1. Because I obviously have too much time on my hands, I just started a second blog to talk about craft-related things and projects. Take a look: http://joannacreates.blogspot.com/
2. Reviews of tea and entertaining books will continue in this space. I may even veer off that fruitful topic every now and again and show you pictures of my garden or something. But on the topic of tea book reviews, one of the blogs I read featured a weekly review of a tea book a year or so ago. We have a bunch of books in common, and I'm not reading her reviews of the same book until after mine are done. Fascinating to read the differences. Guess who seems to be snarkier and more opinionated?? Check in out: Tea With Friends
4/01/2015
3/31/2015
Time for Tea
This week, I read Time for Tea; Tea and Conversation with Thirteen English Women by Michele Rivers, published in 1994.
This is another tea book I bought, sight unseen, and haven't gotten around to reading until now. I was intrigued by the premise of the book. It is neither a book about the tea table nor a recipe book, though it does include some recipes. Rather is is simply a series of conversations with actual people to try and capture why the tea time ritual is important in their lives, if it is at all. The idea is that tea in England is only rarely the lace cloth and best china kind of event. Tea as an event, or simply a beverage come in all forms. This book is a glimpse of some of them.
The women interviewed for the book vary: a farmer, an artist, bed and breakfast owner, grocery store check-out person, a Lady, a Marchioness, a six-year old, etc. None live in London; most seem to have children.
Each chapter begins with a description of the interviewee - a bit about her life, history, job, etc. The heart of each chapter is the interview, which is presented as an essay by the subject. Each story is different, but you can almost hear the author begin each interview in the same way: "tell me about tea time - what it is, and what it means to you." The essay begins with tea, or touches on it in some way, but each chapter takes off from that point. We learn about the features and the challenges of daily life, raising children, dealing with divorce, hectic schedules, animals and guests that need to be fed. Many of the women have had big transitions in their lives - new careers, second husbands, etc. For each woman though, it seems that tea plays a similar role in their lives, even if they don't perceive it in that way. Tea time is a pause in the routine, whether it comes daily, weekly, or only occasionally. It's not a grab-and-go beverage like coffee, but a moment to stop and reflect or stop and chat for a second, or simply take a brief break from the race.
The final interview with two teenagers sums things up well. Even if the subjects don't think that tea is a part of their lives, it somehow is. They all drink more tea than they think they do.
So what role does tea and tea time play in your life?
This is another tea book I bought, sight unseen, and haven't gotten around to reading until now. I was intrigued by the premise of the book. It is neither a book about the tea table nor a recipe book, though it does include some recipes. Rather is is simply a series of conversations with actual people to try and capture why the tea time ritual is important in their lives, if it is at all. The idea is that tea in England is only rarely the lace cloth and best china kind of event. Tea as an event, or simply a beverage come in all forms. This book is a glimpse of some of them.
The women interviewed for the book vary: a farmer, an artist, bed and breakfast owner, grocery store check-out person, a Lady, a Marchioness, a six-year old, etc. None live in London; most seem to have children.
Each chapter begins with a description of the interviewee - a bit about her life, history, job, etc. The heart of each chapter is the interview, which is presented as an essay by the subject. Each story is different, but you can almost hear the author begin each interview in the same way: "tell me about tea time - what it is, and what it means to you." The essay begins with tea, or touches on it in some way, but each chapter takes off from that point. We learn about the features and the challenges of daily life, raising children, dealing with divorce, hectic schedules, animals and guests that need to be fed. Many of the women have had big transitions in their lives - new careers, second husbands, etc. For each woman though, it seems that tea plays a similar role in their lives, even if they don't perceive it in that way. Tea time is a pause in the routine, whether it comes daily, weekly, or only occasionally. It's not a grab-and-go beverage like coffee, but a moment to stop and reflect or stop and chat for a second, or simply take a brief break from the race.
The final interview with two teenagers sums things up well. Even if the subjects don't think that tea is a part of their lives, it somehow is. They all drink more tea than they think they do.
So what role does tea and tea time play in your life?
3/20/2015
The Pantry
This week I finally finished re-reading The Pantry: Its History and Modern Uses, written by Catherine Seiberling Pond in 2007.
