My Country 'Tis of Tea — Alabama

Since Alabama is one of my neighbor states and a place I do visit on occasion, I looked forward to finding some new tea-related info about my fellow southerners!

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

• Did you know that a famous literary figure is said to have met his wife at a tea in Alabama? According to a November article that appeared on Alabama.com, F. Scott Fitzgerald, best known for "The Great Gatsby," met his future wife, Zelda Sayre, at a tea in the now-abandoned Montgomery mansion  known as Winter Place. "Joseph Winter Thorington, a descendant and former owner of the home, claimed Scott and Zelda were introduced by his aunt at a tea in the mansion's gallery," the article said.  Winter Place is on the National Register of Historic Places, and I sure hope to receive word that someone is restoring this place. (Click here if you'd like to see some terrific photos of the home today.)

• Fairhope, Alabama is the home of a tea plantation. While I love and appreciate the Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina, it bothers me when I occasionally read that it is the only place where tea is being grown in the US. Tea is growing at quite a few places in the US, including Fairhope, Alabama. Last year, the US League of Tea Growers visited Fairhope and made a video of the tea production process there, and you can see it here. (This low-tech production looks like something I could try with my own backyard tea plant.) While I haven't yet visited the Fairhope Tea Plantation, I have enjoyed sipping some of the black tea produced there, which is sold at The Church Mouse, a darling shop in Fairhope (above) that sells British imports. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area!

• Huntsville, Alabama's Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea Company was named a winner in the Southern Living Food Awards for 2015! The company's Front Porch Special black tea blend was named one of the year's best Southern-made foods by Southern Living magazine. I haven't yet tried this company's tea, but tea friend Denise P. of Alabama loves these teas and says the company is "a real treasure to the tea world." So I guess some Front Porch Special tea is going on my bucket list of new teas to try in 2016!

Next week's featured state: Alaska

The latest inspiration from Daphne

I'm already looking for the Spring 2016 gardening magazines in hopes of spotting some new craft projects involving teapots and teacups. I haven't found any yet, but I did get a new issue of Daphne's Diary at Barnes and Noble yesterday. I think they're a bit behind since this is the fall issue, but since any issue of this magazine is a treat, I was happy to find it there.

I was most intrigued by an article on Jessica Melis, an artist in the Netherlands, who turns lace into pieces of ceramic artwork. I think her teapot and teacups are lovely!

There was also a fun feature on tiny gardens, or what we would probably call "fairy gardens." Wouldn't it be fun to create one of these to look like a miniature tearoom? I may just have to make that a springtime gardening goal.

Have any of you been reading any pretty, inspiring magazines lately? I'd love to hear about them!

My January 2016 Coweta Shopper column

As you can tell, "Downton Abbey" was already on my mind last week when I had the deadline for my monthly tea column in The Coweta Shopper, which was published yesterday. Here's a link to this month's column for those of you who've asked to read it but don't live locally. And thanks for reading, because I found out that two of my tea columns were among the Shopper's Top 10 online reads for the year, and some of you no doubt helped make that happen!

Which is it: birdfeeder or terrarium?

Another of the Christmas gifts I received from my friend Susan this year was this lovely glass teapot that hangs from a rope. I thought it was a birdfeeder and tucked it away as something to look forward to using in the spring. (The sticker on the bottom says TJ Maxx, by the way, although I've never seen one of these there myself, because I would absolutely have bought it!)

But then I happened to receive a new Jackson and Perkins garden catalog in the mail, and they show some succulent gardens hanging from pieces that look a lot like my "birdfeeder."

So now I'm thinking maybe I have a teapot terrarium and not a birdfeeder, and maybe I need to transplant these succulents from this little teacup planter I've been neglecting. Any of you tea friends have experience with terrariums?

Winter whites and aqua blues

Last year, I gave up on the idea of redecorating my little tea trolley each month. I was doing fine until about the 29th day of one month when I got all panicky because I was so busy and hadn't had time to be creative with my teawares that month. I was about to get busy redecorating it when it dawned on me that a) nobody was going to give me an award for decorating the tea trolley each month, and b) if I was knocking myself out to do something I was too busy to enjoy, what was the point? So I stopped my self-imposed rule of redecorating that little surface every single month. What a relief that was! You know, that's one of the great things nobody told me I would enjoy about getting older. I'm much more reasonable with myself than I used to be, and if I can't live up to my old standards, I simply come up with new ones! That said, this month I did have time to toy with the tea trolley a bit.

