Tea and More!

A short time ago my cousin posted a picture on her Facebook page for healthy banana splits [yogurt instead of ice cream].  The picture looked so good, I decided to give it a try, but first I had to find some banana split dishes.  A trip to a nearby Salvation Army store provided them.

~ Picture my cousin posted ~

Banana Split dishes at Salvation Army for $1.99 each

~ Banana Splits I made ~

I'm not a huge banana fan, but I know they're healthy and this way of eating them is palatable.  I used plain Greek yogurt and flavored it with a bit of almond flavoring. Next time I will try a fruit flavored yogurt. Harney & Sons Citron Green tea was a great accompaniment.

The first thing I made in the Ninja Air Fryer that I received for Christmas was breaded mushrooms.  I think they would be great on a Charcuterie Board.  I've tried two different recipes so far and both were good, but not as crispy as deep fried.  My next experiment will be spraying them with Olive Oil before air frying them to see if that makes a difference.

I'm having three cousins over for a post-Christmas gathering on February 1st and am thinking about beginning our meal with a Charcuterie Board.  I enjoy watching Natascha's Kitchen on Facebook and she recently did a Charcuterie Board demo.   They are so versatile.  I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday [first time since the pandemic shutdown], and saw a lovely board that I plan to get.  Of course, tea will be an important part of the meal too.

I'm also having a lady my son works with over for tea on Jan. 30th.  She's the Executive Director of an Independent Living facility and wants to discuss incorporating tea into their activities program.  Since my Christmas decorations are still up [I'm leaving them up until my cousins come], I decided to do a light blue snowy tablescape.  I bought a pretty lantern at Hobby Lobby yesterday that will be the centerpiece.  I love Hobby Lobby!  Every year when my birthday approaches my kids ask my hubby for gift ideas.  After I got home yesterday I told him if they should ask this year tell them a Hobby Lobby gift card! ;-)  So many lovely things in that store.

I'm still working on the menu, but I'll be serving Snowflake black tea by The East Indies Tea Co. in Lebanon, PA.  It's flavored with coconut rasps and almond flakes, and is so good.  

The Plaid Poinsettia teapot [Grace's Teaware] that I ordered from Replacements, Ltd. arrived by FedEx this week.  It's not the one I ordered in early December that USPS unexplainably lost. I'm glad Replacements, Ltd. was able to locate another one.  It'll be ready to use next Christmas along with the teacups and cream and sugar bowl that I received this past Christmas.

I completed another Shutterfly album this week and sent it off for printing.  I've packed away the pictures temporarily until after my company and entertaining are over.  Below is the cover of the latest album.  It goes up to the time when my daughter was born.  Just 54 more years in photos to go.  I think I'll be scanning pictures and making Shutterfly albums for a long time to come!

What have you been doing to keep occupied this January?

2020 Year in Review

2020 was a year none of us will ever forget.  We were all eager for it to end and a new year to begin.  I only wrote 104 posts in 2020 - the lowest number since I began blogging in 2012.  With the lengthy quarantine, blogging activities were limited.  But in spite of the pandemic and all the social and political unrest, there were still some happy memories.  Pour yourself a cup of tea while I review the year from my perspective.

January - I took my sweet granddaughter, Ellie, to Afternoon Tea at Tea Party Castle

February - I celebrated my birthday with a co-worker at The Whitney

And Valentine's Day with my two adorable great-granddaughters, Evie and Juliette

March - Three grandchildren surprised us with a COVID quarantine poster on the front porch

April - Not even COVID could prevent us from celebrating Easter and our Risen Lord!

May - My first Zoom Tea Party with the Royal Park Hotel and Tea Hostess Mary Kuhn

June - A long overdue tea outing to St. Sabbas Russian Orthodox Monastery Tea House

July - The Pink House Tea Room in New Baltimore

And a two week trip out west to North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.  We traveled 4,655 miles and made memories to last a lifetime with son, Jeremy, and his family. 

August - My sweet daughter Lori's birthday.

September - First day back to work after restaurants were closed to prevent the spread of COVID.  It was a brief reopening because we were soon shut down again. Facemasks became a part of daily attire.

October - First World Tea Virtual Summit and Whitney Halloween Staff Party

November - I celebrated my hubby's and grandson Landon's birthdays.  2020's Thanksgiving gathering was much smaller due to COVID.  We only celebrated with our son, Steve, and his family.

