Poetry In A Pot Of Tea: Grace Rare Teas

Showing posts with label Grace Rare Teas. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

You Be Peace and I'll Be Quiet

Today's cup was under the market umbrella accompanied by cuttings of home grown sunflowers and hydrangea. In keeping with the mood, I selected a cup with a definition on the rim:

Tranquili * tea

n. a state of peace and quiet while drinking tea

Grace Tea's Winey Keemun is a staple in our home , a favorite standby. I took a photo of the steeped leaves to share with you - you can see bits and pieces of tea leaves on the saucer. Whenever I put sugar in my tea I use turbinado because I like its warm, molasses-like flavor.

I took my Nook outside with me so I could read a sample from Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, a swashbuckling adventure.

I nibbled on a banana muffin - it had crushed flax seed inside and was topped with toasted pecans - College Girl baked a batch of them last night. You can smell a hint of fresh ground nutmeg before you even take a bite!

Have you had a chance to read a new book or magazine article? If you were able to drop by we could chat about it! You might've noticed I added a Shelfari book shelf to my sidebar where I share books I've read or are planning to read.

this cup is made by Mud Pie

Hope you can carve a few minutes of peace and quiet into your life this week. Whether you dig into a book or not, just sitting down with a nice cuppa will definitely recharge your batteries.

P.S. My scraproom is covered in gold glitter! College Girl has been using my Cricut to cut out things for her sorority's Fall Recruitment. The glitter has somehow escaped into the rest of the house. It's gotten so bad that kitty is sparkling, and I could have sworn Handyman was winking at me from across the room until I got closer and saw the glitter on his cheek!

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If anyone is wondering about this post's title it is from a line in the movie 'What About Bob' starring Bill Murray.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Baked Oatmeal- Who Knew?

I am trying to eat oatmeal more frequently for breakfast because it is full of heart healthy fiber and is a change of pace from my regular Greek yogurt and berries. College Girl casually asked me if I had thought about making baked oatmeal. I had not, because I had never heard of it! Where have I been? Haha! It seems lots of other people have heard of it and there is a plethora of recipes online for many versions.

A simple search will give you a basic recipe which is easily customizable. Like raisins? Love nuts? Add 'em! Want to decrease the recipe's fat? Replace it with applesauce. Enjoy some spice? Add fresh nutmeg and cinnamon. Here is the recipe we used from www.myrecipes.com:

2 cups uncooked oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (we used 1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
cooking spray for 8 inch square pan
nuts, raisins, cinnamon as desired

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine milk, applesauce, butter and egg, stir. Pour milk mixture into oat mixture, stir. Pour into greased eight inch pan, bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm. You may garnish with more milk, yogurt, berries, or eat as is~ It is a cross between an oatmeal bar and traditional morning oatmeal.

I used one of my favorite Brambly Hedge beakers called Homeward Bound, and took my baked oatmeal outside to eat on the patio. College Girl was already out there sunning her legs.

Looks like Primrose had a great time at the shore and is snuggled in a basket for the trip home. The cup is trimmed in soft mint green.

ROYAL ALBERT HARVEST FESTIVAL PEARS plate

I sprinkled walnuts and fresh raspberries on my baked oatmeal. I savored every bite and returned to the kitchen for a little bit more!

The inside of my Brambly Hedge cup is decorated with drawings of seashells, a feather, and a small flag. I enjoyed looking at the detail in Jill Barklem's artwork every time I took a sip of my Winey Keemun tea.

The nice option with Baked Oatmeal is that you can prepare it in the morning or mix it the night before, store it in the fridge and bake it the next day! I love dishes like this - so convenient. It would make a great lunch bag item in place of cookies, too.

If your family members don't like the soupy 'porridge' consistency of oatmeal, perhaps you could tempt them with Baked Oatmeal! The next time I make it I am going to try an old Amish version.

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Apple Oatmeal Scones~

I have been using a little recipe book called Simply Scones by L. Weiner and B. Albright for many years. It is chock full of sweet and savory scone recipes, as well as suggestions and recipes for a variety of spreads.

