Checking back in...

Hmmmm...  Last post on April 1st...  As spring turned into summer, then fall, and now, almost winter, time and tea books got away from me.  I actually took several tea books away with me on vacation at the end of May, and wrote notes about 2-1/2 of them.  The notes are still sitting in my notebook, as yet unpublished.  But as of this weekend, it feels as if my major obligations for the year are finished (okay, that's not really true, but it feels true), so here we go again with another attempt...

(Of course, part of the time crunch is my second blog, Joanna Creates, which I'm using to capture my forays into arts and crafts.  I have updated there somewhat in the interim...)

One thing I've done a little of recently, despite telling myself I wouldn't, is buy magazines.  I don't have many - probably half a dozen assorted issues purchased at the bookstore waiting to be read, and another half dozen from a short-loved subscription to Martha Stewart Living.  In the first stack are two issues of Tea Time, which I think used to be called Southern Lady Tea Time after its parent publication.  It says on the cover that it it the winner of the Best Tea Publication.  I could be wrong, but it's certainly the only tea publication I've seen recently on the shelves at Barnes and Noble...  I have this year's September/October issue and November/December issue.  I'll review each separately as a way of easing back into book reviews.

The editor's letter of the September/October 2015 issue of Tea Time promises that that magazine will be full of "autumnal inspirations."  This is borne out in various articles including the tablescape piece and the themed tea parties.  The tablescape article talks about using one china pattern, "Autumn," by Lenox, in different ways for an elegant or more casual look by pairing it with various other china patterns, tablecloths or placemats, crystal, and other decorations.  This article isn't specifically tea-themed, but applicable to tea parties and the vibe of the magazine in general.

Tea Time has three themed teas:  Apple, Grandparent's Day, and Harvest Moon.  Each tea party has recipes and recommended tea pairings.  It's easy to connect apples with autumn and understand how the recipes and the tablescape for the party fit the theme.  Apparently Grandparent's Day happens in September or October, but it seems to be just a good excuse for a party as the recipes and decor have no real connection to the theme.  It might have been nice for this one to have some activities one might do in observance of this made-up holiday involving photos or family trees or something like that.  The last tea in honor of the harvest moon features the table setting from the magazine's cover and does include decor suggestions relating to the theme.  The recipes for this one seem more in harmony with the color scheme and china pattern than with the actual harvest.  One note about the tea pairings:  they all seem to be suggestions based on the magazine's advertisers, and not necessarily the best tea for each course drawn from a large, objective list.

Tea Time always reviews tea rooms.  Often tea rooms in one particular US state are featured.  This issue covers New Jersey, and a tea room outside of London.  The eight NJ tea rooms featured all seem to have opened in the last 10-15 years, or more recently.  I wonder if this is an inadvertent comment about the likelihood of tea room longevity, if there are older, more established tea rooms out there, and if those in the article will still be there by the time I get to visit these tea time destinations in my neighboring state. 

One of my favorite features of Tea Time is its articles about tea tools:  teapots, cups, furniture, etc.  This issue covers the gaiwan cup and the Brown Betty teapot in seperate articles.  I've been hearing more and more about gaiwan cups as I read more books and blogs written by true tea afficianadoes (as opposed to those more focused on tea as an occasion).  I think I understand how to use a gaiwan, but the article was only a glimpse, and not an instruction guide.  I'll call the article a success as it made me want to learn more.  We use a Brown Betty as our daily, go-to teapot, and that article made me want to check the bottom of the pot to see if it's the genuine article...

In general, Tea Time's content is purposefully light.  It caters to the tea party set, which I count myself a part of, not those in the industry and a part of the global, non-white world of tea and tea drinking.  It has articles by three mainstream luminaries:  James Norwood Pratt, Jane Pettigrew and Bruce Richardson.  Its resource lists, which I'm glad exist on general principles, cover china patterns and their prices and recipes, and not bibliographic information.

It'll be interesting to read the November/December issue in quick succession with Sept/Oct, and see what's the same, what's different, and how this magazine reflects a certain part of the US tea-drinking world.

Table Settings; Special Touches for Entertaining

Finally, the last of my Victoria Magazine books.  I think...

This week I read Table Settings, published in 2002 by the Editors of Victoria Magazine, but largely written by Mary Forsell, a Victoria editor who wrote other books about entertaining, flower arranging and berries, topics near and dear to my heart.

The back cover of the book summarizes the contents well.  This book is about collecting, selecting and presenting tableware including china, silver, glassware, and linens.

