Here is the basic recipe and then a list of suggested teas to infuse with. Have fun!

Tea Infused Truffles

• 1-1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 1/4 cup loose tea leaves,
• 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1  cocoa powder for rolling the truffles in (or use cocoa with some dried chipotle added)

1. Heat the cream until it boils.
2. Remove from heat and add the tea. Allow to steep for 3 minutes.
3. Strain out the leaves and reheat the cream to a simmer.
4. Add the chocolate. Wait 10 seconds and whisk until melted.
5. Allow to cool.
6. Scoop out balls of chocolate with a melon baller and roll in cocoa. Refrigerate until firm.

Now here are some great teas for infusing with:

• Adagio Thai Chai – coconut and lemon flavors
• Earl Grey (very predictible)
• Earl Grey Lavender (not so predictable)
• Sour Cherry Black Tea
• Lapsang Souchon (this is very smoky and unique..not for the faint of heart)
• Ginger

You can use almost anything you like. This is seriously a great gift idea or a little party favor for your tea table.

image: marye audet

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But this is cool. Folgers announced that they are accepting entries for their Home for the Holidays Contest. You have from  September 30 to November 7th to tell Folgers what is the best part of waking up at home during the holidays. Make it sappy, y’all..think about those tear-jerker commercials they do!

From the entries five winners will be chosen to receive a seven day and six night trip home…As long as home is somewhere in the lower 48 states. You get to take three guests with you, too. The trip includes:

• Airfare
• Hotel
• Rental car
• Folgers gift basket
• $1,000 in spending money

That is pretty cool I think. Anyway..head over to Folgers Home for the Holidays for all the info…Good luck!

image:SXC

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Memorial Day weekend is always a fun weekend for us. Cookouts, horseshoes, maybe some horseback riding…hawk toss…

You don’t know what hawk tossing is?

Yes, we are just that redneck around here. A hawk is a small hatchet, or tomahawk. Marc made this target for the kids to use. You take several paces back, and throw. It takes skill and practice to hit it and get the hatchet to stick in. The older boys also use it to practice throwing knives. It is one of the things that Marc can still do with the kids since he can no longer run around tossing a football. although he is pretty good when he is in his wheelchair at catching a football…

My family is very into historic re-enactment, although they haven’t done a lot yet. Marc is a commander with Royal Rangers (a bit like boy scouts) and is working to become involved with FCF, a historic re-enactment group that focuses on frontier type history;trappers, mountain men, etc. Marc is also planning on getting involved in a group that re-enacts the Republic of Texas Marine Corps.

Anyway ..so we are pretty basic people here.   Memorial Day still embodies everything it always did..I wrote my thoughts on Memorial Day in an Old House last year. I hope you will read it.

One of the big things to have here is iced tea in the summer.  My recipe for sweet tea is the best in the universe.  No, really.   You can use any type of tea you like ( Tazo passionfruit is awesome!  ) flavored or unflavored.  Please do not use bags if you can help it. Let’s face it, loose tea is just sooooooo much better!

All right…

Make Mine Pink is a great resource for tea shopping.  There are great posts on this blog about different tea resources around the internet.    There are alot of links to other tea inspired sites and blogs…I haven’t looked around too much because of time but I did notice blog and bio of Karen(Sweet Necessi-teas) …so now I know a little more about her!!!  I really like this blog, sorry I can’t tell you  more but I plan on reading through when I have some off time this afternoon..(ha ha..IF I have off time)

If you want to smile read this post about Josephine Misunas, a 96 year old woman that is still serving others in a soup kitchen in Waterville, Maine…

Domestic Goddess in Training let’s us know the truth about cream tea and then gives a wonderful recipe for mixed fruit scones…

So sad, but the Gracious Hospital-i-tea Blog-a-thon is over.  It was such a wonderful event, so much fun, and I met so many of you that I now read on a regular basis. Quick, someone come up with a new idea!

Laurie at Rose Cottage has a beautiful teacup she uses for her morning tea.  Do you have a particular cup you like to use? I have one for coffee but not tea. I may be inspired to get one now…’

Tea Party Girl has a fabulous interview with Donna Collins of Party Wishes.If you want to know how to pull of a children’s tea this is the place to go!

Soo…big surprise. McDonalds specialty coffee sales are not competing with Starbucks. Umm, did the powers that be at McDonalds fail to recognize that the customer base was VERY different… Like…guys…seriously..most 8 year olds do not order coffee and most adults that are roped into taking small people to McDonalds just want to go home.

If you want a chance at winning some organic coffee you better head over and comment on the  Fidalgo Bay blog..you have until May 29.