I love this winter white teapot and use it almost every single year. Interesting that such a plain little teapot holds such charm for me, but it does.

I also wanted an excuse to display the pretty glasses my sister got me for Christmas. When the afternoon sun streams through, that color is just the prettiest shade of aqua you can imagine! And just for fun, I left out my little snow guy with "Believe" in his hands. I am going to "Believe" we'll get snow in Georgia this year and see what happens!

Added to my winter whites was a lovely new candle my friend Susan gave me for Christmas. That jeweled cross in the middle? It's a push pin type piece I can reuse with other candles, and I just love this new line of candle accessories called "candle jewelry." I'd never heard of these before!

Also in the aqua category, a favorite tin (with some of the tea still inside) from Fortnum & Mason in London. Oh, how I want to go back there!

When I'm not making tea in this glass teapot, I've taken to using it purely for decorative purposes. These miniature aqua ornaments inside weren't quite ready to go back into hybernation for the winter.

And neither were my little bottlebrush trees and bell jar ornaments. I consider these my "winter" decorations, not necessarily "Christmas" decorations. But then we've already established that I am making up new rules as I go along! Do you ever make up new rules for yourself?

Let's discuss "Downton Abbey"

*SPOILER ALERT AHEAD! DO NOT READ IF

YOU HAVEN'T YET WATCHED EPISODE ONE OF SEASON SIX!*

Well, friends, I had my "Downton Abbey" tea blends all lined up and ready to rumble yesterday, enjoying Mrs. Patmore's Pudding Tea beforehand, Butler's Pantry Blend during the show, and I decided to save my Downton Estate Blend for another day. So what did you think? I thought this first episode was simply terrific! I counted at least five or six tea scenes (there may have been more; I got too engrossed in the plot). Here are some thoughts:

• The back and forth between Carson and Mrs. Hughes over their marital expectations was so well done, wasn't it? Poor Mrs. Patmore, charged with the difficult task of mentioning the unmentionable to Carson. What great acting!

• Have we seen the last of Miss Bevan, Lady Mary's latest blackmailer? I thought that was a bit too easy, how she got paid off by Lord Grantham and went on her merry way. Hmmm … But I loved how the end of that scene was also used for Robert to, at long last, tell Mary of his confidence in her. Nice to see.

• No Branson? He MUST come back soon. I miss him.

• The hospital feud brewing between Isobel and Violet is delicious. Best Violet line of the night: "Does it ever get cold on the moral high ground?" Ha!

• Anna is cleared! Well, hallelujah! And wasn't it lovely that the whole household got to break out the champagne? But now can we please see Anna with child? Please?

• And my goodness, wasn't that an unexpected glimpse of character from Thomas? He's nice to the children and even gives them piggyback rides? Nasty old Thomas? I've got to rethink the man. I place a tremendous amount of stock in how people treat children.

But my favorite scenes were the the Carson/Mrs. Hughes/Mrs. Patmore scenes. I do hope that wedding date gets set soon, because my supply of Butler's Pantry Blend is dwindling.

Republic of Tea, by the way, has quite a few new Downton blends (and mugs) if you're interested. I'm intrigued by the sound of the Afternoon Garden Tea, a new herbal blend, and the Downton Abbey Legacy Tea, a plum pudding tea. Click here to check them out for yourself!

So did you watch? If so, what were your favorite scenes?

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — An Introduction!

For years now, I’ve wanted to explore the history of tea in America. Quite a few books have been written about the history of tea throughout the world, and in reading them, I've always found myself searching for any snippets of information about the enjoyment of tea in this country since its founding. This new Saturday series will give me the opportunity to delve into tea history a bit more, and since this is an election year, I thought it might be fun to focus on tea in each and every state of the union. 

“My Country, ’Tis of Tea” will hopefully give focus to my research on tea in America. I’m fairly confident that I can find something to say about tea in each and every state.

Next week, I’ll be starting with Alabama. My goal is to learn at least three things related to tea in each state. Maybe it will be about a famous tea room in the state—or that used to be in the state. Maybe it will be about tea consumption or tea production in the state. Maybe it will be about some oddball tea party once held in the state. Who knows where this will lead? That, to me, will be the fun part!

