Tea Ball on Steroids

Cousin J-Yah loves garage sales and she is a true connoisseur; she scopes them out in record time, rejects all the junk and manages to buy wonderful things for a song. She found my tiered stand and the crinkle cutter, for example. When she brought me this contraption, however, my faith in her was shaken.

What does one do with a tea ball on steroids? I thanked her and, after she went home, put it away in the very back of a cupboard where I put things that, frankly, I never use.

Then, I learned how to make mint-chamomile iced tea this summer, which involves immersing tea bags and crushed mint leaves in water - and then having to fish them out, one by one.

You guessed it - I rummaged around 'way in the back of that cabinet again and brought forth the perfect solution, the giant tea ball! It opens up to accommodate easily the leaves and tea bags, works to weigh them down in the water, and is easy to remove with the chain, which is long enough to wrap around the pitcher's handle so it doesn't fall in!

The woman is a genius as well as a garage sale maven!