The book is divided into chapters which inconsistently focus on dining occasions, dining locations, or tableware themes.  The first chapter covers breakfast time, which is often overlooked as a separate entertaining occasion but is often a part of weekend visits and other overnight stays.  I love the idea of this chapter, and often look for excuses to use my toast rack, but this chapter, like much of the book and the previous Victoria books is a great illustration of their issues with picture captions and sources.  The picture below (poorly photographed by me) features this great set of teacups with leaves - maidenhair fern, or maybe parsley leaves, or something like that.  I love those cups.  I would love to have them, or at least take a closer look at them.  But the book neglects to name their manufacturer (only the name of the photographer - at least that's something), and I can't find them on the web.  I think the picture caption thing is about this book being a compilation of Victoria material.  The pictures were likely take for long-ago articles, and who remembers what exactly was included in each image.  I suppose it's for the best, given the over-crowded state of my china cabinet, but I would make room!!!  If you have any ideas about who manufactured this pattern, let me know!

The next chapter focuses on dining alfresco.  Apparently, according to Victoria, at least in 2002, you need the excuse of the great outdoors to shed the formality of entertaining.  Outdoor table settings should be casual, colorful, and use everyday items in new ways.  A blanket can be used as a tablecloth, a washtub as a champagne cooler, etc.  I do love the idea of not worrying about finding a tablecloth that's long enough, but instead purchasing fabric right off the bolt and leaving the edges raw (it's outdoors, so raw edges are also allowed).

The next chapters focus on floral motifs and whiteware as a staple of entertaining, and later chapters cover using tablewares as art and display pieces, and various occasions or events for parties.  The "history" chapter strikes a chord as it focuses on the nineteenth century fashion of table services with huge numbers of very specific pieces.  This chapter articulated the idea that Victorian-era entertaining was more about showing off your stuff and the prowess of your kitchen staff rather than about actually eating very much.  Your dinner may have had nine courses and umpteenth pieces of silverware, but you definitely needed teatime as an extra meal midday.  Like those in the nineteenth century, I also need pickle forks, compotes, celery vases, tomato spoons, and on, and on.

In all, Table Settings is a pretty book, with fine content, flimsy picture captions, and not enough pictures that illustrate the content in the text.  But now all I really want to do is catalogue, display and USE all of my tablewares!!!

Next Week:  Something not published by Victoria!!!

Tabletops

This week's book review and write-up are a bit out of sync this week because of travel in the middle, but moving on with our Books-from-the-Free-Library-Bookstore series, the other weekend I read Tabletops by Barbara Milo Orbach.

Orbach, author of many books on flowers, decorating, etc., fills her chapters with advice about what to put on the table, color schemes, flowers, and centerpieces.  She says, "The table is the center of life at home.  A beautifully set table is the ultimate symbol of hospitality and a way to express creativity." Each section includes a DIY project such as making napkin rings or floral arrangements.

This is a book from 1997.  And it shows.  The settings and table arrangements are lush, elegant and busy, unlike the simpler, more homemade aesthetic that prevails today.  I liked the book - not loved it - but to me it felt dated and a little quirky.  Here are some things I noticed and specifically noted:

• There is actual text to read, not just pictures and captions
• The text reads like the actual author might have written it
• The author constantly refers back to other books she has written, and in fairness, to other author's books
• A gauze ribbon tied around anything makes that thing better/fancier
• Scented stuff always creeps in, despite the author's saying that it's better to avoid scented products at a dinner party because it interferes with the food
• Although this professes to be a book about tabletops, it turns out to really be a book about flowers and making centerpieces with flowers, food, fruit, etc.  There is minimal information about setting the table, creating a balanced tabletop, and actually arranging the flowers.
• Any table inside is formal.  Any table outside is informal.

I don't buy all of this stuff, but there were a couple of things I liked about the book in particular.  

• The author emphasizes planning ahead and doesn't assume that you can create a beautiful table without trying things out and practicing first. 
• She admits that she really likes setting the table, but cooking is not her thing.  
• It made me think about a couple of things:  (1) The plates I always thought of as dessert plates in my sets of china are actually bread-and-butter plates, and (2) It's really past time to inventory and edit my china cabinets and think about what I already have that coordinates, or doesn't.

Next week:  The Cheese Course!  

A New Chapter...

