Celebrations!!!! And a breaking to breathe!

I am so pleased to report that the horrible cyber criminal blog that "scraped" or copied all of my blog posts whole...including text and photos and replaced all the links with porn and malware links has finally been taken down completely by Google. Woopie!!!!!

I am due to leave for a cruise on Wednesday...part holiday, part perscription from my doctor and allergist to get out on the ocean & breathe deeply. It's the only place I really breathe clearly, and it allows my system to recover and the meds to work again.  Now I can go and truly relax and not worry what I'm coming back to.

Thanks so much for all of the kind comments during this ordeal. Bernideen of Bernideen's Teatime Blog, Judith of Lavender Cottage and Kathy of A Delightsome Life  are also relieved. We have spent a lot of time sharing, encouraging and brain storming ideas for all of us to protect ourselves that I know will be shared over the next few weeks.  Thank you, dear friends.

So...I am taking a blogging break until May 13th when we get home. I hope, Lord willing, to have a Tuesday Cuppa Tea meme here at the Antiques And Teacups blog up that evening, a Monday, but it may not be until Tuesday because from now on I will watermark my photos and that will be another step in the blog process. But enjoy your blog friends and their posts, and take good care of cyberspace until I return.
Love you all, my dear tea friends!

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, April Teacup, Victoria BC

Hello and welcome Tuesday Cuppa Tea! It has been a week of a battle against online piracy for me an several blogging friends...hence the post delay.  A week ago, I found out by accident, that all of my posts...images and texts...the complete posts...had been pirated or "scraped" by a cyber criminal. Bernideen and Judith  were also hit, and the cyber criminal is usuing Kathy's old Blogger address, A Delightsome Life that was taken when she moved to another blogging format.  

There are other posts on the nefarious blog that I don't recognize, so there are other innocent, unsuspecting victims as well.  To see if you are included, here is the link. Google has stripped out the malware that was there, but if you hover over anything, or click the large stuff on the right hand side you get porn....http://www.adelightsomelife.blogspot.com/

The difficult thing, Google will remove any posts we can prove are ours, but that requires the time consuming matching of up of the URL every one of the posts on the scraping site in writing with the URL of our original posts...and it looks like they have taken 3-5 years of posts. Sigh...

But enough of the difficult, and on to the enjoyable!  The teacups I have for this week (which you will notice now has a watermark which was reccomended to us, please forgive the style, I am learning new software) is an April teacup from a newer manufacturer called Royal Castle, England, that sprung up in the late 1980s in response to the demise of the larger English potteries.

The teacup is bone china and has a pretty sweet pea pattern. I had it ready for this post, and then it sold yesterday. I can see why! I love these Flower Of The Month deigns! Royal Albert and several other potteries have done them and they are very popular, especially for birthdays. Great fun!

I had planned a Titanic post for today before I discovered the theft, so couldn't get everything watermarked for today. So my apologies. April 10th, 1912 is the date the fabulous ship sank, I just wanted to commemorate that with this scarf I bought at the Titanic exhibit in Ireland 2 years ago.  To see a previous post I did on the Titanic and it's china, click HERE

I shared a couple of weeks ago that our son and daughter in law had come to visit us for our son's 43rd birthday as a wonderful surprise. They wanted to go to Victoria, BC and we stayed...as it was a last minute trip and our usual favorite hotels were booked because of the Canadian National Curling Championships...at the Swans Suite Hotel on the edge of Victoria's Chinatown.

We had a two bedroom suite just beside the Swans Hotel sign which was great! We had a marvelous time. Our son was especially happy because they have a brew pub and restaurant and were given free sampler coupons. I don't drink, and 1 is my honey's limit, so the kids enjoyed our coupons. The days brew that was the favorite was the Chocolate Porter...who knew????

We wanted Chinese food...if you are in Chinatown that goes without saying! We were directed through the historical Fan Tan Alley, listed as the narrowest true street in Victoria, to Don Mee's restaurant which was fabulous!  That's our kids walking ahead of us.

Don Mee's was on the first floor up and both huge, and packed!

We ordered the dinner for 4 and it was outstanding! I apologize because after these first 2 courses, we were all taking and eating so fast I forgot to take any other photos!  There were leftovers we took back to the room and the kids had them for breakfast. We went downstairs for some more normal fare in the sun room annex of the restaurant.  We were so blessed to have 4 days with our kids, then took them back to the Bainbridge Ferry where they headed for the airport.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will visit the list of just some of the blogs I'll be visiting.  There is also a linky for you to link your tea related post. Have a great week and don't forget to find time for a cuppa with a friend!

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 

Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tea       

Michelle ~ http://www.finchrest.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Betty ~ http://teacoziecottage.blogspot.ca/

Tea Tuesday

Phyllis ~ http://www.relevanttealeaf.blogspot.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Shawn ~ http://poetryinapotoftea.blogspot.com/

Poetry In A Pot Of Tea

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

 Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday                                           

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Home On Wednesday

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Antique Staffordshire and English Rock Cakes

Hello my dear friends and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I am so glad you have joined me!

