Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 114

"Hissing Cousins" … and some tea tidbits of note

One of the best things about being in a book group is being inspired to read books you otherwise might not have delved into. I do enjoy history, though, so I was pleased when my online book group decided to read Hissing Cousins: The Lifelong Rivalry of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
Eleanor and Alice were first cousins. Alice was the daughter of a president, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt married a man who became a wartime president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was her fifth cousin. The family tree is a little challenging to follow at first, but once you get that straight, the book offers some quite entertaining portraits of two very different women on opposite sides of the political aisle. Alice—or "Princess Alice," as she was known when she was younger—comes across as a devil-may-care woman who liked to have a good time and be right in the middle of all the action. Eleanor, on the other hand, comes across as the more serious cousin and devoted to serving those less fortunate, although she wasn't without her flaws. I like that authors Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer paint neither woman as a saint, showing them both warts and all, which makes the book quite believable.
And while I was certainly not looking for any tea references in this book, I was surprised to find quite a few. Such as:
• Theodore Roosevelt was not happy when he saw advertisements in his morning newspaper noting that the First Daughter would be in a "portrait show" benefiting a hospital in New York. He telegrammed: "They distinctly convey the impression that any person who wishes to pay five dollars may be served with tea by you and Ethel Barrymore. I cannot consent to such use of your name and must ask you not to serve tea." Alice didn't listen to her father, and she did serve the tea.
• As a young girl, Eleanor spent much time at her Aunt Bye's house, "drinking tea and nibbling cookies in the maid's sewing room."

• While married, Alice had an affair with Idaho Senator William Borah, who was once offered a cup of tea by a hostess and replied, "Do I look like a man who drinks tea?"

• Franklin and Eleanor were secretly engaged for a year before they made their engagement official. During this time, while he was out Christmas shopping in  New York one day, he dropped his mother off at her apartment "so that he could duck out for tea with Eleanor at 3:30."

• When King George and Queen Elizabeth came to the US and visited Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the royals visited the Roosevelts at the family home in Hyde Park, NY. Before dinner one night, FDR pulled the king aside and said, "My mother does not approve of cocktails and thinks you should have a cup of tea." The king replied, "My mother would have said the same thing, but I would prefer a cocktail." (And the king got his cocktail.)

Isn't it fun when you're reading a book for one thing but learn something else at the same time?

Sugarfina Matcha Green Tea Caramels

When I was at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta last week, I saw a display of sweets at Nordstrom that caught my eye. Although I'd heard of Sugarfina before, I don't believe I'd  ever sampled their sweets, so naturally, these Matcha Green Tea Caramels caught my eye.
To be honest, some of the matcha-flavored treats I've tried have tasted too much like matcha for my taste buds, so I bought these tea-flavored caramels while not quite knowing in which direction these might go.
And how pleasantly surprised I was when I bit into one and got a nice bit of matcha flavor, yes, but these are first and foremost caramels. What a lovely combination! At $7.50 for 2.9 ounces, these don't need to be scarfed down like M&M's but rather savored a few at a time. I could also see adding these to a dessert at teatime for a tasty finishing touch. Have any of you tried these caramels before? You can find out more about them here.

March Giveaway: "It's Always Time for Tea" Tea Towels

For the March giveaway, I picked up this cute set of coral and turquoise tea towels at a Ross store over the weekend. There are two of these tea towels in the set, so if you're feeling especially generous, you could even share one with a friend!

If you'd like to win the the tea towels, simply leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST on Friday, March 8, making sure to include an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner, and you'll be entered to win. US only, please. Good luck!

The Orange Marmalade Cake … and plans for more!

Last Friday, Daddy turned 80 years old, so my sister and I had a surprise party for him at her house in Tallapoosa with family and friends.
Rhonda made barbecue, Brunswick stew, and sides, and all I had to do was get the paper products and make a cake, so I got the easy end of things. Daddy usually bakes the cakes in our family, but I decided this occasion was deserving of the Orange Marmalade Cake made famous by Jan Karon's Mitford books. The cake was even more delicious than I had imagined, and two of the older ladies at the party asked me for the recipe, which I took as a great endorsement. I got the recipe from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader, and the recipe is also available online here. It wasn't hard to make at all, just a little labor intensive, and I found myself thinking about whether this wonderful cake could somehow be turned into a teatime treat involving something besides regular cake slices.
Fast-forward a few days, and I was reading the new issue of Southern Living, which features Joanna Gaines on the cover. I enjoyed the profile of her, especially since Rhonda and I are planning a trip to Texas this summer and plan to stop by the Gaines family's Magnolia empire in Waco, which my sister's family has visited and enjoyed before.
But the magazine also had a feature titled "Garden Party," and one of their ideas was to use a round cutter to turn a sheet cake into "two-layer minis." Naturally, I had a real eureka moment and realized I could do that with the Orange Marmalade Cake. I can just see the little bits of marmalade sparkling atop a miniature version of the cake. Isn't it neat when you have a question about something and then the answer serendipitously appears?
So how many of you have made the Orange Marmalade Cake? I'd love to know how it turned out!

Recommended reading: "Vintage Roses" by Jane Eastoe and Georgianna Lane

I've been sipping my Whittard of Chelsea English Rose tea with the most delightful new book, and I know some of you would enjoy it as well. It's Vintage Roses by Jane Eastoe with photography by Georgianna Lane, and it is simply splendid, easily one of the prettiest books I've put my hands on in years.
The photography captures roses in so many poses.
The book also explains about tea roses and how they came to be hybridized, which is interesting, but I must say that I am happy just flipping through the photos for long, admiring moments.
When I showed my husband this photo, he said this book is "very Angela." I'll take that as a lovely compliment.
I recommend reading this book with a rosy teacup at hand, and for many of us, that shouldn't be hard at all. Have any of you read this book, and if so, do you love it as much as I do?

