A box full of Christmas joy!

One of the biggest surprises of blogging these past (almost) five years is that sometimes, I get a nice note or even a gift in the mail from a reader I've never actually met. More than once I have been the lucky recipient of a gift from Christine, who surprised me a few weeks ago by sending along some things I have been enjoying this Christmas and thought you might enjoy seeing, like this tea chest! Isn't it pretty?

I've never seen such a decorative tea chest, and I was also surprised when I looked inside and found she'd send along samples of some new (to me) teas! I especially enjoyed the Evolution Green Tea with Orange and Mint, which I had been longing to try, and the others were quite enjoyable as well.

As if all that weren't enough, Christine also included three packages of cute paper napkins that are absolutely perfect for tea lovers!

I'm going to save a few of these Christmas teacup napkins, because I can definitely see these being used in a decoupage project one day.

And flowers in teacups! How gorgeous!

The napkins I've been using this week are these whimsical snowmen with a tea mug in the foreground. Delightful—and what a lovely reminder of a thoughtful tea friend I met through this blog!

An afternoon at August Moon Tea Room

This is my week to catch up with girlfriends before Christmas, and yesterday I had the fun experience of trying out a new (to me) tea room with my fellow tea blogger and friend Maureen, also known as ParTea Lady, of the Tea and Talk blog. Maureen had blogged about visiting August Moon in Barnesville back in March, and I told her I'd like to meet her there for tea one day, so that's what we did for our Christmas get-together this year!

This tea room does not want you to leave hungry, and wait until you hear all that we ate! First, there was a fruit cup with whipped cream served in a beautiful blue Tiara snack set.

Maureen had Earl Grey tea and I had the Peaches and Cream. It was just delicious--and had a very distinct peachy taste.

Even our water was attractive, served as it was in these pretty yellow Fostoria glasses. Later, I learned August Moon's owner, Maggie Cameron, is as wild about collecting glass and teawares as I am. More so, actually, since she has a fitting place to use all of hers!

There was much eye candy on the tables, from the crocheted topper to the paper lace placemats, teapot salt and pepper shakers, figurine, glass goblet of lemon curd and more!

Of course my favorite food moment is always the presentation of the three-tiered server. What would it feature?

The sandwiches, my favorite course, were chicken salad, ham and pickle rollup, cucumber, and a cute snowman shaped sandwich that I believe was some sort of sweetened cream, almond perhaps. I liked the variety of fillings, and the bread was cut *just so* and made such a pleasing presentation.

The lemon scones with lemon curd were just the treat I needed on a gray, rainy day. After I took this photo I discovered the scones were actually cut out in Christmas tree shapes. Alas, I munched mine before I realized I should have taken a photo of it from that angle. Oh well, next time!

For the sweets we had brownies, miniature bread puddings (my favorite) and cinnamon spice cupcakes. Alas, I forgot to photograph the sausage quiche and black-eyed pea soup that also came with our tea. I've rarely eaten so much at a tea room, and Maureen and I both had to-go boxes when we left.

Maureen and I dined in the very first room you see upon entering the tea room, and I had a great view of this giant photo of some women in period dress. Not sure if you can tell, but the woman at back is holding a basketball! One of the young men serving us (both were great, by the way) said the photo was obtained locally but they don't know the identity of the women. Wouldn't you love to know more!

OK, so my eyes are halfway closed. I'm among friends here, so I thought I'd go ahead and show you the two of us with the wonderful matron presiding over the tea room.

Isn't she charming?

Even the ladies room at this tea room is worth a visit, for the massive collection of hats, hatboxes and gloves are a sight to behold! I had a wonderful time catching up with a dear tea friend, and we're already planning a return trip to August Moon! If you'd like to go sometime, visit the tea room's website here.

Christmas in Warm Springs

Have you ever been to Warm Springs, Georgia? I've been a number of times but hadn't visited the town recently and decided to go yesterday. If you're not from my neck of the woods, you might not know that Warm Springs is the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House. FDR also brought fame to the town back in the 1920s when he visited the warm mineral springs for treatment of his polio related paralysis. Today, Warm Springs is home of the internationally-known Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. Warm Springs still sees lots of tourism today, and that's what brought my friend Byrdie and me there for our Christmas outing this year.

Here's Byrdie in front of one of the rows of shops on Broad Street. We enjoyed browsing in the stores, especially seeing all the different themed Christmas trees on display. One was trimmed with mainly Scottie dogs and red plaid ribbon, while another was decked out in blue-and-white Delftware looking ornaments with all-white ribbons, garlands and other trims. In one store we spotted a small Irish-themed tree, and it was there I found ...


... three new Kurt S. Adler ornaments for my tea-themed tree! I was thrilled! I removed the teacup and one of the teapots and was about to continue on when Byrdie pointed out that another teapot ornament had a bit of a different design. Can't believe I nearly missed that! But Byrdie is a retired elementary school teacher, and after 34 years with third and fourth graders, there is not much that passes her notice. We didn't actually meet until my schooling years were over, but we both agree I would not have gotten away with much in her classroom!

Around lunchtime we headed here, to Warm Springs' popular Bulloch House restaurant, for our lunch.

Byrdie and I stuffed ourselves silly with fried green tomatoes and other southern favorites. Any place that makes good fried green tomatoes has my blessing, but I was also happy their sweet tea was about as perfect a glass of the iced stuff as I've ever had. Delicious!