The Pantry covers the history of the room in American homes, and is meant to be an inspiration for modern pantries, which are one of most asked for spaces among house hunters. The book is divided into chapters, each covering pantries of a different era. The Early American chapter points out that pantries were a necessity because food storage was crucial as people bought (made, grew, etc.) food in quantity to last for long periods of time, especially those who lived outside of urban areas. By the Victorian era, kitchens were more industrial with cast iron stoves and linoleum floors. This was the era of home economics where the kitchen was meant to be hygenic and efficient. Kitchens were work spaces, no longer the center of the home, but moved to the back, or even to the basement in urban homes. In this era, especially in upper class homes, the butler's pantry became the buffer zone between the kitchen and the dining room.
When I think of a pantry, I have the image of a butler's pantry: banks of cabinets with glass doors above and long counters, that combination of display and storage away from the grease and dust of the kitchen. Something like this would do just fine:
By the middle of the 20th century, food shortages during the wars and the birth of convenience foods and neighborhood grocery stores meant that there were fewer foods to store. The space pantries took up was re-purposed for broom closets, breakfast nooks, etc. The function of the pantry was subsumed into the kitchen.
But now (at least in 2007), the pantry is back. With the DIY and maker movements, and people into growing and preserving food, they need a place to keep it all. If you want to create a pantry reminiscent of any era, this book offers design hints at the end of each chapter to demonstrate what made pantries of that era unique.
Do you have a pantry in your house? I don't, and I desperately need one - for food and china storage. To me the very word pantry conjures up the idea of order: things displayed on shelves where they are easily located and accessed, beautiful things arrayed in the open where you can see them and remember you have them (and use them!) not hidden away and forgotten in a cabinet. A pantry will definitely be something I look for in my next house!
When I think of a pantry, I have the image of a butler's pantry: banks of cabinets with glass doors above and long counters, that combination of display and storage away from the grease and dust of the kitchen. Something like this would do just fine:
By the middle of the 20th century, food shortages during the wars and the birth of convenience foods and neighborhood grocery stores meant that there were fewer foods to store. The space pantries took up was re-purposed for broom closets, breakfast nooks, etc. The function of the pantry was subsumed into the kitchen.
But now (at least in 2007), the pantry is back. With the DIY and maker movements, and people into growing and preserving food, they need a place to keep it all. If you want to create a pantry reminiscent of any era, this book offers design hints at the end of each chapter to demonstrate what made pantries of that era unique.
Do you have a pantry in your house? I don't, and I desperately need one - for food and china storage. To me the very word pantry conjures up the idea of order: things displayed on shelves where they are easily located and accessed, beautiful things arrayed in the open where you can see them and remember you have them (and use them!) not hidden away and forgotten in a cabinet. A pantry will definitely be something I look for in my next house!
2/23/2015
Shopping day!
Oh, my devoted fans, all two of you... Another book review is in process and should appear some time this week. But in the meantime, here's a preview of some new books just added to the collection.
I was in NYC yesterday, walking across town, wondering what happened to the Fishs Eddy store that used to be there (Note: the Fish's Eddy store is still there, just at 19th and Broadway, not at 13th Street, where I was), when I spied the Strand Bookstore. My friend George is always talking about the Strand, and his inability to leave the store without a bagful of books, but my memory of the Strand was of a series of kiosks by Central Park, not a stand-alone bookstore. In I went. Danger ahead.
The Strand is like a bookstore on steroids. There are miles of books there, several floors, really high, really full shelves, new, used, everything. I only scratched the surface as I had a train to catch, but if you go, allocate a good bit of time. And I will give you a list of things to look for for me.
The little time I had was spent in the cooking section. Shock and surprise. They have an area clearly labeled for books about tea and coffee, and another for entertaining. Most bookstores have these areas as well, but they shrink every year until they are subsumed into "general cooking." I came away with four books - three about tea, and one about table setting. Stay tuned for reviews of these...
I'm surprised I don't have this book from the mid-80s by Michael Smith. But my list says no. I need to double-check. If I have two, who wants the other copy?
