Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 37

Happy Labor Day!

 

Hope you have a safe and Happy Labor Day, friends!

The third time's the charm …

It's a phenomenon I've observed for years now: When a hostess breaks an item, consequently breaking up a set of four place settings or four snack sets, she donates the other three sets to charity. That's why I bought this set of three snack sets and this set of three bone china trios recently. And my third set of three? It was three clear glass snack sets I found at a thrift store in Carrollton a few weeks ago.

Curiously, I don't believe I've ever had glass snack sets. That's probably because they're so easy to find, and if I needed twenty or so, I could probably pick them all up tomorrow at any of our area antique malls.

But the floral shape of these was just too charming to pass up at a mere $3 per set. They definitely remind me of sunflowers, which play a role in my next Silver Sisters mystery, so for that reason alone, I "needed" these. I believe they're by Hazel-Atlas, although I've seen the pattern referred to online as sunflower, daisy, and cosmos, so I'll continue to look for an "official" name. When I was at the thrift store, which benefits a local ministry, I was mulling over the fact that there were just three of the sets when the clever store manager suggested I could invite the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to tea. (At the risk of sounding like a total heathen … but where's my set?)

And since today is what I consider the first day of Psychological Fall (September = Fall, even with 90-degree temperatures here in Georgia), I've begun pulling out some fall linens. With colorless plates like these, I think colorful linens would be a must, don't you? 

"The Latest Cake Secrets" … from 1934

I can't seem to pass up a vintage recipe booklet. Usually, I look for pretty ones in case I want to photograph the cover or use the inside graphics for one of my book projects. Last week, however, I spotted this one at an antiques shop in Carrollton and was charmed by how very worn this 1934 booklet was. With the cover hanging on only with the assistance of masking tape, this booklet was a General Foods publication designed to promote Swans Down Cake Flour.

And since I always love to know the story behind an item (it may end up in one of my stories), I was delighted to learn that this booklet came from a rummage sale!

Whenever I see old booklets like this, I turn to the index of recipes in the back and search for the word "Tea." This time, I found an entire section called "Tea Cake Recipes."

The section includes such delicacies as Two-Egg Cup Cakes, Coconut Vanities, and …

Butterscotch Slices and Blueberry Tea Cakes. (I trust you noted the pretty teapot and teacups in the photo! Google Lens helped me determine that this is the Rosebud Chintz pattern from Spode.)

And I must admit that I always thought it was "Swan's" Down and not "Swans" Down, so I learned a new (i.e., correct) spelling from this booklet as well. Do you have any tattered old cookbooks or recipe booklets, maybe something that was handed down in your family? I'd love to know!

Recommended Reading: "Under the Tulip Tree" by Michele Shocklee

 

She poured hot water from a kettle sitting on the stovetop into a plain white cup with a tea ball. Taking a pale-blue saucer from the open shelf that held short stacks of mismatched dishes, she set the cup on it and handed it to me. “You take sugar?”

— From Under the Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee

I just finished reading a great book with my online book group, and while the tea quote above was quite a serendipitous find, I enjoyed this historical fiction book so much that I wanted to tell you about it!

The story begins on the day of the stock market crash in 1929, which also happens to be Lorena Leland's sixteenth birthday. The daughter of a well-to-do Nashville banker and his society-loving wife, Rena is about to be feted at a lavish party, but the day's events turn not only the party but her whole life upside-down. Fast-forward seven years, and dad is a binge-drinker, mom has had to go to work, Rena's older sister is a new mother with a cheating husband, and life hasn't turned out the way any of them thought it would. Rena had gotten a job with the local newspaper but is let go during the hard times. Her old boss suggests she apply for a job with a new Federal Writers’ Project he's heard about, and she's intrigued by the opportunity, which calls for interviewing former slaves, who are now getting on in age.

A nervous Rena shows up at the house of Frances "Frankie" Washington, and neither woman is what the other expects. Despite being 101, Frankie is still quite sharp, and she slowly begins to trust Rena and reveal her story. The tale is hard to read at times, as a tale about slaves certainly should be, yet the author handles it deftly, mainly in a series of flashbacks told in Frankie's own voice.

