It is always interesting to look at the top posts of the past month and see what you all were most interested in.

I am still trying to get my brain wrapped around the fact that July is gone. Over. Kaput. History. Soon we will be sitting here chatting over steaming chai lattes watching it snow..Big drifts…here in Texas…. Read more

 

This week is all about sharing about teapots. Do you have one? two? or three? maybe more? Is it for display only or do you use it for tea? What is the tea server you use most? Your favorite teapot (or is it something like a quart jar?). Tell your teapot story, give it’s history, and tell what it means to you. You can share more than once if you’d like. Antique, new, Asian, English, or something in between — we’d love to know!

So the blogothon goes on.  I am loving these posts! You can find more teapots at Gracious Hospitality. 

There are so many blogs that I have become aware of that it is competing with my food blog addiction! Seeing other people’s images, and reading thier thoughts about tea has been inspiring. Having those very talented bloggers come and comment here has been humbling… Read more

Apparently Jennifer was shocked by my admitting a previous Dr Pepper addiction…Here is me in late May1980..Notice, if you can, the Dr Pepper in my hand. I was so concerned about my extra fat. ::rolling eyes::::

Remembering the 80s it tough. It was so long ago.

Back then Marc drank his coffee at the base, and I just drank Dr. Pepper. By the gallons. Daily.

I was addicted to Dr Pepper. I was a size 4. I was married. Life was good. Well, it was good until I got pregnant with my first baby and totally lost my ability to even smell Dr. Pepper without gagging. My daughter, Erin, the one that caused my Dr Pepper divorce, is now a Dr Pepper addict. THAT was a slap in the face.

The early 80s were still echoing with the looks and sounds of Star Wars…Check this out…

Did you ever have one of those days? I am having one. I got up to my computer making the “Marye I have Flatlined” sound again. Yep..crashed. Marc could not coax it back to life before he headed to work. That means that I have no access to my images, my photo software, or my links…I am on the kids computer, which runs slower and is not at my desk. Whine.

Just when I thought I was going to lose it my friend Juanita came by and said, “Hey, Iw as praying for yout oday and the Lord told me to come get you and take you to Starbucks”.

Yay God. I am glad He is looking out for me because honestly, I need it. So we went and I cried and drank coffee. Read more

Life was simpler when I was growing up in the 60’s. The coffee pot made cool noise on the stove and it was fun to watch the color of the coffee turn from clear to dark, rich brown in the clear knob on the top of the cover.

Since we did not have things like dvds and video games, watching coffee perk was fascinating.And then, Mom would pour the coffee into a cup, stir in some evaporated milk from a can, some sugar….take a sip…. and… Oh GLORY! She would head off to do something and leave the coffee on the counter. Read more

I spent the entire day yesterday, with the exception of putting dinner on the table, sitting next the fire, coffee in hand and my Christmas present, Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon, in my lap. I have two chapters to go as of this morning and when I get done here I plan to wave to my family and head back to the fire and the chair. Christmas, to me, is best with a new book and a cup of hot coffee…My husband, being the insightful man of God that he is, also saw fit to make sure I had sustenance by including several packages of chocolates in my Christmas stocking.He was happy. I gave him gifts sure to please him- a pound of fair trade Ethiopian coffee that we had not tried before…a Department 56 building to add to his growing collection. This one was the New England Patriots Souvenir Shop…a game, called Finish Lines that he will certainly beat us all at regularly…and an online membership to a historic reenactment board because he is going to be becoming a Frontier Gunsmith this year. We have simple. although eclectic, tastes at my house.

I struggled greatly the last couple of days before Christmas with missing my parents, and my childhood…reliving too many Christmas’s past. I remembered so many things about Christmas at my childhood home with mixed fondness and regret. Always the picture of my dad sprawled out on the floor playing with my toys with me, and my mom sitting with her coffee cup…

And I realized with a laugh that coffee cups are part of so many of my own Christmas memories, and definitely part of my children’s Christmas memories. Even this Christmas the smell of coffee enticed me out of my warm bed and down the long stairs…

My granddaughter wanted to make sure that we left cookies and milk for Santa. I tried to tell her Santa preferred hot coffee but she would not be dissuaded. It must be cookies and milk. My youngest daughter, whom we fondly refer to as Chef Kyrie or Little Chef, was all for leaving some thing more substantial..she thought Santa might tire of cookies and lukewarm milk…but cookies and milk it was..and Santa did not complain, although I suspect he washed the cookies and milk down with a large mug of Bourbon Pecan Coffee.

