Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

TPL on a Budget

It's not easy being a tea party lady on a budget.  But it is possible to create a setting elegant enough for even the most demanding TPL, without spending a whole lot of money.  This was important to me, because I didn't want lack of funds to stifle my inner TPL!  I needed to find ways to make things pretty and satisfy my TPL, without breaking my budget.  Some creativity was required, however, and a bit of time.

Cooking with Coffee

My mom was a closet recipe freak.  She had more recipe books than god.  Well, I guess god wouldn't need recipe books, would she?  heheh.  ANYway, when mom died, I inherited her books, and I had no idea there were so many.  I've been slowly pouring through them to find some recipes and ideas for Mother's Day, which, since I wanted to do something special in honor of my absent mother, should be something she would enjoy. 

More "coffee porn"

I wonder who coined that term?  It makes me chuckle and cringe at the same time.  Anyway, here's another link to coffee photos, Espresso Pool
(via Vancouver Coffee)

Latte Art: Envying the Barista Artiste

I love latte art. I think it's just the coolest thing since ... well, since frothed milk.

If you're like me, you stand in awe and mutter "How'd they do that?" Well, following a circuitous route that I can't remember at the moment, I found this... Latte Art Guide from CoffeeGeek.com, one of eight articles all about milk frothing. The instructions are great, plenty of detail about equipment, technique, etc., and I would like to try it, but I have to admit I'm a bit intimidated by this:

"Much like rubbing your tummy and tapping your head, pouring latte art requires that you do two things at the same time. Pour the milk at a consistent and even rate AND shake the pitcher side to side with the even tempo of a metronome."

Seeing as how I have trouble chewing gum and walking at the same time, I'm not sure I could manage this.

There are lots of latte art photos on the web now, if you want to see what the great baristas are doing. Or is that baristi? Whatever. Click on the little photos here to see the bigfat versions from coffeekid and Pioneer.  For something different, check out this lion face Mocha poured by Bob, part of tonx's latte art collection, a truly amazing assortment coffee photos. 

I think it's all cool, poured, etched, whatever.  I stand in awe.

Cream Cheese Turnover Cookies for Tea - a TPL Recipe

This is an easy recipe that I love to serve for afternoon tea.  It makes 4 dozen small cookies, so what I usually do is make 4 flavors, a dozen of each.  My nieces loved to help make these in different shapes, though they sometimes got carried away with the sugar on top.

Goodies Delivered!

Oh I'm a happy camper, yes I am.  My packages arrived this morning, and of course, I had to make myself a cuppa right away.  Hubby wasn't at all happy about more gadgets on the kitchen counter, but he soothed right down when I handed him a cup of this delish stuff.  Wicked, eh?

I love the Florida coffee - it has a wonderful light nutty flavor -  and the french press wasn't as hard to use as I thought.  The challenge will be getting the ratio of coffee to water just right.  But I have all day to practice! 

The Birth of My TPL

Many people discover their inner Tea Party Lady during childhood.  There's a favorite picture of mine that I'll post here, showing children having a tea party. I remember envying other children who talked about having tea parties and who had homes and toys and dishes and such.  But we never stayed in one place very long, and when we left a place, we were often fleeing and had to leave toys and clothes behind.  So the idea of having a tea set, and a table, and other pretty things, was quite foreign to me. 

I didn't really understand the joy of a tea party, or the concept of the Tea Party Lady, until much later.

My First Tea Party Lady

The first Tea Party Lady in my life went almost completely unrecognized, I'm sad to say, until long after her death. 

My grandma, Anita Mabel, born in 1912, somehow held herself together through childhood neglect and abuse, an alcoholic husband, poverty during the depression.  She was a survivor, no doubt about it, but she never got to enjoy being a Tea Party Lady.

(Note: I changed the title to MY First Tea Party Lady, because folx looking for the VERY FIRST Tea Party Lady were mistakenly ending up here.)

Introducing The Tea Party Lady

The Tea Party Lady is not a person, in the strictest sense. The TPL, like the inner child, the inner bitch, and other sundry aspects of our personality, resides deep within a person, sometimes unrecognized until some event or trauma brings her to the fore.

In this post, I will try to acquaint you with your inner Tea Party Lady, her characteristics, her good side, and her dark side.

Earth Day

35 years we've been celebrating earth day?  I never remember this stuff, so thank god Google and Yahoo keep me up to date on what's happening.  Yahoo even has a list of things we can do to help save our earth.  Be sure to check out the Earth Day photos, they're beeyootiful.

I feel a little guilty that I don't do more toward saving our planet.  I do recycle everything I possibly can.  Food, coffee grounds and tea leaves go into the garden or compost.  Our area finally has recycled materials being picked up by the city, which makes it much easier to recycle plastic, paper and glass.  I used to be big into crafting with recycled materials, but I don't do that much anymore now that the nieces have grown up.  And I don't leave the house if I can possibly help it, so I'm not contributing much to the gas / pollution issue.  So I guess I'm doing my little 2 bits.  But I leave the parade marching and speech making and crusading and soapboxing to others who have more energy.