A Tea-themed Mother's Day Present

My hubby surprised me with a Department 56, Dickens Village, Chelsea Market Tea Monger figurine.  I didn't know he knew the piece existed.  She'll be displayed year-round in my curio cabinet.

Aside from my tea angel figurines [which I blogged about here], I don't have a lot of tea-themed figurines, but I'm sharing the collection that I do have in today's post.

Below is a 1995 Boyds Collection piece, called Tea for Four with Sarah and Heather, Elliot, Dolly & Amelia.

A 2000 Boyds Collection piece, called "Prissie, Sissie & Missie... Fixin' Tea for Three."

Bearware Salt and Pepper Shakers, but I've never used them for that purpose.  They sit as a decoration in my curio cabinet.

A 1999 Precious Moments "Mom" figurine, from my sweet daughter!

A "Cameo Girls" head vase - Sasha 1898 "Victorian Tea Party."  It's the only head vase I own.  

A Lefton musical figurine that plays "Tea for Two."

A Victorian Lady and Tea Table

A Victorian Couple that stands 17 inches high and 10 inches wide.  I admired them for a long time at the tea room where I used to work, but the owner wasn't ready to sell them.  One day after I was no longer working there, I spotted them in her gift boutique, and promptly purchased them.  It's hard to tell, but the lady is holding a cup and saucer in her hand.

Finishing today's post with two teapot paperweights.

What tea-themed figurines and nick-knacks are in your collection?

6th Annual Ladies' Spring Tea - "Hats Off to Spring!"

When I came home from Holland, I hit the ground running because I only had two days to accomplish a list of last minute tasks for the church's annual Ladies' Spring Tea held on Saturday, May 11th.  I'm happy to report everything got done!  ;-) 

This is the banquet facility where the tea was held - Sycamore Hills Golf Club.

I arrived at the banquet facility at 10:00 a.m. to do my portion of the set-up.  The tea began at 11:30 a.m.  The colors I chose for the tea were yellow and lime green.   Since the theme was hats, stiffly crocheted picture hats were the favors.  I bought them at a craft store, and embellished them with yellow netting, and a yellow daisy.  They looked lovely sitting on the green place mats.

Our program had the same hat artwork that was used for all the publicity.

There were seven tables for the 54 ladies who attended the tea.   Centerpieces were  hats on hat stands.  A friend loaned me a couple of her designer hats made by Metro-Detroit milliner, Luke Song, which was really a highlight for the ladies.  Most of the hats, however, were vintage.

The hat below was one of Luke Song's.  The ladies loved it, and some had their picture made wearing it.

A pair of dress gloves and pearls were at the base of each hat stand.

 

The hat below came from J.L. Hudson's and has the department store label inside.

A wool felt beret is on the stand, and at the base is a fascinator from London's Harvey Nichols store where Princess Diana liked to shop.

A sporty Fedora that Ingrid Bergman made popular in the 40's.

Hats were displayed on a table by the podium too.  My friend let me borrow a hat from China that ladies wear in the tea fields while plucking tea.  That was especially fitting at a hat-themed tea party!

There's a Victorian mourning hat on the table, a "Doll" hat [the style name - it's not for a doll], and a "whimsey."  Remember those from the 60's when we didn't want to mess up our bouffant hairdo's, yet still wanted to wear a hat?

It was such a fun theme to research, and even though not many ladies' wear hats anymore, they all thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing them again.

I asked one lady [who happens to be in her 80's] to bring her grandmother's Kansas slat sun bonnet.  She brought it in the hat case below [doesn't it look like it just came off of a stage coach?].  She also brought a pilgrim bonnet, a colonial bonnet, and a pioneer bonnet that she made.  She did an awesome job telling about each hat, and I regret that I didn't get a picture of her at the podium.

The tables are set and ready for the ladies to arrive.

The beautiful [and delicious] hat cake was our dessert.  This was one time we could speak the phrase, "I'll eat my hat" and mean it!  ;-)

The ladies at their assigned tables, happily chatting while waiting for the tea to begin.

This sweet four month old baby girl was attending her first tea party with her mommy, two grandmas, and auntie!  And her mommy is starting her off right with a fascinator on her head! 

My girlfriend, Lori, with her granddaughter, Courtney.

Three generations.  Sarah [in the white hat] is a retired minister's wife, and a treasured member of our church.  She was so pleased to have all her granddaughters at the tea [along with her daughter-in-law].

My girlfriend, Sandy, with her daughter, Kim, and daughter-in-law Sarah, and Sarah's mom, Michele.

Another three generation picture.  My mom, my daughter, Lori, and me.  I wore a pillbox hat that Jacqueline Kennedy made popular.  I so wish hats would come back in style in our country as they are in England.

This was a high tea with a menu of tossed salad, rolls, chicken piccata, green beans almondine, potatoes Anna, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle tea [a black tea], cake and ice cream.

Humble apologies my salad was eaten before I realized I had forgotten to take a picture.  But a salad is a salad, right?  ;-)  At least I remembered to photograph the main entree.  It was yummy.  I wish I had a plate of it to eat right now!

I began the program by sharing "hat phrases."  There are more than you might think such as: "Hold onto your hat," "Talking through your hat," "Keep this under your hat," "Pass the hat," and "At the drop of a hat."  There are at least twelve more.  Can you come up with them?

We talked about professions that require hats.   Seven professions that still wear hats were shared, and six that did at one time, but don't anymore.  Remember when nurses wore hats? And how about mailmen, and the milkman.  The younger gals didn't even know what a milkman was!  ;-)

We also talked about places where hats are worn such as wedding, funerals, tea parties, but especially at the Kentucky Derby.  Hats are a tradition at Royal Ascot, and the tradition was adopted at the first Kentucky Derby in 1875.  Today the Kentucky Derby is the largest hat fashion event in America.  

