U.S. Presidents and Tea

Happy Presidents' Day - Honoring Our Country's 44 Presidents! 

George Washington, the first President of our country, was a committed tea drinker.  You can read the post I wrote about him on Presidents' Day last year here.

Fast-forward 220 years to when our 44th President, Barack Obama, was inaugurated, and he's a tea lover too.

[Internet Photos]

He prefers tea over coffee, and is sometimes seen in interviews with a cup of tea in hand.  What kind of tea does President Obama drink?   He likes organic, green tea. 

In 2009, Honest Tea [based in Bethesda, Maryland] got an unpaid endorsement when the New York Times revealed that the White House was stocking Honest Tea as the President's preferred beverage - specifically "Black Forest Berry" and "Green Dragon" flavors.

Iced Sweet Tea is his beverage of choice when he's dining out, and he used his glass of iced tea to toast the South Korean President to celebrate a trade deal between the two countries.

The President has a liking for Matcha tea ice cream too.

There have been presidents in-between President Obama and George Washington who liked tea also.

After Lyndon B. Johnson became the 36th President, it is said he gave up alcohol and drank tea instead.  He began his mornings with hot tea.

He had four buttons installed in the Oval Office so he could order his favorite beverages on demand:  coffee, tea, Coke and Fresca, but he especially liked tea and Fresca.

Mrs. Johnson, affectionately known as Lady Bird, told the story in the book, Tea with Presidential Families, of how she walked into her husband's bedroom one day only to find Richard Nixon sitting there talking to him while he was stretched out on the bed in his pajamas drinking a cup of tea.

Bush State China - George W. Bush, 43rd President

Raising my teacup in tribute to American Presidents!

More Tea Towels - Old and New

On November 27th, I wrote a post about the history of tea towels and shared my collection.  [The post can be viewed here.]  I recently acquired a few more to share with you.

The first three are vintage, hand embroidered, muslin tea towels.  They don't look like they've ever been used.  I found them earlier this week at a local antique mall for $4.50 each.  I thought they were a bargain price, considering I don't do embroidery.

 Close-ups

The next two groups of towels are new from T.J. Maxx [but perhaps they can be found at Home Goods and Marshalls too].

The tag says Easter Accents and they come in sets of two for $4.99.   They're so vibrant and springy!

These are sold individually for $5.99 each, with a tag that says Artistic Accents.

So pop on over to TJ Maxx today for yours!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My hubby and I met in the tenth grade, while attending the same high school.  I saved the first Valentine he mailed to me, with a .05 cent postage stamp on the envelope!   He wrote on the back, S.W.A.K. [sealed with a kiss].  I wonder if that's still written on envelopes today??  

Our wedding cake was cherry nut, so I made a cherry nut cake for a Valentine's treat this year, but to be used in parfaits rather than eaten as cake. 

2013 Valentine's tablescape for two.

I've had these cute porcelain Valentine's plates a long time.  I bought them at J.L. Hudson's Department Store before it ceased to exist. 

The demitasse cups don't hold much tea, but the saucer is heart shaped as well as the cup handle, so they were perfect for use today. 

Bennigan's Baked Potato Soup.  I don't think that restaurant exists anymore either.

Below are the parfaits I concocted - layers of cubed cherry nut cake, cherry pie filling, and tapioca pudding.  I haven't made tapioca pudding in years, but it sounded good to me and my hubby likes it too. 

Our youngest son, Jeremy, took his daughter, Isabella, to her first Daddy and Me Valentine's  dance last weekend, so I had to include that picture in my post.  [Grandma's have bragging rights, you know!  ;-)]  Isabella is seven years old, and was born on her Daddy's birthday.  

But the greatest love note of all time didn't come from my husband, my children, or  my grandchildren.  It comes from God's Holy Scripture:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."   John 3:16 [NIV] 

The title of my devotion today piqued my interest - Love and the Tea Kettle.   I'm including it for those who may want to read it:  

"My poor old tea kettle had finally kicked the bucket. I walked into the kitchen one morning and found water covering the stove top. It had whistled its last whistle. But I knew one thing for sure. I didn't want a new electric one to replace it.

