‘Moon Over’ Chapter Alert! Coping with tea

General Borin copes with a crushing, high-G series of emotions as he learns Dima’s true reasons for fleeing East Berlin. Meanwhile, in the West, Ian wakes up to an entirely different set of expectations than Dima wakes up to. But at least they’re together! Does love truly conquer all? The guys are sure going to put that aphorism to the test.

Click here to read the chapter —

Coffee, Tea & Boxers in Berlin

Author’s Notes:

Two amusing notes here. In my early adulthood, young men did not wear boxers or boxer briefs as underwear. They were “old man” garments. Grandpa-wear as it were. Just coming into style in the mid to late 80s were colored briefs and and fashion-cut briefs as from Calvin Klein. Hence Ian’s reaction to Dima’s sleepwear.

And tea! Russians love their tea, and they love it strong and aromatic. While there’s nothing technically wrong with using teabags to make tea, the typical American blend of leaf rejects and stems in a Lipton bag would have horrified Dima. A Russian samovar, or tea maker, is typically not only a work of art, but a central point to cluster around in the kitchen, and sometimes even a source of warmth. A samovar has two chambers: one for brewing incredibly strong tea, the other for hot water to cut it with. Dima has his hands full figuring out how to get a decent cuppa!

The sort of old fashioned samovar I would imagine in the Borin home. Newer ones are typically brass or stainless steel rather than porcelain.

Joseph-Patrick McCain, Karthikeyan Vasuki Balasubramaniam, Grace, Kile Ozier, Jack Preston King, Carol Lennox, Remington Write, Brian Fehler, kurt gasbarra, Guérin Asante, Catherine Caruso, Stephen Sovie, Osbourne SMITH, Chris Cohlmeyer, Debora Juarez, James Knight, Fred Shirley, Carl Rebeiro Adam, Diabetic Cyborg, Synia Sidhe, Phil Stevens, Trixie Gray, Michael Kupperberg, neil chapman, Ken Wilson, Ronald C. Flores-Gunkle, Mike Weaver, Trixie Gray, Daryl Bruce, Matthew Ryerson, Donald Robb, Madelyn Barry, Enrique “Ricky” Manuel Flores III, Cal Desmond-Pearson, John Westerfield-Moses, Michael Kupperberg, Bernd Weiser, Left Wisdom, Rdean Unland, Hilario Villalobos, Eunice Newart, Todd J, AT — 07VD — Tomken Road MS (1153), Erika Burkhalter, Susan Aplus12, Jordan Michael Becker, Maii, Isabel Wang, MD, PhD, Victoria Smiser, Danny’s World of Shorts, Nadège, KM Bernard, Jonathan | sex & theology, Lyle Gowers, Jakub Ferencik, Daniel Kay, Monika Wright, Paul Smith, Roshan, Gigi J Wolf, edmond smith, Jeffrey Audet, Chris Hedges, Guy Patrick,