Before I had my little girl, I was a natural-birthing, extended-breastfeeding, baby wearing, attachment parenting, co-sleeping, cloth diapering parent.
And then I had an pitocin-induced labour with no pain medication, which was both, in my opinion, quite heroic, and completely unplanned. I used disposable diapers for a few weeks before switching to cloth, and I couldn’t figure out my baby sling for the life of me.
That changed too, and I got comfortable with carrying my girl everywhere, thrice weekly loads of laundry, and co-sleeping.
Then along came Dora.
The Explorer, that is.
Because along with the confusion and sleeplessness of new motherhood came the realization that nothing is as black and white as being a natural-birthing, extended-breastfeeding, baby wearing, attachment parenting, co-sleeping and cloth diapering parent. Because once in a while, I just want to curl up on the couch and zone out while Ada stares, rapt, at the computer screen while an episode of Dora plays.
She snuggles in a little closer when Swiper the Fox comes along to take whatever treasure Dora and her pal Boots have found, and though I never planned for Ada to ever see the glow of a television screen in her childhood years, I don’t feel the least bit concerned about the small ways we’ve stepped out of the black and white and into the grey.
Note: this recipe started out as an attempt to make a tea affogato. It didn’t work (read: watery ice cream). Then I tried to pour the warm syrup over the ice cream, like a hot tea sundae (??), but ultimately, it was best chilled and drizzled over the ice cream.
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 2 heaping teaspoons quality Earl Grey loose leaf tea
- Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring just to a boil over medium heat, and then remove from the heat, allowing the tea to steep for approximately five minutes. Strain the syrup, pour into an air-tight container and refrigerate.
- Scoop vanilla ice cream into a bowl and pour desired amount of syrup over it. Enjoy.
- This recipe is easily halved for a smaller amount of simple syrup.
