Well, I do apologize there. I was over on the Conversation side, and thought I was still there when I created this new topic. It is embarrassing to come back here, and my post got here first.

I apologize for that. I don't know how to correct it.

No problem. I thought you were going to invite all of us to a tea party in your newly restored tea room! lol

You're very adventurous trying all those different teas. I never would have thought of having to have different pots for each, but then I never brew in tea pots.

LOL I was looking for inside tea house pictures too. See how greedy we are. LOL LOL LOL

I love different teas. I am a lazy one and do use the bags. I love peach tea and a raspberry is really good too. Then of course green tea. Artichoke. How interesting.

Also really enjoyed that link you send on the art to my email. I could get lost in his work. Really inspirational.

Yeah, me too! I was imagining a beautiful table, set for tea.

I like vintage tea balls and strainers--several years ago my husband bought me one for Christmas, and bought a BRICK of tea to include with it. NO joke--it was a brick, and it's still in the freezer. I don't like tea nearly enough to sit down and SHAVE minute pieces of compacted tea leaves, just to get enough for one cup of tea. Not very Zen of me...

Well I am so ashamed to even tell you all what happened to my Tea Ball. But I will. We were in process of moving and I knocked it off the counter. Stepped back to pick it up and oops. I stepped on it. Was a cheep aluminum one and I flattened it. Oh well I like a tea pot anyway. I only have one I use though.

And dang my CAT just brought one of my slippers into the living room?? Thought that was a dog trick.

Hehehehe. Well, I can tell that I must truly have a tea party when the time comes. I know how to deliver the invitations. Just a post and a small bell going dingdingding. I suppose that I must make some teacakes using my grandma's old recipe. My favorite cookie, and not very sweet at all. But gooooooood.

Oooooooh, moccasinlanding! Have you ever posted your grandmother's teacake recipe here? There's a friend at my church who waxed poetic last Christmas about her childhood teacakes and I'd love to be able to bake some for her. She said the same thing as you...that they were just sweet enough.

Here is the recipe for Grandma's teacakes. Great with tea OR coffee, and keeps my blood sugar low when eaten in reasonable amounts. HA.

1/2 CUP BUTTER OR MARGARINE
3/4 CUP PLUS 1 TABLESPOON SUGAR
2 EGGS, BEATEN
3 CUPS SIFTED ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
1/4 CUP SUGAR
2 TSP BAKING POWDER
1/4 TSP SALT
1 TSP VANILLA
1/4 TSP GROUND NUTMEG

CREAM BUTTER. GRADUALLY AD 3/4C. +1 TBSP SUGAR AND BEAT UNTIL LIGHT AND FLUFFY. (I now use SPLENDA instead of sugar)

ADD EGGS & VANILLA & MIX WELL.
SIFT TOGETHER FLOUR, BAKING POWDER & SALT.
ADD TO CREAMED MIXTURE TO FORM SOFT DOUGH.
ROLL OUT THIN ON A FLOURED BOARD OR CLOTH.
CUT OUT COOKIES.
COMBINE NUTMEG & 1/4 C. SUGAR. SPRINKLE ON COOKIES
PLACE ON A LIGHTLY GREASED BAKING SHEET & BAKE AT 375 F FOR 8-10 MINUTES. (I leave out this 1/4 cup sugar)

MAKES ABOUT 6 DOZEN COOKIES.
Note: I never could figure out why she wanted that extra tablespoon of sugar with the 3/4 cuppa, but I sort of like to keep it with the recipe. My Aunt Ruby gave me the recipe.She always served these with the hottest cuppa cocoa that I ever had, burned my tongue every time, but who could resist it.

OH Yum Sending this to the printer as I type. Love wireless printing. LOL Thanks

You folks will be my choice for guests at the first teatime in the Irish Teahouse. Teacakes to eat and a dozen in little bags for each of you to take home with you.

Reading the books about tea done Asian, and tea done English,or tea done Southern--also coffee done Italian, or iced--is very refreshing as hot weather in south Alabama takes an unpleasant turn. Still no rain, the grass is crispy critter. Before I let the dachshund out each morning, I check for the wild rabbit in the garden which has taken to coming out at an unexpectedly LATE hour to drink water and eat dried grass seedheads. As timid as rabbits are, it has to be desperate. Miss Dixie Doxie is a fat and sassy girl who can wait a bit for her hunting foray through the garden. She becomes so excited about CRITTERS she forgets to do her business.

LOL We have one like that here too.

