Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 11

A treasure trove of tea accoutrements!

Last week, I spent a few days visiting my friend Kathy down in Statesboro, and when I settled in at "my" room (featuring beautiful antique iron beds and vintage quilts),  I noticed two full plastic baggies on the bed I always use, and "Angela" was written on one of them. "Is that a tea strainer?" I thought, but I literally plopped my bags down and joined Kathy and her husband, John, in the living room and didn't give it another thought until late that night when I was getting ready for bed. Then, I realized what a treasure trove of tea accessories she was giving me!

I knew she'd been cleaning out for a neighborhood yard sale that's coming up soon, but my goodness, I hit the jackpot! She included tea strainers …

And teaspoons and jam spreaders …

And napkin rings …

And adorable little chair-shaped place card holders, among many other things. Thank goodness I recently bought a fresh jar of Wright's Silver Cream! People don't always love hand-me-downs, but I sure love these!

Shopping alert: New teapot shopping bags

I learned years ago that when I spot those pretty 99-cent shopping bags with teapots on them, I need to grab a handful. They're useful not only for toting things around but also for gift bags for large gifts: puzzles, fleece throws, and pillows are just a few of the things that I've "wrapped" in these bags over the years. So when I spotted these at T.J. Maxx this week, I grabbed five. I may grab five more next time I see them!

The teapots caught my eye, of course.

And the Staffordshire dogs and other china pieces are cute as well. So if you like to use such shopping bags as gift bags, too, I just wanted you to know about these so you can run get them before the non-teapot-appreciating public gets their grubby little hands on them. Have a great weekend, friends!

Checking out a new coffee (and tea) shop

I'd been seeing the sign above a shop in neighboring Peachtree City, so last Saturday morning, I packed up a journal and some pens (I've been in a writing mood) and headed to Beignets & Brew, which promises "New Orleans–style beignets."

I tried the Turtle Beignets, which were covered in caramel, cream cheese, chocolate, and pecans. While these were nothing like the beignets I remember eating at Café du Monde in New Orleans on my honeymoon, they were nonetheless quite decadent! (I recommend skipping a meal if you decide to order these.)

And for sipping, I ordered the Sugar Cookie Chai, which was delicious even though it made me think of a Christmas treat (and this was still March). The beignets were something I would order again if I had a girlfriend along to share them, and the chai was something I would definitely order by myself. Have you heard of Beignets & Brew? If so, any favorites?

New tea-themed kitchen towels

Over the weekend, I was at Marshalls buying a gift for a friend when I came across some cute new pink kitchen towels. I thought it was just one or two, but when I pulled these out of the packed-to-the-max rack of towels hanging there, it was a package of three, and these are those nice thick ones!

I often see these with teapots and teacups on them, but teakettles are kind of different!

And it was just $9.99 for the set of three, so I thought these were a really good buy if you happen to be looking for some new kitchen towels. And while my Easter decor will again be mostly vintage stuff, I wanted to let you know that Marshalls also had an Easter bunny *snow globe* in a pink teacup as well as a stack-of-teacups figurine with a lamb popping out of the top teacup, so if you're in the market for some cute new spring decor, you may want to pay a visit to Marshalls!

New artwork that I just love!

I promise that I won't share every single drawing my little neighbor makes for me, but when she rang the doorbell yesterday and handed me this and a hug, I was delighted! (And I love her "so! so! so! much!" too.) I'm pretty sure that word in the middle of the drawing means "color."

And I strongly suspect these are the M&M cookies from our tea party earlier in the week. What a sweet way to kick off the weekend!

Experimenting with gluten-free flour

At Christmas, a new friend came over for tea and cookies, and I was horrified to learn she eats gluten-free and that I had only one type of cookie she could eat! I hope to have her and a few other friends over for tea again this spring, so I decided it was time to experiment with making some gluten-free cookies. I also wanted to use up these pastel M&M's so that I'll quit eating them, so I made gluten-free M&M Easter cookies!

Another friend had recently told me about this King Arthur gluten-free flour, and while a bag of it isn't cheap (about $10), it was a must.

I used a favorite sugar cookie recipe and quickly plopped some M&M's on top after they baked. All the online reviewers of the M&M cookies said it's hard to get the candies to stick, and that was indeed the case. So I made only a few of the "bunny ear" cookies and just went all lazy on the others.

When my little neighbor friends came over for tea yesterday, I got them to be my taste testers, and they liked the cookies, although both of them promptly plucked out every single one of the M&M's, ate the cookie, and then ate the M&M's. Any tips on baking with gluten-free flours? Any recipes I should check out? Advice would be most welcome!

Crafting and a fun new tea!

