St. Patrick's Tea

A few weeks ago my daughter decided she wanted to host a spring tea... just for fun! She has a special gift for hospitality and loves planning social events. After much thought and discussion, she decided on a St. Patrick's Day theme. The tea was yesterday.

Laura asked each of her guests to bring a treat to share that was either green or rainbow colored. We had a delectable selection to choose from... and most of it was naturally green, not food coloring. We enjoyed asparagus and swiss tarts, spinach roll-ups, green peppers, Waldorf salad, pistachio bread, pesto salad, kiwi, bananas dipped in (green) coconut, M&M cookies, and coconut M&Ms. Everything was delicious!

She also asked her guests to wear green... and a couple of them took it one step further and wore hats! She planned a couple of fun parlor games and made this adorable "Leprechaun pants" bag of "gold" as a prize.

After the scheduled festivities, we enjoyed visiting for the rest of the afternoon... and managed to finish off the coconut M&Ms.

It was a fun day with sweet friends!

Christmas Game Night

Last week we invited several families to join us for a fun evening of games and snacks.  They all have children similar in age to ours, so it was a lot of fun. We had a silly gift exchange and lots of laughter. Then the younger teens/pre-teens went downstairs to play Wii games, while the young-adult age group played Apples to Apples in the kitchen.

Once again, I failed to get pictures, but Farrah didn't let me down! She's actually the only person (besides my girls and my "almost-daughter") who attended both events we hosted. One might think I just invited her because of her photography skills, but that's really not the case. It's just serendipity! Check out the party pictures at Light in the Sphere.

Christmas Baking Party

The girls and I hosted a Christmas baking party earlier this month. My friend Farrah was great about taking pictures and she has posted a full report on her blog, Light in the Sphere. (And yes, she took the picture for this post, too. I just "borrowed" it!)

Maybe she'll do a post about our other party, too. You'd think I'd be more diligent about taking pictures, knowing I'll want to blog about it. Too many things to think about, I guess.

Anyway... thanks, Farrah!

Christmas Caroling

 On Friday evening we invited a group of young people (along with their young-at-heart parents) over for an old-fashioned Christmas caroling party. It was a frosty evening, but what else would you expect for December? We bundled up, and with song-sheets and flashlights in hand, headed down the street singing merrily! We even got brave enough to ring a few doorbells if it looked like people were home. The ones who came to the door seemed to enjoy our singing. Most of us hadn't gone caroling quite like that before, so we learned a few things. Mainly that we should stop to sing, not try to sing while walking. Next time we'll know!

I don't know how long we were out-- maybe 30 or 45 minutes--but long enough to get thoroughly chilled. We came back home for hot cocoa and coffee, a nice spread of yummy snacks, and spent the rest of the evening playing games and laughing.

Spending time with friends is one of the Joys of the Season!

Inexpensive Centerpieces

 Back in the spring, when I was decorating for the Senior Banquet, I was trying to come up with an inexpensive idea for centerpieces in the class colors of red and silver. I found red roses on clearance after Valentines Day for 99 cents for a bunch (7 flowers). Then I found vases at the dollar store. I pulled the little bits of fake baby's breath off the rose stems, and hot glued streamers of silver curly ribbon on instead. I liked the way it looked, but my next dilemma was what to put in the vase to weight it down and help hold the flowers in place. I considered glass marbles, and found some in silver that looked very nice, but it really added to the expense. Then, my clever sister-in-law suggested salt! I bought it in bulk (for something like $4 for 20 pounds, or some ridiculously cheap price) at Costco... and then I had the idea of mixing in some red and silver glitter. That was perfect! The glitter didn't mix evenly with the salt like I expected. Instead it settled in swirls, which made it even prettier, I thought.

More great tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We are THAT Family.

Homeschool Senior Banquet

Finally-- I can show you what I've been working on for the past few weeks!

Last summer as we began to make plans for my daughter's homeschool graduation, she and her friends said they wanted to have a "prom" but with "no dancing, and no girl/boy stuff." In other words, they wanted a chance to dress up. I told them that would be called a banquet, and yes, we could do that. We decided that about a month before graduation would be a good time, and we planned it to be a gathering of just the seniors and their families. We've been looking forward to it all year.

