Valentine's Tea at Tea Leaves & Thyme

On Saturday, my sweetie continued his tradition of taking me to tea for Valentine's Day. Can you think of a better gift for a tea lover? I can't!

This year's tea room was Tea Leaves and Thyme in Woodstock, about 60 miles north of our home. I had been to this tea room about a decade ago when it was located in a row of shops along Main Street, but I had not been to visit since they got their own building. It was an entirely different experience this time and seemed like a totally new place.

When we got to our table, we were greeted by a small hand-stamped Valentine's greeting. The tables were styled like some I've seen in other tea rooms, with photos of patrons tucked under the glass table topper. I always enjoy looking at who has been to tea before I came along!

With their Full Afternoon Tea, you get a choice of either Chicken Salad Croissant, Chicken Salad on a bed of lettuce or a Sun-Dried Tomato Tartlet. Alex got the Chicken Salad Croissant and said it was good. (The bite I tried sure was!) His tea for the day was a Darjeeling.

I chose the Sun-Dried Tomato Tartlet and enjoyed it very much. And I was in the mood for a frou-frou tea blend and ordered the Chocolate Macadamia Nut Coconut, which was delicious.

Soon enough, our tea tray arrived.

They served three different types of scones, plain, Cranberry-Orange and Currant. The texture was nice and they tasted freshly baked.

They served their Lemon Curd and some very delicious Amaretto Cream in miniature teacups that looked like pieces from a doll's tea set. I liked that idea and may try it myself sometime!

The sandwiches were Cucumber Mint, Egg Salad with Bacon, Turkey and Avocado, and Pineapple and Cream Cheese. My favorite was the Egg Salad, which at first I didn't quite believe was Egg Salad because it was orange and not yellow! Wonder why? (Should've asked, I know.) And I must confess I had a bit of an accident with the cucumber one! I'd seen Alex sort of catch his as he moved it from the plate and comment that it was loose. I made the mistake of picking up mine by the cucumber, which was the first part I grasped, and promptly plopped the round piece of bread right into my teacup! I watched it swimming there for about a second and then removed it to my plate, finished my now-spotty cup of tea, and resumed eating. Lesson I learned: Make sure cucumber is firmly affixed to sandwiches or be sure to pick them up from below!

The sweets included Creme de Mint Brownies (very good, with very subtle mint flavoring), Carrot Cake with frosting, Lemon Squares and, finally, Chocolate Chip Bars with Cherry Jam. The chocolate chip bars were the favorite for both of us, just delicious and with a yummy texture. Our server said the jam filling changes almost hourly on that one. It was a beautiful day and I greatly enjoyed getting to experience another Valentine's Tea with my man!

Tea Leaves & Thyme also has a large, well-stocked gift shop, and I got this cute teapot ornament as a memento of the day to hang on my tea-themed Christmas tree this year!

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #7

For my final vintage Valentine for 2011, I thought I'd share what is probably my rarest find, this "honeycomb" Valentine featuring a girl holding a tea kettle. These are called "honeycomb" pieces because that's the design of the tissue paper when opened.

And, of course, it folds flat for storage. This is the only tea-themed honeycomb Valentine I've come across that was in my price range (i.e., cheap). I've seen two other, much more elaborate designs featuring teapots in a honeycomb design, but they sell in the $60-$100+ range and I'm just not that serious a collector!

Today we wrap up Valentine's Giveaway Week with a special giveaway I hope you'll like, this filet crochet "Teatime" doily I made just for one Tea With Friends reader! You can use it on a tea table or tray, frame it and hang it in your dining room/tea room, drape it over the back of a chair or sofa, stitch it to a pillow, and no doubt there are other uses I haven't even thought of! It's my way of saying thanks for visiting my blog, whether you're a longtime reader or someone who just discovered it last week. I'm grateful for all of you!

So I've made it pretty clear that Valentine's is my favorite holiday, and now I'd like to know what yours is! Christmas? Easter? Fourth of July? You'll be entered to win this doily if you'll just leave a comment answering that question before 7 a.m. EST tomorrow. And for this giveaway, you can win no matter where in the world you live! Thanks for all your kind comments and for making this such a fun Valentine's Week!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, TEA FRIENDS!

The tea towel giveaway winner is ...

Laura, whom I envy because she will be visiting England in the Spring! Congratulations! And if you'll send me your snail mail address via the e-mail button at right, I'll get this headed your way.

Tomorrow is my final Valentine's Week giveaway, and this time it's something I handmade for one of you. I sure hope you like it!

The teacup journal giveaway winner is ...

