A Christmas Season Tea

           I am so fortunate to have received some wonderful gifts of bone china from a dear friend.  She is moving to a much smaller home with her husband and doesn't have room for all of her teacups... so she said she wanted someone to have them that would appreciate them.... AND you know I will!!!  I will be sharing some of them as the weeks go by including the one I am sharing today..........

                                                         

I don't really have any Christmas china for a tea party.....   but this first set will do very nicely I think.  I do love Ivy and here is a beautiful example. The extra nice thing is that it also included a matching plate.

 

 How about some Constant Comment tea from Bigelow.  Always a favorite at our house.  I even make it into ice tea for my husband to drink at lunch.  But this time we shall enjoy it hot.

Here is a picture of the mark.  It is Crown Staffordshire fine bone china.

Today I am having some Blueberry turnovers.   I do love blueberries because they are so good and they always remind me of Maine!  I found these at our local bakery.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

        These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *
 Sandi is having special  old fashioned Christmas Tea  this week and I am joining with her.......  Don't miss this one!!!

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Lovelinesss

apple cider tea

 As we are heading to winter in our part of the world I thought I would find a tea drink that also had an added treat.  I found this one at the Apple Institute website under their recipes heading.  You don't have to go there because I am giving the recipe right here.  However, you still might want to check it out because they have a LOT of other interesting recipes.

 

       The cup and saucer I am using today is from Homer Laughlin, called Riviera.  It was produced about the same time as Fiesta and in similar colors.  I read somewhere that they sold Fiesta at one type of store, maybe Woolworth's and Riviera at another... maybe Grants.  I don't know for sure.  We have a complete set of the Riviera that we have collected over the last 30 years or so.  All in green though it did come in lots of other colors such as blue, yellow, orange and cream.  We have even found some of the unusual serving pieces.  Maybe I will feature them here someday.

       Because my husband always buys cider for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners we usually have some.  When we lived in Maine we even used to make our own because we had an abundance of apple trees on our property.  But for now he likes the cider he can get at the local Weis supermarket.  Any good cider would do in this case. And I am using Red Rose Tea as the basic ingredient for this.

SPICED CIDER TEA

1 qt. (4 c.) boiling water
3 tea bags
1/4 c. sugar
2 c. Apple Cider
cinnamon sticks

Add tea bags to boiling water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Add apple cider and reheat. Pour into mugs. Add a stick of cinnamon to each. Serves 6.

 If you just want a single cup or two for yourself I think you can heat enough for one or two cups, and just use about 1/4 cup of cider for each cup you make.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

        These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *