Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Finding tea wares at Wormsloe
I was in college when I first visited Wormsloe, a famous historic site in Savannah. I remember this because our journalism advisor on the trip, Joe Cumming, who had served as Atlanta bureau chief of Newsweek, made us go. Joe loved history and thought we should too. And he laughed when I told him I liked the name because I imagined those worms were low. (I've apparently been taking words literally for a long, long time.) So I remembered that incident when my friend Tammy and I took a tram to the property on Saturday morning. The gate here is an iconic Savannah image.
So is the avenue of live oaks, which is simply a spectacular view. You can get a nice hike in while exploring the area as well.
We drove to the museum on the property, and the first thing that caught my eye was … a blue teapot! Now that's my kind of historic artifact.
Of course I had to snap photos of that as well as the tea information.
I'm very drawn to tabby for some reason, and the home Noble Jones built at Wormsloe in 1793 was made of tabby. Its tabby ruins are said to be the oldest standing structure in Savannah. And if you're not familiar with it, tabby is "a cement made of lime, sand or gravel, and oyster shells and used chiefly along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina in the 17th and 18th centuries," according to Merriam-Webster.
As I checked out this display in the museum, I was delighted to learn that portions of blue china have been found in the tabby.
And check out this handleless teacup and saucer! I wasn't expecting to find tea wares at the Wormsloe State Historic Site, but surprise, I did! On Friday, I'll share why that blue teapot at Wormsloe influenced my decision to buy a new tea set while I was there.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Finding tea on a hiking trip to Savannah!
My hiking pal Tammy, an old high school and college chum, is trying to hike every state park in Georgia and lacked some of the ones in the southernmost part of the state. So, I just got back from joining her for three days of hiking at eight parks and historic sites. We had a great time, and the scenery was amazing. Even more amazing? We had sunny skies and seventy- and eighty-degree temps every single day. Yay!
I was praying I would be able to keep up with her, and I did, so let’s all take a moment and thank the Lord for answered prayer, else I wouldn’t be here today.
After our first full day of hiking, we were quite hungry and headed to the Pirate’s House in downtown Savannah, a place I last visited when I was in college, so it’s been a minute. The Pirate’s House is located seven blocks from where General Oglethorpe landed in 1733 and is a legendary historic site in Georgia. It is said to have been a meeting spot for pirates, and the servers dress in pirate costumes, which the little kids just love.
For dinner, I had a pasta dish featuring shrimp and alligator sausage (which is delicious, by the way), and I was happy they served Arnold Palmers.
I certainly did not expect to find any tea stuff on this trip, so I was delighted to come across Pirate’s Rum flavored black tea in the Pirate’s House gift shop.
It contains black tea, pineapple pieces, calendula and sunflower and safflower petals, and natural flavors. I was expecting it to taste like a rum cake, but if there’s rum flavoring, it was very mild. I did taste a nice brisk black tea and the pineapple, so I was quite happy with my Pirate’s Rum tea. On Wednesday, I’ll be sharing another unexpected tea find at the oldest standing structure in Savannah!
Friday, January 31, 2025
Harney's Strawberry Milkshake Oolong Tea
The other day, the line was awfully long at my Barnes & Noble, so I decided to go check out in the café area. And on the way to the café, I spotted a new Harney & Sons tea in a pretty pink tin, this Strawberry Milkshake Tea.
Check out the back of the tin!
When I got home and opened the tin, a lovely strawberry scent greeted me. This seemed like a bit of a novelty tea for Harney, so I was intrigued.
And I'm happy to report this is "Strawberry Milkshake for Grown-ups" tea! The oolong flavor is what I detected most, then the strawberry, and not much "milk." It was quite an unexpected pairing of flavors, and I'm a fan! Have any of you tried this one?
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
A tea talk, tea stories, and a new tearoom!
On Sunday afternoon, I had the great pleasure of speaking to a lovely group, the Atlanta Southern Crescent Alumnae Panhellenic Association (ASCAPA), which was celebrating its 24th Annual Founders Reception. They gathered at the Senoia Historical Society's headquarters in Senoia, Georgia. This town is very dear to me—I have ancestors in the city cemetery, and my great-great-grandfather was postmaster in the 1800s—so I am always honored to be invited to speak there. Here I am with Cele, the lovely woman who arranged my visit through a mutual friend. (The Whistle Stop sign is, I believe, a memento from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, parts of which were filmed in Senoia.)
