Talking tea in Senoia

Last Thursday night, I had the pleasure of speaking about teatime to members of the Senoia Area Historical Society. The meeting was held at the society's headquarters house. It was quite rewarding to be speaking at the house when, 25 years ago, I was a young reporter writing about the society's efforts to restore the house and turn it into a museum. Today, it is a reality! Here I am visiting with SAHS member Jane Hutchinson Arnold.

The historical society is having a "Tea on the Porch" fundraiser on Saturday, where I will help judge the Hat Contest, so my talk on "Traditions & Teatime" was supposed to help get everyone in a teatime mood. I arrived early and am so glad I did, because I went around the museum snapping a few photos I thought you might enjoy seeing, like the pretty blue teawares that were decorating two mantels in the room where I spoke!

Aren't these pieces lovely? I so enjoy seeing all the different patterns of the blue teawares.

The historical society has done a magnificent job with their museum, and I thought it quite fitting that one of the first things you see is an old movie projector which pays tribute to Senoia's role as a television show and movie mecca locally. Which shows were filmed here, you ask? Perhaps you've heard of "Driving Miss Daisy" or "Fried Green Tomatoes"? And I happen to know at least some of you are big fans of "The Walking Dead," which has created lots of buzz in Senoia in recent years!

I didn't see any zombies in the museum, thank goodness, but I did see lots of terrific exhibits, including this one featuring vintage clothing.

I couldn't help noting this beautiful gown is an "Afternoon Tea Gown," which certainly put me in the mood to think about afternoon tea on a southern porch this Saturday! Oh, and one more tidbit from the evening that I must share. Before the meeting began, I enjoyed a conversation with a lovely woman named Gloria and her daughter who were visiting the museum for the first time. Gloria is from England, and when I told her about my visit there earlier this year, she mentioned playing on the grounds of Windsor Castle as a child, and how she and her friends would actually climb the tower back in the day! Can you imagine? I had so much fun talking to her, and after the meeting she invited me to a Christmas tea she will be hosting at her home. (And yes, I'm planning to go!) It is so, so fun to meet new friends over such a delightful topic as teatime!

The August Tea Giveaway

For this month's tea-themed giveaway, one lucky winner is going to receive a cute new tea towel and this "Bloom" floating tea infuser!

The tea towel features one of the tiered servers we all love, and this tea towel is a little different in that the design is printed *and* embroidered. I actually had to touch the blue embroidery to make sure it wasn't just an optical illusion, and indeed it is embroidery on this tea towel.

And this is a type of tea infuser I've never tried before, so the winner will have to let me know how (and if!) it works. According to the directions on the package, you fill the stainless steel infuser, insert your loose tea, place the lid back on, and the infuser floats around your mug or teacup while the tea steeps. Then, you can place the infuser in the clear plastic holder once the tea is ready. If you'd like to win the tea towel and tea infuser, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. Friday, August 22, and you'll be entered. (US and Canada only, please.) Good luck!

Tea Room Postcard #33 - Big Tree Inn Tea Room (Geneseo, N.Y.)

Don't you just love seeing those old cars parked in front of the Big Tree Inn in Geneseo, N.Y.? When I first found this circa 1957 postcard online, I wasn't sure whether or not I believed there was a tea room here, but then upon closer inspection I could see that at the far left the sign reads "Tea Room." There's actually a word above the "Tea Room" sign, but I can't read it.

The back of the card tells us that the inn was "Built in 1833, A Famous Old Landmark of the Genesee Valley." Unlike many of my old tea room postcards, which appear to have been mailed as souvenirs from a trip, this one seems more like a diary entry: "Ate dinner here to night - Thursday Aug 19 - 1957 6.30 PM 'Thursday night' Lima N.Y. (Sheenan? Is that what it says?)" In pencil in the lower right corner, it reads, "Friday 12 noon ate Lunch in Itiata, N.Y." Do you think the person meant "Ithaca," N.Y. instead? For some reason, I am thinking that perhaps a man made these notes while he stayed at the inn and ate at the tea room while he was away from home on business. Do you agree? Or do you have a theory of your own?

