ways you'll be able to use it, your toesies will love it! I never thanked you for the idea of using a hot bottle in the evening while cozying in up in the winter while reading or watching TV - I did this often in my Canadian winter and it was wonderful.
Iced tea in the summer here are my recipes: Herbal teas like peach, raspberry, mango etc. makes 68oz/2L (use a container that can hold this amount) ; fill a pitcher with 34oz/1L of hot water, add 6-12 tablespoons of loose tea (use a diffuser or a coffee filter and tied with cooking string) and seep to your tea's instruction, then remove the tea and add ice to fill the container. That's it no sugar added an no caffeine, it may sound like a lot of tea but you do want the flavor as it will water down with the ice - of just skip the ice and do a full 2L of hot water. The second recipe my mom made every summer. Just regular black tea bags 2 or 3 for a 2L container, add hot water with 2 or 3 sliced lemons and sugar to your liking I usually start with 1/8 of a cup and add as necessary this one I brew longer like 30 mins of so but I keep checking to our liking. I love ice tea in the summer and they are great to have as a mix for an adult drink with vodka or something else to your liking.
Never lived through real emergency sirens but yes in Canada by province we do have testing and also boroughs depending if there are chemical plants or dangerous substances. We do get the warning through our phones and initial testing worked out the bugs. I still jump like the Looney Tunes cartoon cat to the ceiling when the warning comes through 🤣
Loved the video and let us know how your ice tea brewing goes!
Thanks for the reminder to make iced tea, has been several years since I did this. Have made a simple syrup of sugar to add as favored. As for sirens, I live near the school where they go off and sometimes they fail by going off slowly, kind of a pathetic wail. They’re done every Tuesday at 10 m. But I do have a story from my youth. There was an intense competion between baseball teams and the White Sox team ( a favorite of our south side mayor Daley) They won the championship 1959. Well some dumb person decided to sound Chicago sirens off for the win. I was a kid and my father who was well within immediate memory of WWII went outside and was looking everywhere skyward. The Cold War was in full fear mode. It’s a memory from my childhood that,well, like your story does stick in the mind. On a happier note, I do thank you you do inspire me to get of my bahooki!
Also a southern from the US. Cold unsweet tea. 1 cup of boiling water poured over 3 teabags of black tea....steeped for 4 minutes then allowed to cool for 1 hour. Then poured into ice cold water. My favorite beverage. Part of my afternoon routine. 😀
Sun tea is the way to go! To make it easy, look for the empty loose leaf tea bags (Amazon has them), fill one and I use a 2 liter pitcher. I like to let it sit in the sun for an afternoon. If you like iced coffee, you can make cold brew coffee the same way, and it is so delicious!
We have sirens in Ohio when there is really bad weather.
No help here on your iced tea question but just to say Hello and that I enjoy my iced tea unsweetened & same strength as my hot Lady Grey, just served over ice. However my dear, late mum (born in England) loved her morning tea with sugar and milk.
Like your Mum, I always drink my tea with milk too! 😃
Coronation Chicken is ah-mazing!!
We make sun tea all through the year, Fill a quart jar with cold water and two bags( or what you want) and sit in the sun. Sometimes I add mint or some fruit juice. I drink everyday all day long. Never sugar. I will put some time on the front garden after I take a rest( good gym workout).
The lemon earl grey would be great with some raspberry purée, whole raspberries and honey over ice ❤ the strawberry -maybe some fresh mulled mint and cucumber and honey to taste. That is so nice of you to warn everyone about the sirens. It would be just my luck to be in Copenhagen for the first time enjoying the day relaxing with a glass of wine in town and those go off and I have a heart attack 😅
I have never added sugar for ice tea, I dont like sweet drinks as a rule. Those sirens are such a scary sound for me..we used to test sirens on Saturdays at noon when I was a kid, and it always scared me...nuclear scares, etc...You look so lovely in pink..love the garden in the backround too. Much love from AZ
Really enjoy your chats Diane! Have you ever done a video on your diet plan/staying trim? Thank you! ❤️🇨🇦
Hi Anna-Marie! I often talk about my daily exercise and what I eat. Everything in moderation...three regular meals each day, plus two or three snack times each day. I move my body daily (either some stretching, a walk, out on my bike, a swim).
I'm following with interest! Like you, I usually drink my tea as hot as I can - steaming! I'm interested to try iced tea as I have some loose tea in the cupboard which would be ideal for this, too. 🎉🎉🎉
Siren test first Wednesday of every month 1pm in my area of the US
So funny! I was about to ask if your son was in the South! Can't get sweet tea in the North. If you check Whippoorwill Holler, she has a recent sun tea video. We use a lot of sugar in our sweet tea...and lots of lemon. It's a daily thing for me to make a 1/2 gallon of sweet tea. However, instead of my usual 3/4 cup of sugar, I use 1/3 cup of sugar and 4 packs of stevia. We use black tea. I live in Tennessee. Whippoorwill Holler is in Arkansas...just next door. Also Paula Deen has a video on sweet tea. It good too.
Ohio, USA We have the test at noon, 1st Wed. of every month. Juat like you.
My Danish friend had forgotten about it and was in the middle of something which he accidentally dropped 😮
In Sweden we have "Hesa Fredrik" (hoarse Fredrik) The first monday at 15:00 in mars, june, september and december.
We've owned our Swedish summerhouse for over 10 years and never heard those sirens 😅
Sirens we used to have and still to keep people in fear not in the Uk only on phone
Our sirens get tested every Tuesday at 10:30 am and the noise does not even register with me any more. When I was a child, sirens were built on every school and every Tuesday, the children practiced getting away from glass windows and sitting along corridor walls with our arms over our heads, like you do for an airplane crash. At about the same time that cold war threats were subsiding, our dangerous weather prediction technology improved so we converted the equipment and behavior culture for tornado warnings. Hundreds of lives were saved.
Warnings with more specific information are available on television and we also get gps-specific warnings on our cell phones.
Two years ago, I was out doing errands in my car facing away from a storm and my cell phone warning went off. Surprised, I was able to pull into a fast food restaurant and shelter away from glass in the rest room. We were able to watch the storn pass on my radar app and leave safely. Technology never ceases to amaze me. Feeling grateful...
Hit me with your best sweet iced tea recipes! And can you guess what my new bathing accessory is?! 😍Happy Wednesday from Copenhagen!
I typically make black tea. So I boil some water with 1/4 cup of sugar. Steep the tea in that, and then I dilute the mixture in a pitcher filled with ice and cool water. It holds about 3 liters.
Hi where did you get your cleaning caddy?
Rig-tig, Danish brand
That siren was scary
I have been off of IG for awhile. Is your friend Vibica (sp) still swimming with you?
Yes! Are you subscribed to my RUclips channel? Photos of her here on the Community tab, and in this video 😃
Avoid any sugar and some sweetners.
I do not add any sugar to my iced tea - you don't have to