If there’s something about your state’s tea history I should be aware of, by all means, send me an email via the email button at right. I welcome your input!

Meanwhile, here are a few facts about modern-day tea in America to help us kick things off.

• On any given day, more than 158 million Americans drink tea.

• In 2014, Americans consumed more than 80 billion servings of tea, or more than 3.6 billion gallons.

• Regionally, the South (yippee!) and the Northeast have the greatest concentration of tea drinkers. 

— Source: Tea Association of the U.S.A. Inc.

I hope that whets your appetite for more tea lore in the coming year!

Happy New Year, tea friends!

Coloring and teatime

How many of you have joined in the new craze over coloring books for adults? Although I was rather interested, I held out and never bought one of these new coloring books, but then my husband gave me this cute English coloring book for Christmas. I wondered where on earth he found it, and then I learned a woman who works at a local gift shop called him to suggest that he might want to get me this for Christmas and kindly offered to hold one of these for him. I found that quite humorous!

It took me a few days to decide to go ahead and color one of the teacup pages in the book (other designs include vintage furniture, parasols, purses, and more). I haven't colored in ages, but I must admit this was fun!

Here's another of the book's teacup designs that I'm looking forward to coloring. I shared a couple of these photos on Facebook this week and was absolutely astonished to learn how many of my female friends had also received coloring books for Christmas. Did any of you?

"Downton Abbey" and the new Tea Time

The new issue of Tea Time magazine is simply delightful, and I was thrilled to see "Downton Abbey" on the cover. I'm so eager to see where Season 6 takes the show, and while I'm sad to see it end, I do believe shows are wise to "go out on top" rather than drag something out past its prime.

There is always much to ooh and aah over in Tea Time, and this time, I was bowled over by this lavish rose-themed table filled with Lady Carlyle china (I have a teacup!) and with napkins shaped into roses (hey, I did this very thing last month!). I also greatly enjoyed the feature by Bruce Richardson on "The Tea Things of Thomas Jefferson," partly because my Saturday project this year will focus on tea and American history. But I probably don't need to say any more about that until Saturday, right?

And how happy I was to see this article that included comments from Lady Fiona Carnarvon, the current countess of Highclere Castle, aka "Downton Abbey." I'm so excited about the show's return this Sunday night, and I'm wondering a number of things: How long must we wait for the wedding of Carson and Mrs. Hughes? Will Anna and Bates find happiness? Does Branson leave for America? Those are my top three "want to know" items. What are your top three?

Having a cup of cheer!

One of the old Christmas songs I love is "A Holly Jolly Christmas," preferably the classic Burl Ives version. One of the lines in the song says, "I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer." With temps in the seventies and thunderstorms and flooding, there was no snow in our Georgia forecast, but thanks to my family, I can honestly say I got lots of "cups of cheer" this Christmas. The most meaningful ones were these my husband and I received from grandchildren Bella and Owen. Owen decorated his "Pop's" mug…

And Bella decorated mine with an "A" and symbols of peace, love, and joy. I love these mugs! They came in a gift basket filled with shortbread, coffee for Pop, a cookbook for me, and a gift certificate for both of us to visit a tea room!

The other new tea mug I received was a gift from my husband. While I suspect he gets weary of my correcting the spelling and grammar on the evening news (about which I am not usually silent), I'm grateful he's good-natured about it.

Finally, my other "sipping" gifts came from my sister's family. She asked for some ideas of things I wanted, so I happily directed her to Walmart and the Pioneer Woman's beautiful new teal glassware! Pretty sure I'll be using these to serve iced tea and water in the new year.

And I don't believe I've ever seen glassware that included a mark like this on the bottom. It's nice to know I'll always remember who made (or at least, designed) these glasses! So what tea gifts did you get this year? I always love to hear!

Baking with what's on hand

Have you used up all the extra Christmas baking ingredients sitting around your house? My Sunday School class occasionally decides to have a potluck breakfast meal together, and while I was happy to learn we would do so once again on the Sunday after Christmas, I knew I didn't have it in me to go to the grocery store again. I had trouble coming up with something breakfasty to make with the ingredients I had on hand, but then I remembered I had some cream cheese and mini chocolate chips I needed to use up. So I looked online to see if there was a muffin recipe calling for cream cheese and chocolate chips, and I found this one.* These turned out so delicious, and I definitely try to file away anything that makes my husband say, "This one's a keeper." These muffins tasted so rich and creamy, and they were easy to whip up, too!

