Canada Teapots and Summer Bargains

Although I didn’t buy any cups or teapots in Canada, I added two teapots to my collection.

My sister-in-law found this little collectible Tetley teapot for me at a yard sale.  It was a Tetley Tea promotional item in Canada and was available by sending in product UPC’s.  I remember seeing this a while back, but wasn’t able to order it from the USA.

Since I already had a Tetley Teapot and a collectors tin, I now have a collection.

The tin has a lot of interesting teapots pictured with dates.

The other teapot that I brought back from my trip was one that had belonged to my favorite Aunt, Betty.  My uncle said he wanted me to have this tea for one set.

This “Strawberries” pattern has been discontinued for a while.

My summer bargains were all found at Belk.  This is my favorite department store.  I buy most of my clothes there when they have their red line clearance sales.  This weekend they are having an additional 50% off the clearance price sale.  I was able to purchase four items for my Grandson, six tops (two evening) for my daughter-in-law and five items for myself including a lovely pair of Life Stride dress sandals for the bargain price of less than $100.  That was a saving of $366.8l – wow!

Of course I came home ravenous and made a quick lunch – chicken salad on whole wheat with lettuce and tomato, homemade sweet pickles, grapes, arrowroot biscuits and Earl Grey tea.

 

The Arrowroot biscuits also came from Canada.  They are my favorite cookie to enjoy with a cup of tea – not too sweet.  Of course they must be dunked in the hot tea for maximum enjoyment.

There doesn’t seem to be a similar cookie available in Georgia.  Maybe I’ll have to ask relatives to ship them to me.

You can find these biscuits online here.

Royal Albert Buckingham Series teacup

This week I’m showing another Royal Albert teacup.  This cup and saucer is from the Buckingham series that was introduced 1970s-1980s.

 

These teacups come in pink, blue, gold, turquoise, dark green, green and red.  To me, the blue and gold cups are particularly exquisite.  I’m finding that teacups that come in series with several colors are very appealing, although I’ve never collected a whole series.

This color is actually a little darker than it appears in some of these photos.

The teacup is in the pretty Gainsborough shape.

The intricate gold patterns on these cups are really gorgeous.

To see lots more Teacup Tuesday posts, please visit Terri and Martha at their lovely blogs.

Royal Albert Regal Series teacup

Royal Albert was founded in 1894 by Thomas Clark Wild and is well known for its fine quality bone china.  The Royal Albert Regal series was introduced in 1970.  

 

This series includes the black cup shown, as well as blue, hot pink, teal, yellow, green, forest green, purple and red.

This teacup has a lovely gold cascade overlay that is quite striking on the black and white.

Royal Albert china is now a part of WWRD (Waterford, Wedgwood & Royal Doulton).  There is a wonderful 100 Years of Royal Albert 10- piece teacup and saucer set here.

Please visit Terri and Martha  at their beautiful blogs for lots more Teacup Tuesday posts.

Bewley’s Dublin Morning Tea

One of the places I visited in Canada was Port Perry.  My brother and I stopped there for lunch and a little shopping.  I discovered that BELT sandwiches are really good (bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato), especially when rolled up in a tortilla.

There didn’t seem to be any shops with English bone china teacups, but there was an interesting Tartan shop.  I learned that Rogers does not have it’s own tartan.

My brother knows how much I enjoy trying different kinds of tea, so he bought me a box of Bewley’s Dublin Morning Tea at the Wee Tartan Shop.  Bewley’s was the first company to import tea directly to Ireland.  Samuel and Charles (his son) Bewley shipped 2,099 chests from the tea gardens of China.

Bewley’s has been blending tea since 1840.  You can check out their website here.  I’ve always liked this type of robust black tea and I knew that I’d enjoy this blend of teas from Africa. 

This is Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin.  I always think of this nursery rhyme when I see ha’penny (half a penny).

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

You can take a virtual tour of Bewley’s Café, Grafton Street, Dublin at their website.

This small mug seemed perfect for the Dublin Morning tea.

It was either a yard sale or thrift shop find that I picked up a while ago.

This tea bag holder (from Luke’s For Home) was added to my collection that day.  I liked the shape and the pure white color.

Susie Cooper (1902-1995) bone china

I’m continuing the glimpse into my sister-in-laws china cupboard with a very elegant bone china teacup by Susie Cooper.

Susie Coopers work includes her early earthenware pieces, right through Art Deco and the elegant bone china of her Wedgwood period.   Her career spanned seven decades.  She died in 1995 at the age of 93.

Like her contemporary, Clarice Cliff, she was one of the most important and influential designers of the twentieth century.

Her influence is seen in some of the shapes she introduced to china production, including the can and kestrel shapes.

This cup and saucer bears the Wedgwood Group mark used between 1950-1966.

There are several books listed on Amazon featuring the career and designs of Susie Cooper.

For more Teacup Tuesday posts please visit Terri and Martha at their beautiful blogs.

 

National Peach Month

Since I live in the peach state and August is National Peach Month, I though I’d share something from the Cottage Journal newsletter.  Doesn’t this peach tart look luscious?  The newsletter is from Hoffman Media, publisher of some of my favorite magazines including Teatime, Victoria, Southern Lady and others.

If you’d like the recipe for Summer Fruit and Goat Cheese Mousse Tart plus lots more pretty photos, recipes and articles you can sign up for the Cottage Journal newsletter here.

You can also find a great method for making Peach Iced Tea using fresh peaches at Green-Tea-Health-News here.

The Old Curiosity Tea Shop

My recent trip to Canada did include one tea room visit. 

This is a Victorian style tea room in downtown historic Markham Village.  There is a copious collection of pretty tea wares on every surface, rich colored walls and dark furniture.

I called ahead and made a reservation for the “afternoon tea for two” at $20 per person.   

My teacup was in the lovely Royal Albert Lady Carlyle pattern.  I like the feminine color and pattern of this cup and saucer.

.

Are you trying to figure out why this table has a pole coming out of it?  We had the special garden table placed in the large front bay window, complete with sun umbrella and main street views.

After ordering our tea – Victorian Markham (house blend) for me and Royal Bengal Tiger for my sister-in-law, our first tray arrived.  The sandwiches were deliciously fresh and included ham, cucumber, salmon mousse and egg.

Then the warm fragrant currant scones arrived.  I like the traditional type scones and these were great.  There was thick Devonshire cream and four varieties of preserves, including gooseberry and apricot.  There were a couple of English chocolate covered biscuits.  Perfect, since I would rather have the sandwiches and scones and less sweets.

This tea room has over 80 kinds of loose tea on the menu and they also have an online tea shop that you can visit here.  There is a new product called “Smart Tea” which is a blend of green teas selected for maximum health benefits.

I was really wishing that I could return another day for lunch.  They offer steak and kidney pie (one of my favorites), as well as sausage rolls, Welsh Rarebit, and shepherd’s pie.  They have English salad cream as their house dressing and English baked beans as one of their sides.

This lovely tea room has been in business for well over ten years.  I would certainly recommend it to fellow tea lovers, or anyone else looking for a delicious lunch in a distinctive atmosphere.