An Herbal Retreat from Tea Forté

When my friends came to tea on Sunday afternoon, eight-year-old Nora-Kate arrived at my door bearing a lovely gift basket for me, and I admired it so much that I didn't even get around to checking out all of the goodies in it until later that night! One of them was this lovely gift set from Tea Forté, a brand I've enjoyed for years.

Because these pyramid-shaped tea bags are fancy ones, I will enjoy them slowly, and I had to read all of the descriptions before I finally settled on the first one to try, the Apricot Amaretto. That sounded perfect as a tea to welcome fall.

And it was! I love a good dessert tea, one with that slightly sweet finish that requires no sugar, and this fit the bill perfectly. Are you familiar with Tea Forté teas?

A tea party for Nora-Kate and Grace!

Back in my single years, I enjoyed giving tea parties for the little girls in my life, including my nieces and the young daughters of my close friends. Two of those little girls, my friend Liz's daughters, Cydney and Alley, are now mothers with little girls of their own, so yesterday after church, I hosted a tea for their little girls, Nora-Kate, 8, and Grace, 3.

They were as delightful as I knew they would be! I was happy to learn that both girls actually like tea, so all of us around the table were sipping some of the last of my Brigadoon tea from Adagio, sold only on leap years. Here are Nora-Kate and her mom, Cydney.

And here's little Grace with her mom, Alley. Turns out that Alley is the biggest tea drinker of the bunch, a fellow introvert who drinks tea every day.

This is Alley having tea twenty-something years ago at my (then) house!

And here are Cydney and Alley and some of the other little girls we went to church with back in the day. Such a sweet memory! (Liz had these photos in a scrapbook.)

So for this tea, I made cucumber cream (recipe here) and used it on the teapot-shaped sandwiches.

And I used Queen Charlotte's brand pimiento cheese (from Publix) on the heart-shaped sandwiches. Very good!

We had homemade cranberry mini scones, served with apple jelly, whipped cream, and pumpkin spice whipped cream.

I cheated and let Walmart make my desserts, and they got great reviews! Their macarons weren't mushy at all and still had some crunch to the shells, so that was a win.

I also bought a tray of brownies, seven-layer bars, and lemon bars, and I would totally do this again.

To get three different varieties of treats for under $12? Yes, please!

Oh, and here I am with my friend Liz, the one who started this lovely chain of friendship.

It was such a fun afternoon, and now I'm pondering whether I might live long enough to host a tea for Nora-Kate and Grace's daughters. Wouldn't that be something?

Christmas sightings at Walmart

Yesterday, I had to run in Walmart, and while there, I couldn't help noticing that they're starting to put out their Christmas décor, and I spotted two things I wanted to tell you about. First, they had a two-foot-tall Blow Mold (those large plastic pieces that light up) of a cow in a teacup! Now, I have yet to be drawn in by the cow trend, but I have to tell you that I stood there for a few minutes pondering this particular decoration, but ultimately, I walked away. (And interestingly enough, it's $54.73 at the store but $43.83 online, so if you're tempted by this, do check prices!)

And they also had this giant gingerbread man cookie cutter. This is a "maybe" for me. I've always regretted not buying a giant silver one I saw at T. J. Maxx years ago. It was even larger than this (maybe four feet tall or so?), and I've thought how fun it would be to decorate the entire kitchen for Christmas, so a giant cookie cutter would sure help in that regard. I'm holding out on purchasing this red one in hopes that T. J. Maxx will again have a silver or copper one for sale this year. If you see one of these oversized cookie cutters somewhere, I would be most grateful if you would send me a shopping alert!

"Gracious Home" by Melissa Lester

 

I was in a T. J. Maxx over the weekend when I came across this copy of Gracious Home by Melissa Lester, editor of Victoria magazine. I flipped through it, and it quickly met my requirement of having at least three attractive pages that caught my eye!

Even the pretty end papers caught my eye!

Not surprisingly, I spotted quite a few photographs of tea wares in its pages.

I've got an oversized round table like this one but had not thought of using it as a bedside table. Great idea! And best of all are the author's thoughtful reminiscences about home and what makes for truly gracious living. She writes of how, early in her marriage, she and husband Joe rented before finally purchasing their first home: "This was a step we took prayerfully, approaching the milestone with great intention. Joe and I asked for God's blessing over our home and for Him to give us a heart for welcoming others to it." 

