A Teacup from Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle Round Tower

 

A tour of Windsor Castle was  in the Globus tour itinerary as well as the London Tea Tour.  Below are some of my 2001 notes:

• Windsor Castle is one of the official residences of the Queen. 
• She is officially in residence at Windsor Castle twice a year - April and June, but she and her family spend most of their private weekends there too.
• Windsor Castle is the oldest Royal Residence to remain in continuous use.
• The Castle itself covers an area of about 13 acres, but sits on a 1,800 acre spread.
• It is the largest occupied castle in the world.  The vast structure has evolved over many centuries from its origin as a Norman fortress.  It was founded by William the Conqueror over 900 years ago.
• It contains about 1,000 rooms and consists of three "wards" - upper, middle and lower.

Queen Mary's Dolls' House, which was given to her in 1924, is displayed in the castle for tourists to see.  Also the China Museum, where cases surround the walls displaying magnificent china services that are still used for royal banquets and other important occasions today.  Any one who loves beautiful dishware [which I do!] will appreciate this. 
 

2001 Photos

 

Entering the castle at St. George's Gate.

 

 

 

Looking towards the east and south ranges of the Quadrangle where the Queen's private apartments are located.

 

 

Pictured below is the teacup I bought at the Windsor Castle gift shop in 2001. 

 

It is backstamped: The Royal Collection - Fine Bone China - Made in England.  Design inspired by the furniture and decorative details in the Grand Reception Room at Windsor Castle.

 

 

 

 

 

2007 Photos - but no new Windsor teacup on this visit!

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow's teacup is from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

 

 

 

Tea, Teacups and Palaces

My husband and I went on a Globus tour of Great Britain in 2001, and I returned for a London Tea Tour in 2007. [You can read more about the Tea Tour here.]   During those two trips I brought home some beautiful teacups  from the Royal Palaces and Castles I visited.  Over the next few days, I will show photos of them.

 

Kensington Palace [2001]

 

 

In 1689 William III bought the Jacobean mansion [originally known as Nottingham House] from his Secretary of State, the Earl of Nottingham, and commissioned Christopher Wren to extend and improve the house for a royal residence.

 

Queen Victoria was born and brought up in Kensington Palace and it was there that she received the news of her accession in 1837.

 

Queen Mary [grandmother of the present Queen] was born at Kensington Palace in 1867.

 

Today Kensington Palace is a working Royal Residence, accommodating offices and private apartments of a number of members of the Royal Family.  It was the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales [1981 until her death in 1997.  Who could forget seeing the countless floral tributes placed at the palace gates?], and Princess Margaret [1960 until her death in 2002].  

 

In 2011 it was announced that the the four-story, 20-room apartment which was formerly occupied by Princess Margaret, was being renovated for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge [William & Catherine].  They are expected to move from their temporary palace apartment into the newly renovated apartment in 2013.

 

Historic parts of Kensington Palace are open to the public, and the Royal Ceremonial and Court Dress Collection,  dating from the 18th century to the present, is displayed there.  In 2001 and 2007, a collection of Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Diana's gowns were also on display.

 

 

There is a lovely gift shop just before exiting the public portion of the palace, with beautiful English fine bone china.  Below is the teacup I purchased in 2001.   It is backstamped: Designed Exclusively for Kensington Palace "Rose Collection."  A booklet states:  This exclusive design is based on the Centifolia Rose.  This flower was much admired in the time of William III and Mary.  It appears on the wall paintings within the palace and was also used as decorative motif by Grinling Gibbons in his carvings in the apartments at the palace.

 

 

The palace is set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. 

[2007] 
 

 

 

William III

 

 

Close-up of inscription beneath the statue.

 

 

There is a connection between William III and tea [although some consider it conjecture].  William III, was born a sovereign Prince of the Dutch House of Orange.

 

The highest quality tea was reserved for the Dutch Royal Family, who marked their approval by naming it Orange Pekoe [pronounced PECK-oh].  Consequently, the early Dutch traders from the Dutch East India Company [who played a major role in bringing tea to Europe] may have used "Orange" to imply Holland's ruling House of Orange, and perhaps suggesting a Royal Warrant.

 

Orange Pekoe oxidized leaves have a copper color before drying, and the leaf infusion produces a bright orange color in the cup, so some attribute the color of the tea to the origin of its name rather than connecting it to William III and the House of Orange.

 

Regardless, Orange Pekoe [OP] today denotes a fine quality tea.  It is a manufacturing term used to grade black tea leaves that are predominately long and unbroken, sometimes containing leaf buds.

