Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 entries.

Don’t Overlook Thanksgiving!

  • Posted on November 14, 2011 at 12:26 pm

The chapters of the Ladies’ Tea Society enjoy having teas for almost every holiday, but in the hustle and bustle of the holidays each year, it always seems to me that Thanksgiving gets sort shrift. Between the excitement of Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving has become simply a big dinner and the start of the Christmas shopping season. A teacher friend of mine recently asked her young students who the Pilgrims were thanking when they sat down to dinner with their Native American friends. The children said they were thanking the Indians. How appalling that they did not know the Pilgrims were thanking God for their bountiful harvest.

Byer's Carolers CenterpieceA

Thanksgiving tea can be as much fun as any other holiday tea. Decorate with your pilgrim figurines, Byer’s Carolers harvest couple (as in the photo), cornucopias, and lots of fruits, vegetables, and leaves (real or silk).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget candles. Hollow out an apple or small pumpkin and insert a candle for each place. This could be their favor as well. Write each guest’s name on a leaf and use it as place card. Stamp leaves or turkeys on your menu cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkey sandwiches are a must of course, but get creative with the rest of your menu. Serve pumpkin soup or scones. Remember the winter squashes and incorporate them into your menu. Don’t forget fall flavored herbal teas such as apple cinnamon. Maple walnut flavored desserts or fruit-based ones like apple tarts will be a hit.

 

Sit down to Thanksgiving tea with a few friends or your entire tea group…and be sure to thank God for your bountiful harvest and blessings.

 

 

If you are interested in joining the Ladies’ Tea Society, LLC or starting a chapter, please visit http://ladiesteasociety.org.

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Elaine

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Treat Yourself!

  • Posted on July 21, 2011 at 2:05 pm

 

When you have your morning cup of tea, how do you do it?  Do you grab a mug out the kitchen cupboard, plop down with the newspaper, and chug away? Wait! Stop! We can be a little more pampered than that.

Instead of the mug, get a cup and saucer from your
every day set of dishes. Put down your paper and savor each sip. If you’ve made
scones ahead of time, put one in the toaster oven and warm it instead of eating
it cold. So much yummier!

In the afternoon, break out the fine china if you
have it. If not, get another cup and saucer from your kitchen cupboard and have
a leisurely break from your day.  Steep
the tea in a pretty tea pot instead of just making it in the cup. Sip at the
dining room table or in your living room rather than the kitchen. Use lemon
curd and Devonshire cream on your scone and enjoy. Both are sold in most grocery stores now.

By the way, for you fugalistas out there, Rite Aid has a two for $5 deal on Bigelow Tea, 20 count boxes from July 24-July 30.
Stock up.

Join the Ladies’ Tea Society, LLC or start a chapter. Visit our website http://ladiesteasociety.org.

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Anniversary Dinner and Royal Wedding

  • Posted on April 29, 2011 at 1:50 pm

TheLadies’ Tea Society, LLC celebrated its 5th anniversary last night,
April 28th, with a lovely dinner and lots of friendship and
conversation. We can hardly believe we’ve been enjoying tea and all its
accoutrements together for five years. How it has flown!

We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the lovely royal wedding this morning in
London. We’re sure lots of tea has been consumed since the wedding at the
breakfast and other many celebratory luncheons across the English Isles today.

Some interesting things we learned in the course of the media coverage:

*Kate’s gown was designed by Sarah Burton (of Alexander McQueen) and resembled Grace
Kelly’s wedding dress.

*Prince William did not turn around to watch his bride walk up the isle because it is
tradition that the groom see the bride last. Prince Harry clued him in that she
looked beautiful.

* The empty chair beside Camilla was in rememberance of Princess Diana.

*The queen has given the couple the title of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a title
that has not been used since the early 1900s.

*Kate is 5 months older than Will.

*The wedding party arrived at Westminster Abbey in Rolls Royces. That awesome
convertible in which Will and Kate left Buckingham Palace after the breakfast
was an Aston Martin.

*Kate broke the curse of the royal brides by nailing Williams’s full name. Diana and
Fergie both botched their husbands-to-be and both divorced. Perhaps this is a
good omen for the new couple.

And one last thing that we learned about Brits and tea:
The British put lemon and/or milk in their tea, but never sugar. It
masks the true taste of the tea!!

So raise your cups to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Perhaps someone would like
to start a new chapter of the Ladies Tea Society and call it the Duchess of
Cambridge Chapter!! If interested go to http://www.ladiesteasociety.org.
First come, first served on the name.

Cherrio,

Elaine and Pat

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Two Spring Teas

  • Posted on April 7, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Our Ladies’ Tea Society spring teas have begun. We have two to report:

The newly formed Tisane Chapter of the Ladies’ Tea Society held their premiere tea
on Saturday, February 26, beginning at 2:30 PM. It was held at Duchess Jenna’s
home in Abingdon, Maryland. Dawn R. served as co-hostess with her. They
certainly outdid themselves with their outstanding menu. The Ladies dined on
Christiana Campbell’s Sweet Potato Muffins, after an appetizer of Savory Cheese
Toasts. Additional course included Chicken Salad Croissant, and Cranberry
Scones with Lemon Curd. Then the Ladies munched on the sweets of Snicker
doodles, Chocolate Chip Brownie Muffins, and Key Lime Cheesecake with
Shortbread Crust. Everyone had to agree this was all indeed beyond
expectations!