December - Christmas

As the saying goes, "Out with the old, and in with the new".  2021 lies before us and we ask for God's guidance and blessing.

It's Always Tea Time

It's hard to believe we're into the 11th day of January already, but time has a way of marching on whether we want it to or not.

There's not much new to write about. I've been doing the 'same ole, same ole' - in other words, scanning and editing old photos for my next Shutterfly album which will take me up to the time of my sweet daughter's birth [Aug. 1967].  It's so much fun going down memory lane via old pictures, but a little bittersweet too realizing how many relatives and friends have passed on, and how much Mother Nature has changed my appearance with the passage of time!

I received a surprise in today's mail from my girlfriend.  She received a tea-themed key ring for Christmas and thought it was cute and ordered one for me.  Don't you love getting unexpected surprises in the mail?  Thank you, Sandy!

What teas have been in your teacup during these first 11 days of January?  January is National Hot Tea Month and tomorrow [Jan. 12th] is Hot Tea Day, so drink up!

Pantone 2021 Colors of the Year

Pantone has selected two colors this year - "Illuminating Yellow" - a bright and cheerful yellow and "Ultimate Gray".   I'm onboard with cheerful yellow.  It reminds me of many kitchens that were painted yellow in the 60's.  It also reminds me of lemons, school buses, sunshine, and sunflowers, and even my cup of green tea this morning that steeped to a light lemony yellow color [Harney & Sons organic Green with Citrus & Ginkgo].  But the color gray doesn't motivate me at all.  It's not a happy color and makes me think of  drab, cloudy winter days .  

A quick Google search reveals we can expect to see a lot of yellow in this spring's fashions. Initially I didn't recall ever owning a yellow outfit, but then I remembered buying two casual yellow outfits for my trip out west last summer.  Do you wear yellow or grey?

Did you know School Bus Yellow was specifically formulated for use on school buses in the US in 1939 because it attracts attention faster than any other color?  Who can forget the canvas-coated raincoats kids used to wear?  Maybe they'll make a comeback this year toned down from mustard yellow to Pantone's illuminating yellow.  ;-)

How have you been spending these first five days of the new year?  I stayed up watching a Hallmark movie on New Year's Eve and switched channels just before midnight to watch the crystal ball drop in New York City's Times Square at midnight, ushering in the New Year.  I fell asleep to the sound of fireworks going off by party revelers.

My hubby and I spent New Years Day at our son Jeremy's house.  Our daughter-in-law's parents were there too.  The guys watched football all afternoon and the women chatted in the kitchen.  There were also 8 active children who kept the house very lively.

Hubby took our outdoor Christmas decorations down today, but Tiffany's ice skate from when she was a little girl will remain on the front door through winter.  The indoor Christmas decorations will remain up a little while longer too.

I finished up another Shutterfly photo album Sunday night and sent it winging it's way through cyberspace.  It's the years 1965-66 after high school graduation and the beginning of marriage with our first rental home in Altus, Oklahoma where we were stationed with the U.S. Air Force. 56 pages of happy memories!  The cover says thru 1967 so I'll have to live with my error.  I'll take a short break before resuming work on the next album.

I ordered Joanna Gaines [HGTV's Fixer Upper star] two cookbooks which arrived in the mail.  Lots of good recipes inside.  Both are best sellers.  Joanna makes no claims of being a chef or culinary expert.  The recipes are uncomplicated meals she makes for her family.  She has a new cooking show on Discovery Plus, which I haven't subscribed to yet, but plan to.  The previews look great.

I have always made printed menus of every meal I prepared for company and special occasions and have kept them over the years.  My goal for next Christmas is to make a cookbook with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Birthday recipes along with pictures of our celebrations for my granddaughters.  I'm excited about the project.  The older I get the more I think about my legacy which is why I made the Tea Time with Nana Shutterfly album for Tiffany this past Christmas.

I can't think of a better way to close this post than by sharing some adorable photos Tiffany posted on Facebook of her sweet little girls, Evie and Juliette, playing in the snow a couple of days ago. She told Evie as soon as there was enough snow on the ground to make a snowman they would go outside and do it.  Evie didn't let her forget that promise.  ;-)

When you're young, you enjoy getting out in the snow and playing in it.  When you're my age, not so much!  ;-)

Happy New Year!

 

And LOTS of wonderful tea!