I was asked to speak about my books Dainty Dining and A Year of Teatime Tales, which is always great fun for me, and I was delighted to hear of the women's own department store tearoom memories. One woman actually worked at a branch of Bullocks Wilshire in California, and if I got the details right, another woman's ex-husband was related to Georgia's Rich family of Rich's Department Store fame. Another remembered the Lazarus Department Stores based in Ohio, and I so enjoyed hearing all of their stories.
The group raises money for women's scholarships, among other things, and they sold tickets for a raffle for some amazing teatime baskets like these two.
It was won by a recent college graduate, Anna, who I learned is a huge fan of tea. That gift basket included copies of my books, and when Anna asked me to sign them for her, I was happy to do so.
I had so much fun at this event, and the icing on the cake was when I overheard one woman mention that a new TEAROOM is coming to Senoia! I drove over to the spot where she said it will be located, and I am eagerly awaiting more news, so stay tuned, indeed—especially if you're within driving distance.
Monday, January 27, 2025
"Mary Poppins" and Teatime
It's been a busy weekend, but the highlight was undoubtedly traveling up to Buford on Saturday to see my granddaughter, Bella, perform the lead role in her school's production of "Mary Poppins," and I was ridiculously proud of her! She has a beautiful voice, and while I may be the teeniest bit biased, I thought her performance was outstanding. You won't be surprised to hear that I had asked her mom to alert me when the teatime scenes were coming up, like this one where Mary Poppins pulls a teapot out of her bag!
And here's another. (No flash photography was allowed, but an iPhone quietly held chest-high can still do a decent job of capturing things.)
I also liked this scene with Mary Poppins and Bert enjoying tea and cake.
During intermission, the high school's theatre boosters sold concessions, and I thought they were spot-on, from the decorative chocolate spoons …
Friday, January 24, 2025
New teatime napkins at Michaels
I was looking up craft supplies on the Michaels website this week when I came across some of their new spring items, including a lot of tea-themed accent pieces as well as these new paper napkins. A package of 20 is on sale for $1.79 (regularly $2.99) right now, and with the 10 percent senior discount I didn't know I was getting, mine were just $1.61 a package. Yippee!
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Throat Coat tea from Traditional Medicinals
A few weeks ago, a friend mentioned that she had tried Traditional Medicinals’ Throat Coat tea and found it really did help soothe her throat. I had a brief cold last week and wished I’d had some of that tea, so when I spotted some at the grocery store the other day, I went ahead and got a box.
First, though … If you saw a perforated tab like this at the bottom of the box, would you have punched it in, assuming you could then slide out the tea bags from the bottom of the box? I did. And I was surprised when the tea bags were stacked vertically, not horizontally. So what was the purpose of that tab at the bottom? Or did these tea bags just get packaged the wrong way? Inquiring minds want to know!
But of course that’s a minor point. The main thing was, does the Throat Coat in fact coat one’s throat? I’d say it did. With an arctic blast in Georgia for a second time this winter, I’ve been sipping loads of hot tea just to stay warm and keep any sniffles at bay. This tea tasted like it was packed with herbs, and indeed, the ingredients, all organic, include eucalyptus leaf, licorice root, spearmint leaf, marshmallow root, slippery elm bark, and licorice root dry extract. It had what I’ve heard described as a “thick” mouth feel, so yes, I’d say it coats the throat, and while this herbal tea is indeed heavy on the herbal flavors—rather than fruity or chocolatey or spicy or what have you—I liked it.
Monday, January 20, 2025
The Cook With Color Sandwich Cutter
I was surprised to find there were no instructions in/on/with these pieces! So I went to the company's website, and it doesn't list the sandwich cutters. I googled sandwich cutters, and someone had made a sandwich using a similar mold, so I figured mine would work the same way. You use the larger heart to cut out two pieces of bread, add your filling (I used pimiento cheese), and make a sandwich. You plop the sandwich back inside then press down on it with the heart-shaped piece with the little ridges around the edge.