Tea Time Magazine — September/October 2014

It happens every year. I start getting that fall itch, that sudden desire for cooler weather and spice-flavored teas, and then the fall issue of Tea Time arrives and I am in full-fledged fall mode. The new issue arrived this week, and that pretty cover with Pumpkin Mousse Tartlets has me hankering for fall.

What I loved most about this issue, perhaps, was a pattern of teapot and teacup I'd never seen before, this Royal Crown Derby "Royal Antoinette" set. I was totally smitten by those ruffles on the teapot and the saucer. Aren't they gorgeous? It would only be about $1,000 for a teapot and four cups and saucers, so if any of you have been wondering what to get me for Christmas … well, I am nothing if not helpful!

OK, we all know that's a fantasy, but it's not a fantasy to think that I'd like to make these Orange Macarons with Dark Chocolate Buttercream filling! I've made pastel macarons a few times before, but it hadn't really occurred to me to try fall-hued macarons, and these sound delicious. Are you looking forward to fall as much as I am?

Seed Saving

Name that seed! Anyone? These came off a plant I recently bought (go here and check out the next to last photo to see the seeds while they were still on the plant).

Yes, these are camellia sinensis seeds! When I started plucking them off my new tea plant, I remember thinking they were large and not small, brown seeds like the ones I bought on eBay years ago. (The ones I unsuccessfully tried to grow!)

I sat the seeds on a baker's rack in my kitchen, and I was surprised to find they were soon popping open, revealing the brown seeds inside. I'm saving some of these for my garden club's upcoming seed swap and hope to barter for a few new goodies of my own. But first, I'll be looking up some propagation instructions on the web in hopes of a better growing experience with my camellia sinensis seeds. If I can't do it, I'll bet my fellow garden club members can!

My "thrif-tea" tea storage solution

For months now I've been looking for a rack to hang on the inside of the kitchen pantry door to hold tins and packages of tea. I checked the usual suspects (Walmart, Target) and all of my favorite discount stores (T.J. Maxx, Homegoods, Marshalls, Ross) and came up with zilch. I couldn't believe no one makes simple racks anymore, but then I found the rack I'd been looking for last week in a surprise place: Goodwill!

For just $4.94, I now have a nicely installed rack (thanks to my husband and his drill) that holds 21 different teas at the moment. (And no, not all my teas fit on there. That was a surprise, because I would have sworn to you I was almost out of tea!)

The rack was a plain and simple design, just what I wanted, but it had no apparent means of hanging. We used cup hooks to hold the lightweight rack, and I am so very, very happy every time I open that pantry door to select a tea. I even tried quickly slamming the door to see if those boxes of tea on the bottom shelf would slide off, but they did not. It's a perfect storage solution, and it definitely helped me get a handle on how much tea I do, in fact, have. Just curious: how and where do you store your teas?

A tea party theme emerges

Although I've known for months that I would be hosting a Bridesmaids Luncheon and Tea for my friend Cydney's bridesmaids in early September, I refused to allow myself to indulge in too much planning and decorating early on. I can change my mind a hundred times before an event arrives, so I try to corral my thoughts and settle on a theme about one month out. And now we are here, so here are a few goodies I wanted to share to show you the theme emerging in my head!

First, I found this wonderful blush pink cupcake stand at Ross the other day for just $11.99. I loved the spiral design, and the color is so pretty. The decor for Cydney's wedding is going to be sort of a fall-themed "country casual," I believe her mom says, so I've tried to figure out how to incorporate that into my luncheon/tea plans. Blush pink sounded like a color that could mix with fall's earth tones, so that was an early decision.

I made the invitations for the girls this weekend using rectangles of burlap fabric, scrapbooking paper teapots, vintage gold paper embellishments, and burlap bows from Michaels.

Each one is a bit different, and I hope the invites convey that our decor will be a little bit rustic, a little bit vintage!

Do you have Bealls Outlet stores in your area? I found this pretty arrangement of blush pink flowers at the one in Carrollton and decided it can be the center of a tray of something at the tea. Sandwiches? Scones? We'll see closer to time.

Finally, I want to send the bridesmaids home with a few goodies, so these White Tea & Bamboo sachets (also from Bealls) seemed perfect as one of the treats they will get that day. The luncheon/tea is less than four weeks away now, and I can't wait!

