Tea and Trinkets

Valentine Decorations

2012-01-26T13:47:00.004-05:00

It's been a while so I decided I needed to post something. After Christmas it is so depressing to take down all the decorations that I move right into snowmen and Valentines decorations. Here are some of my pictures.

Cupcake Capers

2010-05-04T07:29:00.002-04:00

I had a dessert tea this year and decided to do all desserts as a cupcake! I will be showing each and putting recipe here. I do not have all sources of recipes so will try to find them.

National Margarita Day

2010-02-22T14:01:00.003-05:00

Today, February 22, 2010 is National Margarita Day. What does this have to do with tea you ask? Well I found a few tea margarita recipes on the net..
Tea Margarita
For each glass, you will need:
1 lime or lemon wedge
sugar to coat rim of glasses
1/2 to 2/3 cup of strongly brewed Teavana lemon green tea frozen into 6 to 8
small ice cubes in the freezer
2 1/2 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) premium tequila such as Cuervo or Patron
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 tablespoons sugar
Rub the lime wedge around the rim of an old-fashioned glass. Dip and rotate the rim in the saucer of sugar, making sure to keep the sugar on the outside. In a blender, combine the green tea ice cubes, tequila, lemon juice, Cointreau, and sugar. Blend on the pulse setting until slushy. Pour into the sugar-rimmed glass.

Virgin Pomegranate Tea Margarita

Ingredients:
6 ounces (180mL) boiling water
6 Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz Herbal Juice Tea Bags
1 ounce (30mL) fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon (5mL) lime juice or to taste
1 teaspoon (5mL) sugar or to taste
For a Frozen Margarita - see directions below
Ice Cubes
Orange slices for garnish

Instructions:
Boil water and pour over 6 Bigelow Pomegranate Herb Tea bags. Let steep 3-4 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Add orange juice, lime juice and sugar. Stir well. Serve warm.

To make a Frozen Pomegranate Margarita follow the above directions (using the same ingredients) instead of serving warm, chill.

Place in blender with ice cubes and blend until mixture turns to slush. Serve with an orange garnish.

Green Tea Margarita
Epicurious | January 2009
The Tea Deck: 50 Ways to Prepare, Serve, and Enjoy by Sara Perry
Serves 1

Ingredients
1 lime or lemon wedge
Sauce of granulated sugar for coating rim of glass
1/2 to 2/3 cup strongly brewed Green Chai Spa Tea Blend , frozen into 6 to 8 small ice cubes
2 1/2 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) premium tequila
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
2 teaspoons sugar
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation
Rub the lime wedge around the rim of an old-fashioned glass. Dip and rotate the rim in the saucer of sugar, making sure to keep the sugar on the outside. In a blender, combine the chai ice cubes , tequila, lemon juice, orange liqueur, and sugar. Blend on the pulse setting until slushy. Pour into the sugar-rimmed glass.

Variation:
For those who prefer their libations over ice, fill a sugar-rimmed old-fashioned glass one-third full of chai ice cubes . Follow the recipe for Green Tea Margarita, using the blender's pulse feature to blend the ingredients until the ice is just coarsely chopped and the mixture is frothy. Strain the mixture through a bar strainer into the prepared glass.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Tea-Margarita

Green Chai Spa Tea Blend
Epicurious | January 2009

The Tea Deck: 50 Ways to Prepare, Serve, and Enjoy, by Sara Perry

yield: Makes 1 cup tea blend
Many teas and herbs you savor as beverages can transform your daily beauty routine into a refreshing interlude. Here are three blends made almost... more ›
Bon Appétit

Ingredients
1/4 cup Chinese green tea leaves
1/4 cup whole green cardamom pods
1/4 cup whole cloves
3 or 4 three-inch cinnamon sticks, coarsely chopped with a heavy-duty knife
(Essential oil complement: orange)
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation
In a quart-sized plastic bag, place the tea, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Blow into the bag as if blowing up a balloon. Once inflated, hold the bag shut and shake until the herbs are combined. Store in an opaque glass or ceramic jar with a tight-fitting lid or cork. Give the jar a good shake to distribute the ingredients before removing any. For peak fragrance, using within six months.
Aromatic Herbal Tea Blend:
Follow the recipe for Green Chai Spa Tea Blend, using 1/3 cup dried lavender flowers, 1/3 cup dried peppermint leaves, and 1/3 cup dried peppermint leaves, and 1/3 cup dried rose petals. (Essential oil complement: rose.)
Stimulating Herbal Tea Blend:
Follow the recipe for Green Chai, using 1/3 cup dried eucalyptus leaves, 1/3 cup dried lemon balm leaves, and 1/3 cup dried rosemary leaves. (Essential oil complement: eucalyptus.)