Since I'm already planning my first tea of 2016, I'm thinking I just may make these in mini muffin sizes to serve as one of the sweets at the tea. Have you thought about your first tea of the new year yet? I'd love to hear what you have in mind!

*I substituted whole milk for the cream in this recipe. I'll try it with the cream when I make these again, but I would not hesitate to substitute the whole milk, either!

Teatime Tale #52 — A Year of Teatime

A Year of Teatime

December 31, 3 p.m.

Dear Journal,

            I’m not sure I should tell Rick about my latest dream. Ever since Katie and Josh gave me that Old Country Roses tea set for Christmas last year, I seem to have been on a real tea kick, going to tea rooms, shopping for teawares, and sipping more cups of tea than ever before in my life. I can’t help believing that’s one reason tea has been a part of my dreams on quite a few nights this year.

            Thank goodness I’ve made a habit of writing them down, because otherwise I’d never have recalled all those odd tea dreams of the past year. I remember having that first dream where my teacups were jealous of each other. At least that one made me conscious of switching out my teacups and not using the same old ones over and over.

            Then around St. Patrick’s Day, I had that vivid dream about leprechauns magically disguising themselves on teacups and traveling to America from Ireland. How bizarre! And just this fall, after I visited Florida and took granddaughter Olivia to see Cinderella at the movies, I dreamed about going to an antiques shop where I spotted a poor but beautiful forgotten teapot and her ugly teapot stepsisters.

            I can’t believe that when I told Rick about that one, he gently suggested, “Marsha, maybe you need to collect something else — like first edition books.” Sourpuss.

            I have to say, though, that I was more than a little pleased when I got that new Old Country Roses casual style teapot from Katie, Josh, and the children on Christmas day. And of all things, that night, I dreamed that I wrote a book that included all these strange tea tales. Like anyone would ever read such a thing …

            Still, I’m glad my daughter’s family got me hooked on collecting teawares, and they have certainly gotten me addicted to “all this tea stuff,” as Rick puts it. He’s just saying that because now I’ve gotten our granddaughter hooked on teatime too.

            Just as she usually does, Katie arrived early for Christmas, and I was thrilled to have her here, but I was especially delighted to have our adorable grandchildren, Olivia and Ethan. I can’t believe Olivia is three. And it seems like only yesterday I was headed down to Florida and Katie was giving birth to baby Ethan. Five months old, already!

            I’m not sure I’ll ever understand exactly what Josh does for a living there in Florida — something to do with cyber security — and why he has to come up later in December, but I don’t mind having some quality time with Katie before her husband gets here.

            On Christmas Eve, Rick and I gave Olivia a cute little tin tea set in a cardboard case, and after she opened it, she and I had tea together every day until they left. I do enjoy my loose leaf teas, but I don’t think I’ve ever had any tea I enjoyed more than those pretend cups of tea — just regular tap water — I had with Olivia.

            This Christmas, my heart has been so full. Really, my whole year has been. As I look back at my entries from January, I see I’d forgotten how worried I was about everything. I was worried about the new baby coming. I was worried about not having a long enough list of New Year’s Resolutions. I was worried that I worried too much. Who was that woman? I don’t miss her.

            Looking back to one year ago, I think Rick and Katie were right when they said I worried too much. I gave up thinking life is all about racking up accomplishments, and while I haven’t quite conquered all my Type A tendencies, I do think I’m much better about letting things go. Don’t you, Journal Dear?

            I mean, I no longer harp on Rick about all those ballgames he watches at this time of year. (Plus, I don’t want him harping on me about all the tearooms I’ve started visiting.)

            I didn’t worry about whether or not I got my two-mile walk in every single day. (And interestingly enough, I’m ending the year ten pounds lighter. Go figure.)

            I see I had also vowed not to worry about whether Josh could afford for his wife to be a stay-at-home mom. Whatever his job is, he must be good at it, because he got a promotion, and they bought a new SUV right before the baby was born.

            So I think I’m probably through making lists of anxiety-producing New Year’s Resolutions, and I’m going to stick with my goal of not worrying about things. Life was so much easier this year.

