This is the Reception Parlor in our home.  The front door opens into it and it is basically a big foyer with a fireplace and bookshelves.  It is perfect to lounge on the faint couch on a rainy day and read, and watch the fire flicker and the rain fall..

We still have a bit to do, and I plan on replacing the shelves with something from the architectural salvage place because those are modern (read cheap) bookcases that the previous owners installed.  The cases are filled with books right now, this picture was taken awhile ago after I had removed the books to paint.

As if I ever get a chance to do that..but the idea is fantastic!

Anyway, I rarely drink tea in here but once in awhile I do..No one expects me to be in this spot so I tend to get “lost” to the rest of my family here.

I love warm colors, the colors of autumn, and they are throughout my home…reds, golds, burgundys and browns..greens…all the colors of the woods that I love.  This room is on the  west side of the house, so in the afternoons the sunlight flows in those two windows and the whole room is illuminated in gold.

The spinning wheel is an antique,  I have a newish Louet that works very well, the antique is just for show…The chair? Well it is very old. VERY old. Because of all the natural light I keep my colored glass collection in this room..It glows with the sunlight that bounces around.

I don’t know if you can see the fireplace fender in front..that is an antique as well, a huge thing, with fireplace tools hidden away in the ends.

So, do you have a place you can get lost when you need quiet?

Post from: Kettle and Cup

If you read my post on the Chocolate Raspberry Bliss Tea you will absolutely understand how visual I am..because I totally picked these up for the boxes and the eye candy. Look at this box, could you walk away from that? Not me.

So admitting that…

The aroma is delicate at first, intensifying as it steeps. It really smelled good but not incredible.

I tasted first without any sweetener and was pleasantly surprised at the faint taste of strawberry, and the slight sweetness. I added my sweetening and tasted again. Definitly jammy. Distinct strawberry jam flavor. The vanilla is a delicate aftertaste and the rose blends well, giving it a floral note without being overwhelmingly rose.

I did the unthinkable (it is Sunday after all) and added heavy cream, just as if it was a coffee.

It was wonderful! Still jammy but with a richness added to it. I was impressed with this tea.

Now, the Chocolate Raspberry was a solitary tea. A tea to pamper yourself with during a long bubbly soak with a LUSH bubble bar. This, not so much. It is a tea to chat with a good friend over, maybe share some simple vanilla cookies. It would be a great addition to a cream tea, because the simple food offerings would be complemented by the complexity of this tea’s flavor. Don’t have it with chocolate. I don’t think it would be good. Still trying to explain..

Umm..this is a country Victorian tea. Verandas, and country kitchens, biscuits and strawberry jam.

Delicious. I highly recommend it. Serve it in an ever-so slightly chipped red transferware cupand drink whilst staring out the kitchen window.

If my mom was alive I think I would probably make her a gift basket with this, some of the rose scones, some of the strawberry jam, and a jar of clotted cream, and then tuck a magazine in the side.

O.k..well, it would work for me!

Image:Marye Audet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup