I was unable to participate in Jan’s tea party this month but don’t forget to go by and check the blogs that did.

I just had too many real parties to deal with today! But as long as you are here anyway…grab a piece of cake for the ride over to Jans…

image:marye audet (link to the recipe)

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I have missed several of Jan’s tea parties but I hope to be back in the groove of it this month, or rather in November.

These are virtual tea parties that Jan does and they are fun because it is great seeing everyone’s china and tea things.   You should join in November 8th.

I got to know Jan’s blog last summer and I find it both soothing and relaxing.  Alot of times I leave her site up on a tab while I am surfing other sites because the music is so perfect.  Her posts are gracious and as soothing as the music and the design of her blog.

If you have not taken the time ot check it out yet, if you don’t know this very godly Titus 3 woman then it is a great time to click over there and browse thorugh her pages and take in Life.

Thanks, Jan.

Image:Used by Permission Jan and Tom’s Place

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It seems to me that those of us who like to “take tea” also enjoy a good mystery.  I am surprised that no one has yet gotten a half million dollar government grant to research the link between the two but there you go.  It is a strange world in which we live.

So, when I saw a particular tea alert in my email about a mystery author I had to check it out..and now….sigh..I am hooked on the website.
The site is a cooperation between several lady mystery writers and they discuss everything from tea parties to historical accuracy in your writing. I love it.

So, this afternoon, grab a cup of tea and a cookie to nibble on…because you really can’t eat a cookie when you are taking tea..you must nibble it… and sit down for a great read at The Lady Killers.

Image:Morguefile 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Well, have you heard that Starbucks is closing 600 stores? It seems people don’t want to pretend that it is o..k. to pay huge prices for mediocre coffee anymore. The 600 stores closed translates into 12,000 employees losing their jobs and that is sad. The thing is? I don’t know where you are but here there are competing starbucks within literal FEET of eachother. There is a cross roads in a nearby town that has 4 starbucks. One in a grocers, one in a bookstore, one free standing. C’mon..that is ridiculous! Hopefully the guys that make the decisions will pull back and rethink their purpose rather than creating new, and more expensive hooks to get people in. This is a particularly interesting article about the whole thing from Boston.com.

Fort Worth Star telegram has a whole list of new medical reasons why you should drink coffee. Makes ya wonder if Starbucks is funding some of this research :::grin:::

If you are in the mood for a heartwarming story then read about the two sisters who had been separated and adopted by different families. They were reunited in a fascinating way…

Cooking with Gourmet Coffee has a coffee with espresso brittle swirl ice cream…I may have linked to it last week, if I am repeating myself chalk it up to old age. If I am repeating myself chalk it up to old age. If I am….

We are trying to schedule our annual family field trip to pick blueberries in East Texas but this summer has not been co-operating! Stephanie at Steph’s Cup of Tea has been picking and has the images to prove it~!

Frivolitea has a thought provoking post on slow food and craftism at her blog. I think she has a good point. Much of the angst in the U.S. right now about the economy and all has to do with the fact that we find ourselves unable to afford all of the junk we like to buy. I will not step up on my soapbox today but do read her post.

Do you remember the Marshmallow Puffs? They were sweet rolls baked around a marshmallow..the marshmallow disappeared during baking to leave a hollow, sweet treat. Alice has refreshed my own memory of them by posting a recipe and fantastic images at Tea In My Cup .

It seems to me that La Tea Dah is always up to something creative at Gracious Hospitality! She has made a beautiful Rose Syrup this week that looks wonderful and probably tastes even better.

I was visiting at Brenda’s blog, Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me and I kept reading thinking I will link to THIS post..no…THIS post..no..THIS one..and on and on..she is sharing pictures of her kitchen and some of her projects this week and I can’t decide which to direct you to.

A new blog that I am visiting is The Twice Remembered Cottage. It is peaceful and feeds my need for creative input and beauty.

That it for today. I know that I am not particularly chatty but I have somewhat of a troubled heart and I am not sure why. Have you ever just felt troubled inside but could not put your finger on it? Hopefully I will get some quiet time to review my thoughts today.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Image:MaryeAudet

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That is Sean.  He is 9.  He is one of my 8 favorite kids.  And that is a classic Sean pose.  He is a man of few words but a lot of determination.

