My favorite teapots

I'm a little early for Gracious Hospitality's next Hospital-i-tea Blog-a-thon entry. However, I won't be online Monday! I may be going through withdrawal symptoms by that time. :)

I have lots of teapots, most coming from garage sales and thrift shops. You've seen them around the house, over windows, holding flowers, etc. However, these three rarely leave my china cabinet... they are my favorites.

This was a Goodwill find for only $2.99 and it is gorgeous! I had this "feeling" I should stop by Goodwill one evening when I had to be in town, anyway. There... on a top shelf... behind all the other dishes... was this beauty. I knew the guy who shelves things at Goodwill had put it there, hoping I'd find it (as he knows I'm looking for such things) before someone else could. I truly believe God led me to Goodwill for this treat that evening!


This beautiful teapot was a garage sale find when we lived in Michigan. I drove down a dusty road just because it had a "Garage Sale" sign at the corner. There was a young mom with tiny children trying to hold a garage sale. Most of the things were for babies and kids but my eyes spotted this... $5.00... a great buy. Sometimes going down those garage sale rabbit trails are worth it. :)


This is my favorite tea pot and it always will be... no matter how many I own. This was my first "beauty", a gift from my daughter when she was still in college. I adore this teapot!


Since I had the camera out, I thought you would like to see the tiny teacups I bought in Shipshewana, Indiana. They can be used as Christmas Ornaments but I thought they were beautiful in the china cabinet. They are so cute!

Sigh... such beauty... makes my heart sing. I think the teapots enjoyed getting outside the china cabinet for awhile. :)

My tea rituals

It's time for another week of Gracious Hospitality's Blog-a-Thon! We're to share our favorite teas and how we prepare them. I'm looking forward to reading more about new teas I haven't tried. Check her blog for the Mr. Linkys (when technical problems are over). :)

These are my two "go to" teapots which I use most days. The smaller one is when I'm making tea just for me. Sometimes I'll use it and then make my husband's tea in a large mug as guy's don't mind "taking tea" in mugs. Shudder... can you imagine? I use the large teapot when making tea for the three of us. It was a great thrift store find a few years ago.

I run the water at the faucet until it is very hot and fill the teapot with hot water. I put fresh water from our filtered water at the sink (a must for where we live, the well water is awful) into my whistling tea pot and let it come to a boil. For green tea, I let the water sit for about thirty seconds before using.

I pour the hot water out of the teapot, place my tea in the pot and pour the boiling water over it. I like most of my teas to only steep for a two or three minutes. Of course, my herbal teas steep for the full time asked for on the package. I pour mine into...

My favorite teacup...

These are my two favorite evening teas. I'm hoarding my box of Candy Cane Lane since it is only sold at Christmas... LOVE IT! The box on the left is hard to read, it is my latest find and it is delicious.

I hadn't tried any of the Lipton Pyramid Tea Bags until I begin to see them as favorites on other tea blogs. Target had a big sale on them a couple months ago so I tried Bedtime Story (chamomile and spearmint)... oh my goodness. How delicious!

These are our favorite "go to" teas we drink most often. They are Bigelow's Earl Grey Green (my favorite) and Green Tea with Lemon (hubby's favorite). They don't taste like a "grocery store tea" at all and they are perfect for "stocking up" when they are on sale.

The sealed packages helps them last a long time. I once found a box that had somehow found itself in the back of my kitchen shelves, could have been there a couple of years... tasted great.

These are our favorite "cold and flu season" teas. I like to keep them on hand all the time, although they are stored in the bathroom medicine cabinet.

I also enjoy HT Teas (Harney & Sons) and I love to try new teas if they are not expensive. I also have peppermint leaves sent to me by a dear friend which I use whole and strain into a cup.

I find all of the above taste great when using tea bags but through the years, there have been others I prefer in their whole leaf form... just don't own any right now.

Now, I must get ready for work. I just had to get these posted this morning, though. Sorry if I didn't catch typos! :)

Yummy tea time recipes

This week's Gracious Hospitality's Blog-a-thon is all about our favorite tea time recipes. I can't wait to go back and find new recipes from the other participating blogs!

Below are two great recipes but if you here are others labeled "tea time" on my recipe blog.

This is a new cookie I just made for my husband's birthday. He loves German chocolate cake so I decided to make these instead of cake (with just the three of us to indulge). They're remarkable!

I've had the recipe cut out from Taste of Home for awhile (I have one entire recipe box just for cut out recipe "cards" from Taste of Home, Country Woman, etc.). It is not difficult but it is a little time consuming. However, it is SO worth it! Yummy... BUT RICH!