Linda J.! And since I have your address I'll get this in the mail to you on Monday. Also, violet lover Gwen asked where I got the journal. It came from my local Ross store. (Let me know if you can't find one or don't live near a Ross and I'll be on the lookout for you. I don't mind being a "personal shopper" for tea friends!)

And don't forget that even though it's "Tea Sandwich Saturday," there is a Valentine's blog post and giveaway today as well, which appears below the sandwich one. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tea Sandwich Saturday #7 - Olive & Walnut Spread on Sourdough

Are any of you fans of sourdough bread? I sure am! I love the smell, the taste, the texture — there's no sandwich that wouldn't taste better on sourdough bread, if you ask me. So this week, I whipped up a super easy spread that is just awesome on thin-sliced sourdough bread!

I was looking through one of my tearoom cookbooks when I came across a recipe that included walnuts and olives. I disliked some of its ingredients and whittled it down to something I find deliciously simple I call ...

Olive & Walnut Spread

1 (8-ounce) block reduced-fat cream cheese
1/4 cup pimiento stuffed olives, chopped fine
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Soften cream cheese in microwave, about 15-20 seconds, then mix all three ingredients. Once the ingredients were combined, I tasted the mixture to see how much salt and spices to add, and I loved it just as it was. The olives gave it a nice salty flavor, and the walnuts gave it a nice crunch. (My regular tester, my husband, in a nod to Facebook said, "Where's the 'Like' button?") Garnish sandwiches with thin slices of olive if you like. Yield: Enough spread for about 20 heart-shaped sandwiches when cut with a 2-1/2-inch cookie cutter.

You can serve these open-faced or not, as you choose.

I personally want both pieces of bread when the bread is sourdough!

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #6

This "Tea for Two" Valentine seemed appropriate to share this morning since today I'll be continuing the tradition of enjoying a Valentine's Tea with my sweetie! Hopefully I'll have some photos of a new tea room to share with you in the coming days.

And for today's giveaway, I'm offering this cute teacup tea towel I found at Hobby Lobby recently. They have several of these pretty embroidered designs with their new Spring garden items.

The cup of flowers and the bee definitely make me think of Spring, which for me can't get here quick enough! If you'd like to win this design, leave a comment by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and/or answer this question: What are you most looking forward to about Spring? (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please.) Good luck!

The stationery giveaway winner is ...

Joanie! And since I know where you work, I'll drop these off as I'm out running errands today. Congratulations!

I sure enjoyed reading everyone's "rosy" thoughts yesterday! Teresa's comment to that post asked what *my* favorite color of rose is. It's a very precise shade of pink I think of as "vintage pink," and it's not too peachy and not too bubblegum pink, just a softly faded pink that looks like it came from the 1940s! (Probably way more than you wanted to know!)

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #5

Maybe it's because it was a different era back then, but these vintage Valentines just strike me as so very sweet! I think one of the reasons I so love vintage Valentines is that they remind me of a simpler, more innocent time.

If you'd like to recall some sweet times of your own, how about recording them in a new journal with a pretty teacup on the cover? (I also got one of these for myself, and it's going to serve as my new garden journal this year!)

If you'd like to be today's giveaway winner, just leave a comment or answer this question by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow: Do you keep a journal? (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.) Good luck!

The fabric giveaway winner is ...

ParTea Lady! Since I have your address I'll get this in the mail to you today. Congrats, and happy sewing!

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #4

"To Selma, Love from Albert." Hmmm. Don't you wonder if ol' Albert got the girl? I do! At any rate, I loved finding this vintage Valentine in the shape of a teacup with a band of hearts. Sweet!

Something else I think is sweet? Rachel Ashwell's new line of "Treasures by Shabby Chic" products that debuted at Michaels last month. That's why today I'm giving away nail files, sticky notes, a memo pad and notecards from this lovely line of products!

This is my only giveaway this week that isn't particularly tea-ish, but I have yet to meet a tea lover who doesn't care for roses. If you'd like to win this giveaway, just leave a comment by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and/or answer this question: What's your favorite color of rose? (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please.) Good luck!

The apron giveaway winner is ...

Joyce Harris! If you'll send me your mailing address through the e-mail button at right, I'll get this in the mail to you. Congratulations! (And let me just say I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's apron comments yesterday - fun!)

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #3

Vintage Valentines are great fun to collect, although the eBay bidders have been getting a little wacky lately, if you ask me, paying upwards of $20 for pieces you can easily find for just a few dollars most of the year. Chill, folks! I want to say. There are plenty of these out there, so save your pennies! I especially like finding the older looking Valentines like this one, which says "I'd like to be your Sweet-Tea" and on the inside "if you will be my Valentine!" It is signed "Mrs. Ames." Wouldn't you assume that was some school teacher's name? I love to invent stories about my vintage Valentines.