Heather at Chocolate Bytes has a great recipe for…uh…grilled coffee and chooclate STEAKS?? Sure, why not. Fair trade, ethically raised, organic…go for it.

Have a great weekend….

Images:Marye Audet 

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I hope that your Easter is as wonderful as it can possibly be, and leave you with one of my favorite songs….

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Easter weekend is a busy time.  Not only are we getting ready for Easter for ourselves, but there is so much involvement with the church.  Flowers to arrange, productions to do, all kinds of stuff.  This year, Marc has to work after chruch and wo’t get home until late, so Easter dinner will be lower key, maybe even off-key, if you know what I mean.  But the most important thing about it is the celebration of new life.  The reseurrection of Christ gave man a chance at eternity, a  new beginning, a clean slate. Ham, jelly beans, and chocolate bunnies aside, that is worth celebrating.

I hate paper cups.  I can’t drink from styrofoam. And cardboard sleeves make me cringe.  I carry my ceramic cup everywhere, just in case I need coffee, or even water.  I have a touch sensitivity that keeps me from being able to touch some textures.

I always get weird looks when the server at a restaurant watches Marc lean over and remove a paper from my straw (I used to have a glass straw, they used to use them in hospitals in the 1930s).  Anyway…I was thrilled to read that I am not the only weird one!  There has been a study done and you can read it here! Coffee does taste better from ceramic mugs!

Will coffee grounds be the new heating fuel of choice? Check this out!

In this new society of changing social etiquette how does one properly handle the coffee meeting? Great information on how to handle a coffee meeting.

Check this out.  Honor Grounds Coffee  has come out with a new line of coffee that support the troops.  You know, that is near and dear to my heart.  Well these unique coffees come in three varieties.

•  “Five Star Joe”
• “Reveille” dark roast
•  “D-Day” decaffeinated

The program is aimed at helping soldiers and veterans, and Marines too. (If you are a Marine, you understood that, if not, you just need to know that Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children do not consider themselves part of the military, exactly…)  I am going to try to contact the company to see if i can get some detailed information and do a post of what they are doing later on…

Here is a cool blog-a-thon for those of us who enjoy relaxing with a vintage cup, a scone, and  maybe some Emily Dickinson poetry in the afternoon…no time to partake today..but I may next week!

Dinner with Julie looks great as she does a roast chicken  infused with green tea.

On Tea with Friends I came across some beautiful and inspiring Easter vignettes using vintage tea things.  You need to check it out for a dose of beauty today!

Megan had a spring tea party this week. In between handling livestock, the VA and floods I somehow missed the first day of spring..but check out her blog to relive it.  Beautiful pictures! Stephanie  joined her, with tea dyed eggs.Sigh.

But even with missing the tea  party I have been introduced to a new to me blog, The Par Tea Planner  I really am enjoying the back reading I am doing there, and look forward to more posts.!

Have a wonderful Easter,  if I don’t get back here before tomorrow.

Image: Public Domain, by Karen’s Whimsy 

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Choose your coffee for richness.  Try an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.  I think it is the perfect choice for an Easter brunch.    I would go with the Lipton Caramel Truffle for a flavored tea, and an English Breakfast tea for a black tea.  If you want to add something herbal, what about the blueberry tea from Celestial Seasonings?

I try to serve lots of protein for Easter brunch to offset the amount of sugar that my children take in. If you could harness the energy expended by my kids on an Easter afternoon you could light an entire area the size of Alaska for a month.  Pinkie swear.  Anyway, maybe the extra protein doesn’t help, but I don’t think it hurts.

This Breakfast Casserole is full of yumminess and protein.  You put it together the night before and then slide it into the oven while you are changing out of church clothes.  I use homemade croutons, fresh spinach, fresh button mushrooms, and  half & half (rather than milk).  Everyone loves it.

My favorite  fruit salad is a mixture of fresh fruit macerated in a little sugar, and then served with a dollop of creme fraiche.  Sometimes I use sour cream, lightly sweetened with sugar and with a tablespoon of rose water,  lavender syrup, or even violet syrup (last two by Monin) added.  Good  fruits for this are:

• Strawberries
• Clementines
• Mandarins
• Grapes
• Mango
• Kiwi
• Melon

You gotta have rolls of some sort and I like these bunnies from an old Better Homes and Garden’s cookbook.  The are cute, and delicious, and they are perfectly complimented by the yirgacheffe.

All of these things can be put together the night before and easily finished before serving.