As always when the Ladies’ Tea Society Ladies hold a Gathering, there is great girl talk over the tea as well as yummy food.

Each Lady received a book favor “365 Things Every Tea Lover Should Know.”

On March 16th, the Duchess of Bedford Chapter held its
St. Pat’s Dessert Tea. This tea was aptly named, since there was a plethora of
desserts for the Ladies to savor. Elaine B. baked wonderful shamrock cookies
and yummy brownies for the Ladies to taste. In addition, there were white
chocolate macadamia nut cookies, apricot and raspberry pastries, éclairs, cream
puffs, and St. Pat cupcakes, as well as strawberries with Cool Whip.

The Ladies also sipped Pomegranate Pizzaz, Perfect Peach, and
Wild Berry Zing teas in St. Patrick mugs which they took home as their favors.
The Ladies rejoiced that Cindy O. had the presence of mind to bring veggies and
dip and cheese chunks for non-sweet relief!!! At each place setting there was a slip of paper with
Irish blessings and sayings, for the Ladies to share with each other. Some were
serious, some funny and some…a little naughty! Then six numbers were drawn at
random. If any matched the number on the back of her Irish saying, a Lady won a
door prize.

No St. Patrick’s celebration would be complete without singing
some Irish songs, and that was the original intention. Musician Vicky S.’s
accompaniment was sorely missed. Most of the Ladies had forgotten the words to the songs, so
they hummed the majority of the Irish ditties!!! But they proved to be most
capable hummers. Pat’s husband Jim, who was downstairs, informed her later
that everyone hummed exceptionally well!!!

The members of the Ladies’ Tea Society always have a great time at
our tea gatherings. If you are interested in the tea society either to join as
a member, or to start a chapter, please visit http://www.ladiesteasociety.org.

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New Chapter and Twinnings Tea News

  • Posted on March 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Welcome back.

We want to acknowledge Tisane Chapter on the occasion of its first tea as members of the Ladies’ Tea Society. Congratulations Ladies! This is just the first of many fun times together!

We have a news flash from England concerning the Twinnings Tea Company. This company, that brings us Earl Grey tea among others, has found the need to outsource production at its North Shields factory to Poland. We here in the United States know the ramifications of outsourcing to workers, but the 263 employees are also being asked to train the Polish workers who are replacing them. Sounds like adding insult to injury, but evidently some people are willing to do it for extra pay. In their defense, Twinnings is an old and respected company and they must feel an economic need to do this to keep the cost of their tea competitive.

This is being discussed on other tea blogs and we wonder how you feel about this. Feel free to leave a comment.

The chapters of the Ladies’ Tea Society are all planning teas for the Spring months. If you are interested in joining or starting a chapter, please go to Ladies’ Tea Society.

Elaine and Pat

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A Short History of Tea

  • Posted on March 2, 2011 at 3:13 pm

The first official record of any group drinking tea is of the Chinese who used it as a beverage as early as 350 BC. The custom spread to Japan in 590 AD.

It was introduced to the French in 1636. This was twenty-two years before it reached England. Therefore, some say the French deserve credit for the custom of afternoon tea. However, most believe we have Anna Maria Stanhope, the Duchess of Bedford to thank for initiating the custom of afternoon tea. Before tea became popular in England, only two meals were served – breakfast and dinner later in the evening around 8:00 or 9:00 at night. The Duchess experienced at sinking feeling around 4:00 each day, so she asked her servants to bring some tea and breads to tide her over until the late dinner. Eventually she began inviting her high society, close friends to join her for small sandwiches, a few sweets, and tea. This became the “in thing” for the upper class to do. These afternoon teas were also called “Low Tea” since they were usually served in a drawing room on low tables near sofas or chairs.

Three types of low teas were popular:
       Full Tea – with tea, soup, savories, scones, sweets, dessert
       Light Tea – with tea, savories, scones, sweets
       Cream tea – with tea, scones, jam, and cream

The idea of afternoon tea caught on with the middle class, who tended to drink it using high stools or dining tables later in the day, around 5:00 or 6:00 after they returned home from work. They also ate meat with their tea meal. Thus the term “High Tea” caught on and continues to be used today for this type of tea. ” High tea” should not be used for full afternoon tea.

 Come back soon and learn more about tea and our Ladies Tea Society, LLC.

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Welcome

  • Posted on February 22, 2011 at 8:07 pm

Welcome to Simply Tea-riffic, the blog for everyone who loves tea and tea societies. It is published by Elaine Bunting and Patricia D’Amario, co-founders of the Ladies’ Tea Society, LLC. We started this organization to bring together some of our friends who would appreciate the enjoyment and intricacies of tea along with its accoutrements. We hold Tea Gatherings in many locations including members’ homes and tea rooms. We also publish a quarterly journal, Tea Musings, for our members, which is included in the annual “tea fee” of $35. Some of our teas have a theme (such as holidays, apple teas, friendship teas, tea-at-the-beach, etc.). Some are just teas to enjoy each others’ company and enjoy tea.

We now have three chapters and are hoping to expand the society further through women who want to start chapters throughout the United States. If you think you may be interested, go to Ladies’ Tea Society.

We will be posting about our chapters’ events, information about tea … its kinds and its history … recipes, and other helpful information. Enjoy!

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