There are 8 seniors in our group, and the parents hosted and "catered" an "hors d'oeuvres buffet" for our banquet.

The seniors had decided on red and silver for their class colors, so we planned the decorations accordingly. I tried to keep the decorations and favors a secret from the seniors until time for the banquet, just to make it more special. We did everything as inexpensively as possible, but with a little creativity it all turned out very nice. The food was delicious! (I'm hoping to get some the recipes!) Everyone seemed to have a good time.

The highlight of the evening was previewing the PowerPoint presentation that the seniors have put together for the graduation ceremony. Each senior designed their own segment, with pictures from their lives, set to a favorite song. They hadn't seen each other's presentations until last night.

The young people all looked so nice. (Some of the girls even had vintage outfits!) It's just so hard to believe that they've grown up so fast.

Friendship Tea

 I love the way God brings special friends alongside to encourage me just at the time I need it most. One day last week I received a package in the mail from my childhood friend, Denise. I haven't seen Denise in... oh, 20 years or more... but we reconnected online about 3 years ago and have stayed in touch sporadically since then. However, it had been awhile since I had heard from her. Her family has some health problems, so I was sure she had been busy with that. But when my daughters carried the package in to me the other day and I saw the return address, I just knew it was going to be something special!

And I was right! The box was filled with bubblewrap with this note on top:

Merry Christmas, Karla!
    Enclosed are three different tea cups with violets that I have collected for you! The collection was started when I briefly left my husband's hospital room for a break and visited a favorite thrift store nearby. There the snack plate with tea cup was spotted. A thought of you brightened my dreary day and the collecting began!
    Tea for one is fun... but not as much as tea with three! So, I thought I would wait to send it until I had enough for you and your girls! Yesterday, I finally found the third one!
     Enclosed are some homemade Buckeyes from the Buckeye State~ sweets from where you and your Sweeties first met!
     I trust you had a wonderful Christmas that 2011 will be the best year yet!
Love,
     Your Childhood Friend,
          Denise

 

 I have to say, that quite made my day! And gave me just the lift I needed! I loved unwrapping and admiring each beautiful piece to add to my eclectic violet tea set. My girls were just as charmed as I was.

Thank you, Denise, for such a lovely gift... and especially for your words of encouragement!

Holiday Hospitality

We hosted a small gathering of friends in our home last night. It was not an elaborate party, but everyone seemed to have a good time. It made me wonder why we don't do that more often. It seems our society in general has moved away from visiting in homes to other types of social gatherings.

Of course, there are other ways to show hospitality. Going out for dinner or coffee come to mind. Those are nice gestures, too, but in these economic times can be prohibitive. Entertaining at home is much less costly-- especially when everyone brings a dish or two to share.

When I was growing up we kids loved to "have company." I remember coming home from school one day to find that Mother had cleaned the house up especially nice. "Who's coming over?" we wanted to know. She laughed and said, "Do we have to have company to clean up the house?" I guess we just knew that was part of the deal.

While I wish I was the type of housekeeper who always kept my house "company clean," I'm not. So, yes, it requires a little effort to get the house in order to have friends over. But it is so rewarding. I love it when friends accept an invitation to "Come on over!"

Don't  you?

Christmas Cookie Recipe Party

I'm joining in the Christmas Cookie Recipe Party hosted by Darlene @ Our Creative Life. It's been going on for several Fridays, so if you need ideas for yummy cookies for Christmas, be sure to check it out! Here's a favorite in our family:

Monster Cookies

6 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 pound butter
3 cups peanut butter
8 cups oats
8 ounces chocolate chips
8 ounces M&Ms

Mix together. (No, this recipe does not have flour!) Bake at 350 degrees approximately 12 minutes.