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Chai-Spa-Tea-Blend

2010-02-08T19:34:00.003-05:00

The New Tray
I got this adorable and very functionable tray for Christmas from my oldest daughter and her husband. It is a great, heavy tray with hooks on the back to hang it up. It has wonderful painting and cute little charms all around.

Audrey Tea Strainer by Koziol

2009-05-30T14:35:00.003-04:00

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.

2009-01-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

2009-01-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

Chinese New Year Tea

2009-01-31T20:50:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-25T08:33:00.001-05:00

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!!

2009-01-25T08:22:00.003-05:00

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

2008-08-27T08:23:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-27T08:21:00.001-04:00

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

2008-06-25T15:19:00.001-04:00

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!!

2008-05-16T19:26:00.002-04:00

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

Tea Photos

2008-04-11T10:15:00.003-04:00

Finally I have figured out how to put photos from the great Chartley Garden Club Mad Hatters Tea on the site. This was a great event, the ladies came in a few hours early and like elves decorated the entire hall into a spring garden. Great time, thank you ladies of the Chartley Garden Club.. http://www.chartleygardenclub.com/

Chartley Garden Club Tea Photos

2008-04-11T10:13:00.001-04:00

Peeps Easter Cupcakes

2008-03-19T08:12:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows I love peeps! You can visit the peeps website here:

http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/

So here is a recipe using one of my favorite "foods"

Easter Peeps Cupcakes

1 cake mix (or scratch cake recipe)

white frosting

grated coconut, colored with green food coloring

Marshmallow Peeps® (yellow, pink, white, blue or lavender)

jelly beans

Bake cupcakes according to directions. Let cool and frost with white frosting.
Sprinkle colored coconut on top of each frosted cupcakes and place a Peep® in the center. Add a few jelly beans around the Peeps®, so they look like eggs.If you choose not to use coconut you may pipe a "nest" of green icing around the top of each cupcake and place a Peep® in the center. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles for a festive ending. How to Tint Coconut Place an amount of coconut into a bowl. Add a few drops of food coloring and mix well. Continue until desired color is reached. Be sure it is mixed well and be cautious as food color is concentrated.

St. Patrick's Day Wish

2008-03-17T09:15:00.002-04:00

May the road you walk be a smooth one,
May your troubles be few, if any,
May the days and years that lie ahead
Be healthy, happy, and many...
May you find friends in abundance,
May the sun shine bright above you,
May the world be a wonderful place to live,
May you always have someone to love you.
Wishing You a Wonderful St. Patrick's Day

We Need a Helping Hand

2008-03-08T20:34:00.002-05:00

In a semi-tea related post I am asking for help from all my readers. I volunteer with the Arc of Northern Bristol County and have enjoyed tea parties with many members of the group as well as produced a cook book. We like food and friendship and I have noticed many do not have the skills to cook or do a tea of their own. We have submitted a project to Hamburger Helper to help us with a new kitchen in our building. This would allow cooking classes and basic home skills to be taught and shared with others. Please take a moment to send in a comment to the link below.
With a little help from our friends we may be chosen as part of this project.
This is through Hamburger Helper and has been posted on myhometownhelper.com, and we would like to get as many people as possible to the site and submit a comment in support of the project. The site will be up until the end of March, then they pick 12 projects to fund. The competition is high, but we can try. The direct link to the site is http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?id=35214.Please submit a comment and pass it on to others for their help as well. Thanks! Valerie Zagami on behalf of: The Arc of Northern Bristol County141 Park StreetAttleboro, MA 02703

Upcoming Spring Events

2008-03-04T20:34:00.002-05:00

On March 16th we will be once again be working with the Chartley Garden Club for a Mad Hatters Tea. Flyers are popping up around town. http://chartleygardenclub.com/March.html This is a wonderful group of very talented gardeners who produce the most wonderful flower and plant arrangements. They also maintain many gardens in town and donate time to help others. I know what a fun time this will be. Visit their site here and see some local projects and gardens. http://chartleygardenclub.com/index.html

Friday I will be tea hostess for a group of Professional Women. There is a large variety of careers and business owners going to be represented at this event. This will be a very fun time also.

