Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 156

The Fortnum & Mason Christmas Catalog

If only I a) lived in England and b) were a rich woman, I know exactly where I'd be ordering Christmas gifts for all of you: the new Fortnum & Mason Christmas catalog from the venerable London department store. I was thrilled when my copy arrived recently. In fact, I handed it to my husband and said, "Here. This is what I want for Christmas." He laughed. ("Ha, ha, ha." Not "Ho, ho, ho.")

For starters (and let's dream, shall we?), there's the Imperial Hamper, which is £6,000 (about $7,525), fills five wicker hampers, and includes champagne, a Christmas ham, rare teas and coffees, a Christmas cake and pudding, sweets and much more. (For UK delivery only, sadly.)


"Tea and other lovely things…" is the heading on this spread, and indeed, who wouldn't be happy with the teapots, the teas, the tea infusers …  lovely things, for sure.


They have some new "Camellia" teawares in a paler version of that beautiful eau de nil ("water of the Nile") color I'm so crazy about.


They also have tea-scented candles in your choice of Countess Grey, Green Jasmine, and Lapsang Souchong.

And finally, there's the item I have been most tempted to actually order, a Fortnum & Mason teapot charm! However, once I learned it existed, I decided it will mean more to me if I wait and purchase one on another trip to London, so that's my plan. (And if you should want to order from them this Christmas, do hurry. Only one day left for worldwide delivery! Click here to ogle their pretty things for yourself.)

A Disney teacup that's … a Disney teacup!

This year I made a lovely new friend through the local business community, and I soon learned that Lynn is a former staff member of the Disney Institute and a great fan of all things Disney. When we met up this week before she leaves town to go spend Christmas in … wait for it … Orlando, she surprised me with a wonderful new teacup she'd filled with homemade fudge!

Those of us who've been to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, of course, will recognize that the teacup is a wonderful replica of the Mad Tea Party ride there. I love that you can even see the little indentation for the door where you enter the ride, and the "saucer," like the one on the ride itself, is attached. How cool is that?

What fun I had sipping Peppermint Bark tea out of my new Disney teacup and enjoying an afternoon snack of delicious homemade fudge (bourbon, peanut butter, and chocolate flavored). Oh, how delicious. And how wonderfully Disney!

Stocking stuffers from Twinings

I don't know about you, but I can never have too many gifts for friends who are tea lovers. And when I came across these trial size packages of Twinings tea the other day at Kroger for $1 each, I had to get a few for both me and for friends!


Pure Peppermint is a classic, and …

Since I had not tried the Lemon & Ginger flavor before, I was sure to get some for myself. This tea was delicious, with a nice blend of the citrus and that warming zip from the ginger, but what tea of Twinings isn't delicious? So if you need some last-minute stocking stuffers for tea friends, be sure and check the tea aisle at your local grocery store!

A giveaway … and a new blogging schedule for 2017!

Since I've been busy planning for the new year and even filling in some of my 2017 calendar, I decided that a book of cute Susan Branch Sticky Notes would be a fun giveaway for one of you to receive in December! I found this little book at T. J. Maxx and decided that since it was red, that was enough to make it semi-Christmasy and appropriate for the December giveaway.

And just in case someone has been unable to find one of the dollar-store wall calendars featuring teacups, I'm including one of those as well. To be entered, just leave a comment to this post between now and noon EST on Friday, December 16, and you'll be entered to win! (US and Canada only, please.)

And now for a little news of some change that is coming…

The end of the year always sees me planning for the year ahead, and one thing I've realized in recent months is that I haven't committed enough time to social media that focuses exclusively on my writing and editing career. So in 2017, I'm planning to blog here about tea and teatime, same as always, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. Tuesday and Thursday I'll be blogging about the writing (and reading) life over at a new blog, and when it goes live, I'll let you know about that as well since I know at least a few of you are also interested in writing. I've decided not to have a Saturday series, at least for 2017, since I'm trying to carve out more time for my fiction. Meanwhile, I look forward to continuing to "talk tea" with you for as long as I have readers who are interested!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Wisconsin

The state of Wisconsin wasn't much on my radar until my stepdaughter married a Wisconsin fellow. Now that Wisconsin is home to some of my family (including the two cute little grandsons I show on here occasionally), I have naturally taken an interest in all things Wisconsin, from its role as American's Dairyland and the home of the cheese heads and the Packers to, yes, their tea history!


