The Friday Five will drink to that!

[magnetic_pole]

Nabbing one from thefridayfive archives this week:

1) If you had to drink one thing for the rest of your life, what would you pick? Tea. English breakfast tea with a touch of soy milk, to be precise. We drink so much tea in the magnetic_pole household that we buy teabags by the five hundred-count package. (Seriously. It's possible.)

I do enjoy my coffee, but I can't imagine all coffee, all the time.

2) What is the first thing you drink in the morning? Usually that very same black tea.

3) What do you drink with your lunch? dinner? Nowadays, water. I'm not picky--it comes right from the tap. The better half and I each usually have a water glass hanging out somewhere in the apartment, marked with a blue (me) or purple (her) rubber band to remind us which is which.

4) What is your favorite mixed drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)? Give the recipe. Orange juice with a touch of cranberry. We rarely buy fruit juice because it's so heavy to carry home, so this combo, which requires having not one but two juices in the fridge, is a treat.

5) What drink brings back a special memory for you? Growing up, I drank milk at each meal. My parents drank soda, and everyone once in a while, for a treat at the end of the meal, they'd put a little soda in my milk glass. It was never quite empty, so the not-entirely-pleasant taste of soda with a dash of creaminess is a strong memory from my childhood. "We didn't know you could tell the difference!" my parents said a while ago, when I told them this story. :)

Want to play along? Text box below.

<b>1) If you had to drink one thing for the rest of your life, what would you pick?</b> <b>2) What is the first thing you drink in the morning?</b> <b>3) What do you drink with your lunch? dinner?</b> <b>4) What is your favorite mixed drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)? Give the recipe.</b> <b>5) What drink brings back a special memory for you?</b>

Comments

[write_out]

"We didn't know you could tell the difference!"

*shudder* How could they not??? Ah, parents...

I checked out that link and cracked up. 500 bags! I see they have an Irish breakfast tea too (Twinings Irish Breakfast is one of my very favorites); have you tried that one or do you stick English breakfast only?

How many cups do you drink in a day?

I am intrigued by orange juice with a touch of cranberry. I'll have to give that one a shot soon.

[secretsolitaire]

Haha, my version of this meme would be so boring -- I pretty much only drink water. No coffee, no alcohol, no soda (except ginger ale if my stomach hurts), and no tea (unless my throat hurts). /o\

Soda plus milk? Eugh. LOL parents.

[magnetic_pole]

I know! It would froth up in weird way, too. I'm not sure why I never said anything at the time or why they didn't notice.

You know, we haven't tried the Irish breakfast tea. The English breakfast is great, though! We usually drink two or three cups each per day, which means we go through the 500-count bag in about three months. We've also got a drawer of regular tea boxes going for specialty teas (I like ginger and licorice) and teas for guests, who always seem to want herbal.

Please try the orange with cranberry! It's so good! M.

ETA: Wow, there are four exclamation points in this message, sorry. I must be excited about my drinks.

[magnetic_pole]

Only water, ever? You're probably the healthiest one out there, actually.

Re: soda and milk--I know! I was tiny and not very worldly yet, but I could definitely tell the difference between milky and unadulterated Pepsi! M.

[secretsolitaire]

Once in a while I squeeze some fresh lemon or lime juice into it. *is boring* I also do an occasional swig of almond milk. (I never drank out of cartons before meeting SO, haha.)

I guess technically green smoothies count as a drink, but I usually use them to substitute for a meal, so I don't really think of them that way. But hey, I guess I'm not that boring. I recently tried a new smoothie blend that was pretty tasty: spinach, almond butter, almond milk, banana, flaxseed meal, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

[magnetic_pole]

Yum! I love nutmeg and cinnamon. I should try that.

I've been doing kale with frozen mango (a good, smooth taste to counteract the tanginess of the kale) and a bit of frozen apple juice for sweetener. M.

[ancientreader]

I so enjoy these posts! And everybody's replies to them.

If water isn't assumed, I suppose one would have to say water. But if we're allowed a drink besides water, I would have to say coffee, with a good-sized hit of half-and-half. Though now I am gazing sadly at the Tempranillo and the Primitivo and the Montepulciano and wondering whether "red wine" might not be a better answer. Or cocktails! Can I say, generically, cocktails?

Wait, wait! The milk I cook my oatmeal in doesn't count, does it????

This is a terrible question.

After all that: the first thing I drink in the morning is usually, er, diet ginger ale, because I wake up thirsty but water on an empty stomach nauseates me. Yes weird.

[shadowycat]

"We didn't know you could tell the difference!" my parents said a while ago,... Seriously? Perhaps you should have suggested they try it. Ick. I'm with you on tea. I drink a lot of it hot but more of it iced. In the summer, I drink iced tea everyday. :D

[lash_larue]

Water does the same thing to me. I'll drink Gatorade G2 then if I have it, but diet ginger ale works too.

L

[lash_larue]

Why did your parents hate you? Try ordering that in a restaurant. I dare you.

With you on tap water. It's fine, and you don't have a plastic bottle to get rid of. If the chlorine is strong where you are a filter pitcher does fine. Besides, I am not paying alcohol prices for water. Not even at Universal in the summer.