Just when I come to the moment of admitting this blog should go away, I'm inspired to write something.  This week's inspiration is brought to you by the Free Library of Philadelphia, and more specifically, their used bookstore, which I happened to pass, and which happened to be open as I was walking across town the other evening on my way to the opera.  And you know what happens when you pass a used bookstore...

I came away with four books:

http://www.considerthefork.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Tabletops-Practical-Beautiful-Decorate-Table/dp/0517703327/ref=la_B001IO9I0U_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412347455&sr=1-2

 

http://www.adagio.com/pages/book.html

http://www.janetfletcher.com/books.html

...none of which I already owned, which is a miracle!!

But these books got me to thinking about my preoccupation with the subject matter these all dance around, the blogs I read, and the blogs I look for and don't find, now that blogs are unfashionable.  And then there's my not-so-secret desire to give up the career-oriented job I have and open a tea shop and library of all of these books, plus the many, many more on my bookshelves.  And so the kernel of an idea for this blog was born - a weekly review of literature.  Well a sort of literature anyway.

A quick glance at my catalog of books revealed just over 200 books I want to talk about here.  The topics vary, but the vast majority are about tea and tea-related topics.  The next set focuses on aspects of entertaining including tablescapes, table setting, etc.  The smallest group is about home organization and decorating, including a topic near and dear to my heart, flower arranging - a skill I don't really have, but covet.

I'll start with the four shown above, as I read them and attempt to find a place for them to live.  Hopefully you'll read about a new book weekly, starting next Tuesday!

What's in a name...

For completely unknown reasons today, I started to think about our old set of dairy silverware.  I grew up in a house with a kosher kitchen where we had separate dishes, silverware, pots, and pans for meat and dairy.  We also had “good” dishes for each, and silver for holiday meals, which were meat meals.

I always liked our dairy silverware, which had an asymmetrical swirl pattern.  And in fact, I have the dairy silverware, packed up, in a box, in the corner cabinet in my dining room.  When Mom was selling the house I grew up in about fifteen years ago, and saving as little as possible, she gave me the silverware, which I knew I wanted to use someday.  It’s still in the box.

But, I do have a few pieces of the silverware among my mismatched pieces in the silverware drawer (which include an assortment of my grandmother's meat AND dairy sets!).  But admittedly, these two teaspoons and a tablespoon are not from my mother’s set.  When I first started going to Pinewoods in the mid-90s, the dining hall silverware was this fantastic, motley collection, much of which had “Bd of Ed., City of New York” engraved on the back.  Hidden in among these were three random pieces in that pattern I was so familiar with!  Let’s just say that they didn’t remain at camp, and leave it at that…

Using one of those teaspoons for my morning yogurt, I flipped it over, curious to know the name of the pattern.  And wouldn’t you know it doesn’t say, only the name of the manufacturer:  Simeon L & George H Rogers & Co Stainless.  But in these days of the internet, that’s plenty.  Google Images and Ebay found it for me in no time:  Paramount.

Time to open that box...

Stories from the corner cabinet...

So Jennifer and I are throwing a tea party tomorrow. I've wanted to do this for a long time, and it's finally happening. We're doing it at my house, because I have all of the things!!

So, I knew it was finally time to unpack my floral teacups that Mom so carefully packed up for me when I moved out of my apartment (almost 4 years ago!!!!!!!!) I got the box out of the corner cabinet on Wednesday and unpacked it last night...

I love to go to flea markets when I can and look for china things - serving pieces. A bunch of years ago, at a flea market in Fitler Square, downtown in Phila, I bought the sugar and creamer for $6. This set off my little sugar and creamer set obsession, but that's another story... It turns out that when this set of china was produced, the sugar and creamer sat on a little tray (as pictured).



It became my mission to find the tray, and so I trolled Ebay, and about a year or so ago, I found the tray and bought it.

By this time, of course, I had lost track of the sugar and creamer. I knew I had them in the house and I was sure I put them away in frustration when I couldn't find the tray. Ever since I bought the tray, I have been searching all of my cabinets for the place I stashed the sugar and creamer. They were gone. My biggest fear was that I somehow decided to give up on the tray, and to give the sugar and creamer away. It didn't sound like me, but you never know...

Fast forward to last night and the great teacup unpacking moment...

I had forgotten that when Mom packed up the teacups, there were other things in that box. It was like unpacking a treasure chest. The teacups and saucers were there, all intact. There were also some loose pieces of the Japanese tableware I like (See this post...). One of those small bowls was broken - split in half - but I think I can carefully glue it back together and all will be well. And, guess what was also in the box???