I hope that your Christmas was full of fond memories, past and present and hope for the future. And I hope that it was infused with gallons of really good coffee.

 

I just want to invite you on a Christmas Tour of my house…I posted the pictures over at Baking Delights so check them out!

I just want to stop for a moment and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and thank you for your comments and your presence here. May the New Year bring you abundant blessings (and lots of coffee).

“It’s in vain, Trot, to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.”

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

I have about a million vintage cookbooks. I love them and I pick them up whenever I get the chance. It is fun to see how people’s ideas of food, health, and sophistication have changed over the years.

I thought that I would like to start doing vintage menus once a week or so…to reintroduce some of the past to the present. This week’s vintage menu is from Better homes and Gardens, 1959.

The tea suggestions are mine, as the book states only broad categories of tea. I have chosen only one or two things from each list in the book for the sake of space. Put on your Donna Reed apron, and your high heels and pearls, and enjoy this little meander through time.

Teas:

Adagio Christmas Tea- orange, spice with deep notes of clove

Numi- Black Vanilla, black tea with intense Tahitian vanilla taste

Stash-Holiday Chai, rum and ginger chai

“Go glamorous and skip the forks. Offer dainty cookies, canapes, and hors d’oeuvres, each no bigger than two - or three- bite size.”

Shrimp Crescents- combine cream cheese with chopped chives; spread on  buttered bread crescents and  top with a whole shrimp.

Stuffed Olive Canape-  Spread mayonnaise on bread rounds. sprinkle with chopped, stuffed olives. Stack hard cooked egg slice, mayonnaise and slice of stuffed olive on top.

Walnut Sandwiches- Put walnut halves together with creamed bleu cheese

Ham Roll-ups- Marinate cooked asparagus tips in French dressing; roll them in  ham slices narrower than asparagus; toothpick.

Pastry Star tarts- Roll out plain pastry. Cut 1 dozen 2 3/4 inch rounds. Pinch sides together to form 5 pointed stars.

Bake on cookie sheets in very hot oven (450) 10-15 minutes. Cool. Fill with jam, jelly, or sharp cheese spread

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I would add to this some mints, some thin slices of orange and lemon, and some red and green grapes, some frosted and some not, draped here and there for garnish. I f y ou want to carry out the retro theme then have your guests come as characters from the family t.v. shows; Mrs. Cleaver, Donna Reed, The mom on Father Knows Best…etc. If you want to give door prizes make them also retro themed. You might grab some vintage women’s  magazines from the local used book store, or a cd of Christmas music with 50s era singers. You might get a dvd of the original Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, or a dvd of one of the sit-coms.  If you are really lucky you could turn up a vintage tea set in the thrift shop…

Anyway..hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past for this week. Next week I am planning on sharing a Victorian Coffee from the Christmas 1910 issue of  Ladies World. Yeah, I have that. It goes with my decor! LOL!

This is a vintage tea set from the 1930’s.  I have to tell you that I love this thing.  One just like it sat on a shelf at Gramma-Great’s house. Now, she was not MY gramma-great, she was my cousins’.  She was my aunt’s mother and she was, I think a little over 100 years old when she died.  Most of the years I was growing up I spent summers in the Michigan “thumb” , bouncing from relatives farms in Howell, Lapeer, and Five Lakes.

Each morning I would walk across the road, up a dirt road that wound through a cornfield, stopping at Uncle Ray’s (her brother’s) house to chat with him a moment, and then on up to her house to have tea with her in her very country, very victorian,  very welcoming kitchen.

The tea consisted of hot milk with a few dips of a tea bag in it and a quarter cup of sugar, and it was usually accompanied by two gingersnaps.  It was the best tea I ever drank.

Now in the years since then I have developed a taste for tea, real tea. But  the grown up pleasure of sitting at the wooden table, sipping the milky tea, and nibbling on gingersnaps while having an adult all to myself created in me  the desire to make tea a part of my life.

And, so, I have started a tradition of tea in my home. An afternoon ritual, where the kids and I sit down, try new teas, nibble snacks, and chat about what ever we like because I hope that in doing so I will create those same types of memories in them.