So what is the definition in question? A lover of kettles. Yup, that’s what I felt so strongly about I had to make up a word.
I’ve been having on-going issues with my guts for months now. In August 2013 I had SIRTs – an internal radiotherapy – to my liver. That in turn gave me gastritis, a surprisingly painful and horrible condition. It’s the inflammation of the stomach lining. Because of that I went to a dietician in November who put me on two Ensure drinks a day and recommended cutting out wheat, processed meats, sugar, and anything that made things worse (using a trial and error system). She also recommended cutting out milk, but I love my tea so she suggested lactose free milk.
For some time I have been using goats milk, but dutifully swapped over to lactose free cow’s milk and eliminated all the suggested things. I researched the bland diet and settled into a limited range of foods.
The problem was I wasn’t getting any better. I still had uncomfortable bloating, even the tiniest sip of alcohol gave me maddening heartburn. Bread is simply not worth sneaking into my diet. Fruit was a big no-no which has been tough, I love my fruit. I even swapped over to decaffeinated tea and a couple of weeks ago on a whim drank mostly green tea for a day.
Now green tea, for those unfamiliar with it is taken without milk. I happen to like it with a splash of apple juice. So what does all this have to do with kettle love, or to coin a word, being a lebetephile?
Green tea doesn’t taste good with freshly boiled water. The heat brings out a bitter taste that makes me think of green tea as a medicine to be suffered through. There are a slew of health benefits, especially to people with cancer. That’s why I mix in some apple juice. It makes it just about palatable, and I have my s-i-l Pat to thank for that idea.
The other way of making green tea more consumable is to let the water cool before dropping in the tea bag. But I have the worst short term memory now, I blame all the chemo etc. This means unless I set a timer, I wander off and come back to a too-cool kettle, and have to restart the process.
So why is that all so important, you might ask? I still haven’t answered why I’m in love with my kettle. I am getting there, I promise. I had heard on the Beating Bowel Cancer forum about a multi-temperature kettle. They aren’t cheap so I’ve never entertained the notion of buying one for very long. But here’s the thing – cutting out dairy for a day (and that was all it took) made my insides feel noticeably better. They next day I was on Amazon, that love-to-hate website. I found a Cuisinart kettle that had good reviews and seemed to fit the bill. I ordered it with the free 3-5 day shipping and was happily surprised when it arrived early.
Here’s where I hope you feel the love. The kettle is heavy, I think that is the only slight downside. It’s got fancy blue back-lighting for the dials and tells you the current temperature of the water. There’s an 85deg button to press for cooler hot water. There’s a 100deg button for black tea. You can also go up by 5deg at a time should you wish to. And it makes the best cup of green tea ever. I am now completely off dairy. I feel like my guts are finally healing after months and months of misery. I survive almost exclusively on green tea. It’s not a medicine now; it’s a viable substitute for my much loved cup of tea with milk.
I go in the kitchen and smile at my kettle. People come in and are drawn to it (I think that blue back-lighting helps there). I wish I’d bought a multi-temperature kettle years ago. Not only am I finally getting the health benefits of green tea (which you can read about here) but I’ve ditched the dairy and am feeling fab without it.