Some new teas from Ukraine

 

Last week, my friend Ginger surprised me with a lovely notecard in the mail. What was even lovelier was that it included *four* different Lovaré tea bags for me to try, teas she said were from Ukraine!

I used to save treats like these and enjoy them slowly, over time, but as I've gotten older, I'm more of the "life is short—eat dessert first" school of thought, and I have now enjoyed every single one of these! I've always liked a good berry tea, and anything with peaches rings my bell, so I knew I would probably enjoy these—and did. But then I tried the 1001 Nights tea (grape flavor?) and the yummy Champagne Splashes ... so which was my favorite?

This tea with grape flavor! Who knew? I have never been a huge fan of grape-flavored treats, with the possible exception of Jolly Ranchers candy, but this tea was delightful. I think the grape flavor made me feel like a kid again, and I was so happy to learn that I can find all of these blends on Amazon. Thanks for the nice surprise, Ginger!

Some fun finds in souvenirs

One of the restaurants my friend Gina introduced me to in Pigeon Forge is Huck Finn's Catfish, and they had so many cute T-shirts in their gift shop that I had to get this one: "At tea time … everybody agrees." (Agrees on what, I couldn't tell you, but I agree that we're all agreeable at teatime!)

Old Time Pottery turned up this enamel mug, and since I'm drawn to enamelware old and new, this new mug seemed like a happy addition to my Christmas tea mug collection.

Also from OTP, this little plaque will be part of my tea-ish fall décor. (Plus, as a cozy mystery writer, I find that anything with "cozy" in the name catches my attention.)

Finally, The Christmas Place had lots of pink Santas on display, and this Santa mug ornament was the perfect souvenir to add to my tea-themed tree this year!

Some new teas (and tea products) to try

Tea is probably my favorite "souvenir" to purchase when I'm on a trip!

One of the most unique stores in Pigeon Forge is the MoonPie Store and Original Book Warehouse. I did come home with some mini MoonPies I'm looking forward to trying soon—the guava, pumpkin spice, and peach cobbler flavors—but while I was browsing MoonPies, I also picked up this Spiced Apple Butter tea from Asheville Tea Company, a new name in tea to me.

This rooibos tea was a perfect fall beverage for a cool night at the cabin, and my friend Gina and I both enjoyed it very much.

When we were shopping at the Old Mill complex, I found this Maple Peach Black Tea and couldn't try it until I got home (I should have taken an infuser with me), and oh my, is it good. As soon as I cut open the packet, I could almost picture a juicy peach inside, and prepared, the tea's maple flavor stood out as well. Loved it and wish I'd bought more. Next time!

One day's gallivanting took us to a nearby Spice & Tea Exchange, and I couldn't help going home with a few new goodies, including this Peach Tea BBQ Rub Seasoning that I plan to use on grilled chicken soon. I'll let you know how it turns out. Do you buy teas when you're on a trip? If so, got any recommendations of brands to look for?

A fun fall weekend in Pigeon Forge

I just got home last night from a weekend trip to Pigeon Forge with my friend Gina, and we had a ball over the past few days enjoying all of the beautiful scenery, some great meals, and much shopping.

Here, we're at The Old Mill, the restaurant at the historic mill that's a popular tourist attraction. I was delighted to be able to get an Arnold Palmer with my meal at most places, including this one!

In addition to the fall leaves, the flowers there were just beautiful!

We also visited The Christmas Place, and to call it a Christmas shop is quite an understatement. The place was sensory overload with all of its trees, lights, ornaments, ribbons, and Christmas decorations in every theme imaginable. I finally told Gina we should probably quit counting how many times I said "wow" while we were in there!

This giant snow globe was only one of the magical pieces on display.

And it was absolutely impossible to see everything in the place, but this Peppermint Tea Shop from Department 56 definitely caught my eye! While I didn't come home with it, I did find several new tea-themed souvenirs (and tea!) on this trip, so I'll be sharing some of those later in the week. First, I need to unpack and get back to work — sigh!

A new Holiday Cookies magazine

This is the time of year when I like to start looking for the new Christmas magazines hitting all the local newsstands, but this year, there's a troubling trend—much of what I picked up the other day had a small circle on the front saying "Back by Popular Demand," which is code for "You may have bought this last year." And frankly, some of the magazines start to look alike after awhile, so I decided I would purchase only magazines I'm sure I've never purchased before—like the Holiday Cookies issue from Bake From Scratch magazine.

I've purchased this magazine only occasionally over the years, but this cookie issue? Wow! It had to meet my everyday rule of including at least three photos I find just lovely, and one of the first things I saw was these Bûche de Noël cookies. What a clever idea!

But you know what sealed the deal? London Fog Cookies. London Fog, people. With tea. Right. There. On. The. Cookie. I definitely plan to make these once I start my November cookie baking, but boy, there are so many other yummy offerings, from those glorious Red Velvet Pinwheels on the cover to the slice-and-bake Fruitcake Cookies and Italian Cream Thumbprints and Spumoni Checkerboards and … you get the idea. I can't wait to start the baking!

A mini loot shoot

On the way back from my great-nephew’s birthday party in Alabama the other weekend, I stopped by the Checker Berry Shoppe, an antique mall in Bowdon, and came home with some goodies I’m looking forward to decorating with!

First, I just love this rosy fall-toned tablecloth. It sure feels vintage, but it is also crisp and doesn’t appear to have ever been used. For just $10, this was my favorite find of the day.