Artist Susan Branch's Special Blend Tea

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail from someone who works for artist Susan Branch. She asked if they could send me "a little bag of Susan's Special Blend tea" as a thank-you for my blog posts about Susan over the years. "Are you kidding me?" I thought. I should probably be sending Susan a thank-you gift and not the other way around, but I'm no dummy so I said sure, I'd love to try the tea!

It arrived in this charming tin featuring Susan's artwork of a stack of teacups. (I always love artwork of stacks of teacups, don't you?)

Even the lid of the tin is cute!

When I opened the tin, I found this brown bag with a sticker reading "Susan Branch Private Blend, A Fine Romance, Lavender & Roses Earl Grey Tea." I was already inhaling the delightful scent of roses and lavender when ...

I opened the bag and saw how pretty this blend is! I couldn't help wondering if its taste would live up to its looks, and I'm happy to report that it did. I've had Earl Grey with lavender before but never one with both lavender and roses. Would it be too perfumey? I'm happy to say it was not, and the bergamot in the Earl Grey is definitely the flavor I found most pronounced. It was such a delicious tea to enjoy on a rainy afternoon, and I can see why it's Susan's favorite. Happily, I looked online and found that this same tin and tea are available on her website, and you can find them here along with other great tea items from someone who is a beloved artist for so many of us!

Tea Room Postcard #32 -- Lipton's Tea Garden (San Francisco, Calif.)

This may be one of my favorite vintage tea room postcards ever! This week, the featured tea room is a temporary tea room set up by Thos. J. Lipton, Tea, Coffee and Cocoa Planter, at the San Francisco Exposition of 1915. "Received Highest Award Gold Medal," it says. And isn't that image lovely? Wouldn't you like to have been there? When I enlarged this image on my computer, I noted that the banner at the entrance says "Lipton's Tea, Free." Look behind the ivy-draped columns and just imagine what those behatted ladies of yesteryear were talking about. Better yet, read on and you can find out exactly what one of them was talking, or at least writing, about!

The card addressed to Mrs. Dora E. Parks of Calistoga, Calif. reads, "Dear Aunt Dora, Won't you have a cup of tea with me? I'm writing this in this cute little tea garden in the Food Products Building while I wait for my cup. Edward and I are doing the fair today. Everybody is well. We did enjoy your letter. Love to all, Elizabeth." The note up at the top reads, "Mother went across the Isthmus of Panama last week." This may be one of the only tea room postcards I've found where there is actually mention of tea as a beverage, and for that alone I absolutely love this postcard!

Stash Tea's Mango Passionfruit Herbal Tea

As a lover of mango teas, I thought I had tried just about every tea purveyor's version out there, but I came across this Mango Passionfruit blend from Stash Tea recently and couldn't remember trying it. I looked through all my mango tea posts back to 2007 and cannot find this tea mentioned, and it's so good that if I had tried it, I'm sure I'd have written about it. I tried it iced, too, and it was equally delicious that way!

Stash Teas are some of the first flavored hot teas I ever tried, but until recent years it wasn't common to see them in retail stores where I live. And that's too bad, because in addition to the tea's taste, I also like the design of the tea boxes. It's nice to have a box in the pantry that allows you to easily remove one teabag at a time.

I often steep a teabag twice (some results are better than others), so I also like Stash's custom of printing the name of the tea on the teabag's tag. That's awfully nice when you have two or three teabags in a dish (as I have been known to have) and are trying to recall which one you want to re-steep. Are you familiar with Stash Teas? If so, which ones do you recommend?

"Strike the Match" by Diane Moody (The Teacup Novellas Book Two)

So last week I decided I was going to read a new e-book by a popular author I'd seen on some bestseller lists over the years. The book was about women police officers, and I enjoy a good cop story so I thought sure, why not? I was dismayed to find the author decided to "equalize" the females by making them just as profane, as crass, and as violent as the men. Halfway through, I deleted the book from my Goodreads list, turned off my Kindle for iPad, and if I never hear that author's name again it will be just fine by me. This week I needed a kinder, gentler read, and one I'd had waiting on my Kindle was the second in Diane Moody's Teacup Novellas series, "Strike the Match."