Have a cake being eaten on. Will try the tea cakes next. Might have to put half that cake in the freezer. LOL

ML- Tea in the new teahouse...that sounds wonderful! :)

I have not seen that book, but now I'm going to look for it. Who can resist a tea book that ties with ribbons? That sounds like the picture books I got my bridesmaids...very fancy and totally girlie (LOL) When else can you get something like that...except now, for tea?

I love having tea. It's so civilized, old world and rather romantic, all at the same time. ML, your tea cakes sound lovely and I'm printing off the recipe for my mom. She makes lots of tea cookies, sandwiches and little desserts, especially in the summer. It's so easy to serve tea and her friends enjoy picking out their favorite cup and saucer and she always has at least three types of tea :)

Now, as much as I love tea...Schoolhouse posted this on the Cottage Garden forum (Conversations side) where we have tea together, every Thursday. Very funny, in that typical British reserved way. Oh, and stop over and visit for tea tomorrow...or we can start a tea group over here, too. It's a great way to catch up and talk about anything and everything...and tea!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tea

Lav, I uploaded the photo to your new thread, but I will also put it here. The book by Maryjo Koch is TEA. Measures 8 x 8 x 1/2 inch thick. Found my copy at Amazon.com

LOL LOL LOL Husband says UM GOOD!!!!!

So how many would be a reasonable amount to eat??

Helping neighbor with her yard sale tomorrow and Saturday. Made these up to take some with me for snacks.

They really are delicious.The nutmeg really is the perfect topping. Thanks!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tea Cookies

That looks like a reasonable amount to me- I don't know what the rest of you are going to eat LOL!

ML now you must have this chandelier!!!

I'm appalled by the price, so I'm collecting the parts to try and make one myself.

If it works, I'll trade you one for your blue bottles!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: teacup chandelier

The tea cookies are making me hungry! I really like to drink a cup of ginger tea when my stomach is upset, it really works. And in the summer theres nothing better than iced tea - except a cold beer, but then I don't drink alcohol so guess I have to go with the tea.

Katrina, come on in, you're just in time to update us on what's happening at your place. Glad you showed up.

And Rafor, I am glad to know I don't have to foist the bottles off to someone not really wanting them. They are the real blue GLASS, not a translucent coating over plain glass, so I will be pleased to cart them straight from Alabama up nawth when the time comes.

Very creative the way they used all the pieces of the teaset in the chandelier. You can also get a flat band in stainless steel, circular of course, drill a few properly spaced holes, and put those flat pot rack hooks sold at kitchen/restaurant supply stores over the band, just like you would over a pot rack. If you could find some smaller hooks, it would be a neat way to do your espresso cups, or the bigger cappuccino cups and use an old manual Italian pot in there as ornament. You are so right, the price is outrageous, but the design is enchanting.

Jay, you go right ahead and take the right amount, there is always more in the oven! According to the Weather Channel, today is National Donut Day....but I think I'll make mine teacakes.

moccasinlanding,
I'm sorry to be so long in getting back. I want to say thank you so very much for posting the teacake recipe. That was so nice of you. :)

Just to let you know, you will soon be neighbors with another GW Small Homes poster, Jay, AKA flgargoyle. Now retired and building a home in the piedmont (?) area of NC. He also likes the teacakes. :)

Couple corrections- We are building in the piedmont of SC, but right at the base of the mountains. Sadly, we're not retiring just yet, either, Once the house is close to done, I'll be looking for a job. I'll probably work another ten years or so, depending upon how I feel. We won't have a mortgage, though, so I don't need a real high-paying job.

You ARE right about the teacakes, though! I'm an expert baker, so those are on my to-do list.

Jay- You can build your own house...and bake! I think your wife is a lucky woman :)

ML- As I said on the other post, the book is amazing! I'm going to be looking for a copy, the next time I'm near a book store. If I can't find it, I'll try Amzon, but I like to buy locally, when I can.

Shades- The cookies look wonderful...and very tasty!

The tea cookies are delish. The only problem with them is you can not eat just one or two. LOL

I'm copying that tea cake recipe down....it sounds yummy and is quite appropriate for a grieving heart. I think I'll add the 1/4 cup of sugar though at the end. Why not. We live only once might as well enjoy it. Thomas taught me some valuable lessons about love and appreciation in his short life. Too bad sometimes our lessons are brought to us in such a painful way.

How sweet of you to share an heirloom recipe.

