AND THE WINNER IS……



Congratulations to FireLight for winning the tea drawing! A special “tea package” will go out to her next week. I want to extend a very special thank you to all who posted. Thank you for your continued support in your most kind and thoughtful comments. Please raise your teacups with me in a Tea toast to another 200 posts at the LHTS!

MY 200th POST

To help commemorate today's 200th post here at the Tea Society, I will have a special drawing to announce a winner of some wonderful Tea-related items. Just post a response to this entry, over the next few days, and I will announce the name of the winner on Friday! You have until midnight EST on Thursday to enter your name. This is just a very small token of gratitude to followers of the Tea Society, for allowing me to share my love of historic tea culture with the entire world. Thank you for the indulgence.

Below is just a glimpse of one of the teas included in the package...There will be a special Ladies' Historical Tea Society Blend also included. Be sure to specify loose leaf or teabags with your post...Good Luck!

I'll see most of you later at Christmas Tea with Mr. Toast, and will be posting my attire for this splendid event, later today.



The Kentucky Blend from Perryville's very own Elmwood Inn is a blend of black Chinese teas from Yunnan. "This full-bodied tea is a wonderful cup for breakfast or afternoon tea." It calls to mind a morning walk in the misty Kentucky countryside, among the stone walls and Thoroughbred farms.

A PERFECT WINTER READ FOR TEA LOVERS



C.S. Lewis said, " You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me". That quote has always spoken to me, resonating on a near spiritual level, as I suspect it has with more than a few tea and classic literature lovers. Sadly, I seem to have a difficult time finding a modern work of fiction that will hold my attention span long enough to bewitch and captivate me or worthy to apply such a brilliant quote to. That is, until I stumbled across a gem of a book called The Thirteenth Tale. This Gothic suspense novel cast its spell and entranced me from the first page until the very last one. The book is set in atmospheric Yorkshire, against a mesmerizing backdrop of Heathcliff-esque moors and the grey skies of a wintry Northern England. With this particular setting, the Bronte associations manifest from the beginning and strengthen with repeated references to Jane Eyre. This book is actually the first novel by English writer Diane Setterfield and the eloquence of her writing transported me into a time where words truly had the power to weave a tapestry in the imagination of the reader. I dare say I had to remind myself, repeatedly, that I was indeed reading a modern work by an unknown author and not one of my much cherished classics from Dickens, Bronte, or Du Maurier. Ironically, one of the very few critical comments I have read about this book is a rather shallow complaint that it was not 'modern' enough: that the eccentric characters and lyrical language hearkened one back to classic English literature. Said critic was then quick to note that she in fact loathed the classics. I found it quite amusing how in direct contrast to the critic's analogies, Setterfield's nostalgic, intellectually stimulating writing style and vividly intoxicating descriptions courted and romanced me, securing that a hard bound copy will be purchased for years of repeated readings. I shall slip a copy into my book shelf, perhaps between Wuthering Heights and of course Jane Eyre. It is also worthy to note that there are plenty of wonderful tea references in this book. Given that added treat, what tea might I recommend to drink whilst cuddled in your favorite chair by the fire with this book? Yorkshire Gold, of course!

Below is a brief synopsis of the story from Wikipedia:

Vida Winter, the most famous novelist in England and quite possibly the world, has never been forthcoming when it comes to her past. Her entire life is a secret, and for fifty years reporters and biographers have attempted to discover the truth. With her health quickly fading, Ms. Winter enlists a bookish amateur biographer named Margaret Lea to bear witness to the tragic story of the Angelfield family, their eccentric beginnings as well as their demise. Margaret, who has family secrets of her own, must unravel the mysteries of the past in order to reconcile not only Miss Winter with her ghosts, but also Margaret with her own.

ELIZABETH AND IRISH ACRES

(Wearing "Elizabeth" with my friend Kimberly seated next to me-click on photo for a better view of the hat)


(The Nonesuch Kiss)

A while back, I posted about “The One that Got Away", the hat that I christened, “Elizabeth”. Well, I did track down the antique dealer and she was more than happy to send “Elizabeth” to me, packaged beautifully with a wonderful clear plastic form so the hat would keep it’s shape during shipping. After the arrival, I waited until the perfect time to wear ‘her’ and that time at long last arrived this weekend. The Tea Society made our annual lunch to Irish Acres and The Glitz located in a very small, quaint little hamlet called Nonesuch, Kentucky. This wonderful place is owned by sisters Jane DeLauter and Emilie McCauley, daughters of Arch and Bonnie Hannigan who opened Irish Acres 22 years ago. Jane, accompanied by her two-year-old border collie/shepherd mix Rudy, oversees the antiques portion of the facility - while Emilie is Grand Dame over the The Glitz.

The virtual wonderland is located in a classically styled two-story structure, built in 1936 and used until 1981 as an elementary school. After an extensive remodel, the building now contains 32,000 square feet of display space, showcasing “American and European furniture, glassware, china, crystal, silver, linens, dolls, jewelry, rugs, and decorative accessories." The cellar restaurant, the Glitz, offers some of the most delectable cuisine in the area. The meal begins with a chilled spiced apple cranberry refresher followed by an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. You can often find such wonderful dishes as Hungarian Mushroom soup( the best I’ve ever had), Seafood bisque, a chicken puff pie, brie en croute with sugar-coated grapes, beef tenderloin with a remoulade sauce, and for dessert, their signature dish, the Nonesuch Kiss. The latter being a concoction dreamt up in the kitchen of Emilie McCauley. She said that she longed for the taste of malted milk balls from her youth so began measuring, blending, and tasting until she created a meringue shell layered with jamocha ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, almonds and a cherry on top. And did we devour that delectable dessert? You bet we did! Along with some hot Earl Grey to nourish the soul.