I also like to imagine all the different things folks make with fabric. Here is one yard of a red Mary Engelbreit teapot print. It could be a tea cozy, or a small table scarf or cloth, or napkins, or ...

Well, what do you imagine it could be? If you'd like to win this fabric, just leave a comment by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and/or tell me what you think this fabric might become in the hands of a tea lover. (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please.) Good luck!

The baking cups giveaway winner is ...

Kiffer! If you'll send me your current snail mail address via the e-mail button at right, I'll get these headed your way. Congratulations!

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #2

This vintage Valentine is one I'm sending to my own mother this week since I think she'll appreciate the image! I love that the bear in this Valentine is wearing an apron.

Aprons have certainly become fashionable in the past few years, haven't they? I spotted this bright green apron at Michaels recently and decided it would make a great giveaway item!

The design features cute teapots and would be perfect for the tea lover at work in the kitchen. Or if you're not an apron lover, use the fabric to make something else! If you want to win it, just leave a comment by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and/or answer this question: Do you wear an apron when you're cooking? (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. And yes, you can win more than once this week, so feel free to enter every day!) Good luck!

Valentine's Giveaway Week - Day #1

It's one week until my favorite holiday, Valentine's Day, and here at Tea With Friends we'll be celebrating all week long. Once again I'll be posting a tea-themed vintage Valentine each day, and I've saved these as high-resolution images in case you want to drag them to your desktop and save them for crafting purposes. This sweet bunny Valentine is one of my favorite finds of the past year.

Of course the BIGGEST reason to be sure and visit this blog every day this week is that there will be a giveaway Monday through Saturday and then on Valentine's Day itself next Monday! To kick things off, I thought I'd give away some of these cute baking cups from Michaels. The winner will receive two packages of baking cups, enough for 150 cupcakes, plus ...

... some pink edible glitter from Wilton! So if you don't want to bother with fancy swirled icing on top, you can just toss on some edible glitter and your cupcakes will be extra festive. I wanted to give these away today so I can hopefully get them in the mail to the winner tomorrow so she can be baking by the weekend. To enter, just leave a comment by 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and/or answer this question: What's your favorite flavor of cupcake? (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please.) Good luck!

Tea Sandwich Saturday #6 - Heart Cutouts with Pimiento Cheese

This week, it's all about the bread. I was cleaning out some old files and came across a page I'd torn out of a crafts magazine long, long ago featuring two-tone heart-shaped sandwiches. They're cute, they're easy, and with Valentine's week nearing I figured the time to share this is NOW.

I had planned to use white bread and wheat bread, but the wheat bread I had was such a light color that I decided to use the pumpernickel instead so it would show up better. With each piece of bread I cut out the larger heart first (my cookie cutter was about 2 x 2-1/2 inches), then the smaller heart, then I swapped out the small hearts and they fit into the cutout spaces very easily with no fuss.

Voila, two-tone hearts! Cutters in the shapes of stars, circles and squares would be easy to use this way too, I imagine.

If you don't have a pimiento cheese recipe, I highly, highly recommend Martha Hall Foose's recipe from her book "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea," which is a favorite at my house. She uses homemade mayonnaise and I don't, and I sometimes add some dried onion to the mix, but other than that it's her recipe, and it is just delicious. Of course you can make these sandwiches with any filling you like, but I think a good pimiento cheese sandwich is always a welcome addition to the tea tray!

Finding tea in "Gone With the Wind"

My friend Herb Bridges, one of the world's foremost authorities on "Gone With the Wind," kindly dug into his photo collection when I asked if he had any photos of teacups in GWTW. I vaguely remembered seeing some in the movie, but examining these photos was quite helpful. Now, if I ever come across a teacup that looks like this, I'll know to get it!

In this scene, a teacup-holding Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) are talking about their daughter just before she takes a deadly fall on a horse.

In this image, daughter Bonnie Blue Butler (Cammie King) is visiting with her mother Scarlett, although of course Scarlett wasn't exactly the sort of mother who might have had a tea party with her little girl. Early in my journalism career I actually had the privilege of interviewing Cammie King (by then Cammie King Conlon), who died last year. She was a wonderful interview, very friendly and forthcoming with all I asked her. She wrote me a wonderful thank-you note after I sent her a copy of the article, and I have it framed along with a picture of her in GWTW that she autographed for me. (Above photos courtesy of Herb Bridges)

The other "Gone With the Wind" star I interviewed was Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy. She came to my town to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie in 1989, and the local museum director and I picked her up from the Atlanta Greyhound Bus Station in what I can assure you was a *most* memorable ride. She still had that same unforgettable voice we all remember from the movie. One of the things I remember is that Butterfly was a vegetarian and wanted to go to a takeout restaurant where she could watch them squeeze the orange juice. We did! Here, a much younger me (at left) lines up as my friend Herb Bridges and Butterfly sign some books.

