The Tea Trolley: Pop Up Tearoom

The idea of a "pop-up tearoom" has always interested me. Have you heard the term? It's a tearoom that "pops up" for an afternoon, or a weekend, in someone's private residence or similar location. In fact, in Britain, they even have "pop-up charity (second-hand) shops"!!! 

A pop-up is a good option for me because I love serving tea but I could never fathom operating my own tearoom. So, when a long-time friend of mine found Mr. Right after waiting and wondering for nearly 15 years, I thought a pop-up tearoom would be a perfect way of celebrating!

With help from all my family, I rearranged my dining room to fit three small tables and a children's table and we concocted a menu of delicious tea treats, taking a bit of inspiration from shared visits with my friend to Alice's Tea Cup in NYC.

I had just enough of my "Friendly Village" winter scene china to set the tables (a few random pieces rounded it out).

We did the traditional tier method -- sandwiches, scones, sweet treats.

Sandwiches: Christina's Famous Smoked Turkey with sundried tomato and basil mayonnaise, open-faced cucumber with herb cream cheese, and coronation chicken salad inside croissants.

Scones: Brown Sugar, Cranberry-Orange, and Double Chocolate Cherry.

Sweet Treats: tiny brownies with frosting and candy cane dust, filo shells with cream and berries, mini chai cupcakes (insanely good), gingerbread men, mince pies, and pecan pie bars.

The treats were enjoyed with three teas: African Black, Market Spice's Cinnamon Orange, and my own concoction called Bride's Bouquet (a mixture of rose black and green jasmine).

Thanks to my mom for working tirelessly to help me! And Christina who loaned recipes and equipment and Emily who insisted on coming over to help me bake everything!

I had to make these shortbread cookies in the shape of teabags for favors. Michael created the teabag "tag" with a picture of the bride and groom!

And there were boxes of tea to take with the cookies.

And I couldn't resist making these fabric play teabags for the adorable nieces of the bride.

There were drinks upon arrival -- sparkling juice and Italian coffee creams

The coffee creams were made with a new Italian coffee soda from World Market.

And the pop-up tearoom was enjoyed by all!!!!

As this was a success, and the tables fitted in my kitchen, I'm sure this won't be the last time I try a pop-up! I'd even be tempted to try a pop-up thrift sale too!!!

Mondays are for Grace

"Grace is no nibbler.

It swallows and carries us whole.

Often, it takes us where we don't want to go,

only to help us realize that's exactly where we need to be.

And that there, our wants are filled."

-- Carolyn Weber

A few good sermons recently found:

Work Out What God Works In -- Eric Alexander

Going On To Maturity -- Tim Challies

The Tea Trolley: Keeping Warm

With the temperatures up about 60 degrees (F) from where they were on Monday and Tuesday, our snow is nearly gone! Green patches are spreading across the yards and the roads are mercifully clear again.

I feel very thankful to have considered this past week an extra vacation week as we have been able to actually enjoy being home and not be worried about broken pipes, no electricity, or sick children. And tea was certainly our remedy for the cold.

Here is a cozy scene from Thursday when I first ventured out of the house and down a few doors to my neighbor's. She had a fire blazing in the hearth and tea things set up on a tray. (Do I need to tell you she spent several years of her life living in England?)

The tea trolley has been living in front of our fireplace (since we don't have any more wood) and this makes it easy to pull out whenever we want tea in the living room.

Before the second snow hit last weekend another friend managed to drive over and enjoy the remains of the bridal shower food (next tea trolley post).

We tried some new Earl Grey and a Herbal Fennel mixture. The Earl Grey was so delicious that I'm going to hunt some down next time I go by our local health food store.

I substituted gluten free pancakes for gluten free scones. Perfect! All the better with strawberry preserves and leftover "clotted" cream.

Sunday was the day much of the snow fell. Church services were cancelled and we camped out in the living room all day for online church, reading, and sipping tea. Round after round of tea graced the trolley. I started with White Pear which is a luxury! It was also a luxury to be able to sit in my chair all afternoon and read good books.

Sunday rest time brought another round of tea and cute little Polly sitting on the sofa with her basket of books.

 When I bring my tea upstairs to my own special hidey-hole, I usually place is on this chest in front of the window. Bad idea this week! The draft in the window was ferocious and the tea would have been cold in no time!

