Teacup Tales

Hello Tea Friends, Hope you are enjoying the magic of the season and not feeling the stresses that can be attributed to Christmas. This year I acknowledge that I'm pretty behind with shopping and cards, but I'm trying my best not to let this dampen my spirits. Last night I listened to some classical Christmas music and finally sat down to address my cards.  I set out a plate of peppermint bark, Danish butter cookies, along with a cup of fantastic white tea. Wednesday night I made a large cookie sheet of peppermint bark. I broke the pieces and wrapped them in cellophane bags. Makes a nice simple gift! This is all that is left...I definitely need to make some more. Last July I had the pleasure of experiencing afternoon tea at  Tea's Me Tearoom  in Hillsboro, Oregon. It remains the best food I've ever enjoyed in a tea room.  White Christmas Tea   I've been really eager to try more white teas recently. Even during a Ju...

I hope all of you are enjoying the start of the Christmas season. Our weather has cooled considerably and we are now finally able to wear sweaters.  It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... ~The house is decorated and the outside lights went up yesterday. ~I certainly haven't finished my shopping, but I know what I want to gift each person on my list. ~I want to "treat" myself to a new Nativity scene. Growing up I had one with a lit background for the stars. I would like one in that style again. I've been looking on amazon. ~I've cut out some new cookie recipes from HGTV magazine and Southern Living. I really want to try and bake the red velvet cake featured on the December issue of Tea Time Magazine. I look forward to a big baking day soon. After teacup collecting, ornaments are second on my list of favorite collectibles. I love glass ornaments! I also look for ornaments while on vacation and each Christmas we choose an ornament that represents s...

Ruth W. is the winner of the adagio Holiday tea sampler! Please email me your mailing address and I'll ship your tea. (The link to my email address is on my profile page.) Enjoy and congratulations! Thanks to everyone that entered the giveaway. My next giveaway will be in February in celebration of Teacup Tales's first anniversary.

Welcome December! A month of decorating, cooking, entertaining, gift giving and of course tea drinking is heading our way! No matter how much I plan and organize, this month remains a busy one. My goal is to remember the real reason for the season and simply just enjoy being in the moment. Today's featured teacup is Royal Albert's Flower of the Month December cup and saucer: Christmas Rose This teacup and saucer features a Lenten rose, holly and berries. The cup shape is Montrose. I've been wanting to collect this series for some time and purchased my first (this) one last December on ebay. Next I would like to add the June teacup to my collection since it is my birth month, but the prices are pretty high for this series. Here's a pictorial link:  Royal Albert Flower of the Month Series Royal Albert began producing this series in 1970. Well, this December teacup needs some tea. So what better teas than holiday ones?...

Greetings Tea Friends, During the fall and winter months, my desire to bake and my intake of desserts definitely increases. Desserts provide comfort on cold nights along with a pot of tea. Too often the dessert teas I've tried have been overly sweet and artificial tasting. I feel as if I need to drink a glass of water afterward. I am happy to report my dessert tea dilemma has been solved thanks to a tea from  Plum Deluxe . Plum Deluxe sells organic loose leaf teas and is located in Portland, Oregon.  The owner, Andy Hayes, reached out to me to sample some of his teas and now I'm delighted to share Coconut Macaron Dessert Tea with you.  (sorry for the glare) The ingredients are organic black tea, honeybush tea, Rooibos tea, coconut pieces and natural almond essence. The steeped tea is golden brown in color with a scent and taste of light caramel.  I look forward to serving this tea after holiday dinners with dessert. It will complement not overpower de...

