I'm Back!

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Life is busy.  Yesterday after church we drove to East Lansing to take our granddaughter, Isabella, and her college roommate, Grace, out to lunch. We let Izzy pick the restaurant and she chose P.F. Chang's.  Good choice, Izzy!

School is winding down for them with only three weeks left.  In the fall she'll be a Junior.  It doesn't seem possible.

Jerry and I ordered Sesame Chicken and the girls each ordered something different.  To go with my Sesame Chicken I ordered a pot of Sweet Ginger Peach black tea [by Revolution] and it was SO good.

Late this morning my girlfriend, Lori, came over and we filled the teapot candy boxes and tied them closed with a bow.  I forgot to take pictures until after she left, but here they are in the boxes ready to transport to the ladies church tea on April 26th.  

My hubby gave us a jump start on the project last week by assembling the teapots for us.

After Lori left, I started working on children's Easter baskets for The Whitney's Tea With the Easter Bunny on April 19th.  As of right now, I only have to make 10 baskets. 

I have to wrap them in cellophane yet, but I think they turned out cute and will make the kids happy.

Great granddaughter, Juliette, turned six on April 3rd.  Since she's in California we didn't get to celebrate with her, but our daughter flew out to be with them and took our gift and sent pictures to us.

Since Lori was flying she didn't have a lot of space for presents.  So we gave her a card with money.  The card said she was "the cherry on top of ice cream" so I also got her a bag of Michigan cherry gummies.   It's been almost two years since she's seen us, so I pasted a photo of Jerry and me on the inside of her card to help her remember who we are.  We're looking forward to them coming to Michigan this summer for a visit.

Our daughter, Lori, with her two granddaughters. 

John, Tiffany, Juliette and Evie

And as Scarlett O'Hara said, "tomorrow is another day!"

The Good News and The Bad News

The good news first...  I'm working on two teas right now - one on April 26th for the ladies of my church and the other on May 9th for The Whitney.

I don't normally shop at Michael's [I'm a Hobby Lobby loyalist], but since I had tea favors on my mind and was in the vicinity of a Michael's last Friday, I decided to pop in to see what they had.  It turned out to be a very good stop.  They had lovely floral teacup favors on sale for 50% off.  I immediately sent a photo to The Whitney's General Manager for approval and he responded, "Get them!"  They're pretty in the photo, but even prettier in person so I ordered 60 of them.

I also purchased four teatime tabletop signs for prizes for my church tea [also on sale for 50% off].

After the above great finds I browsed the rest of the store.  In the book section I saw an Official Bridgerton Cookbook.  I picked it up and leafed through it trying to decide whether to purchase it.  I had a 30% off coupon on regularly priced merchandise which brought the price down to $24.50, and since I'm a sucker for books [cookbooks particularly] I decided it was worth the price.  I never finished watching Bridgerton's Season 3 [which premiered last May with eight episodes], but I decided the book was worth it for the beautiful color photos of Britain's Regency Era [1811-1820], and it had some good recipes too.

Below are a few of the recipes I'm anxious to try... Sausage Rolls

Battenberg Cake - Have you ever made one?

Yorkshire Pudding

I had a Bridgerton Strawberry Scone mix in my pantry that I purchased at Williams Sonoma awhile back, so today seemed like the perfect day to make them.  They were very good for a prepared mix and rose nicely.

The Whitney's tea blender dropped of some tea samples yesterday for me to try and decide which one to feature in April and May.  I decided on Peach Apricot black tea and it was the perfect accompaniment to the scones.

Now for the bad news...  sometime late this afternoon UPS delivered my Michael's order and below is what I found!  Can you believe it?  My heart sank!

Michael's did a very poor job packing the teacups.  The box was too big for the number of teacups it contained and they didn't use any styrofoam popcorn for protection against breakage when careless UPS employees dropped the box.  What an irresponsible world we live in for this to be considered an acceptable delivery.  My hubby gingerly carried it in the house so I could assess the damage.  Miraculously, only three broke out of the jumbled mess, but seven weren't so lucky in another box.  I will call Michael's in the morning to get it all sorted out.

In spite of the debacle, I'm very pleased with the floral teacups and think the guests who attend the tea will like them too.

St. Patrick's Weekend

It was a busy day at The Whitney last Saturday, serving specially blended Irish Cream black tea to 143 guests.   I always have fun dressing for the holidays at The Whitney and the guests seem to like the festivity it provides.  Below, a photo of server Kayleigh and me.

After church on Sunday my hubby and I had reservations to attend a St. Patrick's tea & luncheon with special friends, Lori and Rick, provided by Pamela's Catering. 

 Our husband's were the only two men in attendance, but they didn't mind.

Below is Francine, the owner of Pamela's Catering.  She does the catering for our church teas and will be doing the one on April 26th. 

~ Hubby and Me ~

The banquet room was festively set for St. Patrick's Day and we had our own table for four.

The meal began with delicious scones served with mock Devonshire cream.  There were two tea choices.  An Irish Cream black tea [different blender from The Whitney] and an herbal.  I drank both throughout my meal and they were very good. 

Scones were followed by a mixed greens salad with Green Goddess dressing.

The main course was Shepherd's Pie with Reuben Sliders, Cucumber Finger Sandwiches and a Radish Sandwich.  All were delicious but we really liked the Reuben Sliders and I want to try making them at home.  [Side note: Paula Deen recently shared a recipe for mini Shepherd's pies made in mini cupcake tins that I'd like to try too.  They'd be perfect for tea parties.]

Dessert was a Guinness Cupcake with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.  It was yummy and we all went home with very full tummies!

We were glad the rain held off for Sunday's 67th St. Patrick's Day parade on Michigan Avenue in Detroit's Corktown.  

