Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 162

"Tea At Hostess House"

I have been pleased to discover that the Library of Congress updates the offerings in its collection of public-domain digital images on the web. This week, I came across one that was new to me, titled "Tea At Hostess House." 
The Library of Congress summary says, "Photograph shows women having tea at a 'hostess house' probably in a military camp during World War I. Hostess houses were set up by the War Work Council of the YWCA. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2016)."
Have you ever heard of a "hostess house" before? I had not, but a little surfing and I found an abstract from the Winter 2008 Winterthur Portfolio which explained, "During World War I the Young Women’s Christian Association established hostess houses at American military camps and employed women as hostesses. The houses were newly constructed, large, and durable buildings, some of which were designed by women architects. They mediated public and private space and helped control interactions between soldiers and their female friends and relatives. As shelters in which the soldiers could buffer the military and find personal comfort, and as places for women to gain experience in managing complex and relatively large institutions, the hostess houses were a significant facet of the home front in World War I."
Yet another bit of history in which tea apparently played a role!

My October Shopper column: A tribute to Emilie Barnes

My October column is up at The Coweta Shopper, and for those of you who aren't local readers, you can see it by clicking here (it's on page 6).

This month, since I knew so many local readers would remember Emilie Barnes, I wanted to pay tribute to her recent passing. Perhaps you have a fond member of Emilie Barnes and her books as well?

Some charming new holiday decorating ideas

One thing I enjoy about Thanksgiving and Christmas is the planning for these holidays. My sister and I are already planning the Thanksgiving menu, and I bought my first Christmas gift this week. For years I have been collecting special Christmas issues of magazines, and this week I came across a new one I think is just beautiful, Holiday Home Style from Hoffman Media.


Have you ever made silver your decorating focus at Christmas? I haven't, but this magazine features so many lovely silver (and gold) decorations, I've started thinking about it. Silver pitchers, sugars, and creamers filled with greenery and berries ... appealing, isn't it?

I also loved the feature on Wendy Addison, an artist whose work I first enjoyed in Victoria years ago.  The banner made of old newsprint is typical of her style, which I fell in love with the moment I saw it. I also love how her silverware is displayed in pretty cream pitchers.

Even the recipes looked yummier surrounded by all this Christmas finery, such as this Black Forest Trifle displayed so charmingly on these Christmas dishes. Have you started planning for Christmas yet? Have you bought any Christmas magazines? I'd so enjoy hearing about them!

A different type of tea from Tetley

 I stopped by Ingles in Bremen over the weekend and, as always, had to browse the tea aisle. New to me was a line of Tetley Super Herbal Teas, and after debating for a bit, I settled on the "Immunity" blend with Vitamin C, a peach-and-orange flavored tea.

 I was torn between this blend and the Pineapple and Citrus flavored one (with Vitamin B7), but I guess being from the Peach State means my default tea choice is always going to be the one with peach!

These tea bags are round ones, what I think of as Republic-of-Tea tea bags. This tea had a very tart citrus taste, and since I've been trying not to take allergy meds now that fall allergy season has arrived, I'm hoping this will help me keep colds and sniffles at bay. I usually avoid teas with medicinal or health claims since plain old black and green tea is so good for you, but the flavor of this one was quite enjoyable, so I may have to give another of these Tetley blends a try. Have these shown up at your local grocery store yet?

And so the fall baking season begins …

Now that it *finally* feels like fall here in Georgia, I launched the fall baking season with this recipe for Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Chip Cookies that I found on Pinterest. I didn't flatten mine as the original recipe said to do (didn't want to be bothered), so I ended up with thicker, almost cake-like cookies, which is just fine by me!


As my husband said, you can detect just enough of the pumpkin spice flavor to know that something is different, but it's not so different that it's overpowering. And in a unique twist, they're made with Pumpkin Spice pudding mix, which I happened to have in my pantry.


Oh, and I also used dark chocolate chips, because hey, if we're going for chocolate taste, go big or go home, right? These were wonderful with a cup of that new Pumpkin Spice Brûlée Oolong Tea I got from Teavana recently, and I was quite happy with my pumpkin-y teatime treat! Go here if you'd like to try these for yourself.

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Rhode Island

Rhode Island is a state that means two things in my mind: Gilded Age mansions and a famous manufacturing center for costume jewelry. Any tea connections in Rhode Island? I found a few!


• Rhode Island is well known for its production of costume jewelry. When I first started collecting tea-themed jewelry, I was pleased to learn how much of it had been produced with teapots and teacups as part of the design. JJ or Jonette was a jewelry company in Providence, Rhode Island, that made both the bracelet and earrings above. The company's owners, the Lisker brothers, got the name by combining the name of their parents, John and Etta, thus the "Jonette" name. Rhode Island continues to be known for its jewelry manufacturing today.

Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
• One of Newport, Rhode Island's most famous Gilded Age homes, Marble House, has its own Chinese teahouse on the property. According to Wikipedia, Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt. When she divorced her husband in 1895, Alva Vanderbilt actually owned the home, which had been a 39th birthday gift to her. She remarried and relocated down the street, and when her second husband died, she reopened Marble House and added the teahouse, which was the site of some women's suffrage rallies. Oh, if those walls could talk!

• A teahouse was also featured at the Berwind Estate in Newport, Rhode Island. Now who wouldn't have enjoyed being invited to tea in this teahouse? This linen postcard was mailed in 1942 and says, "Hello Tootsie. I am having a good time. Wish you were here too. I went swimming in the ocean, it's fun. Will be seeing you soon. Rita." Lucky Rita! (And if you're curious, as I was, here's a more modern photo of the teahouse, an image I found on Pinterest.)SaveSave

And the "Taking Tea" book winner is …

Traveler! I've sent you an email so we can make arrangements to get this book headed your way. Congrats! And to the rest of you, I'm pleased to say that I have another book from Hoffman Media that I'll be giving away soon, so stay tuned!

A surprise catalog from Simpson & Vail

When I did a quick search of all my old blog posts, I could find the name Simpson & Vail only once, for a peach-flavored black tea I tried (and enjoyed) years ago. So I'm not quite sure why I received a copy of their new tea catalog in the mail, but I'm certainly glad that I did!


Literary Teas! Oh my goodness, I want them all. I need the Jane Austen tea, the Louisa May Alcott tea, the Lewis Carroll tea, maybe some Edgar Allen Poe tea (because quite a few of my fellow fiction editors seem to love Poe). Maybe I should try to collect them all!


And while I've always associated Davidson's Teas with "dessert tea," I'm sure willing to give S&V a try with these yummy-sounding new blends like Caramel Walnut Shortbread and Snickerdoodle.

They even have cute and very reasonably priced tea tins. Have any of you ever ordered from Simpson & Vail? If so, what do you recommend?

Teavana's Pumpkin Spice Brûlée Oolong Tea

So remember the Teavana tea quiz I shared last week? When I took it, it showed that "my" tea was the Pumpkin Spice Brûlée Oolong Tea, and I ordered some that arrived this week. This tea has so much stuff in it, it almost looks like granola, doesn't it?

So exactly what all is in this tea? "Cinnamon, carob pieces, white chocolate pieces (sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, dextrose), pumpkin pieces, chocolate flakes (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa powder), oolong tea, natural flavor, ginger, chicory root, pumpkin seeds, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, coconut blossom sugar." (Everything but the kitchen sink, in other words.) The tea smelled divine when I opened the packet, and the taste?
Oh, is this tea yummy! It was definitely a sweet-tasting tea, as you'd expect from the list of ingredients, and it had a rich fall flavor that made this an instant seasonal favorite. Although I could taste the cinnamon, it wasn't cinnamon-heavy at all (my only complaint about "fall" teas), so this is a blend I have a feeling I'll be looking forward to each year!SaveSave

A few thoughts on those "tea" words

As some of you know, I work as a line editor and spend part of my week editing fiction “line by line” for clients all over the world. I’ve edited everything from zombie and werewolf books to cozy mysteries, Regency-era romance novels, thrillers, and police procedurals. 

It’s really fun and satisfying work because the authors I’ve met are so grateful for the help, and I enjoy the variety of the books I get to read. I just never know what sort of manuscript is going to land before me next! In the three years that I’ve been editing books, I’ve gotten reacquainted with my dictionary, and since my middle name is Webster—literally, I mean; it’s my maiden name—I quite naturally prefer Merriam-Webster 's dictionary, and the Eleventh Edition is currently the standard in the publishing biz.

Imagine my surprise when I started line editing and discovered I had been spelling some tea words incorrectly! Which ones?

• “Tearoom” looks funny to me, and if you look at the cover of my first book, “Dainty Dining,” it says “tea rooms” because that’s how I preferred to spell it back when I wrote that book. In fact, if I owned a “tearoom,” my sign would probably read “Tea Room.” But if I’m editing a book for someone else, “tearoom” is correct, so I’ve started spelling it that way to remind myself to be consistent. (Just a nice thing to know for those of you who may want to write for publication one day!)

• “Teakettle” is one word. Isn’t that bizarre? I find it a bit odd, but I don’t make the rules; I simply try to follow them.

• “Teapot" is one word and “coffeepot" is one word, but guess what? “Teacup" is one word, but "coffee cup" is two words.

• Finally, "tea bag" is two words, but I wish it weren't. (It helps me to remember that “tea bag” is one of the only tea-ish words I regularly use that is two words.)

So there you have it. And remember: when in doubt, consult the dictionary!