Today my cup and saucer is similar to some I've shared before, but a new version I found in England recently. I love antique Staffordshire white ironstone in the Chelsea, Grandmother's or Sprig patterns that were most popular in the mid Victorian period, 1850-1880s.

This particular teacup is unmarked, and is actually a rare pattern. The most usual Chelsea patterns had grapes, swags or regular flower baskets of applied blue on white patterns, many touched with an over painting of copper luster. This unusual pattern had a cornucopia flower basket, and is the only of that pattern I have seen in 30 years in the china business. I just love it! Here are examples of the more usual patterns I see:

Wonderful stuff! The pattern was made by various potters and remained popular through the 1930s. The last example seems to have been produced in the 1950s.  I just love it! The photos above are from my archives. The teacup is available at Antiques And Teacups.

On a note of caution: I just found out be accident that all of my posts, photos etc are being pirated and used on a malware site. If you see a link to anything in a search engine for something that sounds like my post, or Tuesday Cuppa Tea, make sure it come to this blog, Antiques And Teacups ONLY!  It has been reported to Blogger. I am TICKED!

Okay, now on the better things!  I made a favorite tea time treat, but dairy free of course. Have you ever had an English Rock Cake? If you have had a drop scone (as opposed to a shaped , cut or wedge scone with dried fruit of rainsins, then you probably have, and didn't know it!

Here they are on the silicone baking sheet, and here are the finished Rock Cakes. They were named that because the fruit pieces make the shape and texture ineven and so...look like a rock!

Here is the recipe. They are a family favorite and this is a family recipe, and go together quickly:

English Rock Cakes

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour  (if you don't have self rising flour, use 2 cups all purpose + 3 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (I use vegan)
1 egg
2/3 cup mixed dried fruit OR dark & golden raisins
1 tbs milk (or soy milk)

In a large bowl, cut in the margarine into the flour (or flour mixture with baking powder and salt) with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the sugar and dried fruit or raisins. Beat the egg and milk and stir into the flour mixture to make a stiff dough. Spoon the mixture by round shaped heaps onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!

So glad you could join me today! I am joining the following blogs...and lots more. I hope you can visit them. They all have such wonderful stories to tell and share!   Also...the linky is there for you to link your tea related posts. And comments are always so appreciated! Have a great week, and don't forget to have a cuppa tea with a friend!

Common Ground ~ http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com

Monday Marketplace

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 

Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tea       

Michelle ~ http://www.finchrest.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Betty ~ http://teacoziecottage.blogspot.ca/

Tea Tuesday

Phyllis ~ http://www.relevanttealeaf.blogspot.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Shawn ~ http://poetryinapotoftea.blogspot.com/

Poetry In A Pot Of Tea

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

 Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday                                           

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Home On Wednesday

Thursday Tea Things And Talk, Art Deco Teapot, Pineapple Gingerbread Cake

Hi friends and welcome to Thursday Tea Things And Talk on this forst Thursday in April.

Things have been a bit hectic with allergist appointments and tests, etc, but  I think are back to a bit of normal now. Wheww!!!!  So I am late today...the allergist ran REALLY late today, but it's all good.   I wanted to share a great art deco pottery teapot from the 1930s that I just LOVE! 

I am such a fan or art deco and the streamlined style. This teapot is from a little know pottery called Kernewlle Pottery which was existed in Cornwall, England for only a few short years in the 1930s. The Cornish word for Cornwall is Kernow, so I think it must be related to that. It has the treacle glaze coloring of an humble Brown Betty teapot with some added mottling. But the shape is wonderful!

Really cool!It's the only one I have ever seen like it.  I am a great fan of the homliness of Brown Bettys but this has an added dimension. Avaliable at Antiques And Teacups, just click the photos.

As I have been dealing with allergies, I have been experimenting with recipes that I could make that were dairy free.  One of the ones that has worked well in pineapple upside down cake, as soy milk is so easily substituted in the cake recipe and it has no milk based frosting. I did this for Easter along with my ham and a dairy free scalloped potato version that was awesome...only I forgot to take a photo!  Then I found this recipe for a Gingerbread Pineapple Upside Down cake that was wonderful!.. I forgot to take a photo, but the website had one:

I originally got the recipe from Coastal Living magazine, and it's online at MyRecipes.com.  Here is the recipe:

Pineapple Upside-Down Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, divided

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar, divided

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh pineapple

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup molasses

1 large egg

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch cast iron or heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Tilt skillet to coat sides. Remove from heat, and stir in 1 cup brown sugar. Arrange pineapple on bottom of skillet; set aside.
2. 2. Stir together flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. 3. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/2 cup hot water, molasses, and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar. Whisk in egg.
4. 4. Add butter mixture gradually to flour mixture, stirring until well blended. Pour batter into prepared skillet.
5. 5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert cake onto a round platter. Scrape any sugar mixture left in skillet over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Julia Rutland, Coastal Living
DECEMBER 2011

It is always so good to find a dairy recipe I like and is easy to makE! Cool!  Have a wonderful weekend!