Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 13

Taylors of Harrogate Blackberry & Raspberry Tea

Years ago, when Holly Cottage Tearoom was still operating here in Newnan, I became acquainted with Taylors of Harrogate since the company's teas were served there. I've enjoyed their loose tea and tea bags many times since then, and this week at Marshalls, I came across a new-to-me variety from Taylors.

This blackberry and raspberry blend is just the sort of thing I enjoy each February. In honor of a month I think of as "pink," I sip lots of berry blends, and I was happy to find some berry-flavored tea bags since I can take some with me (if there are any left) on some spring trips I have planned.

And the taste? Excellent! Many berry blends have this tart and vaguely berry taste that could be anything: strawberry, blueberry, whatever. This tea has the distinct flavors of blackberry and raspberry, and the combo was brilliant. Wishing I'd bought another box. Are you familiar with Taylors of Harrogate?

Heart-shaped cake and tea bread

So here's the deal. Those lightweight copper-colored Jell-O molds are a fixture in every thrift store I've ever been in, and though I haven't made a Jell-O mold in, well, ever, I love these molds! I loved them even more when I discovered they can also be used as cake pans. That's why I have about a half dozen of them now, and I seem to find a new heart-shaped one every year around Valentine's Day.

This one was my latest find. Because it came from an antique mall and not a thrift store, it was a little pricier, $5 instead of $1, but was still quite affordable. What I wanted to know was this: Can you bake a loaf of tea bread in one of these things?

And the answer is yes, yes you can. I didn't overfill it, using three small heart-shaped pans to make mini tea breads with the excess batter, but I think it worked out well. The design would be more pronounced with a batter that didn't have so much stuff in it (this is my Christmas cranberry bread because I had leftover cranberries in the freezer), but I'm still impressed with the amount of the scalloped design you can see. So, have you ever used one of these molds to make a cake? Would you?

A Valentine's Day dessert — for anytime!

Last week, I was busy sharing vintage valentines, but before February is over, I wanted to share the recipe I featured in my column for this month's issue of The Coweta Shopper. It's such a quick and easy recipe to make. Also, I served it in tiny glass goblets as a "two-bite dessert" last week to my little neighbor friends, and they loved it (and asked for seconds), so I may be adding this to my next tea party menu as well!

Pie Filling Cobbler


1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1 (15-ounce) can pie filling (any flavor)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 9 x 9-inch baking dish (I used a heart-shaped baking dish of a similar size). In a small bowl, mix sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Add milk to the dry ingredients and blend well. Pour batter over melted butter in pan. Add pie filling over the batter, dropping it by spoonfuls and evenly spacing it over the batter. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until golden brown.

The gift card winner is …

 Susan in North Carolina! Congratulations!

The winner of the tea-themed napkins is …

 Mary Boley, via the Tea With Friends Facebook page! Congratulations!

Valentine's Week Giveaway #3

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! The final tea-themed valentine I'm sharing this week is technically a "flash card" I found at an antique mall last month, so the back is blank, but I still think this is a cute design. 

And for our final giveaway this week, I'm offering a $25 Amazon gift card so that you can buy whatever gift you like! (Tea-themed gifts are encouraged but not required!) If you'd like to win, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST tomorrow, February 15, and you'll be entered to win. Good luck!

The winner of the tea infuser is …

 Natosha! I've just sent her an email and will soon have this headed her way. Congratulations!

Valentine's Week Giveaway #2

This is another of the tea-themed vintage valentines I've found since last year, and it's one I've never even seen before. It reads, "If you'd be my valentine, we'd have 'barrels' of fun!"

On the back, someone has helpfully noted that this card from Susan L. dates to 1953. Sweet!

For today's giveaway, I've got some of the same cute paper napkins I picked up for myself at Michaels a few weeks back! Would you like to have these for your text tea party or picnic? Just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST on Friday, February 14, and you'll be entered to win!

Valentine's Week Giveaway #1

As longtime readers of this blog know, Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, so I like to share some of my vintage valentines *and* host a few small giveaways each year around this time. Today, I'm sharing one of my newest vintage valentines, and while it's not dated, I suspect this ship-shaped valentine is one of the older ones in my collection, maybe from the thirties or forties. I love that the young man is serving this passenger her tea from a teapot with a heart on it! It reads, "My heart is anchored fast. It's yours, Dear Valentine."

Maybe this was a card given from one classmate to another since it reads To Birkley Bush frome (sic) Bruce Smith. I think the brad on the back is supposed to make some of the pieces on the front jiggle, but I'm trying to be careful with that to avoid tearing them.

And for today's giveaway, I'm offering a hot-pink heart-shaped silicone tea infuser! I think it's a cute piece of décor even if you don't decide to use it! To be entered in the giveaway, just leave an "Enter me" comment to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST on Wednesday, February 12, making sure I have a way to contact you if you're the winner, and you'll be entered to win. You can also enter on the Tea With Friends Facebook page here if you like. Good luck!

The Pagoda Blue Tea Set

I guess you could say that a funny thing happened on the way to Wormsloe. I'd already breezed in and out of six state park gift shops by that point, but as a popular tourist stop, Wormsloe has a magnificent visitor center and gift shop, and this blue transferware tea set immediately caught my eye. I loved the shape of the teapot and that tray best of all but figured they would be too pricy for me. A teacup, maybe? I picked up one and it said $31.99, which seemed a little much for a single teacup. Then I looked again and realized it said $131.99. For a teacup? Have they lost their minds? But then I realized that was the price for the whole set! I stood there and dickered over it and decided I would make up my mind as I toured Wormsloe. And you can see what I decided, especially after finding that blue teapot in the Wormsloe museum.

Blue-and-white tea wares never go out of style, and every Fourth of July, I wish I had more. Plus, I'm planning to write a cookbook about all the patriotic holidays, and every piece in this set could make an appearance next to one of the vintage recipes I'll be including. I loved the shape of this sugar and creamer.

The teapot lid was a real "wow" item for me.

And my favorite piece is the tray. The full set is too small to display on the little skirted table where I set it for this photo, so after Valentine's Day, it may end up on a sturdy table in my living room. It's the perfect memento of my visit to Wormsloe, but more important, it's also something that will be quite useful in my work in the years ahead. And when I got home, I looked online and found the set available at several sites but never for as good a price as I got. So I'm choosing to see this not as a splurge but as an investment! (And a beautiful one.)