Bubble tea, an idea imported from Taiwan, is new to me. So too is seeing my granddaughter at the stove while I sit at my kitchen table. And fidget. I chew on words like "mind your sleeve," "should that boil so hard" and "I could stir." But I say nothing. At the moment, she is master of the kitchen - the next generation of home chefs - bringing new recipes to the old guard. She assures me the cup of dry tapioca she purchased in Chinatown will be enough for six of us - and I'm not to worry that the tapioca pearls will look like tadpoles when cooked. That means they're perfect. This is her recipe for my new favorite drink.

Ingredients:

• 7 cups water
• 1 cup tapioca pearls
• ^1/2 cup of cold black tea (prepared) or 2 Tbsp. instant coffee or 1 cup of juice
• flavoured powder or fruit
• 2 Tbsp. honey or sugar syrup
• 2 Tbsp. cream or ^1/2 cup milk
• 1 ^1/2 cups crushed ice or ^1/2 cup crushed ice

Method:

To prepare the tapioca, bring 7 cups of water to a boil and add 1 cup of tapioca pearls. Watch that they float on top and don't stick to each other.

Cover the pot and let it boil for 20 minutes until the tapioca is soft. Take off the stove and let the pot sit for another 15 minutes.

Drain off the water and rinse the tapioca pearls under cold water to prevent stickiness and to give the pearls their chewiness.

They can be used at this point or refrigerated in a syrup of 1 part brown and white sugars in one part boiling water but fresher is better. (Any extra syrup can be refrigerated and used later to sweeten the bubble tea.)

When making the bubble tea, add a few refrigerated pearls to 1 cup of boiled water and let stand for 5 minutes - not much longer because they'll go hard.

Bubble tea needs four things. Liquid - tea or a substitute such as coffee or juice. Flavour - flavoured powders or fruit. Sweetener - honey or sugar syrup. Tapioca pearls or jellies.

For Grandma's favourite, mix 2 tablespoons of cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar syrup - maybe a bit more, 2 tablespoons of instant coffee, 1 cup water, 1 ^1/2 cups of crushed ice and give it all a good shake. Pour over a ^1/4 cup of tapioca pearls.

For classic bubble tea, shake up ^1/2 cup crushed ice, ^1/2 cup strong, cold black tea, ^1/2 cup milk and some honey. Pour this into a cup over a ^1/4 cup of tapioca, add a jumbo straw and enjoy!

NOVEMBER 2006 SENIOR LIVING MAGAZINE VANCOUVER ISLAND