The Bulloch House is beautifully decorated for Christmas right now, and even Santa and the reindeer crew like to stop by, apparently. It was a delightful day spent with a dear friend — and my new teacup and teapot ornaments are wonderful mementos of the day!

Clearly, I needed some new plates ...

When planning for my Christmas tea party the other weekend, I originally hoped to set the table using six small, square and etched clear glass plates paired with six vintage Christmas teacups. The only kinks in this plan were that A) I didn't actually own any small, square and etched clear glass plates and B) I had only four Christmas teacup and saucer sets. So some of my tea and toast sets were called into duty for the tea, but I put etched glass plates on the Wish List. I found some on eBay, but the ones I liked were about $10 each plus shipping.

Over the weekend, my mom and I visited an antique mall in Rome where lots of vendors had discounts boothwide. I was nearing the end of my tour of the mall when, on a bottom shelf, I thought I spied some glass plates. Were they square? Yes indeed!

I did my usual trick of running my finger around the edge while looking away,
in order to feel any chips or nicks. None!


I loved the design, which a sticker identified as "copper wheel engraving." (Is that accurate, glass expert friends? I looked up a few glassware sites online but they weren't very helpful.) All I know is, the set of 6 was $18, which was a deal, but then I saw a sign that said 25 percent off, so I got them all for $13.50, which made me quite happy.

My only problem is, I'm running out of storage space, so I'm going to have to get rid of some things. Look for a few giveaways in the new year! (But not the new plates. They're keepers!)

And one final note: For a recent tea tasting I wrote about, I showed a chintz teacup a couple of you asked about. It's the one on the left, and it's actually a new set I found at Marshalls last Christmas for $6.99. It's marked "Bella Lux, Gracie Bone China," and it's a bit oversized, which I like when enjoying cups of Christmas tea!

Tea Sandwich Saturday #51 - Oh, Christmas Tree!

A few weeks back when I made Christmas wreath-shaped tea sandwiches, I was pondering how to decorate them when a helpful reader sent me an e-mail and suggested sliced olives. Now how did I miss that! Yes, olives are perfect to serve as "ornaments" on a tea sandwich because they're the right color and the two-tone palette is already there. So this week's tea sandwiches are simply to show you some ideas for "decorating the tree" on your tea table!

You could use any spread you might have, or plain cream cheese, but I used some of the leftover Olive-Walnut dip from the office party the other day. A few slices of olives and voila, a nice little tree!

If you want a more classic look, you can top your tree sandwich with another slice of bread and line up three slices of olive. (Shamelessly stolen from my sister, who did this with her egg salad tea sandwiches last weekend!)

And last but not least, I liked this idea I saw in the Christmas issue of Tea Time magazine: use cucumber slices to decorate your tree!

The Christmas teas tote giveaway winner is ...

Ruth of the Antiques and Teacups blog! Congrats, and if you'll send me your snail mail address via the e-mail button at right, I'll get these goodies headed your way!

Also, several of you asked about the tote, so I wanted you to know I got mine at the Carriage House, an antiques shop in Senoia. The tote is by Alice's Home and Cottage (alicescottage.com), whose totes, tea towels and other goodies I've been enjoying for the past few years.

The 2011 Office Christmas Luncheon

My co-workers have luncheons together at numerous times throughout the year, but the Thanksgiving and Christmas luncheons are always the best. I actually missed this year's Thanksgiving luncheon because I was away at a workshop that day, but I was indeed there for yesterday's Christmas luncheon and thought I would report in. I made this Olive-Walnut Dip, and I'm pleased it got favorable reviews!

It's basically the Olive-Walnut spread I use for tea sandwiches, but I added sour cream to make it more of a dip consistency. The recipe: 3 (8-ounce) blocks of cream cheese, 3/4 cup chopped olives, 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1 (16-ounce) carton sour cream. Mix well and you're done! (That makes a heap of dip, by the way. For a smaller gathering, I would probably make only a third of the recipe.)

It's always fun to see the long tables laden with ham and turkey, casseroles, crockpots full of hot vegetables and more.

There were other appetizers besides mine, and ...

... a nice assortment of salads too.

The dessert table, you won't be surprised to hear, is always a popular spot.

The Banana Pudding and Mandarin Orange Cake got great reviews!

And to wash it all down, we always, always have a nice big tea station.

But the real reason I *had* to share the luncheon with my tea friends this year is that I thought you might want to see what my co-worker and husband, Mr. Tea With Friends, brought to the table this year. It was inspired by a post on newspaper columnist Dave Barry's blog (he was writing about the worst nativity scenes ever). Pictures follow. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!

Christmas Teas—and a small giveaway!

At last Saturday's Christmas Tea, I served two Christmas blends I recently found at a World Market store. First was this Twinings Christmas Tea, a nice black tea flavored with cinnamon and cloves. The warmth and the scent almost make you think of cider, and it was very popular with the girls, who drank several pots of it! World Market had boxes featuring individually wrapped teabags.

I also served Republic of Tea's Holiday Spiced Plum Joy to the World Green Tea (what a long name!). This tin features their round tea bags, and I love that it is a green tea and also that it has such a rich, plum flavor, lightly accented by spices.

If you'd like to try a few samples of both these Christmas tea blends, just comment with an "Enter Me" by 7 a.m. EST *tomorrow* morning, Dec. 16! They'll be tucked into this tiny (6 inches or so) little tote bag featuring a Christmas teapot, and I may add a few samples of other teas as well. Good luck!