While Rena ends up interviewing others in the course of her new job, Frankie's is the story she can't get out of her head, and many more trips to Frankie's house ensue. The story unfolds like a mystery, and the author does a fine job of resolving all the plot lines before the book comes to an end. It's hard to imagine writing about such a horrible topic and ending up with a book brimming with hope and inspiration, but Shocklee pulls it off. If you're looking for a worthy new book to read, I'm happy to recommend this one.

The joys of "Flea Market Decorating"

A friend of mine watches craft videos before she goes to sleep at night and calls them her "bedtime stories," which I think is just lovely. Since I do sometimes scroll through social media before I hit the hay, I started making my Instagram feed all-pretty, all-the-time so that it could serve as my own "bedtime stories." While Facebook and Twitter are sort of a free-for-all that you can't always control (other than to click off, which I do frequently), I permit no arguments, no politics (even the discussions I agree with), and nothing unpleasant on my Instagram feed. I follow lots of home decor "influencers," and the current issue of Flea Market Decorating has just the sort of of lovely thrifted vibe they would adore!

This issue also has a fun feature on styling a tea party with vintage finds. Isn't it pretty? I've always wanted to find a vintage quilt to use as a tablecloth.

But perhaps my favorite article in this issue (by Tovah Martin, who used to write for Victoria!) was about a woman who collects Jade-ite, and have you ever seen so many Jade-ite tea pieces? I had long wondered whether the spelling is "Jadite" or "Jade-ite," and it turns out it's both! Jeanette Glass Company called their version Jadite, and Fire-King named theirs Jade-ite. This issue has lots of fun info about what's hot in the world of vintage right now (wicker, lab ware, and those sixties-looking orange and brown dishes, of all things), and it's quite a fun bit of leisure reading! 

Chocolate Mint Tea Sachets from Harney & Sons

The other day, I was in the mood for a chocolate-flavored tea, and to my dismay, I didn't have any. How did that happen? There have been times I've had quite a variety of chocolate teas on hand, but alas, this was not one of those times, so I headed to Amazon to see if any of the Harney teas could arrive in two days. The answer was yes!

I've noticed that during the workweek, I don't really take time for a nice long tea break. I take five minutes to stretch my legs, run downstairs, and put the teakettle on. So tea bags seemed like a good choice, but I wanted to make sure the tea tasted good, so I ordered these Chocolate Mint tea sachets instead of loose tea.

And you know what? They're great and have the chocolate flavor I was looking for! Also, they were just $5.22 from Amazon, which is only a few pennies more than teas at the grocery store, so I think the price is nice. If you're a Harney customer, do you drink both loose tea and tea sachets? Do you detect any difference in the taste? 

Some fun thrifting on the way to an exam

After hearing several reminders from women who’d just had their mammogram, I recalled that I was overdue for mine and scheduled the appointment for last Tuesday. My doctor’s offices are in Jonesboro, thirty minutes from my home in Newnan, and I psyched myself up for the visit by stopping by the Jonesboro Goodwill, where I’ve often found better treasures than I have at the Goodwill stores closer to me. This time was no exception!


The first thing I spotted was this eight-inch vintage chintz plate marked Shelley. At $1.09, that plate was definitely going home with me. Vintage chintz is probably my favorite china to find, but I rarely find it in antique malls, and it’s even rarer that I find it at thrift stores. I recognized the pattern immediately, and when I got home and looked it up (thank you, Google Lens), I learned it was the Maytime pattern.


Now, it occurred to me a while back that I’ve never purchased a lily of the valley teacup, which is odd for someone whose birthday is in May and who loves the fragrance of those flowers. So when I spotted a stack of three pretty teacups with lily of the valley on them there at the Goodwill, I was intrigued, but I don’t typically buy orphaned teacups. Still, Goodwill stores don’t always pair the cups and saucers, so when I headed down the next row, I spotted a stack of four saucers and four dessert plates, and yippee, they were the mates to those teacups! At $3.09 for the teacups and $5.09 for the eight other pieces, I had to run get a buggy.


Do you remember the potato chip commercial that said, “Ruffles have ridges?” Well, this bowl had some ruffles and ridges that I immediately recognized since it was the Iris and Herringbone Depression glass pattern my mother used to collect. (I’ve often mentioned how my sister used to call it “Irish Hambone,” and I can’t see a piece of this without recalling that). I love ruffled glassware, and this bowl was $3.09, which I thought was another fine bargain. A new apple bowl for fall!


