Raspberry Oolong Tea from La Tea Dah

I thought I'd unearthed all the treats in the gift bag I got at my friend Nancy's antiques shop last weekend, but then I found this sample of Raspberry Oolong tea she included. Bright, tart raspberry and the darker taste of oolong? Could that possibly work?

Yes, yes it can! I was absolutely smitten with this tea (available on Amazon, I was happy to learn), and I even got two steepings out of this tea bag. Then, I plopped the tea bag into my Love Shack Fancy Stanley mug and let it flavor my water all day. Lovely.

And this may be a little goofy, but I couldn't help noticing that since I took the picture near the French doors in the dining room, the outdoors was reflected in my tea. So I guess if you were to ask me what was in this teacup, I'd have to say raspberry oolong tea … and a bit of fall!

First Holiday Open House of the Season

On Saturday, I headed to Senoia for the annual Holiday Open House at Carriage House Country Antiques and Gifts, the wonderful shop owned by my friend Nancy. It's by far my favorite local open house, as I always rack up on gifts for fellow tea lovers and family and (even non-tea-loving) friends. Saturday was no exception, and I left with a nice big bag of goodies as well as some new tea for me! Continuing with my quest to sample every peach-flavored tea on the planet, I picked up this Peach Apricot Tea from M21 Luxury Tea.

As soon as I unsealed the pouch inside the container, I got a whiff of something reminiscent of a freshly sliced peach, so I was quite happy about that. And when I prepared the tea, I was pleased to realize this tea does indeed have a complexity from the addition of the apricot flavoring. Lovely!

Nancy had "a little something" for me (and a few others, I noted) as I left, and my goodie bag included this sweet little "Tea to Go" tea bag pouch, which I thought was just charming! Nancy is a very generous person, and I accidentally popped out with something that had been on my mind. "You give so many things away at your shop, I don't see how you make any money here." She laughed and said, "Well, I don't make a lot of money, but I do have a lot of friends!" I wasn't surprised to hear that, and I would choose the friends too!

The holiday cookie baking begins

I like to keep November focused on the Thanksgiving holiday, yet I don't at all mind preparing for Christmas, and that includes baking a different type of cookie each week leading up to the holiday season. This week, I decided to make my favorite (and super easy) shortbread recipe but jazz it up with some of the pumpkin pie spice that Adagio Teas recently shared with me.

You could use whatever pumpkin pie spice blend you happen to have, but this one contains cassia cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger root, and mace, which I find has a little more zip than regular pumpkin pie spice.

I decided to also cut out a few teapots and turkeys (though it's hard to tell they're turkeys!) for the next time my little neighbors come over for tea, and the Christmas tree shortbread is now in the freezer, a nice head start on my holiday baking!

Spiced Brown Sugar Shortbread

1 cup softened butter (no substitutions)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Adagio's Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter and brown sugar using a hand mixer. Gradually stir in flour and spices. When blended, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead till smooth, about 3 minutes. I used a rolling pin that flattens the dough into a perfect 3/8-inch thickness (using a piece of wax paper on top to prevent sticking) and cut out cookies with various cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet, prick with a fork (only because it's pretty), and bake for 25 minutes, just until bottoms are beginning to brown. Yields about 24 (3-inch) cookies.

So … who is playing mahjong these days?

 

I must confess that I've joined the mahjong craze that seems to be having a moment, and I went to a friend's house yesterday morning for my introduction to the game. The hostess was my friend Carol, who is in my Bible study class but goes to another church. I heard her and her friend Angela (I know a lot of Angelas) talking about mahjong one day and mentioned I've wanted to learn. "Let's get together, and we'll teach you!" she said, so about ten of us took her up on that yesterday. It was a little overwhelming at first, but after two hours, I had a basic understanding of how the game is played. I was thinking about it later in the day and wondered if there is a tea-themed mahjong game online, and it appears there is, but the reviews are terrible, so I just took a screen grab rather than risking you all clicking on what looked like a questionable site. But isn't that a fun idea? Carol did caution us, though, that if we decide to get our own mahjong set (and of course I want one now), we should stick with the traditional designs rather than something with cutesy symbols (like teatime!) since that might confuse us as we're trying to learn the game. I'm so glad she issued that warning!

I had googled "mahjong" and "tea" and found no real tea-themed mahjong sets, just online games, but I did find out that women are having mahjong-themed teas. I even found a set of mahjong-tile cookie cutters that women are using to make cookies for their mahjong-themed tea. How fun!

Meanwhile, I should probably learn to really play the game first, right? Are any of you into mahjong?

A sticky situation

I'm just now pulling out my Thanksgiving decorations, but I'm definitely making my Christmas list and checking it twice, and that meant looking for some new Christmas stationery. I recently spotted these Christmas sticky notes on Amazon, and while they're super lightweight and have no covers on the little pads (so what you see here is exactly what you get), I think these will be cute for adding to packages and bags and scribbling notes.

Some look like to-go cups of tea, but my favorites look like tea mugs and teacups!

They don't seem to have quite the sticking power of a real Post-it, but for no longer than I'll be using these, I think they'll work out fine. If you're interested, you can find them here.

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!