The Relevant Tea Leaf: January 2023

Friday, January 27, 2023

Supporting a Local Business

A few weeks ago, a lady from my church told me about a place in Washington, MI where she went for a friend's birthday tea. She gave the event [food and presentation] a high rating and thought I might like to have the contact info for one of our church teas. While it's officially a catering business, there's a banquet room next door to the commercial kitchen where parties with a minimum of 15 can be held. [Less than 15 there's a room rental fee].

You may recall I took my daughter-in-law, Samantha, and two granddaughters to a tea in Dexter, MI at Christmas time, and to my delight [they're Starbuck's and Tim Horton gals] they said they enjoyed it and would like to do it again. Well... you don't have to ask me twice about a tea party! I decided to make it a family affair and invited my daughter, and other daughter-in-law to come too, as well as some tea loving friends to reach the quota of 15 [and it may go over that count].

I drove to Pamela's on January 17th to meet the owner, and signed a contract for Tuesday, March 7th at 1:00 o'clock. I'm excited for this tea party!

Meet Pamela... actually her first name is Francine and her middle name is Pamela. She was delightful to talk to and reminded me a lot of another tea-loving friend.

A certified chef and event planner, she's taking the month of February off for a much needed vacation which is why the tea party isn't scheduled until March.

Located in Woodland Shopping Center

On Van Dyke between 30 & 31 Mile Road

She has a small cafe in the front of her certified commercial kitchen and also a freezer section where customers can purchase take-out food.

I promise to blog about the tea when it occurs.

Monday, January 23, 2023

Sharing 'The Whitney' at Independence Village

A few weeks ago, Jacob, the Life Enrichment Director at Independence Village Retirement Community in Plymouth, MI, called to ask if I'd come and share the history of The Whitney with the residents. Many of them have been to the restaurant, so it was a relevant subject.

Today was the day of the presentation. We left home around 9:30 a.m. to get there by 10:30, and the tea was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. I have very little Whitney memorabilia so it didn't take long to set-up. I have two books pertaining to David Whitney, Jr. - one written by his eldest daughter, titled The Story of an Abundant Life, and the other written by his youngest daughter's husband, Tracy W. McGregor, who never would have had the means to become a Detroit Civic Leader without Mr. Whitney's wealth and influential name. For fun I took the book Haunted Travels of Michigan, with The Whitney on the cover - because the mansion is said to be haunted. [I must say, however, in my four years at The Whitney, I've never experienced any paranormal activity.] I also had a photo of The Whitney enlarged at Kinko's and bonded to posterboard for a visual.

~ Jacob ~

Mary, his co-worker, with her tea cart.

And her tea chest.

The tables were beautifully set for Afternoon Tea, so I took photos of a couple.

I have a fondness for black teacups, so I had to take a picture of this black teacup.

And two gorgeous teacups of Queen Elizabeth II on her Diamond Jubilee, and the Queen Mum.

30 residents attended, four of which were men, and I think they enjoyed themselves.

~ Ruth ~

There were tea sandwiches and lots of sweets.

Then the Whitney presentation. It was a fun day! Thank you Independence Village for inviting me back again.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Chinese New Year

I smiled when I saw Google's Doodle this morning reminding everyone that today is the Lunar New Year.

It's the year of the Rabbit. If that's your Chinese Zodiac sign, you are talented and affectionate, yet shy. You work well with people and and do well in business, You're most compatible with the ram, pig and dog, and least compatible with the rat and the rooster. [My Chinese Zodiac sign is the pig.]

I celebrated the occasion a day early. When I was driving home from work yesterday afternoon I was thinking about the Chinese New Year, so decided to place a take-out order with my local Chinese restaurant. The gal at the restaurant was happy because this is the year of her Zodiac sign. She happily proclaimed she was a rabbit.

Delicious Oolong tea, Egg Drop Soup, Pork Fried Rice, Egg Roll, Tangerine [for prosperity] and Fortune Cookie. It was a fun deviation from a normal dinner.

