Stretch/Seasonal recipe: Unique Tea

This week's recipe isn't so much a stretch recipe as it is a seasonal one, and it isn't a recipe so much as it is a technique.

It requires a bit of planning. Go to Costco as soon as possible and buy a big, huge gallon jar of olives; jalapeno-stuffed are preferred. Relocate the olives into smaller jars and store for future use. There should be enough for about four months' of martinis.

Wash the gallon jar and the lid until it is free of olive aroma; this may take a week. When it is ready, wait for a sunny, warm-to-hot day. About 10 a.m., fill the jar with water. Place in the water four Lipton tea bags with the tags and dipping strings lapped over the mouth of the jar. Put on the lid and tighten it into the closed position, securing the tags on the outside.

Carry the jar outside and place it so it will always be in direct sunlight. Leave it there two or three hours until the tea is a very warm brown. During this time, do enough work to develop a sweat, a thirst, and a degree of fatigue. Carry the jar of tea inside. Be careful; it will be very warm to sort of hot. Remove the lid and pull out the tea bags.

Get a quart-sized glass; a Mason jar is best. Squeeze into it half a lemon, then fill it with ice. With one smooth motion, pour the glass full of the hot tea, and as soon as it is full, start counting to five, not slowly, but with restraint. As soon as you reach five, drink all the tea. The first couple of mouthfuls will be almost cold, but then will arrive swirls of cold and warmth, like an ice-and-tea parfait.

When you have drunk it all, you will wish it wasn’t over. You won't want a second glass. This is an experience unique to specific conditions. Refrigerate the remaining tea immediately, before it gets cloudy, and drink in the usual way.