Laid-Back Holidays

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of "the holidays"... or maybe it's the stress that comes from trying to meet expectations for "the holidays." I try not to be a total Scrooge, but I also do whatever I can to keep things simple and relaxed.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year. Our home is quite comfortable for a family of four, but it takes some creative planning to accommodate 12. Table space is limited, so we served dinner buffet-style. We also went with "paper-ware" for the table settings. It wasn't elegant, but it was festive! And clean-up was a breeze. Good food, fellowship, and grateful hearts. That's what matters anyway, isn't it?
On Friday, Lyle and the kids put up lights on the outside of the house. I suggested to the kids that they could put up the Christmas tree if they wanted to, as well.
"Seems a little early yet, don't you think, Mom?"

Yes! I do think so! I have found I enjoy the tree a lot more when it's up for a shorter length of time... maybe 2 weeks. But I was surprised that they thought so. So we'll wait.

In the meantime, as early as it gets dark these days, I do enjoying seeing the outside of our house lit up when we come home in the evenings.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Simple Hospitality

Growing up in a country preacher's home, we often had people over for snacks and fellowship after an evening service. Invariably, Mother made popcorn. Usually we had something sweet, too-- cookies or cake or maybe pie. But always popcorn.

The nice thing about popcorn is that it is very inexpensive to make and practically everyone likes it. Mother had a battered old skillet with a lid that was the "popcorn pan." I don't think it was designed to be a popcorn pan, but I never knew of it to be used for anything else. She'd heat a little oil in it, then add the popcorn, and shake-shake-shake the skillet over the burner. If there were a lot of guests she would keep popping corn until everyone had all they wanted.

These days I use the microwave to make popcorn. But I don't use pre-packaged microwave popcorn (usually). Instead, I have a plastic microwave "popcorn popper" that uses regular popcorn. I know microwave popcorn is not terribly expensive, but this is even cheaper... besides, you can flavor it or season it the way you like! My husband likes some of the popcorn seasoning blends that are on the shelf in the grocery store right above the bags of popcorn. Me? I'd just as soon have it with melted butter (not margarine!) and plain ol' salt.

And guess what? If you come over to my house for Wednesday night Bible study, I'll serve you popcorn! Along with something sweet! I guess it's just a family tradition.

Christmas Goody Bags

Last year my daughters started a tradition of making holiday goodies for Daddy's co-workers and other friends. We covered boxes with wrapping paper last year, but this year I found these fun "lunch bags" at Dollar Tree, and that simplified things greatly!
Each bag contains a popcorn ball, a baggy of Chex Mix, and 4 or 5 cookies.

The popcorn balls are easy to make. The girls popped up a big bowlful of popcorn. (We use a microwave popper that will pop regular popcorn. I usually add melted butter and salt after it's popped, but for this they didn't.) Then just melt margarine and marshmallows together like you would for Rice Krispy Treats, only substitute the popcorn for the Rice Krispys. Add a little red or green food coloring and form into balls with buttered hands.Our friends seem to like our treats... and the girls sure have fun making them!

Tea and Cookies for Fall

When the weather turns cool and crisp, nothing says "cozy" to me like a hot beverage! I have decided that hot beverages are my "comfort food." I like coffee, tea, cocoa, apple cider... and I like cute mugs! I splurged the other day and got a set of 4 pumpkin mugs just to celebrate the season.
Later, I found Pumpkin Spice tea in 2 different brands (at 2 different stores). Of course I had to try them both! Spice teas are my favorite... and since they "go" with my new mugs... well, what else could I do?

Another "fall tradition" that has evolved at our house is the Apple Glazed Cookies that my daughter makes each year, when apple season comes around.
She discovered the recipe in an Amish cookbook several years ago. This year she added "fall" sprinkles. I thought that was a fun touch!

I posted her recipe on The Persnickety Pantry, if you'd like to try it. Visit Looking Towards Heaven for more seasonal tricks and treats.

Violet Teacup

Remember my mix-and-match violet tea-set? I found another cup-and-saucer to go with it! That makes four... and each one different. This one's not quite as pretty as the other three, but for $3.50 I'm not complaining!
Isn't it fun to collect something just a little out-of-the-ordinary and then find a piece for your collection at a very reasonable price?

Just thought I'd show you the latest addition as part of Kelli's Show & Tell Friday.