Friday and Saturday were my crafting days with the local Lutheran ladies who welcomed me into their (crafting) fold last year, and I managed to finish the felt Easter egg I *should* have finished last year. Here, I have my Tervis tumbler full of Earl Grey tea. I love to take a Tervis when I travel and plan on sipping tea away from home, as it's so handy, unbreakable, and keeps my tea hot.

So I finished stitching the lavender egg and will hopefully embroider a mint-green one before Easter!

While I was there, a dear friend gave me several surprises, including this tea with a fun backstory. Her brother is an actor, and fellow actor Pierce Brosnan served him this tea, and when she heard about it, she decided to get some for both of us!

Huckleberry-flavored tea is a new one on me, and it was as delicious as it sounds! Some call huckleberries "wild blueberries," and the taste was indeed reminiscent of blueberries but with a softer, less-tart taste, and the Nilgiri tea itself seemed to stand out most. What a fun surprise!

A simple coffee shop solution for tea!

My friend Joanna and I meet up every few months at a local coffee shop, Foxtail Coffee, and when we met this week, I ordered my usual: a chocolate croissant and some tea. This time, it was their Southern Peach Tea, described as "high-quality black tea from the Assam Valley of India blended with ginger, peach, flower petals, and dried apricot pieces." It was delicious!

I love this coffee shop, but as so often happens in such shops, they steep the tea and leave the tea bag in the cup. This time, I was delighted to find my tea was double cupped. I don't know whether this was by accident or by design, but once I realized my tea tasted just right, I plopped the tea bag into the second cup. Problem solved. From now on, when I order tea in a coffee shop, I am going to ask for a spare cup so I'll have somewhere to place the tea bag!

"A Cup of Love" — The kids' verdict

 

The preschool at my church held a book fair recently, and I heard about it and wandered downstairs prior to our Wednesday night prayer meeting two weeks ago. While the cup on the cover didn't necessarily look like a teacup, I decided this might be a fun book to read to my little neighborhood friends when they come over for tea. It's a sweet tale in which the mom and dad are going out for a date night, and the little girl wants to go, too, because she'll miss them, but of course she must stay home. Dad uses a pitcher (representing him and Mom) and four cups (representing the little girl and her three siblings) and explains the importance of pouring into others the love God has poured into us. Then he prays with his daughter as he tucks her into bed. I thought the message about relationships with family and with God was just lovely.
So my little friends, ages seven and six, came over yesterday and requested more of that blueberry rooibos tea we had the other day, and I happily obliged. Then I asked if they would let me read them a story and see what they thought about it. My prediction was that the little girl would love it and her little brother would get antsy.
I sat between them and tried to use my best reading voice, making the characters sound interesting and eager as I performed the voices. When I was finished, I asked my little gentleman friend what he thought. "Cool! I liked it!" he said. (He'd really been into the book, studying the cartoonish designs on each page.) Then I asked his sister, and she just shrugged. So I pressed. "You didn't like it?" She seemed as if she didn't want to hurt my feelings (and I wasn't particularly invested in the outcome), then she said, "No, not really."
So I just found that interesting! I still think it's a good book with a godly, wholesome message, but it did strike me that while the one who liked it most is just six, his sister is almost eight, and I'm betting this book was a little too simple for her. Still, it was an interesting experiment, and I'm glad to have another nice book about "cups" to add to my collection of children's books.

New tea-themed stamps and dies from Honey Bee Stamps

What an interesting Saturday! The weather forecast said we would definitely be seeing downed trees and probably some tornadoes, so I spent Saturday making sure I had flashlights and candles out, all the laundry done, and some bottled water and crackers in a bag in the downstairs bath in case I had to hide there and the house got blown away. I'm ready to meet the Lord whenever he chooses, yet still, it's interesting to think about what you would do in the case of a truly life-altering event. So when only some heavy winds breezed through that night, I was thrilled. I bounced between the local weather forecast and Hallmark mysteries, and while I waited, I colored!

A few weeks ago, I found these teapot and teacup stamps and dies from Honey Bee Stamps online and knew immediately that I would get a lot of use out of them. The black-and-white-teapot sample card they showed reminded me of those pretty Mackenzie-Childs wares, and other cards they showed are frillier and have rhinestones and pastel coloring.

I also want to make a card with this cute tea bag stamp, but Saturday night, I just colored flowers for the teapots. I didn't want to bring a whole bunch of supplies downstairs for the night, and hallelujah, the weather ended up being much milder than expected. Happily, I have some new cards to show for it! Did you have bad weather over the weekend? Since my town had so much damage this time four years ago, my heart goes out to those who were affected by the weekend's storms!