Audrey Tea Strainer by Koziol

Here is a lovely tea strainer great for a special gift for yourself or someone else. Simply place flower over cup, add tea leaves, pour boiling water over this, steep and place flower into the leaves for a beautiful presentation.

 

 

 

 

Chinese New Year Tea

This year, Chinese ushered in the Year of the Ox on Jan. 26, according to the lunar calendar. The holiday is traditionally a 15-day celebration filled with a whirlwind of special events. I planned a tea to celebrate the Year of the Ox and did some research on what to serve and know about Chinese New Year. These are some of the things I found out from many areas of the internet. What a wonderful celebration of family and life.

To the Chinese, food signifies blessings of good fortune, especially during the Chinese New Year. Some of the foods include:
Bamboo shoots - is a term which sounds like "wishing that everything would be well"
Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness.
Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.
Eat oranges and tangerines or decorate your home with them—these symbolize good luck and wealth.
A must-have during the festival each year is pineapple tarts. They consist of homemade pineapple jam encased in a golden, buttery shell. The color of the little bites represents wealth and money.

Color is an important part of the Chinese New Year
Decorate your home with traditional Chinese decorations with liberal use of red and gold to symbolize wealth and good luck In Chinese culture, red is a popular color to wear and use around the new year. Not only does it attract good luck, it symbolizes happiness.

Chinese New Year is all about rebirth and new opportunity, and one of the most exciting ways to embrace this is with the Red Envelope – a tradition dating all the way back to the Qing Dynasty. On New Years day, everyone receives leisee - red packets decorated with gold symbols and filled with “lucky money”.

Days before the new year
On the days before the New Year celebration, Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away bad luck and makes their homes ready for good luck to arrive. All brooms and dust pans are put away on New Year's Eve so that good luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and windowpanes a new coat of red paint. DO NOT clean your home during the first few days of the New Year. You do not want to risk sweeping away the good luck of the New Year.
Don’t cry on that day or raise your voice to your children or you’ll be setting a tone of discord for the coming year.
When your guests arrive, encourage them to take off their shoes and walk softly into your home as it invites a smooth transition into the New Year.

Kitchen Renovations

The 6th photo in my 6th file happened to be a picture of my newly renovated kitchen. This project began the end of October and as I was told turned out to be way more than I planned on. It was worth it and now I truly feel like it is my kitchen. Prior to this I had very little cupboard space and 3 tiny drawers. Now I have a place for almost everything. Don't we always need more space? Of course the great kitchen has led to redecorating and painting every where else. Valerie

I've been tagged!!

My friend Anne of http://eccentricpastiche.blogspot.com has tagged me. This is a fun way to see who we all look at and admire. I admire many who are good about updating their blog. I just never seem to find the time to do so but promise to do better this year.

Here are the rules to the photo meme: 6th Picture Meme!
1.Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2.Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.
3.Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.
4.Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them.

Here are my 6 blog picks:
http://mommydoodles.blogspot.com - Melanie is my daughter who not only has 2 of the most wonderful little boys (my grandsons) and a truly great husband but works full time and maintains her blog every day.

http://www.labyrinthhill.com -Susan who I envy for her lovely gardens

http://www.teacelebrations.net - Cheryl in Arizona who I got to visit in November

http://friendshiptea.blogspot.com - Linda in Kentucky whose daughter and mine are blog pals

http://www.gardenweb.com - great subjects and information

http://www.cottagetales.com - great author Susan Whittig Albert of the China Bayles Herbal Mysteries

Cantaloupe Blueberry Soup

Cantaloupe Blueberry Soup

1 cantaloupe - peeled, seeded and cubed
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

DIRECTIONS
Peel, seed, and cube the cantaloupe.
Place cantaloupe and orange juice and lime juice into a food processor;
cover, and process until smooth.

Blueberry "Jam"

1 cup fresh blueberries

Puree blueberries in a blender.

Garnish with a spoon of sour cream and a piece of mint or edible flowers.

Cantaloupe Blueberry Soup

I recently served this soup as a beginning to a wonderful afternoon tea for some special grandmothers, grandchildren, aunts and moms. It looked and tasted great on a sunny afternoon.

I have been Tagged

I was tagged by my blogging friend Nancy Reppert of http://www.therosemaryhouse.blogspot.com/

The rules of the game: Each player answers the questions themselves.
At the end of the post the player tags 4 people and posts their names, and goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment
letting them know that they've been tagged asking them to read your blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.

++++++++++++++++++++

Ten years ago I was getting ready for my youngest to graduate high school, working as a chef at a great local restaurant as well as
running Tea and Trinkets.

Five things on today's to do list - Take 3 carloads of tree branches I cut down yesterday to the compost area, paint antique metal lawn chairs apple green,
clean my canoe from yesterday's rain and wind storm, take car to the car wash due to the tree branches and grocery shop. All but groceries are done.

Snacks I enjoy - ice cream, popcorn, crackers and cheese

Things I would do if I was a millionaire - be sure my children and their families as well as myself are comfortable and able to enjoy life more.

Places I have lived - Panama, Walpole, Attleboro, North Attleboro and Norton, Massachusetts

I was tagged by my friend Nancy Reppert of http://www.therosemaryhouse.blogspot.com/

I have tagged:

My daughter Melanie of http://mommydoodles.blogspot.com
Jenny of http://www.teapartygirl.com/
Melissa of http://thecottagerose.blogspot.com/
Anne of http://liberteas.blogspot.com

We didn't get a helping hand!!

In March I had asked for help with the Hamburger Helper Helping Hand nominations for help. Unfortunately we did not make this round of grants from them but I do want to thank all who helped in our cause. On behalf of the Arc of Northern Bristol County http://www.arcnbc.org/index.htm thank you all. I will keep you updated as to our progress which is currently almost at the end of an elevator installation so that our building will be fully accessible and able to serve many more people in many different ways. Somehow we will find a way to get a new kitchen downstairs to be able to do classes and projects. Again thank you all. Valerie Zagami on behalf of: The Arc of Northern Bristol County, 141 Park Street, Attleboro, MA 02703