Congealed Camel Pee
by Zia ~ July 11th, 2005. Filed under: Ephemera.Got your attention with that, didn’t I?
Cruising around Boing Boing this afternoon when I saw this handy-dandy guide to making chai in the microwave.
It reminded me of my father’s method of making chai in the microwave, which he perfected years ago. (Though I have to confess that the version above sounds infinitely more palatable.)
Put tap water and a tea bag into your favorite cup. (The cup in question was an enormous thing with the Democratic donkey and Republican doing Unspeakable Things with each other, and was a gift from my grandfather on the day my father became an American citizen.)
Microwave for two minutes.
Forget about for half an hour.
Remember. Add two tablets of saccharine and a healthy slug of condensed milk.
Microwave for two minutes.
Forget about for half an hour.
Remember.
Microwave for two minutes.
You get the picture. This cycle could go on for ages–and really, more than anything, speaks to a true melding of East vs. West: the time-saving convenience of a microwave and the unhurried preparation of tea on Indian time.
But whatever the culture, the result was a thick, almost gelatinous, mixture of dark brown sludge that my mother used to call congealed camel pee.