Corktown is Detroit's oldest existing neighborhood. In the mid 1800's Irish immigrants, primarily from County Cork, fled Ireland's Great Potato Famine, and became the largest ethnic group settling in Detroit.

The United States holds more St. Patrick's Day parades than Ireland for the millions of Americans who are of Irish ancestry [which includes me].

[Internet Photo]

My hubby and I had planned to go to an Irish Pub in Detroit's Corktown for lunch on St. Patrick's Day, but the pub we went to before [O'Blivions] has closed and a live Facebook video of McShane's Irish Pub was jam packed with patrons, so we opted to eat home instead.  I made a pot of Reuben Soup and we enjoyed it with baked Cod rather than fried.  I didn't have time to make Irish Soda Bread so that's being planned for today.

Michigan Central Train Station [owned by Ford Motor Company] was wearin' the green for the holiday!  Henry Ford's father was an Irish immigrant from County Cork Ireland.

[Internet Photo]

How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

I'll close this post with St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer:

     Christ with me,

     Christ before me,

     Christ behind me,

     Christ in me,

     Christ beneath me,

     Christ above me,

     Christ on my right,

     Christ on my left,

     Christ when I lie down,

     Christ when I sit down,

     Christ when I arise,

     Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

     Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

     Christ in every eye that sees me,

     Christ in every ear that hears me.

 If you have never read the story of St. Patrick [Ireland's Patron Saint], take time to do it.

     

Happy National Potato Chip Day!

I always associate potatoes with Ireland even though it's believed they originated in South America [Peru] between 8,000 and 5,000 BC.  Wow!  Potatoes have been around a long time!  They were introduced to Europe in the 16th century, likely by the Spanish, after the colonization of South America. 

The Irish were the first to accept potatoes as a field crop in the early 17th century, and embraced them as a staple food early in the 18th century. All was well until the 1840's when a plant disease destroyed the potato crop, leading to widespread starvation, disease and death [The Irish Potato Famine].  An estimated 1 million people died from starvation and disease and 1-2 million emigrated primarily to the United States and Canada for survival.

The earliest potato crop in North America is thought to be around 1719 in New Hampshire.  The plants came from Derry, Ireland, so they became known as the "Irish Potato."

Michigan is home to more than 80 potato growers and is the 8th largest potato producing state.  'Spuds' are grown in 125 countries with more than 4,000 varieties worldwide, and more than 200 varieties are sold in the United States.  Potatoes are categorized by their texture - starchy [Russet/Idaho for mashing, baking and frying], waxy [Red skin and Yukon Gold for roasting and boiling] and all-purpose [Yukon Gold].

Please pass the potato chips!

And to bring this around to tea... it too is deeply ingrained in Irish culture.  They hold the second highest position globally in tea consumption, with only Turkey consuming more. Typically, the Irish drink around 4-6 cups per day.  The kettle is always ready for a good strong cuppa!

Made in Detroit, Michigan

A couple of weeks ago while reading my local Warren Weekly newspaper, I saw where the author of the book, Better Made in Michigan, The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip, was going to be speaking at Warren's main library.  There was no charge, but attendees had to register to attend.

Given my love for Detroit history, I had purchased Karen Dybis' book in 2017 [published in 2015], and found it very informative and interesting, so I knew I wanted to attend her presentation and registered my hubby and me.  

The Detroit factory [which is actually the fourth in the company's history [excluding basements and garages] is located on Gratiot.  Since I didn't remember ever seeing it, my hubby and I drove past it yesterday after we finished our dental appointments.  It's experienced more than a dozen expansions since moving there in 1955.

I LOVE potato chips but I rarely buy them because I would eat them all [my hubby's not a salty snack person, he prefers sweet treats] and they're high in calories and sodium, and contribute to high cholesterol, but I think I'm in the minority.  Detroit newspapers during the late 1970's reported that Detroiters have a national reputation for potato chips, consuming seven pounds per year per capita compared to the national average of four pounds, and Better Made is declared the best of all potato chips.  The company doesn't just have fans, they have fanatics, making them a Detroit icon.

The presentation was last night at 6:30 p.m. in the first floor library conference room.

Below, author Karen Dybis in her cute Better Made shirt.  She was a great presenter.  In her book she mentioned another potato chip book, Crunch! A History of the Great American Potato Chip by Dirk Burhans. 

~ Karen and Me ~

When Cross Moceri and Peter Cipriano [immigrants from Sicily] started their Detroit potato chip business in the 1920's there were more than 22 other potato chip companies [referred to as "chippers"] in the city, which earned Detroit the nickname of the potato chip capital of the world.  And today, they are the only potato chip company in Detroit that has survived.

We only drove by the Better Made factory yesterday, but today after one of our errands we decided to go inside the retail outlet.  They used to give factory tours but because of safety those are no longer done.  You can, however, watch the potato sticks on the assembly line through the windows on Gratiot.  [Sorry the building across the street reflected in the glass in the upper right corner of the photo.] 

There's a large Better Made Potato Chip bag inside the store where you can have your picture taken.

These were our three purchases - I threw all caution to the wind!  Karen told us the salty snacks sold at the outlet are the freshest you can buy made either the same day or one day old [fresher than what's in the grocery stores].  

Did you know there is a National Potato Chip Day?  It's this week, Friday, March 14th.  I'll open one of my newly purchased bags of potato chips to celebrate the special day.  There are also potato chip cookbooks.  Who knew???  I've eaten potato chip cookies and have sprinkled crushed potato chips over the top of casseroles, but that's the extent of my cooking with potato chips.

For blog readers outside of Michigan, I apologize that you're unable to purchase Better Made potato chips and their other snack food products because they're only sold in Michigan - a decision the owners made many years ago.  

I also apologize for this being a non-tea post, but in the summertime, potato chips are great with a tall glass of iced tea!