• Tourism is a big industry in Wisconsin, and their famous Door County is a beautiful spot for a vacation. When I visited a few years ago, I was delighted to find great tea shops and gift shops and, in a most delightful surprise, The Garden Door, sponsored by the Door County Master Gardeners. This lovely public demonstration garden is filled with beautiful garden displays, including more than a few fairy garden spots with fairies who obviously enjoy their teatime!


• A home built in Whitewater, Wisconsin, in the 1920s later became the home of the Green Shutters Tea Room and Antique Shop. This vintage linen postcard is dated 1946 and shows the tearoom around that time. The home today serves as a medical clinic.




• In the April 1918 edition of the Wisconsin Library Bulletin, it was reported that in Oconto, Wisconsin, “The war tea given by the library staff was a great success and accomplished its aims. The reference room was fixed up as a tea room, with rockers, and its walls covered with war food bulletins. Decorations were baskets of flags and pink hycinths (sic). Nearly 400 women accepted the invitation and showed much interest in the recipes for war cookery. Although a great many recipes were given away, they were in greater demand than could be supplied, and it was decided to have recipes of the foods served printed in the local papers; the cooks’ names affixed to them will be recommendations in themselves." (I don't know about you, but when I hear about "war cookery," I think of World War II, not World War I!)

"A Very Vintage Christmas" by Bob Richter

There don't seem to be a lot of new Christmas decorating books on the market this year, but one I recently ordered from Amazon and have been enjoying this week is "A Very Vintage Christmas" by Bob Richter with photography by Ethan David Kent.

To my surprise, one of the pages even featured a vintage teapot ornament!

I love to read about vintage items because I always learn something I did not know. This time, I learned about "End of Day" ornaments. Now you readers are some smart cookies, so I'm betting that some of you already knew about these, but I did not. And if you're like me and you haven't heard of these yourself, here's what Richter says: "As the name connotes, they were literally the last pieces artisans would make, and they veered off in a whimsical direction when they did. Using what paints were in front of them, these ornaments are typified by swirled, marbleized detail." You can bet I'm going to be looking for "End of Day" ornaments as I continue to collect vintage Christmas decorations. And wouldn't an "End of Day" teapot ornament be a fabulous find! If you have one, please share a photo!

"Twelve Days of Tea" from Revolution Tea

I received the most wonderful surprise in the mail this week when my friend Nancy in Senoia sent a "Twelve Days of Tea" gift set from Revolution Tea!


Inside the bag are 12 little plastic "ornaments" …


And as you can see, each "ornament" holds a tea bag. Now is that clever or what!


I started with the Citrus Spice Herbal Tea, and the set also includes a nice variety of other flavors, ranging from English Breakfast Black Tea to Tangerine White Tea and Honeybush Caramel Herbal Tea. How did I not know about this? I would *had* to have acquired this set, but I am so blessed that my friend thought of me with this lovely gift!


And yes, that Citrus Spice Herbal Tea was just as good as I knew it would be!

The Christmas tea party, circa 1906

This week I came across a new image on the Library of Congress website, a stereograph card from 1906 titled "The Christmas tea party."
The image is a little dark (and I lightened it!), but I think you can make out the seven children around the table enjoying tea.

And I will share with you what a tea-loving reader shared with me a while back, that if you stare into the distance and relax your eyes, the two photos will become one and you can see the depth. I have almost but not quite got the hang of it, but even in its current state, what a charming Christmas image!

Two new bottled teas ... and an interesting new bottle design

When I stopped by a new organic grocery store last week, I was pleased to find several new varieties of bottled tea. I had a hard time choosing, but I finally selected the peach-flavored Moonshine Sweet Tea (don't worry; it has no moonshine) and the Citrus Mint Green Tea from Tea of a Kind. You'll note that the tea on the right appears clear because the tea is actually in the cap and hasn't been "brewed" in the water yet!
First I sampled the Moonshine Sweet Tea in the Sweet Peach flavor. Perhaps I should have been clued in by the fact that the word "sweet" appears on the label twice, and the bottle has 30 grams of sugar. I didn't detect a peach flavor, but I most certainly did detect the sugar, and as someone who grew  up drinking plenty of sweet tea, even *I* found this tea too sweet. I diluted it with water and then it was drinkable, but still not enjoyable, so I quit.
Then I tried that clear bottle of Citrus Mint Green Tea from Tea of a Kind. I was fascinated by this product! It says on the bottle that the tea is stored in "the patented Gizmo cap, which prevents degradation of key ingredients. By simply twisting the pressurized Gizmo cap, you transform this bottle of purified water into delicious real brewed tea with the full benefit of antioxidant Vitamin C, refreshing tea taste, zero calories."
Sure enough, I twisted the cap and felt a (slightly scary) pop from the vibration of the pressurized cap doing its thing.