With all kinds of electrical gadgets, TVs and now even computers adorning kitchens, I was determined to keep at least one thing that embodied for me a slower, gentler, less complicated era—a simple, stove-top tea kettle. Besides, we didn't have room on the counter anyway.

There was just one problem. My husband really wanted one.   After a trip to visit his sister, he came home raving about electric kettles. They cut the boiling time in half and don't heat up the whole kitchen! Since we live in Florida, he thought this was a real plus in their favor. But I couldn't be persuaded. I'd rather die of heat exhaustion before I cluttered up my counter.

However, since I hadn't found the exact kettle I wanted yet, I began using a small pan. What a mess. It poured everywhere except in the cup, left hard-water stains on the interior and seemed to take forever to boil. The longer the situation went on, the more frustrated I became. Why couldn't I find the kettle I wanted?

Then Philippians 2:4 brought the answer into focus:  'Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.'

I knew I needed to want the kettle that my husband wanted. Isn't that how love is supposed to work? And isn't that how it worked when we first got married? We actually enjoyed wanting what the other one wanted, not because we really wanted it ourselves, but because we loved them and they wanted it.  I realized this was an opportunity to give my husband the gift he had so often given me—the gift of wanting what the other wants.

So early the next Saturday, I said, 'You know what? I think we do need an electric tea kettle. You want to go help me pick one out?'  I wish you could have seen my husband's face as he nearly jumped out of bed. He couldn't get ready fast enough!

But it turns out God had been waiting for this very change of heart to give me something much more than just a tea kettle.

We soon found one that we liked and it was even on sale. But I would have been willing to pay much more for the special light it brought to my husband's eyes that day. As he squeezed my hand and led me excitedly through the store toward the kitchen appliances, that light clearly said,  'This is my wife and I love her. She cares deeply about every detail of my life—even tea kettles.'

Yes, I would have paid dearly for the priceless gift that seeing those thoughts gave me.

And surprise, surprise—there was room on the counter after all, without looking cluttered.
Imagine that!

Now I'm the one raving about how fast the water boils and also, about the filter which keeps all the hard water "gunk" out of the cup. Had I known about the totally clear tea I could have been drinking all along, I would have gotten an electric one years ago.

But I'm raving even more about the God who loves us too much to stop working in our hearts.

Sometimes, we just don't know what we're missing by wanting what we want. We think that what we want is the best choice and that it will make everything good and right and better. But often our choices are actually settling for so much less. I'm very grateful that God didn't allow me to settle for what I thought I wanted.

Now as I pour another steaming cup of tea and set the kettle back in place, I know I always want to make room on the counter of my life for what God wants to put there—a wonderful blessing that I may be resisting"

Copyright © 2013 by Debbie Burgett

*  *  *

I'm linking to Antiques & Teacups for Thursday Tea Things and Talk

Royal China - A Throwback to My Childhood

My life-long friend, Sandy, not only enjoys going to tea parties with me, she likes going antiquing with me too.  Last May when we attended the Victorian Festival in Romeo, Michigan, we went to Kane's Town Hall [an antique mall in the same city] where I spotted a teapot that was similar to the everyday dishes my mother used when I was growing up.  My mom got the dishes at A & P grocery store.  The teapot was inexpensive so I purchased it.

The teapot is the Colonial Homestead pattern series manufactured by Royal China USA.  The pattern my mother had was the Old Curiosity Shop series also made by Royal China.  The transferware patterns are easily interchangeable, and since the dishes have no markings, they are sometimes confused with each other.   The dishes are durable and pottery-like, rather than delicate and china-like. 

Now fast forward to this past November when Sandy and I visited Jeffrey's Antique Mall in Findlay, Ohio.  I saw a creamer and sugar bowl in the Old Curiosity Shop pattern, and debated about getting it, but then passed it by.

When Sandy and I got together last Saturday to attend the Chinese New Year's tea, she gave me my birthday present which was the sugar and creamer.

Now I have a three-some, and will be looking for a couple of cups and saucers to go with it, and will stop my collection there.