Sandy

Well, all the enthusiasm shown here has led to some work inside the Teahouse. Yep, I went to Lowes and picked out some indoor/outdoor olefin carpet for the loft which is 8 x 20 +.
I expect the installer to call for an appointment. They were not sure this man would accept the job, since it was not in a house, apparently some garage and greenhouse spaces are not up to snuff and they do not want to install on substandard construction. I told the department head that this was done according to code, with solid cement walls, proper roof with Lexan panels in it, and it was a new thick slab of concrete treated for termites,.....and it had its own heatpump setup. Plus the spiral metal stair access. So I hope he doesn't have to break a sweat.

But once that floor covering is down, I can move my personal play toys up there, move the parrots downstairs, and perhaps have it looking really good in another month. It is way too hot to work outdoors anyway, so this is the most enjoyable project I can think of working on, keeps me from worrying about what DH is doing to the bathrooms in the Cape! Right now he is tearing out the plaster to expose the plumbing wall of the downstairs bath. A lot going on in that wall, because it backs up to the kitchen sink and dishwasher. Lovely mess, I bet.

Sheese. Second full batch of tea cookies cooling on the rack. DH just LOVES them. Neighbors loved them and even a few yard sale people. LOL One man took three.

hahahahaha. I love it that this old recipe is making a comeback thanks to your interest. Or, am I really catching a whiff of your baking from way over here, Shades? This is so hilarious! I think it is the perfect recipe to test out a new oven, so you can make your spouse think the purchase was making you a better cook already.

And Katrina, I have not tried my ginger tea yet, but I think I will soon. I'm still doing some artichoke tea late in the day here. Very nice. Actually, I will try some bouillion for before supper to control my appetite. The tomatos are ripe in the garden, and I have to eat at least two a day to keep them from going bad. Just some nice salad dressing with the juicy wedges. Hmmmmmmmmm.

ML, those barking alligators you talked about on another thread are something I've got to put on my list of things to see before I die! Where do you get the motivation for all the renovation? I am still working on tying up the loose ends of the bathroom project and a few other odds and ends because I don't want to move on until I get all the small things done - or I have a feeling they will never get done. Now I have moved to the yard and am working on improving the grass(weed city) and doing some landscaping that will make it low maintenance. I want to plant some drought tolerant lawn grass but first need to find out what and where to get it. I don't know if I can find anything that survives just with rain but that would be ideal. I would love to make a big garden but sadly don't have the time. The tea house just sounds so awesome, can't wait to see some pics when you have your stuff moved in. Stay out of the heat down there! I used to live in Southern Texas so I know about the heat. At that time we didn't even have air conditioning so it was a hot tamale.

Katrina, south Texas without a/c? Unbelievably hot at best. The first year I worked in Port Aransas TX they had a drought and locked the water pumps at the dock. Dust was on the big sunflowers, 1/4 inch of dust all over everything. When I drove home to Alabama in late November, I almost cried when I reached our state line and the sign read, WELCOME TO ALABAMA THE BEAUTIFUL....it was so lush and green I could have kissed the ground. Now here we are having our own drought and not liking it at all.

This is not the time of year to think of doing grass. That should be in about February or March, except for New England where my DH always put his seed out in October or November so it would sprout and be rooted good before it snowed. I'm not good with lawns, but I think you should contact your local county agent for wherever you live. They can give you the proper species of grass, the season to do it, and how to get rid of any weeds and/or pests.

The male gators will bark especially during mating season, and I think that is about June, but not sure. If you come to New Orleans, or close by anyway, they have swamp tours that will take you into the area so you cannot miss seeing the gators. I think the program about hunting gators is one of the History Channels shows, it will give you an idea what to expect.

Motivation for the renovations? Hmmmmm, well, I've always had ideas and now I must get some of them done or shut up. I'm too old to wait any longer, you see. But it is not like work to me, I actually find it more entertaining than anything else I could be doing. My most favorite thing is gardening though. I piddle with plants, and then they do all the work!!! Makes me look good when they grow. :)

ML So sorry you are in a drought. The rains and snow melt has me watching the rivers on line daily. At this point the rivers are going down but the skies are black again with heavy clouds.

I think it is the nutmeg in the cookies that make them so special. I make a regular sugar cookie using powdered sugar that are similar to your tea cookies.

Wonder if I can find the Orange Tea Cake recipe I used to make. Was a good one. I will look see.