The oddest thing I found? This beautiful gold plate dated 1910. I asked the young man checking me out at Goodwill, “You don’t happen to speak German, do you?” He laughed and said, “No, ma’am,” but he did automatically give me the senior discount of an extra 25 percent off all of my purchases, and even though I’m “only” 59, I’ll gladly take the discount. Turns out, if Google Translate is correct, the plate reads, “In memory of your parents 1910.” (Why doesn't it translate "In memory of MY parents," I wondered. Are you supposed to give it to someone in memory of their parents? Is that translation even correct? If you speak German, please chime in!)
 
But it was actually the back of the plate that I found most intriguing. Am I looking at 113-year-old masking tape? And how can "elders" be addressing "mother and father," do you suppose? Or did the scribe mean that his/her elders gave the plate in honor of this person's parents? I have so many questions! Occasionally, something like this “speaks” to me as a possible storyline for one of my books, and that was certainly the case with this piece.

I also found a few Christmas goodies I’ll share at the holidays, but the glass and china I found last Tuesday gave me something pleasant to think about an hour later when my body was being tortured by the nice lady in Jonesboro who told me not to breathe or move. (As if!) Happily, I got the all-clear and the lovely word “Normal” just two days later. And I say all this not because I’m particularly fond of oversharing but because other women were kind enough to remind me to get my mammogram, so I’d love to think I could help remind one of you to get yours. And if you need a fun incentive, go thrifting on the way there!

A new style of teapot stamp

I've been collecting tea-themed craft supplies for years now, and most of my teapot and teacup stamps feature frilly English-style tea wares. I check eBay every now and then to find supplies that I've not seen before, and recently, I came across this cute teapot stamp from Clear Magic Singles. I really like this stamp because it's so different from my other designs and looks Asian and a little more exotic.

One of my favorite parts of stamping is coloring, and while I do have some markers and colored pencils from various crafts companies, I remain sold on the fine-point Sharpies I found at Kroger a year or two ago and used them here!

I even colored one of these teapots to go in my bullet journal, where I like to feature a current favorite stamp design each month so that when I look back through these journals (and one of them lasts me two whole years), I can recall what I was stamping with at the time. With fall on the horizon, I'm starting to think about crafting a little more, including what sort of handmade Christmas cards I plan to send this year. If you're a crafter, are you thinking about your fall and holiday projects yet?

A new-to-me type of tea!

Do any of you subscribe to Bon Appétit? I've had a free subscription for several years now, but it had gotten to where it had so many complicated recipes with so many hard-to-find or exotic ingredients that for a while there, I just took it straight to the trash and didn't bother opening it. But when I saw the photo on this month's cover, I knew I would like this issue because of the salmon recipes and the article on the Salmon Sisters (not to be confused with the Silver Sisters, ahem).

I was reminded that I do enjoy the brief tidbits about various foodie topics in the magazine, and this one about corn definitely caught my eye! Have you ever heard of making a "tea" from corn silks? Are they serious? But lo and behold, I googled and found that yes, corn silk tea is a thing, and apparently, the tea is a mild diuretic, which is helpful for some conditions. Would you try corn silk tea? I must admit that the next time I get some corn with the silks attached, I will have to give this a whirl.

And this isn't related to tea but to corn, but did you know there is a specific gadget to help you "de-kernel" (who knew that was a word!) corn? Other than tea accoutrements, of course, I don't like a lot of gadgets in the kitchen, but this is one I think might come in handy!

A new style of snack set & other thrifty finds

Because I've collected snack sets (aka tea and toast sets) for many years, I'm pretty good at spotting them in thrift stores. The other day, I came across some of these sweet little indented snack plates with *mugs* instead of *cups* that fit in the indentations!

Granted, this eight-piece set was missing a mug, but since the whole kit and caboodle was less than what I would pay for a single snack set at an antique mall, I was still getting a bargain.

That same day, I came across a cute silver serving tray for $2. It's clearly seen better days,  hasn't it?

I'm hoping silver polish will bring these roses back to life. If it doesn't,  plan B is that I'll spray paint it pink and plop it in my crafting area.

My other fun find was a large (ten-inch) papier-mâché Easter egg box! Small ones were ten to twenty dollars last Easter in the antique malls, so I was very happy to find this large one for just $7.99 at Goodwill. I love finding off-season decor at great prices, and by the time next Easter gets here, who knows what all I've have discovered!