What about famous women who wear [or wore] hats?  Of course, Queen Elizabeth II, and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge head the list.

The title of the program was "Have You Seen My Hat?" which spanned hats from the 1500's up to the present time.

Did you know that January 15th is National Hat Day in the United States?

Would you wear a hat if they came back into style again?

The ladies all seemed to have a good time.  Now to come up with a theme for next spring's tea!

English Cottage Tea Parlor, Grand Rapids, MI

On Tuesday, May 7th we awoke to our second, yummy breakfast at The Parsonage Bed and Breakfast, served promptly at 9:00 a.m., in the beautiful formal dining room of the home. Bonnie, the proprietor, had a cute sense of humor.  She said when a minister was a guest at her Bed and Breakfast he inquired about advanced breakfast menus.  She told him parishioners never get advanced titles of pastor's sermons, so he shouldn't get advanced  breakfast menus either!  ;-)

Our menu that morning turned out to be one of Bonnie's gourmet specialties - baked pancakes.  She's been serving them to her guests for 29 years!

Because of their popularity, about a year and a half ago, Bonnie decided she wanted to put the recipe on the market for others to enjoy.  Her daughter died from ovarian cancer in 2012, so she is hoping the recipe will also generate money for ovarian cancer research.  After diligent work and support from two students at Holland New Tech [a technology driven high school], Bonnie's goal of a commercial mix for her baked pancakes finally became a reality, and made its way onto the shelves at Shaker Messenger and Folk Art Gallery [in downtown Holland] on May 3rd.   Bonnie and her baked pancake mix were featured on the front page of The Holland Sentinel while we were there.  Congratulations, Bonnie!  Jerry and I can both attest to the fact that your baked pancakes are delicious.

When I returned home I did a little research on baked pancakes and found out they go by an assortment of names - "Big Dutch Baby," Dutch puff, German pancake and Bismarck.  They're a sweet popover, derived from the German pfannkuchen.  The "Dutch" nickname came from the German-American immigrants known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Also on the menu that morning were fresh strawberries and yogurt, and Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spiced tea.   

Being nutritionally fortified, we were set for the day ahead of us.  The first thing on the agenda was a stop at Centennial Park.   The City of Holland was founded in February 1847, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus Van Raalte, who immigrated from the Netherlands with a group of 60 men, women and children in 1846.  They cleared a one-block square of land in the center of the colony to serve as a market square - which is now known as Centennial Park.

Statue of Albertus C. Van Raalte

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this group of daycare children that had walked over to Centennial Park.  They were so precious in their Dutch costumes.

Tulips in the park.  Over six million tulips are planted throughout the City of Holland during the tulip festival.  That's A LOT of tulips!

Waterfall in Centennial Park.

The Holland Trolleys line up at Centennial Park for sight-seeing tours of the city.  We opted to drive to each attraction  rather than getting on and off a trolley.   However, by doing so we missed hearing a lot of history and interesting details provided by the costumed guides.  We'll include the trolley tour on our next visit.

Aren't the trolleys quaint?

I spotted this car across the street from the trolleys, so I had to take a picture of it.

These signs are placed throughout the city.

Holland is a clean, friendly, beautiful city, but it lacks one thing... a tea room!  I can't believe someone hasn't opened a tea room there, or one of the hotels doesn't offer Afternoon Tea as an amenity.  I asked our Bed & Breakfast hostess if she had ever thought of offering it, but she didn't want the hassle of dealing with city regulations.

Before I left home I went on the Internet [teamap.com], and found a listing for English Cottage Tea Parlor in Grand Rapids, MI.   Since I knew we were planning to drive to the Grand Rapids area  one day while we were in Holland, I hoped a visit to the tea room might work.  [Grand Rapids is only 38 miles from Holland.]  Tea room owner, Cynthia Wedge, operates her "by reservation only" business out of her home, where she serves monthly theme teas.  She has a minimum requirement for Afternoon Tea, but was willing to serve my hubby and me a Cream Tea.  Our reservation was for 1:00 o'clock, which was perfect since we were having dinner with friends at 4:00 o'clock.

After chatting with Cindy I found out we had something in common besides our love for tea. We  both took Dawnya Sasse's on-line tea course.

Below is Cindy's living room, which would be filled with ladies on Saturday for her Mother's Day tea.  Between her dining room and living room she can accommodate up to 20 ladies.

We had our Cream Tea in the dining room.  

I ordered Mango Green Tea, a sencha, which was light and delicate, and very good.  Jerry ordered Purple Berry Tea, a Kenyan black tea, which he said was very good too.

Cindy provided two scones - a traditional cream scone and a chocolate chip scone.

We spent about an hour at Cindy's, and then were on our way to visit our friends.  Their zip code is Grand Rapids, but they actually live 12 miles east of Grand Rapids in the unincorporated village of Ada.  It was a beautiful afternoon so we dined al fresco on the upper deck of Schnitz's restaurant [pictured below].  

After dinner we walked across Ada's historic covered bridge.

Jerry with our daughter-in-law's parents, Don and Roxanne.

The next morning was our final breakfast at The Parsonage Bed and Breakfast, and Bonnie pampered us with a green blossoming tea.  It was not only pretty to watch unfold, but was delicate and delicious to drink.  

The breakfast consisted of a ramekin of  custard, fresh pineapple chunks, pig in the blanket [sausage in pastry], muffin, and juice of our choice.  I chose tomato juice.  Everything was delicious and Bonnie sent us off well fed.

This concludes my blog series on Holland.  Hope you've enjoyed the "armchair" travel.