I read her first book in this series, "Tea With Emma," last year, and I enjoyed the inspirational romance. These books have some features I really like. First, each has a story within a story. A writer named Lucy has decided to write a series of novellas based on some teacups she owns, so while the central storyline of each book (so far) is very different, each book's prologue features Lucy, her brother and the UPS man. The central storyline in this second novella stars a journalism student, Keri McMillan, who leaves NYU to go back home to Oregon and earn more money for school while working at her father's log cabin company. Soon after she arrives her father's latest project, a luxury home, is destroyed in a fire. During the investigation she has to take another job, and she ends up working for the local weekly newspaper, which she thinks is beneath her. The plot features her growing attraction to her boss, her concern for her father and his business, and her fondness for a very special Russian teacup.

Moody's writing style reminds me very much of that I find in good cozy mysteries. The book does have a few typos and grammar errors, but I found similar errors in the book by that "bestselling author" I attempted to read last week. Moody's strong suit is her storytelling, her ability to frame the story-within-a-story and keep us wanting more. I fully intend to read all these novellas, and I'm grateful to find a nice, wholesome series that almost makes the teacup a character as well.

Cranberry Apple Scones with Hazelnut Caramel Cream

Daddy has definitely kept my sister and me in fresh produce this summer. First it was cucumbers and squash. Then came the green beans and okra. Then it was blueberries and Purple Hull peas, and now it's time for apples. I decided to play around with my basic scone recipe by adding cranberries and apples.

While the scones baked, I decided I wanted to have some sort of accompaniment, but no jam or jelly seemed right, lemon curd didn't seem right, and then I looked in the fridge and spotted the (low-fat!) Caramel Apple Dip I bought to go with the apples. Hmm. A little tinkering and I think I've come up with something rather yummy in this Hazelnut Caramel Cream. If you have apples coming in at your house, you might give the scones and/or the cream a try!

Cranberry Apple Scones

1 cup all purpose-flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 small apples, peeled, cored and diced fine
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a scone pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder and baking soda. Add the butter and combine using a pastry blender until the mixture consists of pea-sized crumbs. Stir in cranberries and apples. In separate bowl, whisk buttermilk and egg. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until blended. If mixture is too stiff, you may want to add another tablespoon or so of milk. Spoon batter into pan and bake for 17 minutes or until lightly browned. Yields 8 large scones.

Hazelnut Caramel Cream

2 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons prepared caramel dip
2 tablespoons hazelnuts

Soften cream cheese and caramel dip in microwave for a few seconds, then add nuts and combine well. Serve with Cranberry Apple Scones.

Finding Nestea at Dollar Tree

I must say that thanks to my regular shopping trips with my Aunt Jane, I am really starting to love dollar stores and thrift stores. Have you checked out the books at Dollar Tree lately? They have some pretty good stuff in those dollar bins, with my recent finds including several hardback bestsellers that have been on my wish list (and even a cozy mystery by Susan Wittig Albert!). This weekend, I also was happy to find some new ready-to-drink (RTD) teas at Dollar Tree, and I don't believe I've ever seen the Nestea brand there before.

Now here's the thing about these RTD teas: in summer, especially, I sometimes want a flavored iced tea, but I don't want to commit to making a whole pitcherful. These inexpensive bottled teas are an easy solution, and by the time I've had a glass or two I've had my fill. The raspberry flavor was my favorite. It does have sugar, and thus the 50 calories per 8-ounce glass, but I had only one glass so I didn't feel too guilty.

I have never cared for lemon-flavored RTDs until I found one earlier this summer that I liked, so I was happy to find this Nestea version had a true lemon taste as well!

The peach flavor drops were much better than those Mio drops I've tried before but not quite as good as the Lipton ones I enjoyed recently. All in all, though, it was a pretty successful tea tasting courtesy of the dollar store. It was booming in there Saturday since this was Georgia's "Back-to-School" tax-free weekend and the aisles were quite crowded. And school here starts tomorrow … have mercy! Back in my day (said in crotchety old lady voice), we didn't start school until the end of August or early September! Is Georgia just insanely early or is school already starting where you live as well?