L

[magnetic_pole]

Drinkable tap water is one of the marvels of modern life. I'm always a little shocked and horrified at the bottled water situation.

That said, every once in a while I *will* buy one, and it's inevitably a Universal-in-the-summertime situation, where I'm willing to pay more or less anything to feel a bit better.

I've gotten so much support on the no-milk-in-your-cola front! Thank you. :) M.

[magnetic_pole]

Ah, iced tea! I have to start making that again now that the weather's warming up again. We have dozens of extra boxes of tea (almost everyone we know has given us some as a gift, knowing how much we like it), and I've recently discovered that I like, iced, a whole range of flavors that, hot, aren't exactly my cup of tea. :) Do you just do black tea for iced tea, or do you have specific preferences? M.

[magnetic_pole]

I had no idea how many types of Gatorade there were until last summer when I got sick enough that was the only thing I could hold down. (Sorry, tmi.) But I do understand how/why that's better than water, intuitively, at least. Glad you found something that works. M.

[magnetic_pole]

It's funny how "if you had to drink one thing for the rest of your life...?" (tea) is a subtly different question from "What's your favorite?" (hot cocoa, but only the perfect cup, and only about once a year) isn't it? Which is slight different from "What do you want right now?" (water) or even "what's likely to taste best at this location?"(well, I'm at home, so my usual black tea, but ti's a key question for eating out) or "what's the best thing to drink in this company or this situation?" (something non-caffeinated since I'm having trouble sleeping). My partner and I have a variation on this dilemma at restaurants all the time: do you order the thing you're in the mood for or the thing the restaurant will likely be good at?

Terrible question? Okay, let's try something even worse: If you had to eat one item of food for the rest of your life, what would it be? :) M.

[semielliptical]

Buying 500 tea bags at once is a really great deal! Tempting, though I guess I would not go through that much tea quickly enough on my own.

I take my tea black, and I'm slightly weirded out by the thought of putting any kind of milk in it, it almost seems like having a little milk in your soda.

[magnetic_pole]

I can see that! When I told my mom about the milk in the soda, she pointed out that I'd always loved root beer floats. :) It's all about what you're' used to.

I'm always surprised at how quickly we go through the 500 bags. The really nice thing about the bulk purchase is not having to worry about replacing it. It's like when I started buying 24 rolls of toilet paper at once...you never run out. M.

[ancientreader]

Oh, that one's easy: it would be my homemade dal with basmati, lime, and cilantro. You did mean one dish, didn't you?

What about you?

[ancientreader]

Wow, I seriously thought I was the only person who couldn't stomach water on an empty ... stomach. *fist bump*

[shadowycat]

I usually stick to regular black tea for my iced tea. Unsweetened, preferably. There is a restaurant in my neighborhood which has a pomegranate green iced tea that's very good, though. :D

[liseuse]

I can't cope with water on an empty stomach either. And yet my stomach is totally fine with a mug of strong coffee when empty. Bodies! So weird!

[liseuse]

I usually buy the 250 teabag boxes which between the amount I drink at home (a weekend day can easily contain 6-8 mugs of tea) and the 3-4 a day at work doesn't last very long. I'd buy the 500 box but I don't have anywhere to store it! The 250 just about fits in the cupboard.

I don't usually buy fruit juice, and it's partly because it's so heavy! But I do mostly do a big online shop so I could buy it then I suppose. But, the reason I don't buy it is that I can never seem to get through the carton before it's starting to turn, because I have to be very in The Mood for fruit juice.

[magnetic_pole]

Six to eight mugs?!? What brand do you like? Are you picky? I don't think of myself as a picky tea drinker, but I definitely get into one type of brand and everything else tastes odd.

Your place sounds like heaven--tea, chatting, books, food, cats. We are going to have so much fun this summer! M.

[magnetic_pole]

Hmmm, pomegranate green iced tea. That sounds good, actually. Sometimes I like trying things at restaurants just to get a flavor combination I might not have tried myself.

There should be more unsweetened ice tea in life, generally! M.

[magnetic_pole]

I wish I had a sexy-yummy answer like you. In fact, I suspect from experience it's cereal. It's what I eat 24-7 when the better half goes away and I need to fend for myself. M.

[ancientreader]

I believe that I have previously expressed the suspicion that you are, in fact, my Spouse, and this about the cereal clinches it.

[magnetic_pole]

Hee! We cereal-eaters are a recognizable (and lovable) type. M.

[kelly_chambliss]

I love reading this five-question things. I think I'll have to steal this one. But how to choose between coffee and tea????

I'm afraid that the milky soda (soda-y milk?) sounds dubious to me. But the tastes of our childhood don't have to make adult sense. My dad used to mix fried potatoes with cottage cheese, and it's still a strange dish I adore.

[magnetic_pole]

But how to choose between coffee and tea????

I know, I know! They're both essential in different ways. It's a tough call.

I wish I'd been exposed to more types of food when I was younger--new tastes and combinations seem to be harder to swallow (hee!) as an adult. Cottage cheese is one of those things we never had around the house, and now I don't think I could do it if I tried. (And I know folks love it.) Just not my cup of tea (ha!).

Am a bit punch drunk from not enough sleep, as you can tell! Looking forward to seeing your answers to these questions. M.