Happy September and Other News

It hardly seems possible that we've entered the month of September already and the official beginning of fall is just 21 days away.  I'll be very sad to see summer go with its long, sunny days, but fall is a beautiful season too.

It was a busy weekend at my house.  My daughter celebrated her birthday on Aug. 28th and we had her and her husband along with our son, Steve, and his family for dinner on Sunday to celebrate. Steve sent Jeremy pictures [below] at the dinner table saying, "Those who move to the western side of the state don't get to enjoy mama's cooking!"  ;-)

Some time ago I got a cookbook from the Wild Plum tearoom in Gatlinburg, TN.  I was privileged to visit the tearoom as well.  Their signature beverage is Wild Plum Tea and one of the ingredients was 5 Alive frozen drink, made by Minute Maid, which was phased out in the U.S. market in the mid-1990's.  I wanted to serve it Sunday but wondered what the Wild Plum tearoom substituted for the frozen drink.  I texted them to ask and they graciously responded saying it was Tang powdered drink mix [marketed in 1959].  I didn't know the mix was still available, but it is. Even though summer is almost over I'm sharing the recipe with you.  It's a great cold drink.

Wild Plum Tea

4 family-sized tea bags [I used Luzianne brand]

2 cups sugar

2 cups prepared Tang Powdered Mix

1/2 cup Lemon Juice

Directions:  In a 1 gallon pitcher, steep tea bags in 1 quart of boiling water for 10 minutes.  In a small saucepan combine sugar with 2 cups of water and boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the tea bags from the pitcher and add the sugar water, prepared tang and lemon juice.  Fill the pitcher with cold water to make 1 gallon of tea.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  10 minutes is a long time to steep black tea and defies the 3-5 minute rule for preventing bitter tea, but Wild Plum tea is not bitter.

On another subject, this coming weekend The Whitney will celebrate it's annual Autumn & Apples Tea, so that means I've been busy putting together 65 favors.

I ordered red plastic apples from Oriental Trading Co. again this year and filled them with a 1.5 oz. jar of Apple Butter from Kitchen Kettle, and some Werther's Caramel Apple candies.  I wanted an apple spreader too but they were all sold out.  

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newly designed and expanded issue of Tea Time Magazine.  It was supposed to be available on newsstands today and I'm not sure when subscriberes will receive theirs by mail.

I was saddened to learn of Dolly Parton's death a week ago today.  I've watched many Facebook reels and TV programs about her life since her passing. She co-authored a cookbook with her sister that I'm seriously considering ordering.  Her favorite food was potatoes.  She said every diet she ever fell off of was due to potatoes, because she never met a spud she didn't like!  

Have you tried her cake mixes?

Jeremy and family just visited Sevierville, TN [the closest town where Dolly grew up and went to high school] last month and took a picture in front of her statue, never thinking she would die few days later and the whole area would be strewn with flowers from bereaved fans.

Happy September to all!

Wedding at The Whitney

There are weddings at The Whitney almost every weekend, but yesterday was the first time it was someone I knew.

Alecia attends my church and is a tea lover.  She's attended almost all of the teas I've coordinated with her mom.

Her wedding ceremony took place in The Whitney gardens at 4:00 p.m. and the small intimate reception was in the receiving and drawing rooms.  It rained in early afternoon and I wondered if they'd have to move the ceremony indoors, but Mother Nature cooperated and it was held outdoors as planned.

~ Steve & Sharon at Alecia's Wedding ~

Drawing Room waiting for all the guests to be seated.

~ Entree Choices ~

Doesn't the Surf and Turf  look yummy?

Congratulations to the happy couple!

A Belated 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

My hubby and I celebrated our 60th Wedding Anniversary on June 11th.  We went out to dinner with our son Steve and his family, but because of conflicting schedules we couldn't get together with the rest of the family until last Friday, August 14th when my hubby and I took our three children and their spouses plus two grandchildren and a friend on a dinner cruise on the Detroit Princess Riverboat.

Our daughter Lori and her husband Dave picked us up for the drive downtown and we arrived at the riverwalk around 4:30 p.m.  We took a few pictures while waiting for the others to arrive.  There was cloud cover when we first arrived but shortly afterwards the sun came out with blue skies and a beautiful evening for a boat ride.

~ Lori and Dave ~

Jeremy, Samantha and Izzy arrived shortly after us.  Since they came from the western side of the state, they got a hotel room downtown so they could stay over night and take in a Detroit Tiger baseball game on Saturday.  Landon and Ellie are both in high school this year and had sport commitments that prevented them from joining us. 

The official boarding time was 6:00 p.m.  Once we checked in at the reception desk, a photographer was there to take pictures [for a fee, of course ;-)]

Only two of our eight grandchildren we able to be with us.  Three live out-of-state, so it's difficult to get everyone together anymore.  Brooke's boyfriend, Dominic, joined us.

After the pictures we went to the first floor dining room where table #29 was reserved for us. The cruise wasn't a sell-out but it was full with dining rooms on three floors being used.  The meal was buffet style and guests could go back as many times as they wanted.  There was live entertainment throughout the evening, but as soon as we finished eating we went up to the third floor open deck to enjoy the cruise and see the Canadian and Detroit shorelines.

~ Steve and Sharon ~

The boat departed the dock by Hart Plaza shortly after 7:00 p.m. for the 2 1/2 hour cruise on the Detroit River which took us north of Belle Isle.  Then it turned around and took us south of the Ambassador Bridge before returning to the dock.

~ Passing the RenCen Towers ~

Sunset on the Detroit River as seen from the third deck of the Detroit Princess Riverboat

~ Jeremy and Samantha ~

~ Lori and Dave ~

~ Steve and Sharon ~

~ Brooke and Dominic ~

~ Mom and Dad ~

~ Sweet, beautiful, Izzy ~

The Ambassador Bridge at twilight... 

...and a few minutes later.

It was such a relaxing and enjoyable family evening.  We don't have the opportunity to enjoy each other's company in an unhurried setting very often.  I'm so glad we were able to do the dinner cruise.  We'll see what anniversary #61 brings.

National Afternoon Tea Week

Tea Time magazine posted a beautiful picture on Facebook earlier this week reminding us that this is National Afternoon Tea Week.  Their photograph is below. 

Have you gone to Afternoon Tea lately?  It's been awhile since I've sat at an Afternoon Tea table, but I work at them three days a week at The Whitney.  We refer to our teas as Mansion Tea.

Tea Time Magazine's Facebook post inspired me to reflect back on some of my amazing Afternoon Tea experiences.  I've been blessed to have Afternoon Tea in several wonderful places including London, England...

On a double-decker London tour bus

On the Queen Mary 2 crossing the Atlantic

At the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia

And many wonderful places in the United States...  The Drake in Chicago

The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN

The Brown Palace in Denver, CO

The Plaza Hotel in New York City - Palm Court

I've enjoyed hosting many Afternoon Teas in my home...

And I've enjoyed going to many wonderful tea rooms [many have since closed]...

Sweet Shalom, Sylvania, OH 

Sweet Remembrances in Mechanicsburg, PA

I wish I had the space to list all of them, but I'll stop.  Thanks for traveling down memory lane with me vicariously.  What has been one of your most meaningful Afternoon Tea experiences?  I hope you're able to enjoy Afternoon Tea somewhere this week!