Most of the tablescapes in this book are far too unrealistic and over-the-top for me, but I'm hoping to get some good ideas.
The couple that wrote this book have a few others published as well. All of their books are really just recipe books from their bed-and-breakfast, but I always like seeing what recipes people choose for a themed tea party.
Although it is unlikely I will ever make my own tea from homegrown plants, you never know...
What books are you reading this winter?
I was in NYC yesterday, walking across town, wondering what happened to the Fishs Eddy store that used to be there (Note: the Fish's Eddy store is still there, just at 19th and Broadway, not at 13th Street, where I was), when I spied the Strand Bookstore. My friend George is always talking about the Strand, and his inability to leave the store without a bagful of books, but my memory of the Strand was of a series of kiosks by Central Park, not a stand-alone bookstore. In I went. Danger ahead.
The Strand is like a bookstore on steroids. There are miles of books there, several floors, really high, really full shelves, new, used, everything. I only scratched the surface as I had a train to catch, but if you go, allocate a good bit of time. And I will give you a list of things to look for for me.
The little time I had was spent in the cooking section. Shock and surprise. They have an area clearly labeled for books about tea and coffee, and another for entertaining. Most bookstores have these areas as well, but they shrink every year until they are subsumed into "general cooking." I came away with four books - three about tea, and one about table setting. Stay tuned for reviews of these...
I'm surprised I don't have this book from the mid-80s by Michael Smith. But my list says no. I need to double-check. If I have two, who wants the other copy?
Most of the tablescapes in this book are far too unrealistic and over-the-top for me, but I'm hoping to get some good ideas.
The couple that wrote this book have a few others published as well. All of their books are really just recipe books from their bed-and-breakfast, but I always like seeing what recipes people choose for a themed tea party.
Although it is unlikely I will ever make my own tea from homegrown plants, you never know...
What books are you reading this winter?
2/11/2015
Passion for Tea
I'd put this week's book on my Amazon wishlist a while ago. The cover is so compelling...
And while I like nothing better than browsing for and buying books online, it will never beat being able to pick up a book, read the back or the flyleaf, and truly evaluate whether or not it gets into your collection. So yes, I judged a book by its cover and failed...
Beverly Rorem's book from 2008 reminds me of nothing so much as a coloring book. It shares those dimensions and soft-cover quality. And while there are no pictures to apply my crayons to, the book might be improved by their inclusion. But maybe I'm just too critical.
The author is clearly on a crusade. She is not a tea expert (and not a writer), but a self-taught tea lover. She opens the book saying that, "tea is sexy, tea is glamourous, tea is funky," but her examples don't demonstrate these ideas. Just because there is a tea shop in the East Village doesn't mean that tea is funky. The availability of more than one kind of tea at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas does not make tea glamourous. There's just no evidence in this book that tea is sexy at all. But Rorem is certainly ardent, if not articulate.
The book jumps all over the place in terms of topics. It reads like a grade school book report: I've read a lot of stuff, now let me relate it all to you. The author mentions Starbucks twice in the first ten pages and five times by page 40, as if mentioning a popular coffee establishment will lend tea and this book credibility. She also tells you to read Wikipedia to research certain tea topics. The bibliography credits several articles from the Encyclopedia Britannica as sources for the book.
The book concludes with a long chapter on all of the health benefits of drinking tea and includes snippets on how tea can cure anything from ADD to Alzheimer's, and everything in-between.
Passion for Tea, while clearly passionate, is a clear example of the perils of self-publishing. In some ways I hope the author didn't have an editor, because this work does not do anyone credit.
But the cover is pretty!
Beverly Rorem's book from 2008 reminds me of nothing so much as a coloring book. It shares those dimensions and soft-cover quality. And while there are no pictures to apply my crayons to, the book might be improved by their inclusion. But maybe I'm just too critical.
The author is clearly on a crusade. She is not a tea expert (and not a writer), but a self-taught tea lover. She opens the book saying that, "tea is sexy, tea is glamourous, tea is funky," but her examples don't demonstrate these ideas. Just because there is a tea shop in the East Village doesn't mean that tea is funky. The availability of more than one kind of tea at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas does not make tea glamourous. There's just no evidence in this book that tea is sexy at all. But Rorem is certainly ardent, if not articulate.