I decided to make the Apple Oatmeal Scones today, and my daughter asked that I leave out the apples. So I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and placed 1.5 cups of flour into my food processor. I also added 1 cup of oats, 1/3 cup of packed dark brown sugar, 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Pulse briefly to mix. Add 1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter. Pulse several times to mix butter into flour/oats.

Combine 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons of molasses. Add 1 tsp of vanilla.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mix. The dough will be sticky and wet. If you wanted to add 3/4 cup diced apple, do it now. Spread the dough onto a buttered circle, about 8 inches across. I use parchment on my baking sheet instead of butter.

Bake for 22 to 27 minutes, and toothpick should come out clean when done. Cool for ten minutes on baking sheet, then finish cooling on wire rack. Yum!

Cut into wedges with serrated knife. These have a lovely flavor from the molasses and oats.

Here is the cup I am sharing today~

It has a narrow blue band and sweet little flowers~

It says Minton and Chartwell on the bottom~

It was overcast and sprinkling today. I had a lovely pot of Grace Rare Teas Winey Keemun. The website describes this tea:

"This extra slow-fired tea is of a rare and extraordinary quality. Our most well known and famous blend has an unusual depth, body and color that can be likened in description to a fine wine. A uniquely crafted tea blended with varying China, Formosan and Indian teas, Winey Keemun follows the traditional formulation of an English Breakfast blend. It’s one of our personal favorites."

I agree! It is one of my favorites.~

The last few weeks I have shared a small figurine along with a teacup...well, today I am sharing my Mary Engelbreit letter "T". It is so charming! See all the objects that begin with the letter T ? Spy the tassels too?

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Monday, August 15, 2011

Raxacoricofallapatorian Tea!

It all started with a mug. The moment I laid eyes on it I knew I was taking it home!

In fact, I knew I was taking two home with me so Miss R (our tea drinking soon-to-be college girl) could share a pot with me. Look what is written on the front....Where there is Tea there is Hope. Is that not perfect?! ha ha~ It certainly is for me, as I feel this way! And on top of the humorous quote was the fact that it is TARDIS blue.

For those who have not watched Doctor Who on BBC, the TARDIS is the time machine the Doctor and his companion travel inside. The original series began in 1963. My family and I really like the series filmed from 2005-2009. There is an episode that aired in December 2005 where the Doctor regenerates, his appearance changes, and he becomes the 10th Doctor. In that episode he is sleeping for a good part of the show as his body finishes the process of regeneration. Stay with me here, I know this is sci-fi geekery, but if you got to know the Doctor you'd see why I get a kick from this next part! So, some big bad aliens invade London! The Doctor's companion, Rose, along with the Tardis, is brought onboard the Sycorax ship. In the nick of time, the Doctor awakens after inhaling tea vapors from a thermos that had spilled near him and saves the day!!

He later said, "Tea! That's all I needed! Good Cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tanin, just the thing for healing the synapsis." ~ I knew he was my kind of guy!~ lol

With the perfect quote and color of these cups I figured my daughter and I would have a Doctor Who themed tea time. I have a fresh tin of matcha so we decided to make green tea shortbread in honor of the green aliens from Raxacoricofallapatorias called the Slitheen.

~Green Tea (Slitheen) Shortbread~

Sift 2 cups all purpose flour and 2 tablespoons powdered green tea together. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a separate bowl, cream 2 sticks unsalted room temperature butter.

Stir flour mixture lightly into butter. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar, stir. Do not overmix.

Chill for 30 minutes~

Roll on floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters of your choice. We used stars for our sci-fi teatime!

Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 15-18 minutes at 325 degrees. Rotate cookie sheet halfway through baking time.

These are not too sweet and have a light as air texture....mmmm! My daughter drizzled a few of them with a basic vanilla icing. Then we set the kitchen table for tea.

Fans of the Doctor will recognize a couple of the additions to our table setting~ there is a British cracker (from the same episode I mentioned above) as well as the Tardis key on a chain! A tiny Dalek also found a place near the tea tin. Guess he felt comfortable there, both being made of metal and all!

~ ha ha~ Notice the Thermos? We decided on a full bodied English Breakfast from Grace Rare Teas called Winey Keemun. It is a fabulous tea any time of day.