ML, yes we lived in Matagorda, TX, about 60 miles south of Galveston. It was so hot I didn't even feel human for about 3 months with no air - the mosquitos were out all day. We lived in a cabin on a boat slip and my ex husband was shrimping on the boats. That was the main source of income for that little town back then. Thats why I was interested that you worked on boats fishing - thats really hard work!! Thanks for the idea about calling the county agent - I didn't think of that.

Aha, Katrina, I also worked in Freeport TX, then further along the Gulf at Port O'Connor, and we went out the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf through the pass at Matagorda Bay. Loved the place, but of course we had air conditioning in the boats. Your county agent should be happy to help out, and it could save you some needless effort.

Shades, loved that picture of the old house on your photo album. Hope you have no flooding or high wind problems. It seems to be everywhere this year.

Please do give me the Orange Tea Cake recipe for my collection. I am going on insulin in a week or so, don't know how restricted my diet will be after that. Hope I can adjust to it.

I'm dripping wet with sweat after moving things around in the Teahouse this morning. How humid it is!

Tomorrow the installer comes to lay the indoor/outdoor carpet in the loft of the teahouse. I still have to vacuum the loft, but had to stop for something to eat before I had a melt down.

I got the carpet from Lowes, 5 year warranty, UV warranty for 3 years, not a glue down install so it won't mess up the flooring beneath it. It is a mix of tan and green, sort of like berber in appearance. The loft measures 20 x 8, and the carpet is 12 wide, so I'll have approximately 20 x 4 for a runner down below. The entire footprint of the teahouse is 20 x 25, a really nice proportion, made more roomy feeling by the open height of the rest of the building, and then the translucent Lexan on the eastern half. I might have to move my banana tree into the building NOW instead of later, because it is getting so tall already. By fall, it will be humongous. I will set the pot in one of those small kiddy wading pools that I've found helps me keep container plants watered in dry weather.Just set them in the pool and soak for a couple of hours.
I think the peak of the roof is about 16 feet high, but not exactly sure. Will take a tape measure out with me one day.

I've moved everything out of the way so they can bring the big roll of carpet into the Teahouse through one of the garage double doors, a straight shot from there up the spiral steps to the loft. Actually, I think they will just slide one end over the edge of the loft and pull it up. My railing was left off until we got the furnishings up there, then I'll be having a wide bench rail, with the back angled out a wee bit, giving room for seating.

We had an electrical storm last night, and from the way the sky is darkening and rumbling, we may finally get some rain today. I have my fingers crossed. We sure do need it. LOTS of it.

sounds like it's coming right along!

take some more pics!

Steph, I'd be happy to show a picture of the newly carpeted loft in the Teahouse. Only, it was not installed. Supposed to be done Friday afternoon. The installer called, he was caught in a storm across Mobile Bay. Could he come Saturday morning, like 10am. Sure.

But.....at 11am I called his boss's number and no answer, so I called Lowes. I asked them to find out what was wrong. I hung up with Lowes, my phone rings and it is the young installer. Sorry, he says, my baby is cutting teeth and kept me up all night.....?????????.......I says I wish you had called sooner, because I asked the store to find out what happened, now you'll be embarrassed. He says can I come in about an hour? I am hesitant but say, okay, wondering why he cannot make an effort to come NOW. Well, 12pm came and went, and at 1pm with no word from this installer, I again call Lowes and tell them I want my money back. This is just too unprofessional for my taste, and I have no indication that the job will be done properly.Sort of I see the writing on the wall. So I drive to the store the paperwork taken care of and a credit to my account.
Even the store has no idea what is going on. I tell them it seems to me the young man is having personal family problems. Even though my job is considered a "small job", which was repeatedly stated by the installing firm that Lowes contracted to do the work, that is no reason to be offhand about it. Besides, this job may be small, but how do they know they are not missing out on our future whole house hardwood floor job? We've spent a LOT of money at Lowes, just not on carpet. And we've installed most everything ourselves until this.

Now I'm going to shop for carpet tiles. We used them as a pathway to keep feet warm on the tile floors of the sunporch up in Massachusetts. Washable. Sounds good to me, and won't need an installer.

The whole incident left a bad taste in my mouth. I like folks to do what they say they will, and show some respect for the consumer. After all, "money talks, and BS walks."

ML- Good for you! I think carpet tiles are a much better idea...and you can easily replace one, if it gets stained or damaged.

I'm so excited to see pictures! Your Teahouse is going to be wonderful and I can't wait to get invited to the first tea...even if it's over the computer. LOL

ML sorry for your troubles on the carpet install. I am with LL. I think the caret tiles will be better. Wonder what was up with installer. Very odd.