The book jumps all over the place in terms of topics. It reads like a grade school book report: I've read a lot of stuff, now let me relate it all to you. The author mentions Starbucks twice in the first ten pages and five times by page 40, as if mentioning a popular coffee establishment will lend tea and this book credibility. She also tells you to read Wikipedia to research certain tea topics. The bibliography credits several articles from the Encyclopedia Britannica as sources for the book.
The book concludes with a long chapter on all of the health benefits of drinking tea and includes snippets on how tea can cure anything from ADD to Alzheimer's, and everything in-between.
Passion for Tea, while clearly passionate, is a clear example of the perils of self-publishing. In some ways I hope the author didn't have an editor, because this work does not do anyone credit.
But the cover is pretty!
1/21/2015
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!!!
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!!!
1/15/2015
The Essential Tea Companion
This week's book brings us to the last of my Victoria Magazine tea books. Victoria has since started publishing annual tea-themed magazines, but more on that some other time...
The Essential Tea Companion from 2009 essentially re-purposes much of the content from Charms, Pleasures and Art. In this volume, there is no one author because it is a compilation and even says so. I suspect Kim Waller is the main contributor because of her part in the previous volumes, but this is unclear and unstated in the book. Many of the pictures are of settings familiar from the previous books, but they are different shots of the same setting from those that appeared previously.
In tone, this book is much the same as Pleasures and Art, but there are a few key differences:
-It is very clear that this book is about tea parties and tea things. It's nice to finally have that out there, and have all of the extra bits gone. There are no preemptive interviews, no pieces of random text just stuck in there. Just parties and stuff. Fine.
-The pictures have captions!! The captions don't always tell you the name of the china pattern or the source of the thing, but they do relate the pictures to the text, which is a start.
-Recipes are back, and there are lots of them.
But still and all, the book is very much in line with the concept of Victoria Magazine and the idea that life is or can be a blissful fantasy. For example, there is a section on the prevalence of the silver tea service and how its popularity declined after WWII (which is why you should seek them out at antique stores and vintage sales and snap them up!), but no practical advice on how to polish, clean, store, and preserve your silver tea things, or any of your other tea wares. It's almost as if covering that topic would break the romantic spell of Victoria. It's also a lost opportunity to segue into the joy of home organization, natural cleaning products, and, of course, butler's panties, but again, I do appreciate the clear focus on parties and stuff. And if Victoria or anyone else published a book on butler's pantries, I would buy it for sure!
Next time, I have one last Victoria book to share with you: Table Settings!
The Essential Tea Companion from 2009 essentially re-purposes much of the content from Charms, Pleasures and Art. In this volume, there is no one author because it is a compilation and even says so. I suspect Kim Waller is the main contributor because of her part in the previous volumes, but this is unclear and unstated in the book. Many of the pictures are of settings familiar from the previous books, but they are different shots of the same setting from those that appeared previously.
In tone, this book is much the same as Pleasures and Art, but there are a few key differences:
-It is very clear that this book is about tea parties and tea things. It's nice to finally have that out there, and have all of the extra bits gone. There are no preemptive interviews, no pieces of random text just stuck in there. Just parties and stuff. Fine.
-The pictures have captions!! The captions don't always tell you the name of the china pattern or the source of the thing, but they do relate the pictures to the text, which is a start.
-Recipes are back, and there are lots of them.
But still and all, the book is very much in line with the concept of Victoria Magazine and the idea that life is or can be a blissful fantasy. For example, there is a section on the prevalence of the silver tea service and how its popularity declined after WWII (which is why you should seek them out at antique stores and vintage sales and snap them up!), but no practical advice on how to polish, clean, store, and preserve your silver tea things, or any of your other tea wares. It's almost as if covering that topic would break the romantic spell of Victoria. It's also a lost opportunity to segue into the joy of home organization, natural cleaning products, and, of course, butler's panties, but again, I do appreciate the clear focus on parties and stuff. And if Victoria or anyone else published a book on butler's pantries, I would buy it for sure!
Next time, I have one last Victoria book to share with you: Table Settings!
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