Yes, there they were, the Adderley sugar and creamer, all wrapped up and undisturbed. Apparently, it was only an illusion of mine that they had ever been loose in the house, but it was never true until now. Today they sit, clean and beautiful, on their tray in the dining room, waiting for their first tea party in years!!!!

Tea time accoutremonts...

From one of today's Design*Sponge posts:





From the tea accessories collection by Bodo Sperlien for Yauatcha Atelier. I don't even want to know what they cost...

Treasured tines...

For some reason, probably having to do with my lifelong love of my mother's Spode dessert set, which we only dusted, but never used, I am attracted to tableware of all sorts, and especially tea accoutrements and interesting flatware. Several years ago now the Cooper Hewitt in New York ran a fabulous exhibit called, "Feeding Desire," which traced the history of eating utensils from 1500 to the present.



The exhibit was illuminating and reinforced my love of naturalistic silverware - Susie's twig utensils, and others like the piece pictured on the cover of the exhibit catalog, and the huge, Victorian sets where one place setting could possibly contain 50-100 pieces.

Then just last week Design*Sponge contained a post about forks! It reiterated much of what was in the Cooper Hewitt exhibit, but was a fun read.



The image above is from the post, a drawing by Julia Rothman that shows all of the forks you should have in your silver service.

I now have the urge to go to flea markets and antique stores and rummage for treasures in silver. And yes, in fact, I do want strawberry forks and bonbon spoons.

Birthday presents for myself...

This weekend I indulged in some shopping. My excuse? Well, my birthday!

Here's what I came away with:



Not exactly en route, but as I was driving from Lynn to Amherst this weekend, I took a side journey to greater downtown Topsfield, MA, home of Absolutely Everything, a rubber stamp and scrapbooking store. I think that their selection was wide and fabulous, but it's a bit hard to know as we no longer have independent craft stores in this little village of Philadelphia. I indulged in some stamps from my favorite company, Stamper's Anonymous, a few other bits and pieces and especially, some acryllic blocks to use with unmounted, cling stamps. Yes, she's finally joining the modern era of stampers. Maybe it's good that I don't live near this shop...



My next stop was Brattleboro, VT, home to many cute shops including Dragonfly Drygoods, one of the few even remotely local distributors of Emma Bridgewater pottery. I do want everything in the Black Toast line, but I settled for the pieces above.



Okay, not related to my birthday or to recent shopping, but still undocumented purchases, these pieces are from the very retired Dansk Floating Leaves line. Ebay is my friend. The plate is one of a set of four dessert plates. Now will she dive in and get the sugar bowl??? I wonder if there's a teapot? Maybe these are things I don't need to know...

Buried treasure...

After my Aunt Evelyn died six years ago, the task of clearing out her apartment fell largely on my mom. I remember being there to help out at least one day and sorting through books and fabric and slippers. Mom pressed us to take what we wanted, and while there were some things that I wanted, I knew there was no room for them in the one-bedroom apartment I lived in. So mom and I worked it out - I would take whatever we could pack into Aunt Evelyn's under-bed storage boxes, and someday I would have more space to enjoy what we salted away. And there the boxes stayed, safe under my bed, until they got moved to the house this year, still intact in my dining room cabinet.

Today I finally unpacked the boxes. It was like finding buried treasure.

My memory of the contents was bits and pieces of crystal, wine glasses, a set of china, and a few other things. I didn't remember that the set of china was a service for 12 with only one small dessert bowl missing. I didn't remember the cut-glass sugar and creamer set, nor the lone piece of Wedgewood Jasperware.

Today I had an afternoon with Aunt Evelyn for the first time in a while, and appreciate her gifts, bot tangible and intangible.

In the center...

I didn't intend this Thanksgiving centerpiece to be red and green - the lady apples were an impulse buy.

This image was my inspiration:



It was more of what I was going for, but vases or hurricanes large enough to accomodate my pillar candles were not in hand, so I improvised.

Note to self, get cranberry vase filler from Pottery Barn during the end-of-season sales in January...

All set...

Success! Dansk Floating Leaves series... The generally unavailable salad plates that match the other bits I got a bunch of years ago.

The free and the cheap...

Two new tray designs from Ikea, one of my air conditioned errands of yesterday. How could I leave the elephants behind?





Tonight's big score - Dansko clogs, in my size, free for nothing from Freecycle.

It apparently is true!