The book has lots of inspiring photos, too, as well as homemaking tips, recipes, and stories of other homeowners who share their own thoughts on gracious living. I'm savoring my copy of this lovely new book, and I think many of you would enjoy it too! (And it's only $19.99 at T. J., which is a better deal than you'll find on Amazon!)

Afternoon Tea at The Cake House

Yesterday, I was delighted to be the guest of my friend Louise (and her friend Pam) for tea at The Cake House in Newnan. This European-style bakery opened a while back, and I’d heard great things about it but hadn’t yet stopped by. But when Louise told me they’d started offering some teatime events and invited me to join her for one of them, I was eager to check it out!

Louise (at right) is a retired teacher, and I first met her at a Kiwanis Club meeting I spoke at years ago. She is a fellow tea lover who introduced me to one of her favorite teas (Ahmad's English Tea No. 1), and today, we go to the same church and are currently in the same Bible study class. Perhaps most interesting, though, is that Louise heads up a ministry to widows that I didn't even know existed until a year ago, and her thoughtful gifts and handwritten letters last year were a balm to my soul when I most needed it!

When we arrived for our 2 p.m. reservation and it was time to order tea, we all decided to share a pot of their Premium British Blend, and it was properly prepared and plenteous!

When our three-tiered server came out, I wondered (accurately) how we would possibly eat all of this food, but I was certainly ready to tuck in!

The tea sandwiches included a delicious cucumber sandwich (with super-thin slices of cucumber), a smoked salmon sandwich, and avocado egg salad on a mini croissant. I enjoyed them all, and as is so often the case, the cucumber was my favorite. 

But can we talk about this berry scone? Oh my goodness. This one was light and airy with wonderful fresh-tasting berries inside, served with jam and thick cream. Yum! I also ate the chocolate cookie with vanilla ganache (delightfully creamy), but alas, I simply did not have room for all the other treats. Fortunately, The Cake House is happy to send you home with the extras.

And a lovely rose too! For "supper" last night, I had the strawberry macaron and the pumpkin cheese muffin, and they were both delicious. (The cake will have to wait until I'm hungry again.) I'm told the next tea event they're hosting will be October 26, and I've already got plans that day, but if you're a local and looking for a new place to enjoy teatime, please check out The Cake House here in Newnan!

Call me Bag Lady

Earlier this week, a friend from church, Beth, surprised me with the most wonderful gift! She was on a trip to New York last week and saw this tote bag in a boutique there and thought I might like it. Isn't it charming?

The design looks like a page from an old catalog of china and tea wares, and I just love it!

I was delighted to realize this design is by Cavallini & Co. I used to see their wonderful stationery and aprons and tea towels in boutiques around Atlanta, but all of those stores seem to have disappeared over the years, and I haven't seen that Cavallini name in ages. I looked on Amazon to see if perhaps they have other items with these designs, and indeed they do—a calendar, an apron, and a tea towel. But as much as I enjoy using a cute tote bag, this is the piece I would have wanted most. (And isn't it lovely to know a friend was thinking of you on her travels?)

Publix's Peach Cranberry Chai Bottled Tea

Do you ever have this happen: You go into a grocery store, but it’s not your regular grocery store, so you have to wander around to find things? That happened to me at Publix recently, and it wasn’t my usual Publix, so I was on a search for their Tarragon Chicken Salad, which is one of my favorite of the store-bought chicken salads. As I searched, I spotted this bottled tea.

Has Publix been offering flavored teas for a while and I just didn’t know it? I’m usually a Kroger girl (Alex was a Publix shopper), but sometimes, my local Publix is a little more convenient. At any rate, I certainly was eager to try this Limited Edition Peach Cranberry Chai. To be honest, the combo sounded distinctly iffy to me.

But you know what? It was great! I wouldn’t have ever thought this blend would be this good as an iced tea, but it was delicious, especially with that extra bit of spice from the chai. And oh yes, it’s a sugary drink, to be sure (220 calories and a whopping 52 grams of sugar per $1.79 bottle), but boy, was it worth it. I will try to ignore it next time I go in Publix—but I do think I'll try to concoct an unsweetened version of this tea with my own peach, cranberry, and chai teas!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, who's got pumpkins?

I will be hosting a tea later next week, so I headed to T. J. Maxx this weekend in search of some of those pretty cream-colored pumpkins with floral designs on them. They were all the rage last year, but alas, I didn't find a single one at T. J. So I headed next door to Michaels, and they didn't have any either, but they did have this cute pumpkin-shaped glass mug on sale for 60 percent off. It seems so fitting for my pumpkin spice tea!

