Everyone needs a blue teakettle

My throat has been bothering me lately.  Cough cough cough, spit out phlegm, cough cough cough, feel like I swallowed a Brillo pad.

I know I have to ride this out somehow, I have to get better somehow.  I’ve got writing projects on the horizon, another basketball season is starting very soon… and I can not keep sounding like I smoked three packs of menthols and need a fourth pack.

This calls for drastic measures.

I checked my cabinet.  Not the medicine cabinet – the kitchen cabinet.

Yep.  Somehow, a long time ago, I purchased a package of Celestial Seasonings “Sleepytime” teas.  I figured a hot cup of tea would soothe my soul and calm my aching throat.

Okay.  Coffee cup at the ready. Bag of tea inside.  Now for the hot water –

Oh crud.  The only “hot water” I currently have is from the tap.  I quickly Googled directions on how one could make a cup of hot tea in the microwave – pour enough hot water into the cup to just cover the tea bag, nuke it, take out the tea bag, add more hot water, drink – but that didn’t seem very appetizing.

Okay, Miller, time to get yourself a teakettle.  Off to Walmart you go.

I looked at the various teapots and teakettles, and eventually saw a blue enameled teakettle with a safety handle (you could press the lever and the pouring spout would lock in an open position, then you pour your tea safely).  Okay, let’s get it.

And as I drove home, I remembered that there weren’t too many teakettles in my life.  My Grandma Betty had an old teakettle that, when hot water was ready, you could hear the steam whistle of the teakettle all over Willowdean Avenue.  One of my ex-wives had a teakettle as well, but it was a “decorative” teakettle and was not supposed to be used for actually boiling water.  Which I found out one time after I tried to boil water in it and caught hell for doing so.

So now I have a blue teakettle.  I thought about what I can make with this teakettle – hot chocolate, ramen noodles, some Celestial Seasonings tea, tasty beverages to keep me warm on wintery nights –

Oh, sorry… I gotta take this call.  And by “call,” I mean that my teakettle is calling me.

Okay.  My throat still feels like somebody cleaned it with a cheese grater.  So I figure if one teabag of Celestial Seasonings will make me feel better… let’s see what two teabags of the stuff can do.

Pour.  Let steep for six minutes.  While it’s steeping, I need to pour out the remaining boiling water from the teakettle, so that the kettle doesn’t develop mineral deposits.

Fish out the teabags from my coffee cup.

And… as my buddy Steve Murray would say to me before every game of trivia that he hosts, “Nazdravlje!”

glug glug glug

Nice.  I can feel the tea already relaxing my throat muscles and making me feel better.

This is good.

And so what if I purchased a blue teakettle.  It’s just one of those things a bachelor purchases, right?  It’s not like it’s got an Ed Hardy logo on the side.

Of course, now I’ve got to get more teakettle-ready food.  Some hot chocolate for the winter, some Top Ramen for late night munchies, maybe even I’ll try some real coffee in this here coffee cup…

So if you have any beverage uses for your teakettle, please share them with me.

I’m thinking I might want to try some in the future.