Walking from the trolley this morning, I spied these in the window of Steap. I'll have to go investigate!

Is it true?

Is there a new set of Tampopo (or whatever it's really called) teaware for me to covet?

Drink your words...

Teacups from Felicitea...

Images from chldhood...

I was bowled over when I saw this image on Apartment Therapy today, and more so when I saw that these are from High Street Market, an Etsy shop based in Philadelphia (though I think they must have sold). The caption called them "Vintage barware from the mid-1950's." I have all that remain of grandma's set of these, some faded from the dishwasher, some in great shape. And now they live where they always did at grandma's house: in the breakfront, bottom shelf, right-hand side.

More black & white pottery...

Bridgewater Pottery via Head of the Table. I need all of these and more...

Alas, poor Irving...

Irving was the name of the latest mouse I had in my apartment. He resisted all of the poison and traps the exterminators put under my kitchen radiator and stove. He resisted all of my entreaties to leave. And apparently he decided to come with me to the new house. He's not staying, and come trash day, he's leaving Mount Airy for good. George and Paul tell me I need a cat.

I started a post last night, but was too tired to make it coherant. I use this time to write while the latest batch of dishes is drying downstairs.

It's been a good weekend, primarily full of errands and dish washing. I completed my Saturday list of things, made it to Home Depot this morning looking for screws and a bracket for the breakfront, but completely forgot about the doorbell. But the main activity of the weekend has been dishwashing. And at last, thanks to Eleanor's help, the cabinets are nearing full, and the boxes are getting emptied. Things will be no near perfect for Passover, but at last I've made some serious inroads.

One of my latest obsessions these years has been with tableware - china, serving pieces, unusual fancy utencils. Among the things that got unwrapped and washed today were the various pieces of my grandmother's good set of meat dishes, which we also had at home and used as our every day meat dishes:



Our version of this was faded and minus the gold rims from many cycles in the dishwasher. Grandma's are in great shape having never seen the inside of a dishwasher (I think I only saw the inside of their dishwasher once).

I never thought very much about whether I liked or disliked these plates. They were just normal and familiar. And fine. Now facing dinner for a dozen, I found myself counting place settings today. And coming up short.

It was a service for 12, but I only have 11 dinner plates and 10 soup bowls. And I'm fairly convinced that I have all or most of the dessert plates, but they must be in another box. All of the salad plates, saucers and berry bowls check in, with the gravy boat, platter and vegetable bowl. I have the sugar and creamer, and the cups are among the next things to get washed and counted.

So like anyone might, I checked Replacements and ebay for the missing pieces. No dinner plates to be had (I just need one!). Bowls and dessert plates, no problem. I might pick them up. I'm still thinking about it.

The style these days is to not necessarily match all of your pieces. Something relatively plain with white and grey would work, or just plain white, or a white on white pattern. If I wanted to get anything pink, a solid pink or pink-rimmed plate in the same color way would work for layering.

And while it's not the set I would choose today if I were registering for china, I'm happy to have it and use it this holiday.

And if you come across a dinner plate, send it my way.

Random; house

Writing this blog is a good thing for many reasons, but one of the unintended things that has come of it is a pressure to post almost daily, and get it in by midnight. This creates a schedule, or an imperative almost, to be logged on and ready to write before midnight. With this kind of parameter, it's easier for me to get things done, and say, okay, I will do house thing from the moment I get home from Swarthmore and be done in time to log in before midnight.

This works in the early evening too. I get home about 5:45. On Thursdays I have to leave at 6:30 to head south. That leaves a brief gap, but with a clear start and end time, off I go. Today in the gap time I put dishes away, washed more dishes, made dinner, unpacked a box, ate dinner, got class stuff together and left. Not bad for 45 minutes.

I've read that if you have a task or chore you don't like doing, or regularly put off, if you create these time parameters, things go better. So if you don't like to clean, like me, you say, okay, I will clean for 1 hour, and get as much done in the hour as you can. This works well for me. If I have too much open-ended time, I get less done. This is why I will never work at home.

Unrelated decision: no more hiding things - keeping them wrapped up, saving them for the right time, not using them because they are too good. Tonight in one of my boxes of kitchen stuff were some plates that I bought a few years ago and kept wrapped up because I had no place to store them in the open, but also because they were too nice to use. If I'm not going to use it, or at lease look at it out in the open, I shouldn't have it.

Think of how nice this will look as a centerpiece, or under some lovely asparagus or clementines.

This is the fun part of playing house.