You know, I realized tht while I CAN call it blog surfing on Baking Delights I can’t really call it that here because so much of the time it is news and items of interest from the web. So, in the interest of truth in advertising we are just going to call it surfing.

Good news for coffee drinkers, a higher coffee consumption seems to lower the risk for liver cancer. I hate these studies. You know that someone is going to come out with another one that says higher coffee consumption is going to increase the risk for something else and then we are all going to be doing a balancing act between the two..

If you need more than coffee to get you going then you might be interested in the Coco Cola company’s new energy drink release, Full Throttle Coffee. I don’t care for energy drinks. I think they are incredibly unhealthy and taste like…uh…really nasty. However, if you really want to give yourself a stroke this is probably a great way to do it.

Stephen Morissy of Dublin has won the title of World Coffee Champion. His signature drink is, ” built with a chocolate and espresso chantilly, a milk and cinnamon panna cotta, then topped off with a little blueberry jelly and ground freeze dried blueberries. It is served as a solid dessert until the last moment, when it is blow torched it into a liquid.”

I am sure that is all very cool to watch but I am starting to wonder if the popularity and chic-ness of coffee is starting to cause it to be very overdone. When being green became cool we moved from a good thing to greenwashing..so now are we moving coffee to coffee-washing? I mean if you can’t just drink a cup of coffee without the bells and whistles why bother?

Another case in point. Bikini Coffee Company. The baristas wear bikini tops and shorts. YAY. Just where I want to go to relax on a date with my husband. When it has to be this off the wall it just needs not to be done. I find this not only poor taste but…Hey, if your coffee is so bad you have to entice men in to the shop by barely covered boobs then maybe you better open a Dunkin Donuts shop. Or something. This deserves an award for the stupidest idea in coffee drinking.

Jamie Oliver Curry on the Epicurious Blog has a great post on 10 Ways to Make Office Coffee Better. For those of you that actually HAVE an office it has some great ideas.

Green tea yogurt? Hmmm..I am not sure about this one!

Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist is hosting a Mad Hatter Tea Party. The guests are amazing! Check it out.

Plow and Hearth has some cool stuff but check out this Tea Stick! It is a scoop, measurer and infuser all in one!

As I was stumbling tea sites (and if you have never used stumble you need to…just always give me a thumbs up! LOL!) I came across this Interview with God. Take a few minutes and watch it. It is awesome.

Adagio Tea’s Tea Chef blog has a contest every month. You send in a recipe using the tea flavor of the month.  This month’s is Masala Chai.  You can win gift certificates and stuff!

And there it is!

Have a great weekend.  And don’t forget that tomorrow is Daring Bakers reveal Day..so be sure to check Baking Delights to see my creation!

Image:MaryeAudet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

First of all, the horses are gone and I sent a baby goat and a quart of goat milk along with them. Why I feel the need to give people things I will never know.

I want to give special kudos to Cathy of Noble Pig. Why? Ah, well you may ask. She made me laugh out loud with this post only two hours after my traumatic separation from the horses. I feel that deserves special recognition. Consider that not only was I dealing with MY emotions but those of my 4 year old and my 12 year old. Do you understand how much 4 year old and 12 year old girls LOVE horses? Kyrie looked like the penguin in Bugs Bunny.

I found an artisan coffee roaster that I had not seen before. Muddy Dog is a small artisan company that specializes in green and fairly traded coffees. Anyone tried them yet? I have a query into them so we will see what happens. I always envision the roaster getting my email and saying..”Hey! Fred! Another low-life, dead beat blogger wants free coffee to review! Let’ s send them the floor sweepings.”

Alice, at Tea in My Cuphas a thoughtful post about children in tea rooms. Have you ever been having a quiet tea with friends and had a couple of Mommys come in with ill behaved children? Why is it that those kids are always named Punkin, Sweetums, Baby, and Darlin’?

Check out the gorgeous Russian Teapot on Friendship Tea.

The Bigelow Tea blog has a great idea to reconnect with friends using a teabag.

If you need a tutorial on how to paint and distress vintage finds check out Southern Hospitality! Awesome Awesome Awesome!

Miss Sandy of Quill Cottage is hosting an I Remember Laura Blogathon. She has a fascinating interview posted with one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s relatives. Check it out!

If you have a really tired, sleep deprived rat let him take a whiff of some good coffee. Yeah..I am SO going to make you click on this one to get THIS story.