This tea wasn't any more expensive than many other bottled teas (two dollars and some change, I believe), and I marveled at the design that went into this. Unfortunately, I also marveled at what a  medicinal-tasting tea this was! I can usually choke down an ounce or two of anything, but this tea tasted like the aftertaste from some kind of clear cough medicine, certainly not like "citrus" or "mint" or "green tea." I was intrigued with this bottle, but my goodness, why didn't they put more effort into simply making the tea taste good? Did they think we would overlook the bad taste? I'm so scarred by this week's tea-tasting experiment that it's time to go sip a cup of (unsweetened!) Candy Cane Lane tea to cleanse my palate!

Sharing the light … with snack sets!

Some months ago now, Nancy Sanker read one of my columns in The Coweta Shopper and suggested I stop by sometime to see her collection of snack sets and learn about the a new way she is using them. I was delighted to spend some time with Nancy in her lovely home last week, and after I heard her plan, I was eager to tell you all about what she is doing. Those who live locally may be able to help spread the word, and those who don't may be inspired to follow Nancy's example yourselves!

I already knew Nancy's name because here in Newnan, she has been featured in local media for her work as the founder of Lights for Linda Luminarias, an organization that was started in honor of her late sister, Linda McGrenaghan, who waged a 19-year battle with leukemia. Nancy and some friends began selling luminary kits around the holidays to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The idea is to have "a hopeful glow" on Christmas Eve in honor of Linda and all those who are health challenged, as well as their caregivers. So far, Lights for Linda Luminarias has raised more than $23,000. I think it's terrific that 100 percent of the monies raised go to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Not content to stop there, Nancy has thought of a creative new way to raise even more more funds to help in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma.

Nancy likes snack sets, which you have probably seen me refer to over the years as "tea and toast sets." They're also called "tennis sets" by some collectors, and Nancy has "hundreds and hundreds" of them! Now, Nancy and another snack-set-collecting friend have decided they will loan these snack sets for events like baby showers, luncheons, and weddings, and the fee is simply a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This new fundraising effort is called "Lunch with Linda: Vintage Rentals for Your Celebrations." In addition to the snack plates, Linda will rent ice buckets, sheet music, baby shower items, and much more.

She likes the fact that these snowflake design sets feature different snowflakes!

How many snack sets do she and her friend have? Nancy says she could easily equip a wedding reception for, say, 250 (!). Her desire is to see the snack sets used for good, a thought that has me busy trying to figure out how I can use my own teawares for such a cause!

Nancy has been collecting for about 10 years, she said, and she grins when she hears of friends who have paid antique store prices for such sets. She describes herself as "financially aware" and says she never pays more than $1 or $2 for the snack sets, and she often mixes and matches with the sets using clear punch cups.

Her palette is pretty straightforward: clear glass and cream. She collects all patterns of the clear glass except grapes, and she has quite a few creamy milk glass pieces as well. (The one exception is some amber glass plates she thought would be pretty for fall luncheons, shown in the very first photo of Nancy up top.)

And these pinecone design sets are the only china ones she has. She found them in nearby Pine Mountain and says, "They spoke to me."

Cabinets in Nancy's charming office are filled with snack sets and vintage decor, and she admitted that yes, friends come over and gaze in awe at all of the eye candy.

Here is some of the vintage baby memorabilia she enjoys collecting.

And Lunch with Linda, Lights for Linda, and the fundraising are never far from her mind. A friend and board member of Lights for Linda, Susan Boyd, made this beautiful "Kaleidoscope of Hope" quilt which will be used as a fundraiser in the coming year.


The piece was machine quilted by Gail Lane, and Nancy shared how the eye is drawn to the "light" at the center of some of the quilt blocks. She also let me read a line that someone shared with her following Linda's passing: "She has taken her bright candle / And has gone into a room I cannot find / But anyone can tell where she has been / By all the little lights she left behind." Isn't that lovely? And how fitting that Nancy herself continues to "share the light" left by her sister as she helps raise funds for such a worthy cause. So local friends, if you or a group you are involved with would like to borrow some snack sets and make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, please visit facebook.com/LunchWithLindaRentals or email LunchWithLindaRentals@gmail.com. I'm so excited for Nancy and can't wait to see her snack sets turn up at different events around town!