Percolated Coffee

I've been wanting an enamel-ware coffee percolator for a long time. When we go camping in the national forest we don't have electrical hookups, so I've been getting by with instant coffee or those "singles" bags that are like tea bags. I was happy to find just the coffee pot I had been wishing for at a garage sale last weekend for $3. And while I plan to put it to practical use, I just love looking at it!

The problem is, I'm not real sure how to make coffee in it! I know I need to buy a different "grind" of coffee... percolator rather than drip. And I know the coffee grounds go in the basket at the top. Then the water just goes in the bottom below the dry grounds? How much coffee to how much water? How do you know when it's done? Anybody know?

The print shop where my husband works has reserved a group campground for this weekend. It will be the perfect opportunity to try out my new coffee pot. But I'm sure I'll want to offer a cup of coffee to our friends. Hopefully I can master the trick to making percolated coffee and be able to serve something that tastes good!

"I Remember Laura" - Family Recipes

This week's topic for the "I Remember Laura" blog-a-thon is family recipes. Laura was such a descriptive writer that any time she wrote about a meal or a special dish, it simply made my mouth water. Later I came to appreciate the utter simplicity of the meals that "Ma and the girls" served to family and guests alike.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Little House books describing the make-do attitude and gratefulness that is such a prevalent theme in the stories of the Ingalls family:

Ma put the crust in the pie pan and covered the bottom with brown sugar and spices. Then she filled the crust with thin slices of the green pumpkin. She poured half a cup of vinegar over them, put a small piece of butter on top, and laid the top crust over all.

"There," she said, when she had finished crimping the edges.

"I didn't know you could," Carrie breathed, looking wide-eyed at the pie.

"Well, I don't know yet," said Ma. She slipped the pie into the oven and shut the door on it. "But the only way to find out is to try. By dinnertime we'll know."

...Pa pushed back his empty plate and Ma gave Laura a look that said, "Now!" Smiles spread over all their faces but Pa's. Carrie wriggled in her chair and Grace bounced on Ma's lap, while Laura set down the pie.

For an instant Pa did not see it. Then he said, "Pie!"

His surprise was even greater than they had expected. Grace and Carrie and even Laura laughed out loud.

"Caroline, however did you manage to make a pie?" Pa exclaimed. "What kind of pie is it?"

"Taste it and see!" said Ma. She cut a piece and put it on his plate.

Pa cut off the point with his fork and put it in his mouth. "Apple pie! Where in the world did you get apples?"

Carrie could keep still no longer. She almost shouted, "It's pumpkin! Ma made it out of green pumpkin!"

Pa took another small bite and tasted it carefully. "I'd never have guessed it," he said. "Ma always could beat the nation cooking."
--The Long Winter

The day was ending in perfect satisfaction. They were all there together. All the work, except the supper dishes, was done until tomorrow. They were all enjoying the good bread and butter, fried potatoes, cottage cheese, and lettuce leaves sprinkled with vinegar and sugar.
--Little Town on the Prairie

You know Laura grew up to be a farm wife, but did you know that she was also a journalist for many years before she wrote the Little House books? I've been reading some of her earlier writing recently. Here is a portion of an article from A Little House Reader that she wrote about taking in summer boarders.

If you have some spare rooms in your house by all means fill them with summer boarders and try marketing some of your surplus farm products that way. Get help in the kitchen if you can but if not, put out the washing, buy the bread and make the work light in every way you can.

Do not try to give them their meals in city style. They have come to the country for the sake of living the country life for awhile. Your common every-day things will be treats to them. Newly laid eggs, thick sweet cream, new milk, fresh buttermilk and butter, the fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, are things nearly impossible to get in the city.

These things cost next to nothing on the farm and with the addition of some of the frying chickens are nearly all that is needed to make a delightful bill of fare for the summer. Everything necessary for the most delicious salads is ready at hand and they are not difficult to make although this is a dish too often neglected in the country.

The using of the things raised on the farm, many of which would otherwise go to waste or be sold at small price, is where the profit will be made and it will also give the greatest satisfaction to the summer visitors.