 

Consumers often mistakenly think it refers to an orange flavor instead of leaf size.  I've incorporated a little Tea 101 into my blog post, but it fit perfectly with William III!  ;-)

 

 

Below is the teacup  from the palace gift shop that I purchased in 2007, and it's still available today.  It's from the Historic Royal Palaces Collection.   The website says, "Delicate details are taken from the gardens at Hampton Court Palace, the gates at Kensington Palace and the Jewels at the Tower of London."

 

 

I also purchased a tin of tea commemorating the eightieth birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, April 21, 2006.  It was a robust black tea, but neither the name of the tea, nor the tea purveyor were listed on the tin.

 

 

 

Tomorrow's teacup will be from Windsor Castle.

 

 

 

A New Tea Book

I love Tea Time magazine and Hoffman Media books.  In August their website  stated they were coming out with a new book, Tea Celebrations,  to be released September 10th, so I  pre-ordered it.

It arrived last week when I was knee-deep in my Anne of Green Gables tea party preparations.  I took it out of the mailing envelope, but leisure reading would have to wait.

 

My tea and blogging friend, Marilyn, at Delights of the Heart, asked in her blog recently, "What book would you take to the garden?"   I don't have a garden to retreat to, but I'm enoying my new Tea Celebrations book indoors today.

 

I like the first sentence of the introduction:  "In a day and age when we seem to move at far too fast a pace, tea time invites us to slow down and savor some of the best things in life - relationships, food and tea."

 

This book provides beautiful photographs of tablescapes, recipes for eight annual celebrations, helpful hints & how-tos, expert tea pairings, and lots of tea time inspiration.  It has some great tea quotes too.  This is an excellent book for every tea lover's library.  I have all four of Hoffman Media's tea books  in my library.  Now that the weather is changing, it's nice to sit down with a cup of tea and  some good tea books to gather ideas for the next tea party.   Hummm... a fall or Halloween themed tea party maybe?

 

and 

 

 Order your books today!  [No affiliation to Hoffman Media.]

 

 

 

 

An "Anne of Green Gables" Tea Party

This past week was busy preparing for my daughter's sixth annual birthday tea party which was held on Saturday, September 15th.  At her request, it's a celebration of getting together with dear friends [her two piano teachers], rather than focusing on her birthday.   [I wrote about her five previous tea parties August 28th thru September 3rd.  If you haven't already done so, please take a look at past themes.]

I opted not to use the keyboard dishware with a musical theme this year.  Thanks to my cousin, who brought the Anne of Green Gables DVD's to Memphis in July [which I wrote about here], and my blogging friends who hosted cyberspace Anne of Green Gables tea parties, "there was more scope for the imagination" changing this year's theme to  Anne of Green Gables.

First was making the invitations...

[Image courtesy of Anne of Green Gables site]

And ordering the Anne of Green Gables cookbooks, tea-time CD's and Anne doll that would be the centerpiece for the table - most of which came from Sullivan Entertainment, producers of the DVD starring Megan Follows.

Then determining the menu...

Focusing on the tablescape... which began with making "Anne" place/name cards.

Making "favor bags" for the ladies to take home...  I packaged Trader Joe's Maple Leaf cookies since Canada's national symbol is the Maple Leaf.  Trader Joe's only sells these cookies in the fall, and the clerk told me they can't keep them on the shelf.  They're delicious!  A Lipton's pyramid tea bag of Bavarian Wild Berry black tea was included in the favor bag to drink with the cookies.

The favor wouldn't be complete without some chocolate caramels since Anne likened "being in the depths of despair" to the uncomfortable feeling of trying to eat, and getting a lump in your throat so you can't swallow anything - "not even if it was a chocolate caramel."  She told Marilla, "I had one chocolate caramel two years ago and it was simply delicious.  I've often dreamed since then that I had a lot of chocolate caramels, but I always wake up just when I'm going to eat them!"

Choosing my table linens...  I bought a white lace table liner several years ago that has sat in it's original packaging because it was too large for most of my tablescapes, so I altered it for this tea party.  I purchased a sage green tablecloth to lay over the top, and was pleased with the lacy, layered look. 

The fun part was setting the table the night before the tea party. 

There's Anne standing center stage on her slate - before she broke it over Gilbert Blythe's head!