In April I will be having a tea with one of my favorite long time friends and her friends. This is a much smaller scale event and I know it will be a great time to chatter.

2008-03-04T20:26:00.002-05:00

High Heeled Cake Server

This is a great gift I received from some very dear friends for Christmas and I love it. It is such a fun way to serve dessert. Here it is shown with my hidden jam cake.

The beauty of china

2008-02-25T18:52:00.002-05:00

As I get ready for a few upcoming tea events I have been checking out my china plates, cups and saucers. Each one is so lovely and though each one is different they all feel wonderful to touch. I have been polishing silver and matching up cups and saucers. This is often necessary as each event I end up losing one or two pieces. Many of these broken pieces are through no fault of anyone but simply the age and the delicate nature of some. I have had tea cups break upon pouring hot tea into them. Many are due to my own fault such as the shelf of holiday tea pots I knocked down last season. It is a little like losing an old friend when this happens. I have many special ones that do not travel and even some that are only to look at, but I love them all.
It is fun to see the many different designs.

My Valentine Tree

2008-02-04T18:54:00.000-05:00

Here is the valentine tree, something to replace the dullness after the Christmas tree comes down. I keep a tree in the tea room most of the year and decorate it according to whim or holiday. Mr. Cupid sits at the top of the tree protecting those who enter. There are assorted cute ornaments such as hats and shoes.

A few of my favorite websites

2008-01-22T20:59:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite sites to visit:
http://mommydoodles.blogspot.com/
http://www.sweetremembrancestearoom.com/
http://www.therosemaryhouse.com/
http://www.liber-teas.com
http://www.windsorteashop.com/index.html
enjoy, Valerie

Why Tea?

2008-01-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Why tea? Tea us usually one of our earlier memories from childhood. Tea was often served when we were not feeling well, we would hold tea parties with our dolls, stuffed animals, cats or dogs or even better an adult to spend time with. If there was good news to share tea was usually served and if there was bad news the kettle would be heard whistling. Tea invokes memories of feelings from our past. I actually think our early ancestors would discuss the world problems over tea that was boiled over a fire as the history of tea dates back to before 2700BC.
Tea is usually a more calming beverage than coffee. Whether one uses a tea bag or loose leaves there needs to be steeping time. This evokes a calmness that coffee just can't top. Tea was carried around the world and convenient as leaves or when it was dried into cakes that one would break off and boil.
Very close to where I live the Boston Tea Party was fought and was blamed for the American Revolution. Shortly after the United States declared independence from England. Coffee lovers are very loyal but never have fought a war over their beverage.
My beginnings were thanks to an Irish grandmother who also collected lovely china tea cups and saucers. She shared with me her love of cooking and entertaining and I thank her for that.

We are up and running

2008-01-18T18:25:00.000-05:00

Today is the launch of the new and improved Tea & Trinkets website and blog. Thanks to my daughter Melanie, her creativity, talent and patience we are here. Feel free to send ideas, comments and topics to me and I will try and keep this fresh and exciting.

Launching the Tea and Trinkets Blog

2008-01-14T19:35:00.000-05:00

I am getting ready to launch the blog and thought I should put my plans down. I hope to be adding to this often (at least weekly) with a variety of topics. I am also open to questions regarding tea and tea events. I will share thoughts, events, recipes (some, not all) and generally try to educate the blogger world to the delights of tea. Valerie

Tea and Trinkets Blog

2008-01-13T19:08:00.000-05:00

My daughter made this blog for my birthday in October and I stalled on the plan. I decided that my New Years Resolution was to learn how to use it. Visit our tearoom and enjoy a cup of tea. Please bear with me as I learn to use this new and exciting tool. I hope to talk of tea topics, share recipes and ideas and perhaps a few crafts also. Valerie

Welcome to my page

2007-10-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

This is my new page ~ a birthday gift from my Daughter.. Thanks Melanie