The first time I took summer boarders a couple of my friends began at the same time. I followed this idea of using home products and made a good profit from the start, doing better as I learned from experience. My friends could make no profit and even lost money.

The difference was that they bought fancy meats and canned goods. If they planned a salad they made a fruit salad of pineapple, bananas, oranges, etc., while I went to the garden where I gathered tender lettuce, whcih arranged on pretty places with a hard boiled egg cut in half to show the golden center and a little ball of cottage cheese made a beautiful and tasty salad. The dressing for the salads I made myself of homemade cider vinegar, mustard, sugar, an egg, with pepper and salt. When my friends prepared a dessert it was some expensive pudding or pastry while I served fresh berries, peaches or other fruit with sugar and cream.

The result was that while I made money they lost it and the humor of the situation was that their boarders wanted to leave them and come to me.

By using home products in this way, combining with a spirit of hospitality, a little taking of thought and some extra steps you can receive in return at least $5 a week and often more for each person entertained, and full half of this will be profit.
--"Summer Boarders", A Little House Reader

Well, my family never took in summer boarders... (somehow we never seemed to manage to have "spare rooms") ...and we didn't always have a garden. Or chickens. Or a cow. But neither did we have expensive or fancy food. Yet my mother always graciously served whatever we had "with a spirit of hospitality [and] a little taking of thought and some extra steps" to family and guests alike.

Isn't that the way it should be?

P.S. I chose to talk about meal-planning and hospitality in this post, rather than specific family recipes. But that's not because we don't have family recipes. We do! Lots of them! I have actually published 2 large cookbooks full. Volume 1 is out of print, but Volume 2 is still available here.

The Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy

The theme for this week's tea party blog-a-thon at Gracious Hospital-i-tea is "The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy" and we're all supposed to share our favorite tea time recipes.

So, from my kitchen... first a favorite cookie recipe.

I have been making these for years from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook which says, "The meltingly light taste of these rich, buttery confections makes them disappear almost as quickly as you can make them."

Viennese Cresents

1/2 pound butter (use real butter for best flavor)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup ground nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla (again, real vanilla is best)
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter, then add granulated sugar, flour, nuts, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Shape with your fingers in delicate crescents, about 2 x 1/2 inches. Roll in powdered sugar and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for about 30 minutes, until just faintly browned. Cool, then roll in more powdered sugar before serving.

Next... a recipe for a delicious instant tea beverage that my mother liked to keep on hand when I was growing up. She said Mrs. Rehfeldt gave her this recipe.

Friendship Tea

1 cup instant tea
3 cups sugar
2 packages instant lemonade mix (Kool-aid)
1 14-ounce jar Tang (1 3/4 cups)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves

Mix all well. Use 1 to 3 teaspoons of mix to a cup of boiling water.

And finally... a favorite tea sandwich spread...

Cucumber Chive Spread

1 small cucumber (seeded and shredded)
8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
2 tablespoons chives
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Happy Tea-Time!

Dressed-to-a-Tea

Many years ago my mother received this beautiful antique chocolate set as a wedding gift from her brother and his wife. Don't know what a chocolate set is? Well, neither did my mother. She thought it was a tea set for years. The pot is taller and narrow, and the cups are smaller than a tea set. Not sure why that makes it a chocolate set, but apparently there is a difference! Now there I go, getting off the subject again. We're supposed to be talking about dressing for tea this week for Gracious Hospital-i-Tea's blog-a-thon, and I told you last week that my mother would be helping with this week's post. (She took a current picture of her chocolate set and scanned the picture below for me... so it's really more her post than mine! I guess you could say she' s my "guest blogger" today!)