Little Touches 

• Mix in some pink, purple, or yellow sugar crystals to the sugar in your sugar bowl
• Add a vanilla bean to the sugar you plan to serve
• Write names on hard-boiled eggs with crayon before dying.  Use the eggs as place-cards
• Make guests small Easter baskets with chocolate covered espresso beans, Jelly Belly coffee flavored jelly beans, or homemade earl grey truffles
  
• Put whipped, unsweetened cream on the table to add to coffee.
• Make small arrangements in vintage tea cups.  Just use a bit of oasis foam, soaked in water and cut to fit cup.  Push the stems of fresh flowers into the foam to create nosegays.  The flower stems should not show.  Sweetheart roses, baby’s breath, and other small flowers work well for this. Send them home with your guests as a small gift.
• If you can find them at thrift shops floral,vintage handkerchiefs make awesome napkins.
• Instead of a lemon slice next to a teacup skewer a strawberry half, a lime slice, quartered, and a mandarin orange segment.
• Use sugar cubes rather than sugar

Most of all, remember the reason for the day.  Spending time with family and friends is time well spent, creating treasured memories that nothing can erase.

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The Victorians liked celebration. And teas were something that they seemed to be particularly fond of. The decoration and planning that went in to a tea might go on for months.

Who has that kind of time? Not me, but I still like to have a little tea celebration with the family. We often do have “tea” in the afternoon, however on holiday’s it is fun to kick it up a notch.

St Patrick’s Day is the 15th this year, which is Saturday. I believe it has been changed because of another holiday falling on the 17th. Nothing extreme, just comfy, casual, and fun.

A Simple St Patrick’s Day Victorian Tea Menu

Irish Breakfast Tea

Irish Breakfast tea is traditionally served with a lot of milk. I like to warm the milk up, fill a teacup about 1/3 full and then pour the tea.

Earl Grey Green Tea

Jamaican Butter Rum Tea

Hey, this is MY tea party, right?

Slices of Dubliner Cheese on white bread, with a little dollop of chutney. This cheese is available in the gourmet cheese section of Safeway/Tom Thumb stores, or at least here it is.

Deviled Ham and Pecan Tea Sandwiches

Irish Scones with green sugar sprinkles on top

1/2 c. unsalted butter
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. half and half
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c raisins soaked in brandy if desired

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it forms crumbs. Beat the egg with the milk and vanilla, stir in raisins, and stir to form into a soft ball. Knead lightly a few times to help it hold together. Cut in rounds and place on a silpat lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with green sugar. Allow to stand for 20 minutes before baking at 425 for 15 minutes.
Green Grapes in clusters

Shamrock Sugar Cookies -cut in shamrock shapes and sprinkle with green edible glitter, or sugar.

Devonshire Cream

Key Lime Curd

Strawberries

Irish Cream Truffles

For the Irish Cream Truffles :Just bring 1 cup of heavy cream to a simmer in the microwave. Remove and add 2 Tbs Bailey’s, and 1 c chocolate, chopped. A mix of dark and bittersweet is really good. Stir until smooth then chill. Make truffles with a melon baller or a tablespoon and roll in cocoa. Keep refrigerated.
Many thanks to Karen’s Whimsey for the use of these Public Domain images!

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Happy President’s Day!

Did you know that drinking coffee was an act of patriotism?

In 1773 Congress made coffee the official national beverage.  Drinking coffee was a way to rebel against the high taxes levies on tea by the British.

Pubs gave way to coffee houses, places where men gathered to make important decisions about the future of the Colonies.  The New York Stock Exchange was even created at a coffee house.

George Wahington was a man that I have alot of respect for, not just because he enjoyed a good coffee but because he made so many thought provoking statements. This is one of my favorite quotes of his, and I think it bears consideration in this society of ours:

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.  George Washington

So today, drink a cup of coffee in honor of good old George.   Any excuse is a great one.

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Handpainted Mardi Gras Mug From Cajun Creations

Cafe Du Monde- Look you are having a Mardi Gras Party, right? You have to have the coffee. If you have never tried this you need to. Rich, chocolate-y and a very unusual flavor. If you don’t have this how are you going to wash down that king’s cake? Coffee

You can make your own, authentic, chicory coffee by using half coffee and half chicory  in the coffee maker. So if you are using 1/2 c ground coffee, you would use 1/4 c ground coffee and 1/4 c chicory. You can probably find chicory at a local health food store or in some markets. Personally, I like it made cafe au lait, half of a cup of sweetened hot dark coffee and half of the cup  steamed cream.

Instead of those cheap necklaces what about Java Jewels? Made from real coffee beans!

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