It took me awhile to track down the patterns, as well as the history of Royal China USA,   which is no longer in business.  The company was started in 1934 in Sebring, Ohio, with the intent of producing dinnerware premiums for grocery stores and gas stations, as well as souvenir items.  The dinnerware patterns were in groups called "series," which varied from year to year. Currier and Ives was the most popular of their many patterns. 

Colonial Homestead was introduced in the early 1950's and was still being sold by Sears catalog in the late 1960's. Old Curiosity Shop was sold primarily during the 1950's.  

While I'm not collecting the complete set, it is fun having a few pieces like the dishes used when I was growing up.   It's reminds me of a sign I once saw - "Nostalgia sells!"  ;-)  Anyone else grow up with these dishes??

Happy Mardi Gras!

What does the French Festival, Mardi Gras, mean in English?  It literally means "Fat Tuesday." Mardi Gras is an annual festival held in France - and many large U.S. cities too, most notably, New Orleans, Louisiana - on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. Mardi Gras signifies the last day to enjoy rich foods before the Lenten fast begins.

Last year I shared the Polish Paczki tradition of eating deep fried, jelly filled pastries   [doughnuts] on Fat Tuesday.  [You can read about it here.]   This year I decided to focus on the King Cake that New Orleans is so well-known for.   New Orleans bakeries bake between 750,000 to 850,000 King Cakes every year, and many make as much as 80% of their annual revenue during Mardi Gras.  That's A LOT of King Cakes!

The southern style King Cake is a yeast confection similar to a sweet bread or coffee cake, and is much different from France's galette des rois [also called a King Cake], which is made with puff pastry.  The southern cakes are decorated with colored sugars in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, for royalty and justice; green for faith; and gold for wealth and power.  They're very colorful and pretty.

I decided to try my hand at making a King Cake this year.   It's definitely not a cake that can be whipped up in a hurry.  I made the traditional cinnamon flavored King Cake, but they come in pecan praline, and assorted fruit flavors too.

Not bad for my first attempt, but there are things I would do differently if I ever make it again.

Since I won't be serving the cake to guests, I left out the traditional hidden treasure, which is a small plastic baby symbolizing the infant Christ child.  

It seemed fitting to pair a French Mariage Frères tea with this cake - Earl Grey Silver Tips.

*  *  *

Today I'm linking to Antiques and Teacups for "Tuesday Cuppa Tea"
and
Bernideen's Tea Time blog for "Friends Sharing Tea"

A Chinese New Year Tea

According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, yesterday, January 10th, was China's biggest traditional holiday - Chinese New Year [also known as Spring Festival].   The photo below was taken in San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest and largest population of Chinese outside of China.

[Photos Courtesy of Examiner.com]

Each new year is represented by one of the twelve creatures of the Chinese zodiac.  2013 is the "Year of the Snake."  Like the Western zodiac signs, the animals of Chinese astrology are thought by many to determine personality traits and events in the year they rule.  If you believe in astrology, and were born in 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, or 2001 this is a year of good fortune for you!  You will personally or professionally shine and overcome setbacks experienced in 2012.

Unlike many large cities, Detroit has no Chinatown, so prior to Saturday [February 9th],  I had never attended a Chinese New Year celebration.  My girlfriend and I had the privilege of attending a Chinese New Year's tea in the upscale Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, in   the atrium of Henry Ford Hospital.  Attending a tea in a hospital setting was also a first for me!   

China is the birthplace of tea, and early on tea was imbibed as a medicinal beverage, so it seemed very fitting to be celebrating the Chinese New Year with tea, in a medical facility.  

Tea has long been an important aspect of Chinese culture. It is included in their seven basic daily necessities, and medical science still boasts of the healthful benefits of tea around the world.

Below is the main entrance to Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital.  It's not a run-of-the-mill hospital, rather it's very progressive and upscale.

This is the entrance.  You feel like you've entered a quaint village instead of a hospital.

A balcony view of the atrium tea setting.

Great Lakes Tea & Spice Kiosk hosted the Chinese tea luncheon.  Its parent company is located in Glen Arbor, Michigan.  Don't you wish every hospital had a tea kiosk that provided freshly brewed loose-leaf tea to visitors and patients?

