Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 150

Pickwick's Fruit Garden Kers Tea

Tea friend Donna recently shared a new Dutch tea with me, Pickwick's Fruit Garden blend, and I decided to enjoy it in one of those 20 (!) new teacups I recently received. This pink and yellow one looks like spring to me.
As soon as I saw the cherries on the front of the tea bag wrapper, I knew I would like this tea, because I love cherries, and being the astute observer that I am, I quickly figured out that Kers is Dutch for "Cherries."

Teatime with the Women of Worth!

My friend Susie has started a unique ministry. Her dear husband, Jerry, who was our minister to senior adults, passed away last year, and Susie felt led to start a group for widows that is strictly social in nature. While groups centered around grief recovery and counseling are plentiful, she discovered a lot of widows simply wanted someone to hang out with, or go to the movies with, so she started this group known as "Women of Worth." The name is one I love because it focuses on where these women are in life now. So when Susie asked if I would organize a tea for the WOW group, I said sure, and the tea was set for this past Monday, March 6. As you can see, the members of the Glory Class (Susie's and my Sunday School class) provided no small amount of food! Our tea sandwiches were pimiento cheese, chicken salad on mini croissants, cucumber, and egg-olive spread. We also had scones, chocolate cake, lemon bars, blueberry bites, and my own Brown Sugar Shortbread, which I naturally failed to get a picture of.

The tea was held at the absolutely gorgeous home of Judi, a member of my church I actually hadn't met yet but who apparently likes to host friends like the WOW group. Like a lot of churches these days, First Baptist has two services on Sunday, and since Alex and I go to early church, I'm forever meeting members I didn't know I go to church with. I used to think I could never enjoy a large church, but I've learned that when we bond with our small groups, like Sunday School classes and Bible study groups, we still get to experience the small-church feel. I was so grateful to be able to call on my fellow class members to help with this tea! Gerry, above at left, was there as a member of the WOW group. She is also in my Bible study class, and when she arrived early, she offered to help assemble cucumber sandwiches. (You'll swear I'm making this up, but she is 82! You'd never know it, would you?) At right you'll see myself and fellow SS class member Georgia, a worker bee if ever there was one, and Judi, our hostess for the day. I wish I'd had more time to explore that lovely home of hers, but we were busy, busy, busy!

Here's our wonderful Susie sharing a brief devotional at the start of the tea.

Judi set places for all 30 ladies and practically had a tearoom in her kitchen and living room! Many of the ladies wore hats, which I always enjoy seeing. You'll notice that the ladies are all using rose-themed tea and toast sets, of which I learned that I have 32. Whew! (I had some non-rose floral ones in reserve but was glad we could stick with just the ones with roses.)

I prepared three different kinds of tea, and many women wanted to sample them all. I served the new Twinings Earl Grey Lavender, Celestial Seasonings' Candy Cane Lane Green Tea, and Tin Roof Teas' Tiramisu Mascarpone Rooibos, all three of which had requests for seconds. Helpfully, Georgia brought along her tea chest for sharing, and I'm pretty sure I saw some women sampling teas from it as well.
Here are Susie, Georgia, and some of the other ladies enjoying tea in the living room of the "tearoom."

My friend Patty, at left, looked so cute in her ladylike ensemble!
Judi had lots of tea touches on display throughout her home, and I wanted to share the first one I noticed when I arrived, this cute teapot birdfeeder. I knew it was a sign that a fun day was ahead, and it absolutely was. I'm pleased I was able to be a part of such a useful new ministry, and I'm so glad I have church friends I can count on to bake, cook, and serve when called upon to help!

A baby shower for a dear friend!

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being one of the hostesses for a baby shower for my young friend Cydney. Her mother, Liz, is one of my best friends, and some of you may remember when I gave a bridesmaids luncheon and tea for Cydney, an event which brought back memories of having tea with Cydney and her sister, Alley, when they were just little girls. Here are Liz, Cydney, Alley, and me on Saturday. The shower was held at the beautiful home of Cydney's friend Lauren.

There was lots of pink at this shower …
And one of my contributions was pink lemonade cupcakes.
So from all that pink ...
You can probably guess that another little girl, Nora-Kate, is expected to make her grand entrance sometime this month! I cannot wait to meet this little one, and based on all the clothes she received at the shower on Saturday, she is going to be one stylish baby girl!

The hostesses' gift was a swing that was on Cydney's registry,  and I had also made Nora-Kate a crocheted baby afghan. Cydney really seemed to like it, and I was surprised at the nice comments this drew from some of the younger women at the shower. It gives me such satisfaction to think of this soft afghan being used to swaddle a sweet new addition to a family that is so precious to me. I've also got another friend expecting a baby girl this month, so it looks like I'll be spending any free time in March with a crochet hook in my hand!

The Carmel-by-the-Sea coloring book winner is ...

Loralie! Congrats, and since I've got your address already, I'll get this headed your way.

And again, if you'd still like to have a copy for yourself, you can find the book for sale here. Happy coloring!

My March cooking column in The Coweta Shopper

Do you know the difference between Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie? That was part of the inspiration for my March column in The Coweta Shopper! Local readers receive a copy for free in the mail, but if you're not local, you can read it online simply by clicking here if the version above isn't large enough.

And although I made my Cottage Pie in a casserole dish, I think this would be a great entree to serve at high tea in honor of St. Patrick's Day, perhaps serving it in ramekins or small oval ceramic baking dishes. I hope you like it!

Twinings Earl Grey Lavender Black Tea

I was reading the new issue of Martha Stewart Living last month when I came across an ad announcing the introduction of some new varieties of Twinings Earl Grey Tea. That's right, not just new varieties of Twinings but new varieties of Twinings Earl Grey. I've been looking for them at the local grocery stores, and I found some this week at Publix and decided to start with the Earl Grey Lavender.