Isn't it funny that it's just the middle of September and we've already reached the 60-percent-off phase with the Heirloom Harvest collection at Michaels? With my senior discount, I got both the mug ($5.40) and a cute pumpkin-shaped glass container ($3.60) for under $10, so yippee!

That purple and lime-green Halloween décor isn't anything I can ever imagine using for teatime,  but a glass pumpkin about the size of a sugar bowl? Yes, thank you very much, and I will use it for whipped cream or honey or sugar cubes or something at teatime. Since these are already marked down so much, I wanted to go ahead and mention them now in case you're interested, because you know the Christmas décor will be going up any minute now!

Adagio's Honeybush Pumpkin Chai Tea

Yesterday, I sampled another of the teas that Adagio recently sent me, this Honeybush Pumpkin Chai. These naturally sweet blends always seem to appeal to me during the fall, and this pumpkin-flavored chai definitely hit the spot. In fact, I had picked up some mini pumpkin spice cupcakes at the grocery store, and with this tea, it was just the fall-flavored treat I had been hankering for.

I love the way the loose tea looks, and the smell was delightfully rich. This blend contains honeybush, cinnamon bark, cardamom, ginger root, cocoa nibs, and safflower.

Using an Adagio ceramic mug I already owned, I was grateful for its fine mesh infusing basket, which is perfect for infusing teas with very small particles like those you often see with these chai blends. I so enjoyed sampling another sweet and spicy taste of fall courtesy of Adagio, and you can find this tea and other fall blends here.

The scent of a cozy fall

As I write this, it's a chilly morning here in Georgia, and I'm so looking forward to enjoying sweater weather, the fluffy warm blankets I pull out around this time each year, and lots of new fall flavors of tea as I type away at my computer or read a book. This little vignette perfectly captures my ideal fall scene.

And it's a Wallflowers Fragrance Plug from Bath and Body Works! Have you ever? And with a teacup on the armchair?

I saw this in a B&BW email, I believe, and decided to look for it the next time I was by our local store. It's $19.95 for the wallflower and $7.95 for the refill. Although you can find just about any scent imaginable, I was quite smitten by the thought of scenting my downstairs bath with pumpkin chai, and the fragrance is delightful. Bring on the fall!

New dishes from Daddy!

So the other Saturday night, I was going to visit my sister in Tallapoosa, and when I called Daddy to see if he would be home, too, since he lives next door to her, he said no, he already had plans that evening, but he’d found “some old dishes” he thought I might like and for me to run by and take a look. He said if I wanted them, they could be my Christmas present, and if not, he could "probably find somewhere to get rid of them." Naturally, I was intrigued, and I am now the happy owner of fifteen place settings of Warwick Old Abbey china!

Last week, I was super busy finishing my latest book, which had to be to my editor by that Thursday, so I didn’t even have time to unwrap everything, which was in four banker’s boxes. I waited until my little neighbors came over one day and got them to help me with the unwrapping, and they were great!

How funny that there is fifteen of everything. Did someone drop the entire sixteenth place setting (because you just know there were sixteen to begin with)? And while I have plenty of sets of four plates/cups/saucers for teatime visitors, I have never actually had dinnertime place settings for more than that. I have eighteen turkey plates for Thanksgiving, but if you’re not coming for Thanksgiving or tea, I could only host a small group—until now! I will be hosting a tea for six later this month, and I plan to use as much of this lovely stuff as possible.

I wonder if perhaps someone received these dishes as a wedding gift and never used them. There are no chips, cracks, or crazing, and the gold accents are so perfect that I just don’t think these pieces were ever used. That is going to change. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Daddy said he was at an antique mall where the booth was going out of business, so everything was half off, and he thought I might like these. He was right! (He and my mother used to be antique dealers, so I think he still has a good eye. He's eighty-six and just bought himself a new antique bedroom suite, which is lovely!)

I have: dinner plates, salad plates, bread-and-butter plates, berry bowls, soup bowls, cups and saucers, a creamer and sugar, two oval trays, three oval serving bowls, and eleven butter pats. (Upon closer inspection, I decided the butter pats aren't actually a part of of the original set because the roses aren't the same pale pink and they've got more of an etched design, but they're awfully close, so these are still a treat to have.) So, do fifteen of you want to come to dinner and/or teatime sometime soon? I’m ready!