            Besides, I like what the pastor said on Sunday about how worrying means we’re having “faith in the negative.” I’ve always said I put my faith in God, and it’s time I started living like it.

            Finally, Dear Journal, one thing I absolutely do not intend to worry over in the coming year is my newfound passion for teatime. I think I have had some sort of teatime almost every single day of the past year! I always thought teatime had to be a big production with invitations and a guest list. I’ve had some of those, sure, but some of my best teatimes were those quiet moments in the afternoon that I spent with a cup of hot tea, enjoying a book (or writing in this Journal), all by myself. I predict that’s a tradition that will continue for many, many years to come.

            So thank you, Dear Journal, for joining me on this journey for the past year, and since you’ve still got a few more blank pages inside, I’ll see you in the new year too!

Love,

Marsha          

           

Merry Christmas, tea friends!

Almost Christmas …

Having made my final trip to the grocery store for the week, I now have the day to slow down and take a deep breath before celebrating with family tomorrow. So here's how I'll be spending some of these last hours before Christmas Day:

• Sipping Christmas teas (of course)

• Making potato salad and green bean casserole, my contributions to the Christmas Day meal

• Finishing a new cozy mystery

• Beginning a new Christmas novel

• Reading through old Christmas issues of Victoria magazine from the mid-nineties

• Triple-checking my gift list to make sure every present makes it to the recipient

How will you spend the day? Is your Christmas Eve a busy one or a quiet one? I'd love to hear how everyone is spending the holidays (or "spent" the holidays, if you happen to read this blog post after the fact). However you spend them, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Handmade Christmas gifts from my New York pen pal!

Do you all like to receive handmade gifts for Christmas? I certainly do. I know from experience how much time and love goes into a handmade gift for someone, so for that reason, I was thrilled when my tea-loving pen pal in New York, Sandy, surprised me with a huge package of handmade goodies for Christmas, including this beautiful new Christmas apron!

And in matching fabric, there's a mini-potholder, something I have actually wanted for quite a while now. I once had a mini-potholder, just the right size for grabbing a hot handle on a teapot or teakettle, but I accidentally burned mine on the stove, ruining it. I am so happy to have this pretty new one, and I will be using it year-round!

Sandy also included this adorable yo-yo wreath. Now I can make yo-yos, so why have I not thought of making a yo-yo wreath? This is so charming!

Another gift that will be quite useful this winter is a neck warmer. It's pretty, yes (and the yarn Sandy chose is amazingly soft!), and even more important, it is just the perfect size for tucking into the big winter coat I will be wearing on my afternoon walks once the weather turns cold.

Finally, here you can see some pretty crocheted flowers she included as well as some festive Christmas napkins. Some of our family were here Monday for lunch, and I was looking around for some Christmasy napkins to use when I realized I had these pretty paper ones. Perfect! It was incredibly helpful to have these handy right there at the last minute, so I think I may follow her lead and give friends some pretty napkins next Christmas. As you can see, my pen pal was quite generous with her gifts *and* her time to me! Have you received any handmade Christmas gifts this year? Will you be giving any?

A "blue" Christmas of the best kind!

It's not even Christmas yet, and I've already been blessed with two lovely gifts from my fellow tea lover Margie in California!

First, this beautiful turquoise blue spoon (a/k/a, "Angela's new favorite tea scoop") arrived in the mail, and I marveled that a) it arrived in pristine condition (it was packaged very carefully) and b) that Margie so thoughtfully remembered my obsession with the turquoise/aqua blue color this year. How lovely!

A few days later, I got another package in the mail telling me Margie found some beautiful teapot ornaments when she went to tea recently, and she scooped these up for her tea friends. I am so honored to have received one! Thanks again for thinking of me, Margie!

The easiest shortbread ever!

I have made probably a half dozen different shortbread recipes in recent years, but these Shortbread Bites from Good Housekeeping are some of the most delicious bits of shortbread I've ever had! They are incredibly easy, and the recipe is here if you're looking for a fast sweet treat for teatime this week.

Flour, sugar, butter, and colorful nonpareils. If you've got those ingredients on hand, you're good to go.

I popped about five of these things in my mouth within minutes of getting them out of the oven, and I'd probably have eaten more except that I'm saving them for a family visit! I love the way these turned out, and it's occurred to me that by changing the colors of the nonpareils, I could make these for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, July Fourth, Thanksgiving and more!