The color pink and roses had to be part of the tablescape since Anne saw an early wild rose on the buggy ride to White Sands, and exclaimed to Marilla, "Isn't it lovely?  Don't you think it must be glad to be a rose?  Wouldn't it be nice if roses could talk?  I'm sure they could tell us lovely things.  And isn't pink the most bewitching color in the world?  I love it, but I can't wear it.  Redheaded people can't wear pink, not even in imagination!"

Each teacup held napkin roses and I used my Homer Laughlin eggshell nautilus china with pink roses and pink Depression glass accessories. 

Even the chairs got decorated!

Then it was time to get busy on food prep in the kitchen!  Savory scones cooling from the oven... 

Making "Anne hats" for the salad...   This required trips to a few $ stores to find miniature-sized cookies, but I found them!

Mission accomplished!

A toast with Raspberry Cordial was the first thing on the menu, and I used the recipe in Kate Macdonald's, The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.  Kate is L.M. Montgomery's granddaughter.  In the cookbook the recipe is called Diana Barry's Favourite Raspberry Cordial, but I changed it to "Bosom Friend" Raspberry Cordial for our tea party.  The recipe called for 2 packages of frozen unsweetened raspberries, and I used 1 [12 oz.] package and substituted fresh raspberries for the second frozen package.  It was delicious and nobody got tipsy!  ;-)

 

I dusted the rims of the glasses with pink sugar for an extra touch.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the ladies toasting to "Kindred Spirits," but I didn't!  ;-(

At 1:00 p.m. the table was ready, and it was time for the tea party to begin.  Our "blessing" for the meal was everyone saying The Lord's Prayer together, since that was the prayer Marilla gave Anne to memorize the day Rachel Lynde came calling and their "verbal conflict" ensued!  The line, "Give us this day our daily bread" made the prayer fitting for the blessing.  

Maple flavored black tea was served - both iced and hot.

First Course:  Corn Chowder, Savory Scones and "Anne Doll" Curried Rice Salad.  [Corn and Potatoes probably would have been grown on Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert's farm, and were the two main ingredients in the chowder.  Potatoes are Prince Edward Island's primary cash crop.]

A word of acknowledgement about the "Anne Doll Salad":  When I was putting the final touches on my menu last week I visited Lady B's Time for Tea blog and Ruthie posted a photo of a rag doll salad that she served at a recent tea party.  As soon as I saw the carrot hair I knew I had to incorporate it into my Anne menu with a few variations.  Thanks, Ruthie, for the inspiration!  I'm sure a culinary expert would know how to braid carrots, but they snapped when I tried, so I settled for curling them instead.  And Anne did get a hair cut after her heart-breaking experience with the black dye, so braids weren't absolutely necessary.

This is the cold, curried rice salad with chopped marinated artichoke hearts that was under Anne's red leaf lettuce dress.

2nd Course:  Croque Monsieur [Ham and Cheese Croissant].  While it's nothing Marilla would have prepared, Anne might have had it when she went to one of the fancy teas with Josephine Barry in Charlottetown!  ;-)

 

3rd Course:  Strawberry Tarts with "Sublime" [as Anne described it] Vanilla Ice Cream!

Tea Party Guests

L-R:  Ruth, Tiffany [my granddaughter], Betty, & Lori [my daughter]

Granddaughter, Marissa, woke up sick Saturday morning and couldn't attend.

Thank you for allowing me to share the details of this very special tea party with you.  It was so much fun to plan and host.  The only thing that could be better than hosting an Anne of Green Gables tea party, is actually visiting Prince Edward Island!   It's on my bucket list and hopefully will happen someday.

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I've linked to Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday
and
Antiques and Teacups for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Cristy's "Tuscan Autumn Aura" High Tea

My girlfriend, Lori, and I attended Cristy's "Tuscan Autumn Aura" High Tea in October, 2011.  Despite the glare in the mirror, you can still see how lovely it's decorated for fall.

 

 

Notice how Cristy layers her linens.  [Wonder if she heard April Cornell do a layered linen demonstration too?]  Below was my place setting.

 

 

Cristy scrapbooked personalized menu cards for each guest to take home.  

 

First course: Savory Cheesy Basil Scone and Creamy Tomato Soup. 

 
Second Course:  Italian Torte, Antipasto Kabob and Autumn Fruit Cup.

I made the Italian Torte and Savory Cheesy Basil Scones from Cristy's recipes for a tea I blogged about here.   They are delicious!

Third Course:  Italian Cheesecake.

Two Tealightful Teas were served at the high tea - a green and a black tea.

This concludes my series on Cristy's Teas.  I hope you've enjoyed them and maybe gotten an idea or two to use for your tea parties.