I've been on their mailing for quite awhile, but this was the first tea I was able to attend [it definitely won't be the last, however].   Below are the owners of the kiosk, Charlie & Sally Sarin. The photo is courtesy of their website www.gltskiosk.com.  A personal chef previously, Sally prepared the food for the tea, and served it along with her husband and another employee.  There were nine attendees.

The tea began at 1:00 p.m. and was $32.00 per person.  Below was my place setting.  In Chinese culture, the color red is said to be as lucky as the number 8 - hence the red tablecloths and napkins.  Oranges, tangerines and mandarins are passed out freely during Chinese New Year for luck, good fortune and prosperity.

To begin, we had a choice of two teas and one herbal.  The white teapot in the forefront contained a black Yunnan tea.  It was my choice throughout most of the tea.  It was perfectly brewed and delicious.  The black Tetsubin teapot offered Jasmine Pearls which I switched to for dessert.  The smaller white teapot in the back contained a botanical buckwheat tea.

After Mr. Sarin served our tea, Sally brought out a dish of Ginger Shallot Soy Dipping Sauce, and a dish of Chinese Hot Mustard to accompany our won tons later in the tea.

The first course was Green Jade Soup - made with ginger, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, carrots and other veggies.   It was superb on a cold, wintry day!  As I type this post and view the photos of the delicious food, I find myself wishing I was back at the hospital enjoying the tea all over again!

Next came our Crispy Shrimp Won Tons and Buddah's Delight Dumplings [veggie won tons].

It's rare to be asked if you'd like seconds, but Sally did with the won tons and dessert cookies. 

After the won tons came Tea Smoked Salmon, Mandarin Fried Rice, and Curried Shrimp Noodles.

We were told noodles symbolize long life, and it is considered very unlucky to cut the strands when eating them.

A Lychee Granita was served as a palate cleanser before our dessert.

Lastly, dessert was an Almond Cookie, a Five Spice Shortbread Cookie, and Ginger Tapioca Brulee.   Delicious!

I concluded I've been missing out on a very special celebration, and I'm looking forward to more of them.  The Sarins have set the bar very high for future Chinese New Year's teas, and special thanks to them for a wonderful afternoon!

 Sandy and me.

The Chinatown photo below was taken in Victoria, British Columbia  when I was there in 2008.

New-To-Me Treasures

I received notification about an estate sale near my house, so I decided to go since there were several teacups in the sale.  I narrowed my choices down to two, and ended up with one in the photo below at the bargain price of $6.00.

It's a Rosina teacup in the Wild Flowers pattern.  Isn't it pretty?

In 2003, when I visited Magnolia & Ivy's tea room in Sandestin, Florida [during Southern Lady's "Weekend of Tea and Roses"], they served their soup in vintage ramekins with underplates - the perfect size for teatime, and so elegant and dainty.  I had never seen vintage ramekins until then, and thought they were beautiful.   I began searching for them and almost a year later I found my first one in the boutique at Tea by Three tea room.  [I wasn't into E-bay back then!]

Vintage ramekins usually aren't oven proof.  They date from the mid 1800's thru the 1950's, and can be used to serve foods such as soup/bouillon, custard, etc.   One website defined them as small china bowls accompanied by underplates, used for serving a food prepared with egg or cheese.

There was a time when I couldn't pass up a ramekin with an underplate in an antique store, but since I've acquired several, I try to resist now unless I find one bargain priced, like the one in the photo below for $7.00.  It was definitely a bargain, and a beauty.

It is hand-painted Berlin porcelain with a gold rim, and has an underglaze back stamp of  KPM .  
 

I recently learned there are ramekin forks to accompany ramekins.  I don't have any yet, but I'm keeping an eye open for them.

Below is a hand-painted tea caddy that I found in an antique store.   I thought it was so unique that I had to purchase it.  

Lastly, I wanted to share these votive candle holders that I purchased at Dollar Tree, which I will repurpose for individual containers for Devonshire cream and  jam  to accompany scones at tea time.  They will go perfectly with my vintage clear glass Petals dishes [by Federal glass]. The dishes resemble stars and are beautiful in a starry tablescape.