As always, I appreciate that the Twinings tea bags are individually wrapped. Perfect for sharing!

And I very much enjoyed this new variety of Earl Grey from Twinings. While it still has the signature bergamot flavor, the lavender somehow manages to soften it, making for a smooth tea that was delicious with the King Cake I enjoyed yesterday afternoon! I'll probably try the Earl Grey Jasmine next, and I'm curious what Earl Grey Extra Bold will taste like, as I find most Earl Greys are pretty bold already. Have any of you tried these new teas yet?

New giveaway: Jan Kohler's Carmel-by-the-Sea coloring book!

One of the unexpected pleasures of blogging in tea land has been the discovery of so many talented and creative individuals who happen to share my love for tea. Even though I haven't (yet!) met Donna Kohler in person, we've corresponded over the years about some of our various creative projects and teatime, so I was delighted when she wrote to let me know her husband Jan (he was born and raised in the Netherlands, so it's pronounced "Yan") has just published a coloring book about Carmel-by-the-Sea in California. Donna said she wanted to send me one and also offered one for me to give away to one of you, so of course I was only too happy to accept her generous offer! On the cover is an image of the famous Tuck Box, built by Hugh Comstock in 1926 and operated as a tearoom in the forties by two sisters from England. It's still in operation today, and you can click here for more information.

I've never visited the Tuck Box, or Carmel-by-the-Sea, for the matter, but oh, how I want to after reading this delightful book filled with images of charming cottages and businesses! Have any of you been to Carmel-by-the-Sea? I'm betting some of you have, especially those of you who are frequent travelers and/or live on the west coast (or are dog lovers; apparently the town is known for being quite dog friendly!). The Tuck Box is so reminiscent of Merrie Olde England with that cheerful awning and those pretty flowers blooming in the boxes out front. One thing I noticed was that somehow, Kohler has managed to create drawings that could be colored in minute detail by more advanced colorists, yet they aren't intimidating at all to amateur colorists such as myself. I love that! This page, of course, was the first one I colored, and the book also features drawings of other buildings like the Prestige Hat Shop, Cottage of Sweets, and even the Cypress Inn, co-owned by actress Doris Day, and Hog's Breath Inn, once owned by actor Clint Eastwood.


So go ahead, make my day and leave an "Enter me" to this post if you'd like to win the giveaway copy of Jan Kohler's terrific new coloring book! Entries will be accepted from now until 7 a.m. EST Friday, March 3. (US and Canada only, please.) Donna shared with me a great article that was written about the new book, and I loved that it included a link to a video showing how Jan created the coloring book. Go here to check it out for yourself. And if you'd like to go ahead and order a copy of the book now on Amazon, click here.

Miniature teawares that say 'spring'

Boy, has spring fever struck! These temperatures in the seventies have been delightful, and after I finished a three-week book edit and celebrated on my afternoon walk yesterday, I took in the cheerful sunlight, the daffodils, the budding Bradford pear tree in my front yard ... and reminded myself that the temperature is supposed to dip back down over the weekend. Still, the chirping birds and I were all pretty happy with the weather, and those birds very much reminded me of the last item from my recent motherlode of gifted teawares, this miniature tea set. I'm thinking this belongs in a fairy garden, don't you?

If you're interested in the idea of teacup fairy gardens, I have a whole folder of them on Pinterest, which you can find here.

This mini tea set, by the way, is marked Reutter, a firm I'd not heard of but that I found out is a German company whose wares are now available here in North America as well. Whether spring has officially arrived here in Newnan or not, it's definitely arrived in my soul!

The March/April 2017 issue of Tea Time

For more than 20 years now, I've been using the Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz dishes that my late grandmother gave me, and I still absolutely love this pattern. So I was especially delighted to see it get the spotlight in the new issue of Tea Time magazine in a feature called "Coming Up Roses."

I really enjoy how they will show a pattern and mix it up in some unusual new ways, including formal and casual settings. I wouldn't have thought of pairing my JBRC with Jadeite as they did, and I don't own any Jadeite, but their idea did prompt me to check out how a green glass plate might pair with this pattern. Interesting!

The cover photo this time is from a feature on a tea with vintage china, an idea I wholeheartedly endorse! This issue is hitting me at just the right time, as I'm currently planning a tea for 25 or so local widows near the first of March — and I really want it to be lovely. Some friends in my Sunday School class are assisting as well, and I can't wait to see how this tea all comes together!

Hitting the teaware jackpot - Part II

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I had received a teacup bonanza from not only a longtime friend but also from a friend of hers I'd never met before that day, someone who (to my amazement) also wanted to pass along some teawares. I so enjoyed the lovely afternoon I spent with these friends old and new, and after showing you the first batch of new teacups, I realized it was time to share the second batch of new teacups I received. Aren't they lovely? And all in mint condition!
I suppose my eye will always go to roses first, and this teacup is one I know I will enjoy using again and again!
But I must confess that my newfound passion for blues has me loving this one just as much. And too, I have long loved iris. (I still want to say "irises" for the plural, but the plant folks seem to prefer "iris" for both singular and plural.)
Also in the batch of teaware goodies I received was this gorgeous teapot that Jan, the one who gave it to me, remembered receiving as a young girl. (She's in her sixties now.)
Isn't the gilding on this piece just beautiful?
And of course I was all too happy to realize I had a new Wood & Sons teapot on (and in) my hands. Still can't believe my good fortune in receiving all of these delightful teawares but am incredibly grateful to have such generous friends!