German Chocolate Cookies

Cookie Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1/4 cup flaked coconut

German chocolate icing:
1 egg
1 5 oz. can evaporated milk (or measure 5 oz. from larger can)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (no substitutes)
1- 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Chocolate drizzle:
12 oz. chocolate chips
-0r-
dipping chocolate
(I had some dipping chocolate left so I melted it and it worked great)

For frosting, in a saucepan, combine the egg, milk, sugar, and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 10 - 12 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Mixture will reach 160 degrees (I didn't check temp, I just stopped when mixture thickened). Take off heat. Stir in coconut and pecans. Set aside and let cool.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in 2 cups chips and coconut. Drop by tablespoons 2" apart onto ungreased baking sheets. (I used my cookie scoop, which looks like a little ice scream scoop). Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for ten min. before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

In microwave, melt the chocolate chips or chocolate dipping chocolate. Frost the cookies when completely cool. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

(Recipe originally from Taste of Home magazine)

Here is another of my scone recipes, already posted on the recipe blog.


Cinnamon Chip Scones

3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature (yes, I know scone recipes usually call for cold butter)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter cookie sheet.

In large mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer), mix flour and sugar.

Mix in butter with dry ingredients just until mixture resembles cornmeal. (I just used the paddle attachment and it worked fine.)

Add heavy cream and cinnamon chips to mixture. Mix together until dough forms, mixing as little as needed.

Pat into a 1/2 inch thickness and cut out with a 2 inch biscuit or cookie cutter. Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 9-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Do not over bake.

I let them cool on the baking sheet.

Makes nine scones.

Decor-a-Tea

This week's Gracious Hospital-i-Tea's Blog-a-Thon is all about decorating with tea stuff. Yes... I am looking forward to this. It will be fun going to visit other blogs! :)

Do join in at Gracious Hospitality. All pictures below can be made bigger by clicking on them.

This table is against the short wall space that divides my living room and dining room areas. I found that cute black and white sugar bowl at a thrift store and it reminded me of Mrs. Wilt! :)

This is a picture of my bedroom I took last year. Pardon the fuzzy picture! I have a window just like this on another wall, which also has "tea stuff" displayed. This was a little girl's room for the previous owner and the pretty shelves were already in place (as were the purple stamped butterflies on another wall, which I kept).

Here is a closeup of the shelf over my bed. My daughter gave me the silk flowers in the silver containers for my birthday last year. She said she knew how I liked "symmetry". They were perfect for that space, adding some color and depth.

This is the other window in my bedroom. I tried to make it less fuzzy but I was standing on my bed and for the life of me... I couldn't stand still on that mattress! Oh, the things we do for our blogs.

Another area in my bedroom, on top of the small bookshelf. Sorry for the dark picture, there is not a lot of light there.

You've seen my corner cabinet before but this is the first picture since I changed to darker plates. I think it makes the dishes stand out more.

I'll stop here. :)

Do join the fun!

Favorite tea books

This is the second in the series of the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-thon. Last week we shared our favorite tea cup/s (I plan to share more of mine as we go along). This week we are to share our favorite tea literature.

Oh... did she know what she was asking? :)

Here are some of my favorites. I recently added an Amazon "widget" to my sidebar. So many people have asked for book recommendations and I figured this was the easiest way to make them available. I have quite a few of my favorite tea books located on the "widget".

This is one of my all time favorite books... period. It's so cute. It's perfect for any Holly Pond Hill fan but especially little girls or big girls who enjoy tea parties. I sent my copy to Miss E. a few months ago so I need to purchase another one for myself someday.

This is just the sweetest book about tea and etiquette for children. I think I saw it first in Southern Lady. I bought it for Miss E.'s 6th birthday earlier last month but I had it sent here first so I could see what it looked like. It really is a delightful book for boys and girls (and Grammies).

My favorite of all tea books for recipes. I've had mine since the early 90s. Well, my daughter has my copy now. :)

Just the best cozy mystery series to curl up with when one needs to "get away from it all". They are not "War and Peace" but just good fun.

This one is still my favorite and the one book I'd recommend to give as a gift to someone just learning to love "all things tea time". All of Emilie's books about tea time or wonderful. I don't know how this is the only one I own, all others were checked out of the library!

I love this Victoria book about tea time. I purchased it a couple of years ago with birthday money. I also adore the companion book called The Pleasures of Tea which (I believe) is out of print and available only through the used book dealers online. My copy was sent to me by a dear blog friend and I think of her every time I read it! They are Victoria at its' best.

I enjoy anything by Patsy Clairmont (including her lovely little book It's About Home). This would be a perfect gift, tucked into a basket with a teacup and a box of tea.

Do be certain to read all the other bloggers posts (and take part yourself). I had so much fun viewing everyone's tea cups. I'll post more of my teacups off and on. :)