O.k.the award for the weirdest coffee grinder ever. Since this is sort of a family blog I am not sure I want to say a whole lot more..

Is this taking the Fair Trade Label a BIT too far?

Have a great weekend!

Image:Marye Audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

The winner of the birthday coffee give away is Courtney from Coco Cooks!  This is really funny because HER Marc’s birthday is the 2nd of June as well. So..hopefully she will share.

The winner of the Ugly Mug cup is Jo! Jo doesn’t have a blog but she hovers over my blogs enough that I feel she is a special guardian angel. LOL!

Thanks for playing everyone!

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Welcome to SATURDAY!

I drank enough coffee while writing the Baking Delights Edition to be able to be cohesive here. There is some amazing and disturbing news in the coffee world this morning..so..grab a cup and….Ready?

The Oregonian reports this morning about something that really ticked me off. Yep, even more than someone asking em if I want coffee and giving me a cup of Folger’s Crystals…or asking if I take cream and handing me a little packet of white powdered substance…..Apparently the Unlimited Coffee Co. is an all purpose sort of place..laid back hangout for your caffeine fix during the week, you can also handle your mail from a little postal shop in the back, but on Sundays it’s rockin with Jesus at the Road to Damascus church which meets there. The church has a sign under the Coffee Shop sign..

So apparently the postal guys told the owner to take the church sign down because of the separation of church and state. Someone had complained.

PUH-leeze. If you don’t want to go there because a church meets there on Sundays and you might possibly get a jab from the Holy Spirit, then don’t…but can we stop stretching the definition of separation of church and state to the point that the government is involved in some serious persecution? Note to the government…Back off, Jack.

Hawaii has decided NOT to ban genetically altered coffee. All I can say is that I am glad Hawaii is an island.

I cracked up when I got to Oh My Stinkin Heck written by Heather. Awesome post on how to groom a coffee addict..the only issue I have with it is now that I have several coffee addicts in the house…I end up with an empty pot WAY too often.

Rocky Road of Love and Other Great Recipes has a recipe for a coffee italian soda…yum.

The Joke Shop has a great list of ways to know you are coffee addicted.

Tea Party Girl is always a gracious read and she has 7 Tea Party FAQs that are a must read before your next tea party.

If you are a history buff, and for some reason many of us are, Somewhere In Time is a blog/website I have found through Rita, who has both commented here and emailed me. Fascinating reading.

Check out this story about Victorian Tea Parties. It was amazing that our ancestors got anything done when they had so many rules to memorize.

Now..ALL of the blogspot blogs seem to be down this morning so I am assuming google is having an issue. MOST of the blogs I check regularly are…you guessed it..blogspot.

So…I am done for the day…Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to turn your clocks forward here in the States.

Image:Morguefile.com 

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.I know that you guys probably don’t realize it, so enamored of my wit and coffee/tea meanderings are you, but there really are other blogs out there about coffee and/or tea. Some of them are pretty good.Man Seeking Coffee posts reviews about his favorite roasters, coffee, and coffee hangouts. The current one is about a place called Cafe Grumpy…which I find hysterically funny. I suppose it is because of the Monty Python style mental image that I get from the name..(.Remember the Spam, Spam, Spam, Ham, & Spam skit? )..so the mental picture of John Cleese as the barista at Cafe Grumpy made my day.

No life, here.

Julie Fletcher leaves some of the best comments anywhere. I can get into a whole comment conversation with her and laugh when I see that a post has 52 comments and 26 of them are hers..(I exaggerated, poetic license). Her blog is called, Not Enough Coffee and, altho it is often NOT about coffee, it is always entertaining.

Cooking by the Seat of My Pants blogger, Jerry, posted extremely important information today. It is…National Irish Coffee Day! . This is a blog I really enjoy and have followed from my food blogs, Baking Delights and Apronstrings & Simmering Things. Always something interesting to read! And really, I would not have known that it was one of the most important days of the year, you know, had I not read it.

So, get yourself another cup, sit down and surf for a bit.

And I want to leave you with this thought, it suddenly occurred to me… Isn’t the phrase “Relax with a cup of coffee” sort of an oxymoron? Wouldn’t it be better to say “I am going to twitch uncontrollably with a cup of coffee”?

Just wondering.

Post from: Kettle and Cup