For the Love of Teapots!

Isn't this the cutest teapot?  I saw it on Facebook's Great British Tea Party where it is available for purchase.  It's called Toast Rack Teapot and makes 4-6 cups of tea.  The British made teapot retails for £75.90 or $98.74 in US currency, plus shipping, so I think I'll just admire the picture!

After indulging in a Polish Paczek on Fat Tuesday, it occurred to me that I should have had a Polish pottery teapot to drink my tea from.  I did some online investigation and found a pretty 6-cup teapot from the Mosquito Collection on sale at the Polish Pottery Shop for $35 plus shipping.  It's regularly $70 so that's a very good price.  The teapot went into my shopping cart!  I would eventually like to have a teacup to match and maybe a creamer and sugar bowl.  One thing always leads to ten, doesn't it?  ;-)

The website has a comprehensive section about Polish pottery, which I've never researched before.  The pottery is hand-crafted, painted stoneware from the town of Bolestawiec, Poland where the pottery tradition dates back to the 14th century.  Highly skilled artisans train for years learning to make the pottery.  Do you own any Polish pottery?

There's wonderful polish recipes on the Polish Pottery Shop blog too.  I'm not of Polish descent, but I have enjoyed making Kapusta [cabbage, onions and mushrooms sauted in butter then baked] and Haluski [fried cabbage and noodles] this winter.  These were new recipes to me and are good, healthy comfort food.

Polish people are big tea drinkers.  Tea is the most popular beverage in Poland.  It is drunk all day long, even before sleep.  When I Googled 'Tea in Poland' a lot of interesting articles on the subject of tea consumption in the country came up.  

At the time I was hired at The Whitney, I was developing a program called, 'Passport Teas' where teas around the world would be studied.  The program hasn't come to fruition at The Whitney, but I think it may at another venue soon.  This teapot will be perfect for a Polish tea presentation.  I have no plans of leaving The Whitney.  This new venue will be in addition to my job at The Whitney.  I'll keep you posted.