Another afternoon the children were busy so I brought my lunch upstairs once again and lit one of my candles.

And here is a tea party for Dolly that Laura set up in the front room:

 The winter brings the most amazing skies. I can hardly get enough of them and photos never capture them in all their glory.

I suppose life will be back to its general hubbub next week! The tea trolley has four appointments to look forward to (and thus four occasions to report on!). Happy Weekend!

Christmas 2013

Christmas was a lovely day. Everyone enjoyed the presents, breakfast, winter hike, and the delightful evening at Auntie C's and Uncle JK's.

I enjoyed our tree this year and the round crochet ornaments, wool birds, and red and silver balls.

I was ready to spend Christmas entirely in my chair, sipping tea, and rejoicing that I made it this far. The kids were the opposite -- fireballs of energy just waiting to jump into the excitement.

Our traditional Christmas breakfast:

Laura opens the crochet doll and wardrobe of dresses that Rachel made her:

James and David were thrilled with the Lord of the Rings pirate ship they got.

Everyone enjoyed Polly's excitement. (oh, and do you see my red shoes? I've been looking for them forever and found a nice, bright red leather pair at Goodwill just in time for Christmas!)

Dolly did well this Christmas and she finally has something other than her purple pajama to wear!

Laura also got a doctor kit for her doll. Very appropriate for Laura. She's very interested in these things.

And baby got a pink cape to match her mommy's:

As usual, we took time out to watch the Queen's speech:

I already posted about our Christmas hike. After that we headed to Christina's where her house was bursting with festiveness.

Just look at the table!!!!

I loved the blue and green theme with the plaid:

Of course baby Arthur was the star attraction!

And Uncle Craig made sure we were well-stocked with eggnog -- I just loved these miniature, one-serving eggnog glasses.

Everyone wore a plaid shirt and we all opened Christmas crackers.

We should have done a Ralph Lauren commercial!

The kids had their own festive table!

We had a delicious dinner of Lake District Soup, gourmet sandwiches, and pink champagne fruit salad.

Fun was had by all! After dinner we all opened stockings which we had each placed something inside.

And, if you were hungry, you could have cookies. We also had Christina's famous Christmas Pudding which flamed up spectacularly.

My baking was hugely scaled back this year due to energy levels. The baking we did do was ALL gluten-free! That was a first. We may continue with this. We had gluten free sugar cookies (made entirely by Andrew), gingerbread men, dood bars, dipped oreos, peanut clusters and shortbread.

And of course there was tea!!!!

Thanks to everyone who made the day special!

Words and Wool

Happily, and sadly at the same time, I finished my Magic Cake Shawl this morning! YAY! I am even more pleased with it than I thought I would be! Such a perfect after-Christmas knit and I wish I was starting into another one right now. Oh well. This snow and being blissfully stuck at home means maybe I can pull out some of my works in progress and get back to work on them! (still need to block the shawl!)

Rachel is still working on her shawl (hers is sock yarn) but it did come to an abrupt halt yesterday when a jumpy boy (stuck inside) happened to snap one of the knitting needles. Sigh. Now I'll have to get to the yarn shop sometime soon!

First of all, I compiled my Top 10 Books from 2013 in a list here.

Million Little Ways, A: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman was started on Sunday, the first day of the snow. Oh is this good!!!! Once again, its the subject matter: art and the Christian but its even more than that. This book is for everyone to benefit from, not only those who like to make art or enjoy art. The premise of this book is that each of us, in a million little ways, is making art/bringing glory to God. Emily wrote another book that I seriously benefitted from and would also highly recommend: Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life.

King's Book (Louise A. Vernon's Religous Heritage) by Louise Vernon was begun on Sunday with the children. It is historical fiction for kids centered around the translating of the King James Bible. So far everyone is enjoying it!


Ploughman's Lunch and the Miser's Feast: Authentic Pub Food, Restaurant Fare, and Home Cooking from Small Towns, Big Cities, and Country Villages Across the British Isles by Brian Yarvin was written for Americans so they can cook and eat authentic British food. It's such fun reading and the food is so tempting! I've worked a few items into our January menu.

For more ideas on books and knitting, visit Ginny's Yarn A Long.

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