Tea Cup Heaven

A dear friend recently gifted me with her mother's tea cup collection.  My friend has a small house and didn't have a place to display or store the cups and knew how much I enjoy my teacups.

The first tea cup is a Lily of the Valley.  This makes my 10th Lily of the Valley tea cup, all with slightly different patterns.

What makes this one so unique is the tannish color on the outside of the cup. 

As you can see my Lily of the Valley collection goes way beyond just the teacups.

The second tea cup for this post is a Snowdrop Teacup.

One of the bloggers I follow featured this cup a couple weeks ago which made unwrapping this cup a special treat.

My dilemma here is what teapot to use.  Do I go with white?

Or my favorite everyday green teapot.  I found this in a second hand shop a couple years ago and use it almost every day.

I'm going to have to do some research on Royal Albert's Flower of the month series as I love scouring antique shops for a specific style or flower on a tea cup.

 

Both teacups, Snowdrops and Lily of the Valley remind me that spring can't be too far off although I've yet to receive a seed catalog in the mail!

I'm will be joining Sandi for Teacup Tuesday at

www.sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Christmas Tea 2014

I started my day with good intentions of packing away "Christmas"  but felt guilty that I hadn't found time for a Christmas Tea.  I took a quick look in my fridge and decided maybe I could pull something together without a trip to the grocery store.  I called my tea ladies and 3 of the 5 said they could come so I rushed into action.

Luckily the table was still set with Christmas Linens so quickly added dishes and silver.

I added my new Christmas Teacups which I had been searching for since last Christmas when I decided my Pfaltzgraff mugs where just to heavy for a Christmas Tea.  Christmas teacups were almost impossible to find in our area but a girlfriend found 4 for me at an antique show in Ohio.

Our savory was a Pillsbury Crescent Roll Broccoli Chicken wreath.  This picture was taken as it came out of the oven and I forgot to take a better picture after it had been cut and re-plated.  Promise I didn't serve it like this.

Luckily my pantry was stocked with an Orange Almond Scone Mix which was the perfect accompaniment for the "Wild Blueberry with Limoncello" and "Chai Tea Marmalade" jams I purchased for the holidays.  Notice the pretty shape of the jam jar.  I was not embarrassed at all to place the jam jar on the table.  The Pistachio macaroons were a Christmas gift.

Dessert was a Chess Pie.   I had cut the recipe out of a magazine months ago to try.  It was made with buttermilk, sugar and eggs.  It was one of the most delicious pies I've ever eaten.  I needed something for a garnish so added an orange twist.  I served each piece with a dab of whip cream and orange wedge.

Tea was served from the Pfaltzgraff teapot that matches my dishes.  Far from my prettiest teapot, its one of my favorites as it has a wire infuser insert.   Tea with the first course was Lavender Earl Grey.

Some of my new Christmas Tea cups.

Dessert was served on these red transfer dishes.  Tea was Stash Black Forest.

One of my tea ladies brought me the following teacup puzzle.  It was a labor of love to complete.  When I first looked at it I thought it would be a cinch but getting the right flowers with the right teacups was much more of a challenge than I expected.

From Start

To Finish

The finished puzzle slipped easily on to the top of my tea cart where it will stay until I decide whether to take it apart or maybe have a piece of glass cut to size and leave it on the cart.