Here's a little secret...

...I don't always follow the directions.

I mean, I do sometimes, often at the most crucial of times, just not all the time.

This came to mind as I was making a nice cup of chai to sit down & relax with.

First off, chai, being made with black tea, is probably not the ideal thing to relax with. Face it, that tea has a kick. The caffeine alone will quite possibly stimulate me well into the wee hours of the morning. Add a nice rounded teaspoon of Sugar in the Raw, & I am pretty well guaranteed enough energy to get me through the evening.

But I digress.

The real reason I began thinking about following directions is because I was reading the box & realizing I wasn't exactly making my chai properly. The first tip off was step 1: pour boiling water directly over teabag. I was reading this as I was warming a cup of milk in the microwave to sink the teabag into.

Step 2 was to let the bag sit for 3-5 minutes. After I submerged it in my nice warm milk, I had to play with it. Lots. Up & down, sink it with the spoon, up again, a little squeeze, back down. You get the picture.

I got bored about 4 minutes in & figured it was good enough. The milk had taken on a nice proper chai-like color & the aroma wafting out of the mug as I plunked the bag was heavenly.

Let's see, step 3. Remove teabag & add an ounce of milk. Well now, that was just silly, as I already had a full mug of nice, chai-spiced milk.

Step 4: mix in 1 TBS sugar. Hang on just a minute there! A tablespoon? Of sugar? In only 8 oz of milk? Make that a teaspoon, & a scant teaspoon at that.

And here I sit, enjoying my frothy delight, a divine blend of spices in a creamy, slightly sweetened beverage. Not a watered-down, overly sweet version, but one that accurately matched my mood.

Life is like that. Sometimes, if you follow the directions, you don't end up with what you want at all!

But if you follow your instincts, you can create exactly what you need.