Sunday, August 28, 2011

Teatime with Parisian and Shoe String Chic....

If you have been following my blog you might recall that I have given up caffeine for health reasons.
I have been a tea drinker since I was a young girl. My grandmother used to make me cups of "Boston Tea" which was a tea cup of mostly milk with a small amount of tea from her Brown Betty teapot.

I have not given up the ritual of tea I have simply replaced the tea for a decaf version of my regular brand which is Typhoo.
I decided that I needed to make tea time more attractive and so I pulled out my silver tea service and polished up the tray which was downstairs in "my room" and voila we have elevated tea to another level. It tastes better too!



Lovely and delicious 
 the silver pot keeps the tea hot for a long time
one cup is never enough!


Taking tea has been a custom in our family for as long as I can remember.
Our family matriarchs were known as "tea grannies"

Tea tastes much better when it is served in a bone china cup and saucer.
I use them from time to time but opt more often for bone china mugs for everyday.
I love the English Dunoon line of arts and crafts mugs.

I keep my tea in a caddy for freshness.


Pisces my birth sign
by
 Portmeirion  Stoke-on-Trent England caddy.
I am sipping tea as I type,
perhaps you are sipping tea as you read these words.
It's a Blog Tea Party!


I received these in the mail this week
and I am looking forward to reading them...
that recommended both of these books.
Thanks Tish!

It will be fun comparing these two books on Chic Style.


Sweet Peas
in the Humble Bungalow Bathroom
I wish you could smell these
they are so lovely.
I wonder if any perfume has their scent in a blend.

I am working hard around the Bungalow
touching up chipped paint

Like Kristin of Faux Fuchsia fame
 I abhor chipped paint!

Besides dressing well, cooking and decorating
 she has an adorable baby boy 
so pop on over and say hello
you might never want to leave her lovely place
she does motherhood in a royal style.


We are planning a renovation downstairs which is exciting me no end.
I am jumping out of bed early to get rid of all the "junk" that has taken up residence in the basement.
Stuff that we have kept in case we might need it "one day" and many "one days" have past and we have not used them!


I'm off to de-clutter...


To the woman who complained that riches hadn’t made her happy, the Master said “You speak as if luxury and comfort were ingredients of happiness; whereas all you need to be really happy, my dear, is something to be enthusiastic about.

Anthony de Mello




18 comments:

sparrowsandsparkles said...

Absolutely lovely tea time! I enjoy Faux Fuchsia's posts also - she is inspiring. We are heading to Vancouver next month, staying at the Fairmont downtown. Do you have any dinner recommendations (with 3 children)? :) xo

Sue/the view from great island said...

I thought all the health news was positive about caffeine lately, I drink so much of it I hope so! I also have one of those family silver tea sets and I never thought about actually using it, what fun to set up a 'proper tea'.

Anonymous said...

We say "tea Jennys" over here, my parents drank an obscene amount of tea.
I love sweet peas but gave up growing them as I had to pick about 8 slugs off them everyday and it was putting me off my food.

Anthony De Mello, I've read his books in the past but haven't thought about him in such a long time, thanks of for quote, so true.

Oh and I want to be the woman on the cover of Shoe String Chic.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

sparrows and sparkles- Milestones on Robson Street is family friendly and we love Cin Cin on Robson and families are welcomed there too. We also like Rodney's Oyster Bar and one of our favourites is Cioppino's in Yaletown but I have not seen families there as we usually dine quite late and most children would be in bed! Hope that helps and have a great holiday.

Suburban Princess said...

Have you see the new tea bars popping up? I went to David's tea yesterday...I sometimes go to Teaopia - they have lots of great teas and lots are herbals so you can get great quality without the buzz :O)

Susan Tiner said...

"Tea tastes much better when it is served in a bone china cup and saucer." I don't know why this is true but it is.

The sweet peas are so pretty!

Those two books look interesting. I look forward to hearing what you think about them.

La Vie Quotidienne said...

I just brought home Parisian Chic from the library! Can't wait to sit down with it.

sparrowsandsparkles said...

thank you!

Annie ~ Red Roses and Crystal said...

The quote is so true Hostess. I have a spring in my step when busy with projects.
The silver tea service is delightful and i'm on the hunt for similar. Every cup of tea can be an occasion if we allow the time.
Good luck with de-cluttering.
xx

Mummaducka said...

I too loove FF posts. I have in the past given up coffee for a few years, but right now i enjoy no more than 2 cups/day. I could not bear the though of Renovations at my house at the moment, but we need them, just painting would be good.

Pondside said...

This made me smile, as I'm having my nighttime cup of decaf Earl Grey before bedtime.
Good luck with your reno!

Paula said...

My dear de-cluttering companion, the photo with the mirrored sweet peas is so beautiful, breathtaking! Bloom at large so to say, in the magnifiying mirror.

All the cooking split my nails, I need to wait and let them regrow and cook less. Well, it's not exactly the cooking but the dishwashing afterwards, glad my 6 ft-tall dishwasher is back in the house :-)

mette said...

No real coffee? I must have mine in the morning and on the afternoon, tea in the evenings. Agreed, both taste best from real bone china cups.
I hope your reno goes through smoothly. I know what it is like living in the midst of one for month after month = terrible.
And yes, the decluttering i s a live long process. I have ceased thinking, that I will save this/that for some day. That some day will never come.
Have a nice day!

Northmoon said...

That is a lovely silver teapot you have!

My grandmother had afternoon tea from a silver pot, my mother makes tea using a nice handmade pottery teapot, and I have a cup of tea after work made directly in the mug! You can see how standards have slipped LOL. At least I use loose tea, carefully selected from a specialty tea store.

By the way, I wore your pearls today so I was thinking of you.

Share my Garden said...

I agree with Susan Tiner that tea is at its best served in a china cup and saucer, and that is the only way that I drink it. My favourites include Twining's lapsang souchong and green tea with lemon. There is a fuss going on at the moment because Twining's have altered the recipe for their Earl Grey by adding lemon!
Your service looks lovely, and rather colonial, with the verandah glimpsed in the background!

adrienne said...

What a beautiful tea set you have. I like that it keeps your tea warm a long time. Good for you for kicking caffeine to the curb. I know from personal experience how hard that is.

I have the PC book already and like it very much. Shoestring is on order from the library....can't wait to get my hands on it!

Judith said...

The ritual of tea was very much part of childhood,4-30pm small cucumber sandwichs,(seed cake/Dundee or a Victoria sponge.)

Sheffield silver teapot,stand,3 tier cake plate all bone china made by Foley. Earl grey or Indian choice of tea....ah the days of leisure tee hee!

Grandmama would be horrified by the sight of moi drinking afternoon tea in a mug. Ida

the veg artist said...

Just because you didn't mention it, did you know that Portmeirion is a place? It is a fantasy village in North Wales, and your tea caddy would have been designed by the daughter of the architect who built it. It's been used for film locations, and you can even rent holiday accommodation. There are website for both the village and the pottery. It's a fascinating place!