The Tea Trolley

Our life of tea continues around here -- sometimes exciting, many times just plain old normal!

A friend is going to London in the fall and wanted to meet to discuss possibilities for touring. Tea seemed to be a necessity! What better way to discuss London!!!

There was a bridal shower at church for a friend who is getting married at the end of the month.

There were lots of delicious, delectable treats, including these little berry bowls with minted sugar on top.

Easter morning breakfast -- we always seem to eat around the island -- no chance for sitting down. But I did find time to make Darjeeling to go with the buns.

Our little fish sits in the kitchen watching all our happenings. We thought we had finally lost him this past month. Scared out of our wits to over-feed him, it seemed that we had underfed him. He looked very sorry for days, and Easter Monday I found him floating on the top of his water and was sure that was it :(. But, I tapped on the glass and he moved! I decided to take desperate measures and risk feeding him more. Now he is back to his old happy self!!! yay!!

Laura is always making us smile. Frequently she puts on some crazy outfit from the dress-up box!

See that chocolate thing on my plate? It's a chocolate covered date -- a "real" date -- the kind that melts in your mouth when you bite it. This one was from the Best Chocolate in Town. All of their chocolates are just amazing. I am always thankful when they come my way!

Another day a friend was over and I pulled out the rest of the chocolate truffles from the aforesaid shop, cut them in half, and we enjoyed them with cups of tea. The photography shows you the nasty way my mugs get from our hard water -- this is a picture BEFORE we had our tea in those mugs. Some time and a little baking soda would do those mugs wonders, but time is hard to find....

Another friend married a few weeks ago. Once again it was a friend who had waited many, many long years for this special occasion and so there was much joy the whole weekend. Since I have the "ministry of tea" (ha ha!) I packed up a tea basket to take along for the day-long project of wedding flowers.

Emily took the day off to join us and here she is with the bride's bouquet. Isn't it stunning?!!!!

And here is a bridesmaid's bouquet:

Every few months I order tea in bulk so that those of us who want it can enjoy loose leaf tea at budget-friendly prices. This last order consisted of about 20 pounds of tea -- broken up into 80 units and then distributed! Our cupboards are stocked!

Laura actually had three cakes for her birthday :). The lamb cake didn't use all the batter so we also got a jelly bean cake and then we had to have a gluten-free cake of course!!! I'm so smitten with the gluten free yellow cake mix from King Arthur Flour that I make it as often as I can. (Meijer carries it for a reasonable price.) It takes like a regular flour cake made from scratch.

Menu planning is the only way I can make my grocery budget work. I managed to sneak 45 minutes at Starbucks last week while Rachel was doing ISTEP testing. I got the basics done. The more time I can spend in the kitchen the better we eat and really, the better I can stay on budget. It's just hard to get enough time in the kitchen!!!

Laura is ready for more tea parties with one of her new birthday gifts!!!

I got to the international grocery store last week to stock up on my gluten free flours (rice, tapioca, potato starch, etc.). I drool by the shelves from Europe and look in awe at the shelves of things from Asia and beyond. I love going there because I feel so tiny and so completely out of my realm and I think about all there is to learn and experience that I haven't even thought of.

It's a big place!!

And here is Laura with her newest friend from church. Aren't they sweet?! Little Abigail came by for a visit last week and of course Laura doted on her. I think Laura wishes she had a real live baby doll.

And now it's time for 15 minutes of rest before hopping in the car for music lessons and grocery shopping. The weather has been glorious! Wish it could stay this way all month!