I also love to come across a vintage cookbook I’ve never seen before, and this “Yankee” one was perfect.

Finally, I’m late to the party but have gotten aboard the brown transfer ware train! I do like transfer ware but had not thought too much about the brown pieces until I began to see them gathered en masse in some design magazines and blogs. The effect is so pretty, and I had to start somewhere. Anybody know where I can find about fifteen more pieces similar to this one? (And if they're $5 like this one, that's even better!)

For the love of apples!

Sometimes, you just need to take a day off work and get out of town, so I chunked all of my duties on Friday and headed north to Blue Ridge with my friend Angela for a day of apple-focused fun. I came home with lots of apple goodies, including this apple cinnamon bread and mulling spices that I enjoyed in my breakfast tea on Saturday!

I'd long heard of Mercier Farms but had never visited. I was expecting a smallish fruit stand like the one I used to go to on the way to Dillard, but this place was huge—and the scenery was gorgeous! We didn't actually pick our apples there at the orchard but instead chose to snap up the pre-bagged ones in the factory shop, which were plentiful.

The bakery was quite popular, and I was stunned there were so many lines (orderly and fast-moving) just to order from the bakery! We both got the apple cinnamon bread and fried pies, and I also came home with apple butter, apple cider jelly, and of course, apples! I got the EverCrisp variety, as I'm told it's a cross between Fuji and Honeycrisp, which are my go-to varieties at the grocery store.

We had a delicious lunch at the Twisted Tomato, and on the way home, Angela humored me by stopping by several antique malls. At one in Ellijay, another popular apple-picking town in Georgia, I found this bicentennial plate and love that it says "Boston Tea Party" at upper left. I'm looking forward to seeing how our country celebrates its semiquincentennial next year, and I plan to be ready with the red, white, and blue. It was a great souvenir of a much-needed getaway day!

Tea-themed goodies from the DG

I have been so slammed with work and volunteering lately that there has been precious little time to go shopping, not even to the grocery store, so the other day when I was coming back from a meeting, I decided to run in my neighborhood Dollar General since I could get in and out of there quicker than I could shop Kroger or Publix. I just needed a few things, after all. And as I was zipping down an aisle, some of the fall goodies with tea mugs on them caught my eye.

Yes, I will happily wear socks from Dollar General! These are actually pretty comfy and thicker than you might think.

And while this kitchen towel is exactly the quality you would expect of a $1 item from Dollar General (heavier than a Kleenex tissue but lighter than some hankies I've had), it’s cute and spiffs up my oven door handle. I’m learning to keep the DG in my rotation of places to look for seasonal décor!

Tadin's Hibiscus Herbal Tea

This is that weird time of year in Georgia where it's fall at 7 a.m. but reverts to summer by noon. And I thought I was out of my summertime teas (for iced refreshment during the "summer" hours of early fall), but then I remembered some hibiscus tea I recently received as a gift from my friend Andrea.

The Tadin Hibiscus Tea tea bags come individually wrapped, which I always appreciate, as this means I can tuck some in my purse or suitcase for travel.

Some hibiscus teas I've tried are so tart that they make your mouth pucker, but this one did not and was quite smooth and delicious, thoroughly refreshing. I enjoyed it hot, then I re-used the tea bag by steeping it in a tumbler full of ice water, and it was great that way too! Tadin was a new name in tea to me (I believe she said she found it at Walmart), and I very much enjoyed it and will be looking for it again.

Some ideas from a one-year-old's birthday party!

On Saturday, I was in Ranburne, Alabama, to celebrate the first birthday of great-nephew Hoyt. He has been such a blessing to our family, and I was happy to celebrate the little guy along with lots of family and friends.

I especially enjoyed watching him try to eat the banner on his high chair …

And watching him try *not* to eat his smash cake because apparently it was too messy for his little self. Ha!

His aunt Amelia made his cute smash cake.

And one of his grandmothers made cupcakes for the duck-themed party.

And I was asked to bring cucumber sandwiches and pimiento cheese sandwiches, and I was happy to add to the refreshments!

But what I absolutely loved was these letters spelling "ONE" that were filled with crackers and fruit! I'd never seen these before, and Amelia told me they've been around awhile because she had once considered using them at her wedding reception. I asked what word she would have used, and she said she would have used her and Korbin's initials, A and K, with an ampersand (&) in between (but their reception tables were so packed with food that we couldn't have gotten one more thing in there!). Still, that set me to thinking: What about the word TEA? (Helpfully, those letters could also be rearranged to spell EAT on non-tea party occasions.)

And of course there was Milo's Famous Sweet Tea, which apparently is a given for any celebration in Alabama (and it is good tea). It was a fun afternoon celebrating a sweet little boy!

Public Safety Appreciation Luncheon 2025

This girl has been a busy bee this week! Working, baking, and volunteering have been the name of the game, as yesterday was the annual Public Safety Appreciation Luncheon where I serve each year. As always, our volunteers came through with a huge spread of desserts to follow the lunchtime meal of pork loin, green beans, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls.

Here are just a few of the dozens of desserts that were made by volunteers this year. It is so fun to watch our police officers, deputies, firemen, and other public safety workers when they first see the desserts! Most sample two or three things, and we often send them home with a to-go box for their office.

I love that I get to volunteer with my friend Susan, who works the tea station, so it's nice to chat up the tea ladies!

So many treats …

So little time!

But it's truly an honor to get to serve with this group each year!