Teatime Tales by Angela Webste McRae

The mailman delivered my Teatime Tales this week, I'm so excited! Angela is a great story teller and blogger. Her blog is Tea with Friends. She posts something tea related every day, I don't know how she does it. 

Teatime makes me think of The Tuck Box in Carmel, a charming building built in 1928 by Hugh Comstock. It has been a tea shop since the 1940s. In the 1980s it was always busy and there was always a line to get in. Teatime Tales goes so well by my hubby's painting of The Tuck Box. Makes me want to curl up in the picture with the book.

Now the teapot wall has memories, a little humor, a little story, and a little tea, just enough to brighten my day.

It's time to plan a tea party.

Tea Time for an Aching Heart

Two dear friends of mine have lost sons, it was 14 years ago for Janet and a few months ago for Virginia. We all love tea time and in December Janet suggested that we visit Virginia in early January after the whirlwind holidays. It was a wonderful suggestion. We told Virginia all she had to do was boil a pot of water.

 

Janet and I planned and brought everything from linens to tea settings and food. First course was savory tea sandwiches.

 Second course was scones, lemon curd and a mock Devonshire cream.

Third course was sweets and strawberries.

The sweetest thing was having two dear friends with aching hearts and time together.

Tea with Scones & Lemon Curd

The table and chairs looked so inviting in front of the garden castle shed on Saturday that I decided we should have tea, scones and lemon curd for lunch while there was still shade.

The sheer table cloth has a home in the shed so it's easy to spread it on the purple table and it's all set for a quick tea time.

The lemon curd is home made from earlier in the week, I blended some cream cheese, sour cream and touch of powdered sugar for a little mock Devonshire cream to go along with the currant scones.

The teacups and saucers are perfect for a little Easter weekend tea, sunny yellow with pops of color.

The Myott shield on the back reminds me that we still want to make the Amersfoort city shield for our castle shed.

It's pretty special, here it is on the Koppelpoort, a medieval gate in the Dutch town of Amersfoort.

Visit from Amy

Amy was my first guest for a quick spot of tea in front of the garden castle shed. Jan and I met Amy when we signed up for a recent eBay class at adult school. She manages the senior center at Manchester Center and adult school registrations.

We noticed photos of various chickens on the bulletin board so I asked and Amy said they were hers. We had such fun chatting about the chickens she raises. I never knew they could be pets.

In our chat I also found out Amy loves having tea and has a teapot collection.

I invited Amy to stop by one afternoon on her way home for a cuppa and a sweet treat. When Amy took a bite of the cake I made she recognized it and asked if it was a sherry cake. She grew up having it and told me how her mother decorated the cake. Then we discovered how much we both love Van Gogh! She spent two days in Amsterdam during her college years and spent both days at the Van Gogh museum.

Amy brought me gifts! After she left Jan took a photo of me holding the teapot and 6 fresh eggs from her adorable chickens. The teapot is made in Portugal, very nice! Just before she arrived I quickly wrote a note in chalk.

My sons grew up having the sherry cake and now my grandsons love it so here is my recipe that a friend gave me about 1978.

Many cake mixes now have pudding in the mix and it works both ways, just the cake mix with pudding or adding a 3 oz. box of instant vanilla pudding. The recipe says use an angel cake pan, I've always used a bundt pan and spaying with Pam Baking now bakes with an even color.

The cake is good plain or goes well many ways, with ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup or topped with cherries. A can of cherry pie filling, slightly warmed, is easy but Trader Joe's dark morello cherries makes a good topping. They are not sweet or thickened so you have to do both.

Drain the liquid from a jar of Trader Joe's dark morello cherries into a sauce pan. Add half a cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Whisk till dissolved, then heat and keep stirring till thick. Add in the cherries, remove from heat, mix in just a couple of drops of almond extract, not much.

Serve cherries over wine cake, have a cup of tea and enjoy.

Davree's Cottage Christmas Scene and Tea with Douggles the Gorilla

The scene is out now till December 31 for visits from 6 to 9 p.m. Here are several photos, more to come.

Great Uncle Douggles' eyes are sparkling, he was so happy to be invited to tea by Davree. She's happy with her new Christmas dress made of ribbon from Costco. What is she serving? Yum yum, those animal cookies are so good.

The teapot and warming stand was purchased when we lived in Holland. I believe it is actually a little pot for hot water to be kept warm with a candle and to add to strong tea to weaken it. Davree has safe LED candles.

Above, between Douggles and Davree, you see a small print of The Tuck Box, original painted by my hubby. The Tuck Box is on Dolores street in Carmel, California and has been a tea shop for many years. Prints, 8x10 inches, are available, see Shop Paris Cabinet link.


The fireplace is flickering and doggies are warming their little rears and Davree's reindeer pet is happy to be indoors. The print above the fireplace is a make believe snow scene of the Fresno water tower that Jan painted a few years ago as a Christmas card for us. Prints are available, see shop link.

The fireplace is painted brick and the hearth is also painted. It is a replica of the fireplace in my hubby's childhood home in Holland, photo below.

Go to "Visit Davree's Cottage" page for details of where and when to visit during the Christmas season in Fresno, California.