And though I've never met Ann Rutherford, who played Scarlett's sister Carreen, I do have an autographed photo of her that Herb surprised me with a few years ago. While I was at one time a huge GWTW fan, and I still enjoy the movie on occasion, I later developed a much greater appreciation for the book and author Margaret Mitchell. She was a remarkable journalist before she became a world-famous novelist, and to this day I admire her research skills and her personal courage. In recent years, I have been pleased to see her get the recognition she deserves for anonymously financing the college educations of some black medical students in Atlanta. Recently I watched on PBS a documentary by former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, "Change in the Wind," about the unlikely friendship between Margaret Mitchell and Dr. Benjamin Mays, president of Morehouse College. It's a great documentary, and if you ever get the chance to see it I think you'll learn that the South has long been about far more than the Hollywood stereotypes of hoop skirts and mint juleps!

Let's play "Celebrity Teacups"

Do you recognize this teacup?

Or this one?

OK, how about this silver tea service? These are all publicity shots from a famous movie (which wasn't *necessarily* filmed in black and white, mind you). If you'll check back tomorrow I'll show you the full images and tell you a little about my interest in the movie. Any guesses?

"Tea and Cookies" by Rick Rodgers

Rick Rodgers is a name that was already familiar to me thanks to his 101 Series of books (Thanksgiving 101, Christmas 101), but it's his new release, Tea and Cookies, that I'm most excited about! The well-known cookbook author has now turned his attention to our favorite beverage in combination with cookies, and that's certainly a winning combination in this new book.

"What should accompany a cup of tea?" Rodgers asks. "While savory foods are usually on the menu, sweets are a constant. When food is carefully prepared in bite-sized portions, the elegance factor rises. And cookies, which are really just small, individually sized cakes, are always part of the teatime menu." The book begins with a tea primer, and I've found it is usually wise to read such chapters when I come across them. There is always more to learn about tea, plus I find it helpful to remind myself of some of the basics concerning tea production and varieties.

The book contains recipes for both hot and cold tea beverages, including such treats as Pomegranate Mint Tea and Mango Tea Slush. And oh, the cookies! The temptations include Cherry and White Chip Cookies, Chai Snickerdoodles, and the one I'm especially eager to try, Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Earl Grey Ganache. Several of the recipes are updates of old favorites, such as Lime Madeleines and Green Tea Custard Tartlets. Rodgers also aims to make our cookie baking easier with his Cookie Primer, which explains the uses of standard ingredients and offers tips on equipment and baking techniques. This cookie book would be a treat for anyone who loves cookies, but for the tea lover it is definitely a must-read!

A Teacup from Wanamaker's

Lately I've been researching historic recipes from the department store tea rooms of yesteryear, and that's how I stumbled across this French teacup from Wanamaker's on Etsy. The aster design is just lovely, and I love knowing this teacup hails from a famous American department store.

What really grabbed me, though, was this handle. Frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a prettier handle design, but then I absolutely adore bows. I love, love, love things with bows on them, and I wish more teacup makers had added bows to their handles!

The interior of the teacup is highly decorated as well. I was surprised to find the design all over, since normally I just see, at most, a single sprig of flowers at the back of the teacup as you're looking down into it.

The backstamp reads "GDA France, John Wanamaker." The GDA mark stands for Gerard, Dufraisseix & Abbot Limoges china.

I enjoyed learning more about the store in the book "Wanamaker's: Meet Me at the Eagle" by Michael J. Lisicky. The original and most legendary of the Wanamaker stores was in Philadelphia (it's a Macy's now), but there were also branches elsewhere in Pennsylvania and in New York. I assumed my teacup was simply an item sold in one of the stores, but Jan Whitaker (of "Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn" fame) is quoted in Lisicky's book as saying that Wanamaker's Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia used French china. Was my teacup used there? I'd love to think it was, but of course I have no way of knowing. Lisicky's book also includes a few recipes from the tea room, which I plan on trying soon.

And let me end today's post with a request: Did any of you grow up with a famous department store in your town or a nearby town? If so, please share the name of the store because maybe I can unearth a recipe from a tea room there as well. I've already found several from the old Rich's Department Store here in Georgia, but I'd love to find more!