Celebrate life's simple pleasures with Tea

June is National Iced Tea Month! How did iced tea come about anyway?

According to the well-known story, Richard Blechynden, an enterprising English merchant, was put in charge of the tea pavilion at the 1904 World's Fair. Unfortunately, in planning for the Fair, he never considered the potential impact of weather. When Mother Nature produced a blistering summer day, cups of hot tea were not a popular item with the fairgoers. Exhausted and desperate to showcase his product, Blechynden tried serving the tea cold in glasses filled with ice. The scheme was an instant success, and iced tea was popularized!

Look how much we love it!
Iced tea is the most common form of the beverage in the United States; over 80% of all tea consumed here is iced tea. While instant, bottled, and bagged teas account for a significant portion of this volume, iced loose leaf tea is a true epicurean delight.

*Thanks to Upton Tea for info on Richard Blechynden, especially the spelling of his name. :)

Tea Party Dreamin' Fridays

I'm dreaming of a great space to have tea in the morning! A place to sit, relax and meditate.

   

Here's a photo of my cute little front terrace after I pulled out some old azeala bushes. I've never been in love with the slate table and benches. My hubby finally admitted that he's not attached to them either! You know what that means! With a little more work ..............out they go!  I'm dreaming of a spot for tea like Lady Katherine's!

 

I just love her table & chairs! And the roses, well, I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Have a tea-rific weekend!

Do my teacups have to match?

The age old question, "To match or not to match" is always present!

When I'm feeling whimsical, light hearted I tend to get out all the pieces and mix and match, using a chosen color palette to unify and make the tablescape work together.

When the mood is a celebration or has a theme, I love to pull out all the stops and lay a balanced table setting of one pattern. I use flowers and napkins to add interest, or give the eye a place to rest.  I also make use of the "rule of 3" more when the focus is placed on one china pattern. 

Do you have thoughts on this age old dilema? Of course, I'll keep hunting the tag sales and collecting while I wait for your comments!

Show & Tell Monday- celebrating a long weekend with my tea and flag!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

                     As my children remind me every year, 'It's summer! Well, just about!"

        Thank you, to all the men & women whom, out of courage and patriotism, serve us all so well.

Tea Party Dreamin' Fridays

I thought I'd start a new feature on my blog today! I've been taking a Social Media Made Simple class (it's excellent) and have been loving every minute of visiting other tea-rific blogs! www.hookedonhouses.net and http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com are now two of  my favorites! They have me dreamin' of a porch swing for my tea parties! (And my hubby got me so excited last night when he acutally mentioned a garage makeover. I'll keep you posted)

Do you have a wonderful porch swing waiting for a tea party? PLEEEEEEEEZ, will you indulge my dreaming and share?

NYC, taking time for family and tea!

We had the best weekend celebrating my mom's birthday and my daughter's up coming high school graduation!

You could say, that we ate our way around Lincoln Center! We loved the "South Pacific" show but we gabbed and ate and laughed to our hearts content!

One of my favorite stops was uptown, 423 Amsterdam actually.  Sarabeth's Restaurant. The food, service and atmosphere were all tea-lightful!    The waitress also mentioned that they now have cute cafes in Lord & Taylor!

 

Imagine, great shopping and good tea after!  I'll add that to my list!  Where's my copy of "Tea in NYC"?

Ah, so much tea (in NYC) and so little time!

National Women's Health Week- Tea;it's a good thing!

 

Take a friend out for Afternoon Tea this week! It will be good for both of you! 

Nothing beats a cup of tea to promote good health and mental well being. Imagine a little cup of tea can bring a smile to your face, warming your spirit and keeping your mind and body happy! We've all heard of the antioxident benefits now consider the fact that going out to tea will boost your immune system by relieving stress! When was the last time you went to a quiet enjoyable lunch with a friend and really took time to listen? 

Call your girlfriend this week and take care of each other's mind and spirit over a good cup of tea!

(Okay, Jamie! Are you available friday?)

Do you take lemon?

Personally, I adore the fresh scent of citrus, lemon in particular! As a child I was bombarded with commercials on the tv, advising any housewife or child listening that lemony fresh was the best. I must have taken it to heart because I love lemons!

I love to decorate my tea table with whole lemons in a bowl, lemon wedges on a plate with a cute bird squeezer or this style of lovely arrangement! (when I have the time- 15 minutes- thinly slice two lemons and place along the inside of glass bowl -I use my lonely trifle bowl. Place flowers into center of lemon lined  vase then fill with water.

Take this from me! Don't fill the vase of lemon slices first. Your hard work will just float away!  The pro's use another vase, a wee bit smaller and place this in the center of the lemon lined vase to keep things lined up and perfect.

I do purchase ready made bouquets at my grocery store. I chose two that are basically the same and pull out the flowers that are not in my color scheme. Most times that leaves me with a lovely large arrangement of what the florist thought was "filler" flowers and foliage. This goes into my lemon lined vase and the larger remaining  flowers go into a pretty pitcher or vase for my coffee table.

Remember that the rule of thumb for flowers on your tea table is to keep the scent to a minimum. Your tea should be the first thing that you and your guests smell! 

Show & Tell Monday- back from the Tea Expo with tea treasures galore!

Yes, it's been a week but oh what a week it's been! I've had a chance to unpack the large suitcase full of goodies and here's the first!  I thought that I was done buying books. Especially the cooking variety! But this little number is just fab and gets a thumbs up from me! I'm not the kind of gal who thinks spending a day in the kitchen is fun.  I enjoy cooking for my family and my tea parties but give me that semi-homemade approach!

This book, full of photos and easy to do recipes will keep my teaparty sandwiches fresh and fun.

And I had time to talk to the author, even get my copy signed- that's what I love about the EXPO!

I'm trying out a sandwich recipe this week, I'll keep you posted!

World Tea Expo-Here we come!

I'm so execited I could just bust! Today I'm off to Las Vegas to tell thousands of people about my passion for tea!

In fact, I've been so excited and busy this week that I have not had a chance to post. But I can promise you that much more will come over the next week!!!!!!!!

I'm signed up for several workshops including a topic we all love-Chocolate! Yes, the workshop involves tea and chocolate pairing. I can't wait to taste all the workshop homework!

Then there are hundreds of tea vendors from all over the world! I have a long list of new products to look for-some special requests from customers.

All this while I visit with everyone from our table at the Tea Bureau Booth!

One thing I can promise-what happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas! I'll be posting all the big news when I get back!