If you love tea time and blue and white china, then you won’t want to miss the latest issue of Tea Time Magazine.
The photos are lovely and there are lots of ideas for birthday teas, tea on the porch and much more.
I’m thoroughly enjoying this issue of one of my “favorite” magazines. Hopefully, things will settle down for a while (no vacations, family weddings or health issues) and I can get back to visiting all my blogger friends. ☺
Just finished reading the latest book (14th) in one of my favorite series – A Tea Shop Mystery by Laura Childs. The lovely city of Charleston, SC is the location for these mysteries and Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop, is the main character (along with co-workers Drayton and Haley).
In this installment, Theo’s flighty friend Delaine Dish is left at the alter when her groom to be is found dead in his suite at the Ravenscrest Inn just minutes before their wedding. So begins another murder investigation for Theodosia, this time at the request of the bereaved bride.
I love how the daily workings of the Tea Shop are intertwined with her ongoing investigation. One of my favorites this time was Drayton’s Scottish Tea for the Highlanders’ Club. It included a great menu with cock-a-leekie soup, smoked salmon tea sandwiches, shortbread, scones and more. He even convinced Haley to prepare cupcakes with tartan designs.
There are always lots of ideas for teatime table settings and menus, along with recipes and tea resources at the back of the book (including Peach Scones, Drayton’s Cock-a-Leekie Soup and Haley’s Espresso Bars). I’d definitely go broke eating lunch at the Indigo Tea Shop everyday if it was a real place. ☺
The murder mystery itself is exciting and entertaining, although I’m never as concerned with “who done it” as I am with just relaxing into the story with its great location and characters.
You might enjoy watching a Sweet Tea Revenge trailer and exploring the Tea Shop Mystery series, if you aren’t already a big fan like me. I should also mention that Laura Childs has a couple of other book series – Cackleberry Club Mysteries and Scrapbooking Mysteries.
A while back I mentioned a pattern that I admired in Just CrossStitch magazine that I asked hubby to stitch for me.
It is a lovely red transferware teapot that is the first in a six part series. The designer of this elegant pattern is Donna Giampa.
After completing an adorable “baby's first lock of hair” keepsake piece for my daughter, hubby has begun work on my transferware teapot pattern choice.
I can see already that this will be one of my favorites - it will be gorgeous. Then I’ll have the challenge of choosing the right frame and mat, a task my hubby always assigns to me. A fair trade off, don’t you think?
And just in case you wanted to see the piece he did for our new granddaughter, I’ve shown a section of it above. It is quite cute with the garland held by two birds (you can see where it has a little space in the center for the lock of hair) and the bunny wielding a pair of scissors. It also includes her name and birth date. Now all we need is the lock of hair. ☺
For all of you that love your Keurig machines and also drink tea, this honey enhanced K-Cup tea is a terrific idea. I like to add honey to my tea occasionally as a special treat.
From the True Honey Teas website:
K-Cups have been around for years now, becoming an easy and convenient addition to millions of kitchens around the country. While it has made it easier to make a cup of coffee or tea, one thing still alludes this 'all in one' device: the fact that you still have to add creamer or sweeteners afterward.
After getting my first Keurig machine 8 months ago (and falling in love with it!), I grew tired of this extra step. One day, I was looking at a jar of honey next to my Keurig machine and it occurred to me, "why can't the sweetener just be added into the K-Cup?"
I’m looking forward to learning which teas with honey will be offered in these new Keurig K-Cups.
One of my favorite series of cookbooks is Company's Coming by Jean Paré. I’ve been using her recipe for banana bread for years now.
It is quick and easy to put together and the results are consistently good. My eldest grandson loves this bread (without nuts) and warns everyone not to eat any more bananas once there are only three left in the bowl. The bananas can be really ripe and black - as long as they aren’t fermenting, they’re good to go. ☺
Banana Bread
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add mashed bananas and blend in.
In second bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add to banana mixture and stir till just moistened. Transfer batter to a greased 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350° for about an hour until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and place on a rack to cool.
This bread is yummy with a nice cup of strong black tea.
We welcomed another precious granddaughter to our family yesterday. This is my younger daughter’s first child. It was such a blessing to be a part of her labor and delivery. She did an amazing job. Mom and baby are doing really well.
Now I have two sweet little granddaughters to have tea parties with. What fun for Nana. ☺ Of course, there is no reason I can’t instill a love of tea in my two grandsons either.
These Tea Time pajamas are really cute and comfortable for the warmer weather.
The colors are bright and cheerful and the fabric is easy care. You can find them at Walmart.
For those of you that shop at Sam’s Club, they have a nice skort named Green Tea Active Skort. I picked up a pair in the knit fabric and liked them so much that I’m going back to get a pair in the other lighter weight fabric.
These should be great for vacation. They look like a little skirt, but with the attached shorts they’ll be comfortable for lots of activities where a skirt wouldn’t be practical. They are available in several colors and you can find them online here. The $13.98 price tag is nice too.