This picture comes from Mother's photo album. It was taken about 1977. (Has it really been 30 years ago?) Finally we girls were old enough to have a "real" tea party with Mother's beautiful "tea" set. We baked a pound cake in a tube pan and put it on one of Mother's pretty hostess trays. (Remember her three-tiered one that I showed for Valentine's Day?) It looks like we also had a platter of something else to nibble on, but I'm sure I don't remember what. Maybe one of the twins will. Dori? Naomi? Any idea?
Mother encouraged us to get dressed up for our tea party. To our minds, getting dressed up involved long dresses. I had out-grown my favorite long red dress so Dori wore that with an organza apron from somebody's wedding. I don't remember Naomi's long skirt (maybe she does)... but mine was actually a bathrobe! And Naomi thought Mother's gardening hat would be the very thing. Don't we just look so prissy?

The thing I love most about my memory of that tea party is that my mother didn't hesitate to let her little girls use her very best china... The twins were 10, and I was almost-12... and we knew we were more important to our mother than anything she owned.

These days she enjoys tea parties with her granddaughters, and she encourages me to have tea parties with them even though she doesn't live close enough to join us very often. My girls and I have been having "every day" teas lately, but I should take the time to have a "dress up" tea with them soon, shouldn't I? Let them get all decked out in whatever seems "dressy" in their minds, and use my best china.

Decora-a-Tea

This week's theme on the Gracious Hospitali-Tea Blog-a-thon is to share ideas and pictures that incorporate tea and/or tea themes into home decor.

Now, as you no doubt realize, my home is not all put together yet from our move... and my decorating is not complete. (But then, is it ever?) But here are a few pictures that go along with this week's theme.

First, my violet tea "set" that I told about in January. I have it on the mantle of my "faux" fireplace in the living room. My mother added a piece while she was here. She found the little pitcher night-light/scent-warmer that fits right in, while we were out shopping. I put rose-scented oil in it for now, because that's what I have... but I'd like to find violet-scented oil for it if I can. I also want to add some taper candles and greenery to this grouping, but for now it is simply the tea-set on a doily.
For some reason this Precious Moments figurine always makes me think of tea-time. The name of it is "You are Always There for Me"... and it portrays one little girl comforting another. Good friends, a listening ear, a hanky (if needed), and a cup of tea... isn't that what tea-time is all about?
Last week I quoted from Anne of Green Gables for my Liter-a-Tea post. Well, I found the neatest book this week: The Anne of Green Gables Treasury. One chapter in the book was all about tea-time. It even gave a typical menu, listing four courses: sandwiches, biscuits and jam, cookies or fruitcake, and dessert. I'll probably share some more of the ideas later, but I decided that my girls and I should start having tea every day! We usually eat lunch around noon, but often supper isn't until 8:00 p.m. or later, so of course we get hungry in between and do a lot of snacking. More than we should, I'm sure. So I told the girls that we will start having tea at 4:00 p.m. and cut out all this between-meals snacking. They loved that idea, and I think it will be a fun memory for them, as well as a practical idea. I plan to add either fresh fruit or veggies as a substitute for the dessert course. I just don't see the need for a cookies and fruitcake course, followed by a dessert course! LOL! And just as Marilla didn't let Anne use the rosebud-spray tea set for her tea with Diana, we won't be using the violet tea set for every day. Instead, we have this friendly little fat stoneware tea-pot that matches my Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne dishes.

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon

Oooh! I found another blog theme I want to participate in! LaTeaDah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a tea-themed meme with a different topic each week through May. I missed the first week, but she said it was okay to join late... and the theme of the second week is right down my alley, so I'm going to jump in with "Litera-Tea"-- tea from the perspective of literature.

One of my all-time favorite authors is L.M. Montgomery who wrote the Anne of Green Gables books. The stories are set during the era when afternoon tea was a daily ritual. I love the chapter where Marilla (Anne's guardian) tells Anne she may invite her "bosom friend," Diana, over for tea while Marilla is out for the day. If you know Anne, you'll remember how excited she was...

"I can just imagine myself sitting down at the head of the table and pouring out the tea," said Anne, shutting her eyes ecstatically. "And asking Diana if she takes sugar! I know she doesn't but of course I'll ask her just as if I didn't know. And then pressing her to take another piece of fruit cake and another helping of preserves. Oh, Marilla, it's a wonderful sensation just to think of it. Can I take her into the spare room to lay off her hat when she comes? And then into the parlor to sit?"
--Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery