Only a few weeks into spring and I can't stop steeping grassy greens. The bright, vegetal flavors with subtle hints of sweetness are in harmony with the buds on the verge of blossoming.

While I often fill my cup with Gyokuro and Sencha, I decided to go with a green that fell somewhere in-between the two Japanese steeps, a Kabusecha (or Kabuse Sencha, Kabuse-Cha).

Grown in the natural shade for around 14 days, this green tea is shielded by a net (a kabuse) to create a more mellow, vegetal and sweet flavor. The delicate leaves are handpicked in early spring (similar to the Gyokuro process), but then are steamed (like that of a Sencha).

Each sip is slightly rich and fragrant with subtle vegetal and sweet flavors.

Just recently my mother asked me to pick up some vanilla ice cream she wanted to serve with a pie she had made. I came home with a gallon of 'Pet' vanilla ice cream. She asked me why, out of all the brands at the grocery store, would I choose 'Pet?' I told her   grocery store ice cream,whether it be Ben and Jerry's, Hagen Daaz or Pet all tasted the same to me and that Pet was the cheapest. 

When I was growing up, my mother would make homemade ice cream in the summer from the local peaches using a hand-cranked ice cream churn. We would take turns "churning" and adding endless amounts of rock salt for what seemed like hours until it was ready. That is what ice cream is supposed to taste like and if you've never had homemade ice cream, do yourself a favor a buy an ice cream churn. They make electric ones now with no hand crank churning required.

I am from Philadelphia, and when I meet someone who isn’t from Philadelphia they always say “Oh! You are from Philadelphia. You must love cheese steaks,” because this is the only thing people know about Philadelphia.

Cheese steaks are embedded into the national imagination as “Philly food,” or “Philly phood” (mad men dreaming up ad campaigns for local Philadelphia business or sports teams love to replace “f” with “ph” whenever possible). Philadelphians bear this and other burdens patiently, but at a certain point, even the most sanguine lose their cool. How many times have I weathered cheese steak-related questions with the same bottled response, which is: the secret to a great cheese steak is the bread, and the secret to the bread is the water, and the water has to be Philadelphia water because otherwise it doesn’t taste quite right.