Tuesday Cuppa Tea Halloween, Candy Corn Day, Leftover Candy Cake

Hello and Boo! It's time for Tuesday Cuppa Tea!

Some of you may remember my posting this before at Halloween...one of my favorite photos from Harrod's Departmant store in London on a visit several years ago in October....TeeHee!!! I wasn't able to photograph a teatime this week...to many doctor and vet visits! But I do want to share some Halloween treats...and remind you about National Candy Corn Day and what you can do with the leftovers...I know you have them...so do I!

My fall runner is on the buffet with the chenille pumpkin with it's fabric leaves, ceramic pinecones and a bowl of candy corn...found at our local natural food shop...which is kinda funny...made by JellyBelly.  

October 30th is National Candy Corn Day...did you miss it??? They were created in the 1880s by a man named Renninger...I wonder if he has anything to do with the famous Renninger's antique fairs???? Anyway....But the funniest thing was finding Candy Corn Oreos....

I just couldn't resist! Really sweet, but...pretty much a candy corn taste.

And, as I say, there will probably be left overs hanging around after October 31st, so I wanted to share a great recipe I found on MyRecipes.com with an ingredient of a lovely looking cake being leftover mini candy bars. I made one last year for a neighbor's birthday on Nov. 3rd, but never got any photos ...sigh

Leftover Candy Cake

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups finely chopped chocolate candies such as Snickers, Almond Joy or Reese's peanut butter cups
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Icing:
• 4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• Preparation

  • 1. Make cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup nonstick Bundt pan. Sift 3 cups flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, toss candies with remaining 1/2 cup flour.
  • 2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light, 3 minutes. Add yolks one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Beat in 1/3 of flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of milk. Repeat, ending with flour mixture. Do not overmix.
  • 3. In a clean, dry bowl using dry beaters, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Stir candies and 1/3 of egg whites into batter. Fold in remaining whites. Spoon batter into Bundt pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold cake.
  • 4. Make icing: Place chocolate in a bowl. Warm cream in a pan over medium heat until just boiling. Pour over chocolate, let stand for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly. Pour icing over cake, allowing excess to drip over sides.
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Hope fully we will be a bit back to normal for this next week...at least the cat is home from the vets and eating...although still under the bed...so my husband is also doing a bit better as his comfort kitty is improving. We just have to go on Thursday to his neurologist for the final MRI and other test results and say goodbye...which will be pretty hard as he was great!  And I have an appointment with an opthamologist for a leaking retina...but, could be worse! Lol!

I wanted to let you know that I am starting a 15% OFF sale Nov. 1st in conjunction with Shabby Lane Shops:

Here are some of the blog parties this week I will be joining:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and I do read every one if I can find and can get to you to visit!  If you comment from Google+…it isn’t easy...so forgive me if I am not replying to comments you so kindly leave...I am trying!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea Autumn Leaves Tea, Clare China, Simple Shortbread Cookies

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! It is definitely fall...leaves falling everywhere and beautifully colorful!

I decided to do a small tea in the sunroom with an autumn leaves theme...because it has been quite stressy around here with one thing and another...now found out our cat has a neurological disease called Feline Hyperaesthesia Syndrome...along with a husband with Parkinson's Disease!  Lol! Anyway...it was time for comfort food so made shortbread cookies, which are my husband's favorites and got our my autumn leaf cookie cutter...

I am using a part teaset I have made by Clare, England with a design on purple leaves...either grape leaves or ivy...I have never really decided...in a rich purple...

Clare China was a late comer really, to the Staffordshire potteries scene, only appearing in 1951. It was a short life...the company didn't survive the next pottery apocoypse in the early 1960s, and pretty well disappeared in 1962.

Below is the cake plate of the set...so you can see it without the cookies...and I have included my family recipe layer in the post for Simple Shortbread Rolled Cookies...

And of course, we need tea! I am having the end of a tin of Twinings Darjeeling black tea, which I almost always have on hand....

I have the teapot in a padded fall themed tea cozy with grapes, fruit, berries and leaves....

and am using one of my 1940s embroidered tea cloths...I just love vintage linens!

But of course...there are also my shortbread cookies...simple...but then, nowadays they have to be for me to have time to make them! The recipe follows...

Simple Rolled Shortbread Cookies

1 cup softened butter...2 stcks
1/2 cup powdered sugar...more if using for dusting rolling pin and surface
2 cups all pupose flour
colored sugar crystals for decorating if you are using

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well mixed and fluffy. Add flour and continue to mix until mixture forms a soft. Form dough into a ball with your hands.