Curry Chicken Balls for a tea party

You're probably thinking those white balls look like truffles or candies, but they're not. They're the Curry Chicken Balls out of the "A Year of Themed Teas" cookbook from the former Tea By Three tea room in Clinton Township, Michigan. The book was a gift from my friend Phyllis, and I made one of the recipes this weekend to get a headstart on that bridesmaids' luncheon and tea I will be hosting in a month!

My go-to chicken salad is a recipe I serve on miniature croissants, but that's too large a serving for this luncheon, where I'm trying to have a larger variety of smaller things for the girls to enjoy. These Curry Chicken Balls are basically bite-size morsels of a chicken salad rolled in almonds, and they are great! You can freeze them ahead of time too, so I'm delighted to be one recipe ahead on the luncheon.

But I have a confession. I had already decided I wanted to substitute ginger marmalade for the orange marmalade in this recipe. I fully intended to use curry powder, however, until I had everything mixed and got ready to add the yellow powder and found I was out of curry! Yikes! So, already in a ginger frame of mind, I simply substituted powdered ginger and I LOVE the result. In fact, it dawned on me later that some people don't like the strong taste of curry, so perhaps the ginger was a better choice for the luncheon anyway. Here's the recipe, with my substitutions noted. I'm so happy to have found a dainty new way to offer chicken salad on a tea menu!

Curry Chicken Balls
(Or Ginger Chicken Balls)

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons orange marmalade (I used ginger marmalade)
2 teaspoons curry powder (I used powdered ginger)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used white pepper)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups cooked chicken breasts, finely chopped and shredded
3 tablespoons minced onion
3 tablespoons minced celery
1 cup almonds, finely chopped in food processor

In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese, marmalade, curry (or ginger), pepper and salt. Beat on medium speed until smooth, then add chicken, onion and celery and combine. Roll into 1-inch balls and then roll in the almonds. Yields 42 balls.

Tea Room Postcard #31 -- Blue Bird Tea Room (South Egremont, Mass.)

When I first saw this postcard online, I liked the quaint little tea room sign out front of what appears to be someone's residence. Only after I purchased the card and it arrived in the mail did I pay attention to the fact that someone has edited the wording on the front to say "South Egremont, Mass." since "South Egrement, N.Y." was a mistake!

Looks like The Greeting Card Mfg. Co., Inc. bungled the printing of some postcards! So discovering the mistake was kind of fun for me, if not for the Blue Bird Tea Room. This card was sent to Dr. H.E. Snow of Sharon, Conn. "% Mrs. Husing" in 1927, and its message is pretty short and sweet: "What's this I hear about Coe's Hotel — Windham — ? This is 'the' place to be. Love, Dot. Don't come over this week." This is one of those card that left me with many questions. What's up with Coe's Hotel and Windham? Why would you send someone a postcard and tell them not to come over? Was the card to Dr. Snow in care of Mrs. Husing, or was Mrs. Husing really the intended recipient? At any rate, I'm happy to know that at one time, the Blue Bird Tea Room of South Egrement Egremont in New York Massachusetts was "the" place to be!

Tea Forté's Tupelo Honey Fig Tea

A few weeks ago I had coupons for $10 off at the nearby Fresh Market store, so naturally I used some of my savings to purchase tea. As a fan of figs, I decided to try this Tupelo Honey Fig Tea from Tea Forté. And to be honest with you, I wasn't a fan. It smelled and tasted too sweet and I didn't detect the fig flavor I had expected, so I put the tea aside and decided to try it again another day.

I got to thinking about how I often experiment with different steeping times with green teas, so why not try that with this tea? I also decided to see what was actually in the tea besides honey and figs, and the ingredients included organic lemon myrtle, organic peppermint, organic fennel, organic white tea, organic basil, organic licorice root, organic sweet blackberry leaves, natural honey flavor and organic fig pieces. After I read all the ingredients, I decided it was no wonder this tea tasted so sweet when I made it before!

This time, instead of steeping the tea for the recommended five minutes, I steeped it for just two minutes, and this time I liked it! It wasn't too sweet, and I appreciated the blend of all those (lightly) sweet herbs on the rainy evening I made this mug of tea. Have you ever changed your mind about a tea after adjusting the steeping time?