Hello Tea Friends, I'm looking forward to sharing a wonderful new dessert tea with all of you next week. I've been swamped with work these last two weeks and haven't had the chance to do a proper post. So sorry! Funny how work gets in the way of life. I hope to visit your blogs this week though. Until next week, Nora 

Welcome Tea Friends to November! I thought I would try something new this week. Last month or so I read an interesting post on  doodles 'n' daydreams  titled "The Simple Woman's Daybook." I've always enjoyed journaling and thought this would be a nice exercise for myself and something to share with all of you. Sometimes it's healthy for us to get out of our "blogging" comfort zone. Hope you enjoy seeing a little glimpse into my life.  See you next week at our regular tea time, Nora For today... Sunday, November 1 Outside my window... to the left the branches of the pomegranate tree are bowing with the weight of the fruit. There's much less fruit on the tree this year, but the pomegranates we have are large and a beautiful burgundy color. To the right, the leaves of my Japanese maple tree are dry and curling at the edges. I'm hoping it's just due to fall and not drought related. I am thinking... it's time I should m...

Greetings Tea Friends, I hope this post finds you in good spirits and enjoying the blessings of autumn. I am enjoying the subtle changes in the garden. We are still experiencing temperatures in the high 80's so the roses are flourishing. The cut roses here are from my Pinata rosebush. It's always a surprise which colors will bloom. As many of you know, Shelley teacups are my favorites. Their artistry is remarkable! A while ago I was on a mission to find an antique Shelley to add to my collection. Of course I found many on ebay and Etsy, but the costs were quite prohibitive.  A couple of months ago I did find an antique Shelley ~ very simple but still an antique! So this brings us to our featured teacup...a Late Foley Shelley in the Star Border pattern (#10333). Gainsborough Shape I have learned this "pattern was entered in the Shelley pattern book during or after 1908 and was still in production in 1919 when numbers were transferred from the ...

The Farmers' Market is the perfect place to witness the bounties of each season. I like starting the weekend with a visit to our local farmer's market Saturday mornings. Apples were the choice fruit! I purchased organic Gala apples and decided to make an apple crisp with them. When choosing apples, I do buy organic due to the high levels of pesticides found in the non-organic ones. The stand was selling Gala, Fuji and MacIntosh. I thought the Gala apples would add some natural sweetness to the crisp. Since I made a several cobblers over the summer, I was looking for a crisp with a different crumb topping. I found a recipe online (surprisingly) from Rachael Ray's sister. What I liked about this recipe was the graham cracker crumb topping. It was a nice change from the traditional oat one. Here's the  recipe  and how I tweaked it a bit. -I used eight small Gala apples. -I baked the crisp in a deep dish pie plate. -I omitted the white sugar. -I us...

Dear Tea Friends, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in Stephanie's Teacup and Mug Exchange through her incredible blog,  The Enchanting Rose . This was my first time participating and I chose to exchange a teacup. Stephanie played matchmaker and each participant was given the address of our match and some basic likes of our "soon to be new friend."  I had the honor of sending a package to Lynn who has an amazing blog,  Quaker Hill Farm . Because of this exchange, I discovered her blog which features her beautiful home in Indiana and her talented crafts. Check out her pretty painted pumpkin post! I feel blessed to have made a new friend. I have been so eager to share about the package I received a couple of weeks ago! After opening a nicely decorated large box, I discovered that Stephanie herself  sent the package! I feel as if I won the jackpot of teacup exchanges as Stephanie certainly spoiled me with many one of a kind items. Come take a look an...

Welcome to October! Finally there have been hints of fall in the air with cooler mornings, two quick rain showers and earlier sunsets. Still we are having eighty degree temperatures forecasted for this week. This weekend I took the Halloween tubs out of the shed. This year I'm going for more of a fall theme in terms of decorations vs. a Halloween one. I put many items back in the tubs. The nice thing is the fall decorations can be left out for Thanksgiving as well. I absolutely love the colors of fall! My own wardrobe has many orange and brown items in it. There is something soothing about peach and tan hues. On Saturday I set up a simple tea time under the pergola in the backyard; hence this will be a simple post. Come join me for some cinnamon raisin bread and Stash's Chai Tea. Costco sells really thick sliced raisin bread- a nice sweet and quick morning treat with tea. (Sorry for the poorly lit photos. Too many shadows in the early light.) Today...