My Fortune

The Whitney reopened Thursday evening after being closed for 10-days for a 1st-floor kitchen renovation, so my mini-vacation ended and I went back to work yesterday. 98 guests for Mansion Tea.

We have a new executive chef to go with our new kitchen, Mark Donovan. He's a southeastern Michigan native [Troy, MI] who graduated from Schoolcraft Culinary Arts Program, and has spent the last 18 years working at Disney properties. He wasn't camera shy and let me take his picture yesterday.

Today I'm putting the finishing touches on my presentation about The Whitney for the residents at Independence Village in Plymouth tomorrow. I have thoroughly enjoyed delving into Whitney history again regarding the mansion as well as the family.

I'm also racing with the clock to finish a Shutterfly Album with photos from my four years at The Whitney. A special for unlimited pages expires tonight at midnight. I won't have the album to show at tomorrow's presentation, but I'll have it for any future ones.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Day Trip to Southgate, MI

Today I took a break from my Whitney presentation research and drove 35 miles to have lunch with four gals I graduated from high school with. The restaurant's been there for many years and I had heard about it, but had never eaten there until today - Rhapsody Hungarian Restaurant. I don't recall ever eating Hungarian cuisine before, but I enjoy trying ethnic cuisine.

There were Hungarian wall murals and vignettes inside the restaurant.

The gals recommended their Chicken Paprikash, so that's what I ordered and it didn't disappoint. Those little dumplings [I'm sure they have a proper Hungarian name] were so good.

We sat and chatted for awhile and then left to go our separate ways. Next month's lunch is at a fairly new restaurant in Wyandotte that's in a former bank building. It's called the Vault, and I've been wanting to go there, so another day trip is on my calendar.

From the restaurant I drove to another girlfriend's house to deliver a long overdue birthday present, then I made my drive back home. It was a good day.

Today is A.A. Milne's birthday - he was born on Jan. 18, 1882. Thank you Mr. Milne for giving us Winnie-the-Pooh!

Monday, January 16, 2023

Martin Luther King Day

I shared this on my church women's ministry Facebook page this morning and decided to share it on my blog as well.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that" ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Internet Photo]

Thursday, January 12, 2023

National Hot Tea Day

Today has been designated as National Hot Tea Day. Everyday is hot tea day at my house so it's not difficult to celebrate the day.

I steeped a cup of Harney & Sons Organic Green w/Citrus & Ginkgo first thing this morning. [For the most part I only drink green tea.] What's in your cup today?

We removed a few more Christmas decorations today. What goes up must come down... eventually! Hubby took down the outside lights right after New Year's Day as well as the Nativity set in the living room. But the Christmas tree and lighted tea houses in the family room are still up. I'm dragging my feet in taking them down. Fortunately hubby likes the coziness of them. Do you still have Christmas decorations up?

After a hair appointment on Tuesday I stopped by LaBelle's antique store. I hadn't been in there for a long time. I spotted a vintage green vase for $3. I really didn't need it since I've acquired the amount I wanted, but it was so cheap I decided to go for 12 instead of 8. And it's always good to have a few extras in case of breakage. I also saw a pretty Christmas Tree brooch for $10. At this stage in my life I'll never acquire enough of the brooches to make a necklace like one of my readers recently shared, but the brooch was pretty and inexpensive I bought it.

From the antique store I went to The Whitney to organize and mate the teacups that were in disarray from the Christmas holidays. The restaurant shut down on Monday for 10 days to make some much needed repairs. To my dismay, the first floor kitchen areas were all gutted and the equipment moved into the Music Room where the teacups are located. I couldn't get anywhere near them. So I'll return next week and hopefully get the job done then.

I was asked to do a presentation about The Whitney for the residents of Independence Village in Plymouth, MI on January 23rd, so I've been busy doing research and gathering information. It's the reason you haven't seen many blog posts from me. Please be patient until this presentation is over.