The Herbery's Ginger Lemon Honey Tea … and Clementine Tissues

Do you suppose we’ve become spoiled by the ease of online shopping? These days, I tend to think that anything my heart desires should be available within a few mouse clicks, and when it’s not, I feel indignant. How dare they? Well, that was my reaction when I found some new tea that I really liked at a Tuesday Morning store last month, Peach Mango tea from The Herbery, and I wanted to know if I could order more from Amazon or a company website. Alas, no. But I quickly realized this was truly a first-world problem, not something I’m entitled to, and got over it. If I ever came across more of this tea, good, and if not, fine. So while I didn’t see the Peach Mango flavor again, I did run across the Ginger Lemon Honey flavor at the T.J. Maxx in Carrollton and scooped it up.

And I’m happy to say that The Herbery, elusive as the company seems to be, may be my new favorite provider of fruity teas. This Lemon Ginger Honey flavor delivers on all counts of its name, and I also got the merest hint of a flavor I have adored since childhood—honeysuckle. In fact, at first sip, I was reminded of sipping honeysuckle nectar right off the vine there at my family's old homeplace in West Georgia. Nectar of the gods, honeysuckle is. To find that in a tea? Why, it had never occurred to me, and I’m so glad I decided to try this one. The other thing I decided to try at T.J. Maxx was these cute tissues I’d merely glanced at recently. They’re from Clementine Paper, a stationery line that has lots of cute products, but I don’t really need to buy even my tissues from T.J. Maxx, do I?

Then I noticed the cute cupcakes and teapot and teacup on the box and, well, yes. Yes I do. Have any of you tried these tissues yet? I think they're adorable!

"Young girl in white dress" — a teatime writing prompt

I have a folder on my computer desktop where I will occasionally store a photo that I think would making a good writing prompt. I've taught writing only a few times so far, and will happily do so again if I ever find the time, but I will always be prepared to offer a photo for a writing prompt. This involves simply sharing an image and asking the student to write something about it. I found this image on the Library of Congress website and think it would make a great writing prompt.

What do you see when you look at this little girl? What's going on in her head? Is she happy or sad? Do you think you could make up a story about her? I do!

Baking with Bella

Last week's posts were taken up with Valentine's Week items, so I didn't want to let too much more time pass without sharing something fun from the weekend before, when Alex and I had the pleasure of staying with grandkids Bella and Owen overnight while their parents were out of town. Bella has become quite the baking queen, and she wanted to make strawberry cupcakes, so I decided we would do the cake part from a boxed mix but make the cream cheese icing from scratch. And the photo at right, just for fun, is showing Bella's reaction when she read a newspaper column Alex wrote about her. Bella was concerned, shall we say, when she discovered Alex had recently written a column mentioning her brother, Owen, but not her, so of course Alex had to write one about her too. I think she liked it!
And while I frosted one of these Valentine cupcakes, and I couldn't by any means tell you which one, Bella did the rest of them herself using the new Wilton decorating kit we got her for Christmas. Aren't these lovely? (They tasted great too, I am here to tell you, and I enjoyed two of them with copious quantities of the family's tea!)
Bella also loves animals, including her poodle Luke (miniature poodle Gracie didn't make it into the photo). She is thinking she might like to one day open a restaurant where both human and animal diners can eat, complete with food cooked especially for the pets too. I can see that idea taking off, can't you?
And while the boys stayed out of our way during the baking, here's Owen with a Fortnite toy that Luke tried to run off with.
As soon as I walked into the kitchen on the day of our visit, I spotted this artwork Bella had created and hung on the refrigerator, and I was so delighted to find out she had made it for me. (Note the image of Luke on the tea mug.) You can probably imagine how very happy this made me!

Some thrilling thrifting

Aunt Jane and I hadn't visited the Carrollton Goodwill store in a couple of weeks, so that's where we went on Saturday. Most of the time, Aunt Jane racks up and I do not. This time, the reverse was true.
I never get tired of bargains on old Sandy Lynam Clough items, and this $2.99 print with the "R" on it happened to be in the store on the weekend "Red" items were half off, so yippee, a print for $1.50. (Although it's a little curious to me why they write the "R" for "Red" in yellow, but … whatever.)
And I have for years wanted a pretty way to display my business cards when I'm out speaking about editing or writing, as I will be doing several times this year, and this business card holder was absolutely perfect for me!
And 89 cents? Are you kidding me? I'm almost offended that such a gorgeous piece is less than the price of a plastic doodad down the street at Dollar Tree. ("Almost," I said.)
The painter even signed it, and ironically, I have a character named "Teri," spelled just that way, in my novel coming out this spring. Odd, then, that I would run across this particular item. That bit of serendipity was worth more than 89 cents to me!
My best find, though, was this pretty vintage teapot. As usual, Goodwill had it all covered in clear packaging tape, but I was happy that I removed it to find everything in tip-top shape.
I thought $4.99 was a fine price for this teapot.
Especially for a Sadler. So are you coming across any fun tea finds at the thrift stores in your neck of the woods? I'd love to know!

The Amazon gift card winner is …

Jean at DelightfulRepast.com! Congrats, Jean, and thank you to everyone who visited this week. I hope it's been an especially LOVE-ly Valentine's Week for everyone!