Roll dough 1/4-inch thick on a surface dusted with flour or powdered sugar with a well-dusted rolling pin. Cut into shapes with floured or powder sugared cookie cutter and place on prepared baking sheets. Repeat as necessary, until all done, then sprinkle with sugar crystals.

Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until cookies are pale golden brown. Let cool on baking sheets.

Thanks so much for joining me for tea today! Above is a photo of a gorgeous bush I passed on my walk and posted on my Facebook page...I am sure many of the gardeners among you will know what it is, but I don't...it's just beautiful!

I am hoping to join the following linky parties:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

 Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and I do read every one if I can find and can get to you to visit!  If you comment from Google+…it isn’t easy...so forgive me if I am not replying to comments you so kindly leave...I am trying!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea - Storm Looming Here, Shelley Trees And Leaves Teacup, Pumpkin Scones

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! 

I usually space working on my post throughout the week, but this week has been a total derailment of plans. We had the last of the tests for my husband which took several hours, and we have been under a storm warning for two days for the approaching restrengthened Pacific cyclone or typhoon Songda which is to start hitting us today, Thursday, with the eye now tracked to pass directly over us on Saturday evening with 85 mile an hour winds and up. They are forecasting it to be one of the 5 worst storms in Washington history.  Oh goody! You hurricane folks know what it's like, but the last one here was in 1962. So...thought I would repost from 2012, because we are still preparing, and it has started to rain heavily. At least 5 inches forecast by Saturday evening..splish, splash!

Just an update...we were spared the worst...Saturday evening/night it wobbled left out to sea a bit and so we just had 30-45 mph winds and 2 inches of rain. Praise God!

 Leaves are everywhere, so I was prompted to share this marvelous art deco era Shelley China, England tea cup and saucer with a fall and leaves design called Tree On A Hill With Leaves, or somtimes Tree With Autumn Leaves.

The cup and saucer is actually a demitasse or smaller teacup, but it was also made in a regular size, and you can't tell the difference just by a photo.  The cup and saucer was made between 1933 and 1945, and I love the deco handle and shape.  This art deco shape is called Regent, and wasn't made for very long. 

Such an autumn design! 

I wanted to share this seasonal recipe I found in Tea Time Magazine, a favorite publication....Pumpkin Scones With Maple Butter. I love the way the cream is served in mini a pumpkin! I have made these and they were wonderful, but don't have photos...forgot to photo them before they were gone!

Pumpkin Scones

2½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
Maple Butter (see Download for recipe)

• Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Set aside.
• In a large bowl, sift together 2¼ cups flour, sugar, baking powder,
salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg.
• Using a pastry blender or fork, cut the butter into the flour
mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and
pumpkin, and stir until just combined. Add additional flour, if
necessary, until mixture forms a loose dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll to
¾-inch thickness. Cut into 12 (2¼-inch) rounds. Place on prepared
baking sheet.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Transfer to
wire racks to cool slightly.
• Serve warm with Maple Butter.

Well I am certainly hoping the forecasts are wrong, and we are just fine, but I am scheduling this post early just in case. They are telling us there will be widespread power outages and other problems, so....here are some blog parties I hope I will be able to join!

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and I do read every one if I can find and can get to you to visit!  If you comment from Google+…it isn’t easy...so forgive me if I am not replying to comments you so kindly leave...I am trying!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea - Antiquing At Covent Garden London - Canadian Thanksgiving

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea...which coincides with Canadian Thanksgiving! So Happy Thanksgiving to our dear northerly neighbors! 

And that made me think of harvest, and that led me to fruit, so that reminded me of a Wedgwood cup and saucer with fruit on it...and that led to an afternoon tea for Tuesday Cuppa Tea!

I had also been thinking about England and antiquing, so you'll see why this was also appropriate.

The teacup pattern is called Covent Garden, which is a famous ages old market area in London, that started life as a produce market....

Covent Garden was established in the 1750s and also has the distiction of being the setting of one of the world's best know musicals My Fair Lady. A cockney flower seller, Eliza Doolittle is kidnapped/coerced as a research and makeover project by a speech therapist, Henry Higgins, in a retelling of the Greek comedy/tragedy Pygmalion and Galatea. Julie Andrews originated the role on the West End of London and then took the play to Broadway but was replaced by Audrey Hepburn in the movie.

he pattern was made in the late 1940s to early 1960s, and I love the cheery fruit!

I used my fall hand embroidered table topper or bridge cloth with matching napkins...

