Teacup Tales

Hello Tea Friends, I have been so excited to share this post with you. For the third time, I participated in sweet Stephanie's teacup exchange through her blog  The Enchanting Rose . Once again I'm overwhelmed with the creativity and generosity of my exchange partner. Sandy of  Simply Sandy  certainly spoiled me. Please, come take a look. Even with Hurricane Matthew raging, Sandy delivered an amazing assortment of tea related treasures.  She expertly managed to place all of the items in this pretty fall themed box~ a perfect storage for fall themed teacups. Orange is my favorite color and Sandy gifted me with a set of these pretty orange/white napkins which will be used for afternoon tea. So dainty! I love them. When I'm out at a restaurant and forget my tea, I always regret it. The selection is always so limited. Now I have this wonderful teabag holder from Stephanie's Etsy Shop  to hold my favorite teas. Love the lace pocke...

Hello Tea Friends, There are so many wonderful things about autumn!  One of them being pumpkins! (The pumpkin display to the left is from a local quilt show I attended at a garden nursery.) I love decorating with pumpkins and of course cooking with them. They seem to embody the "taste" of autumn. This year I decided I needed to bring the taste of pumpkin to my actual tea. While ordering more masala chai from adagio tea, I decided to try their pumpkin spice tea after reading positive online reviews. I don't know if I actually taste pumpkin, but there is a sweetness similar to one found in rooibis. It makes for a nice autumn tea and will complement many spiced baked treats. (Sorry for the rather blah photos.) Last week I baked chocolate chip pumpkin bread using a recipe I found on Pinterest. My family liked it, but I felt it was just "okay." The chocolate overshadowed the pumpkin taste in my opinion. So this weekend, I baked my tried and t...

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...

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...

"May we live long and share the beauty of the moon together, even if we are a hundred miles apart." ~ Unknown poet internet On September 27 many people around the world will be celebrating the Moon Festival also known as the Harvest Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Traditional celebrations take place on this date in China and other neighboring Asian countries. The Chinese have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang Dynasty (16th to 10th century B.C.) Moon Cakes are eaten on this night and given as gifts to family members and hosts. They are cut into wedges and served with tea.  Typically moon cakes are sold in tin squares and are individually wrapped. The fat content is epic! Many cakes are filled with lotus bean paste and an egg yolk. It doesn't take many wedges to fill your appetite. Not a great photo...but this is a photo I took in 2003 in the Sichuan area of China during the week of the...