Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

It’s been many years since I last read this book by Lewis Carroll. 

This particular book is from the Dalmatian Press Great Classics for Children series.  Of course I turned to Chapter Seven first to read A Mad Tea Party.

 

Most of the illustrations are pen and ink drawings by Jason Alexander.

This Mad Hatter looks more bemused than mad. 

This is a cute illustration of the Dormouse.

Too bad I can’t interest my grandsons in this book, but there are many classics more suited to the tastes of rough and tumble boys.

Tea Cozy (also spelled Cosy)

Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn’t try it on.     - Billy Connolly

This was the first tea cozy I ever used.  It was given to me as a gift in 1969 by a  sweet older lady (Nellie) and it was hand knit by her.  I haven’t used it in years because it is very badly stained and even has a couple of burn marks.  Funny how I can’t seem to part with it though.

The most popular legend of the invention of the tea cozy comes from Ireland in the 1600s.  One night a farmer was eating his dinner and leaned across the table for something.  His hat fell off and landed on top of his teapot.  When he removed it later to pour his tea, he realized that the hat had kept the tea warm.  The farmer’s industrious wife made the first official teapot cover and called it a “cosy’. 

I have another cozy that I never use for the opposite reason.  It is too pretty and I don’t want it getting tea stained and ratty like my first one.

   

This cozy was cross-stitched for me by my hubby.  It has my monogram and some cute little teapot, bee and butterfly charms.

Isn’t it a pretty tea cozy?

 

The Duchess at Rose Tea Cottage has bestowed a title on me.  I’m now an Honorary Noble Of The Most Excellent Order Of The Blog Empire.  Thank you very much.

Children’s Tea

Since my grandson seemed to really enjoy his visit to Tea At Seven Springs last week, I thought it would be nice to have a special tea with him at home.  This will be a little treat for him before he goes back to school on Aug. 3.  He loves the scones I make, but he refuses to try the tea.  I found something that may change his mind.

This made for children tea is an organic herbal berry tea with real dried honey.  It contains hibiscus, Rooibos, chamomile, lemon myrtle and natural flavor.  You can find Davidson's Tea here.  They also have children’s Christmas tea and special double walled insulated cups in a 5 oz. size.  These would be perfect for boys who wouldn’t feel comfortable using a dainty cup and saucer.

They also sell the Emma Lea’s books on their site – Emma Lea’s First Tea Party and Emma Lea’s Magic Teapot. 

Today I also found a cute little box of Too Good Gourmet tea for myself.  I thought their packaging was adorable.

  

It contains six tea bags of black tea with lemon flavoring.  I couldn’t pass it up at Marshalls since it had been reduced several times and ended up costing 70 cents.  The Too Good Gourmet company has so many products with wonderful packaging that are perfect for gift giving.  I’ll soon be ordering some Christmas goodies from them.

PG Tips Monkey Swing Band

I remember seeing this commercial on television many years ago. PG Tips is an enjoyable cuppa and I think it’s time to order some more online.

While searching for the best place to buy this tea, I opened the official website for PG Tips and watched their latest monkey add featuring the music of David Rose and his orchestra. It is quite a humorous and fun add. Who would have thought that monkeys would sell tea, but I guess it works for PG Tips.

Check out their Monkey Shop where you can buy monkey t-shirts, golf club covers, slippers, etc.

A Strange Little Teapot

 

This curious teapot was used by the Jasmine Tea Room in Sharpsburg, GA.  I was there enjoying lunch with Angela from Tea With Friends.  We both thought that it was odd that the teapot had no lid and quite a large opening on the top.  Since there was no tea cozy to keep the beverage hot,  a gaping opening on the top was not a good thing.

It was also interesting that they had the string from the teabag wrapped several times around the handle, making it quite inconvenient to remove the bag.  Not too much of a problem for me since my tea disappeared rather quickly from such a small pot and didn’t have a chance to over steep.

After a little research online, I did find a couple of restaurant supply companies that sell these pots.  They are sold by the case (12) and are in the $10 apiece range.   They do have some good qualities, being very sturdy, oven and microwave safe and vitrified.  But nowhere could I find any information on why it was designed this way.  Does anyone have any ideas?

Despite the odd teapots  Jasmine Tea Room at Collectors' Corner  is a fun place to lunch and hunt for unique gifts (downstairs) and antiques and collectibles (upstairs).

 

Tea Bag Facial

I’ve heard that tea bags can cure puffy eyes.  Place a moist tea bag over each eye and relax for about 20 minutes.  Combine with other facial treatments to make the best use of this time.  The swelling around the eyes should disappear and your eyes will return to their former pretty appearance.

Have any of you tried this technique and if so, how would you rate the results?

My used tea bags (tea only - not bag) have been going into the garden to enrich my rose bush.  Now they can do double duty as a beauty treatment and a garden amendment.

 

Tea Room Visit

Today my husband, grandson and I visited Tea At Seven Springs in Powder Springs, GA.  This was our second visit to this tea room.  We arrived without a reservation (they weren’t very busy) and were seated right away at the same corner table that we had on our first visit.  We ordered our tea – Lady Catherine and Paris – which are both made by Harney and Sons Fine Tea.  www.harney.com 

 

Both teas were good (although they were not very hot when they arrived at our table) and I decided to bring home a tin of Paris tea.  The tea menu describes it as “In homage to the City of Lights, a blend of Oil of Bergamot, Black Currant and warm notes of vanilla.  Can be complemented with milk and sugar.” 

The surroundings were pleasant with mismatched china and furniture.  The tables had pretty layered linens.

One of the blogs I read – www.bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com -had just had a post about collecting china and mentioned that it was nice to use mismatched cups and saucers.  As you can see Tea At Seven Springs puts this idea into practice with their china collection.

I enjoyed a light afternoon tea which included tomato basil soup with croutons and cheese biscuit, pasta salad, chicken salad on a croissant, frozen fruit salad, scone, fresh fruit, and a pot of tea ($13.95).  Everything was delicious.  Christian had a special children’s plate which had a flower shaped pb&j  sandwich and assorted treats.  The lemonade was served in his own colorful little teapot.  Hubby had bacon, lettuce and tomato on pumpernickel bread with chips.

The scones were so good that we brought four home to enjoy this evening (white chocolate almond, cinnamon, seven fruit and raisin).

There is an area at the side of the building with outdoor wrought iron tables and chairs for those who like to take their tea outdoors.  There is lots of free parking at the back of the tea room.

Across the street is an interesting used book store and an antique and ladies clothing shop.  I’m already regretting that I didn’t buy a large white palm leaf shaped serving tray with gold trim and a metal handle in the center for only $8.50.

You can find lots of information at the website www.teaatsevensprings.com  Since it is only an hour and a quarter drive from my home, I’m sure I’ll be back there soon to enjoy another afternoon tea.