And had a friend join me...a whimsical an artist made Siamese cat I found at an art walk a few years ago...

My tea this week, in honor of Canadian Thanksgiving, is a Canadian 3 pack of fitted stacking tins I bought in Victoria, BC a few months ago...the flavors are Canadian Breakfast, Ice Wine Black and Maple Black...all of which are delicious. They are packaged by Metropolitan tea.

And my teapot is one I found recently in the Friendly Village pattern, a large polychrome transferware pattern. And I thought it was perfect for this tea time, because the pattern is the Sugar Maples design...cool, huh?!

It is marked Made In England, but it is an early Johnson Brothers version.

And this brings me back to...Covent Garden, London!

Covent Garden still has days when fruit, vegetables and all sorts of produce but also has specialized market days. When we are in London for a week at the start of our month long buying trips, Mondays is always set aside for Covent Garden's Antiques day on Mondays at the Jubilee Hall and outdoor stalls by the Apple Market.  While all this is going on, haggling in process on all sides, there are also outdoor cafes, food sellers of all sorts and street musicians called buskers and all kinds of entertainment all over the area.

And of course, our favorite Jubilee and Apple market antiques days...

We have had opera singers performing from the Royal Opera, students giving sketches from the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts, ventiloquists, jugglers, all types of instrumentalists, string quartets, brass ensembles...you name it! Covent Garden is a place where anything can happen...and on a Monday and in London we won't be anywhere else!

For more info on the Covent Garden teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

I am with the kids this week, so am not sure if I'll be linking at the following blog parties, but I'm sure you will love visiting...

No Place Like Home

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and I do read every one if I can find and can get to you to visit!  If you comment from Google+…it isn’t easy...so forgive me if I am not replying to comments you so kindly leave...I am trying!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea - Royal Warrants Explained

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea!  Wishing my Jewish friends a happy Rosh Hashanah!

We are in San Francisco with the kids, as a post doctor induced stress reducer  Thank you all for your wishes, thoughts, prayers and comments. It's not over yet, more tests to go when we get back, but we are coping well, as we know Whose hands we are resting in!  But, as not at home, no no tea table today...just teacups!

Ever wonder what a Royal Warrant is...and how you get it?  I had a customer ask about it this week and also came across the same question emailed from this blog from someone visiting for Tuesday Cuppa Tea.


Royal Warrants were designed to represent patronage by the British Royal family. Originally the warrant even named the royal personage and meant that their wares had been purchased (or received from the company as a gift and approved) by the royal person named. I am using Paragon England as exa,ples, as they are frequently seen....and here is an example:

The mark belongs to the teacup below...a  teacup was made by Paragon and bears the Royal Warrant above identifying the item was made between 1937-1952. The mark is for Queen Elizabeth, affectionately known until her death as the Queen Mum, wife of King George VI and her mother-in-law Queen Mary who died in 1953. 

We know the exact date for this teacup, because, not only does the mark date it, but the teacup was made to commemorate the Royal wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth to Philip Mountbatten in 1939 in a variant of the Indian Tree pattern in hand colored on transfer with hand painted enamel accents and an unusual border of bells and ribbons.

The use of a known pattern with substituted bell border was a measure of post-World War II austerity embraced by the Princess Elizabeth for her wedding.

This mark has only one warrant, for Queen Elizabeth II, and is an early version of those still being used by Paragon, as Queen Elizabeth II is still on the throne, and her mother the Queen Mum dies in 2001. The teacup below was made in the 1960-1970s, and maybe was just not the Queen Mum's cup of tea...

For more info on these 2 teacups at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos. The following teacup is from my archives...I had a whole set of it but it all sold quickly.

Paragon got into serious trouble in 1930 by overstepping their position. Paragon had made the approved design for the christening of Queen Elizabeth II and were awarded the Royal Warrant. BUT without permission they called themselves Royal Paragon and were chastised for it. When they brought out this design for the birth of younger sister Princess Margaret they had to go back to Paragon which is still used as their name  today.

As to Royal Warrants today, in the late 1950s that strict application of the name Royal in a pottery's name was relaxed, and there was a proliferation of names with Royal in them which is a trend that continues today. Now, it just is a marketing choice and means they think Royal will give a bit of cache' to their china!

So now you know!

I hope to be able to join these fun blog parties, and I hope you will visit them too!

No Place Like Home

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and I do read every one if I can find and can get to you to visit!  If you comment from Google+…it isn’t easy...so forgive me if I am 

An InLinkz Link-up