Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Shelley, Strawberry Scones and A Giveaway!!!

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I am back enjoying life again...the wind has died down and the severe allergies have receded. I always have problems with high pollen, but this year, with the long winter in our area with record rainfall caused a late and extreme pollen load...haven't had it like this in years...but it passes...and it has! WooHoo!!!

I have a strawberry scones tea today...actually had it all ready last week, but...good thing I had photographed it already as the goodies are all gone!

As I was deciding what to use for this tea, I got to a Shelley tea set I have and decided to use it, because I love the aqua and white of the Drifting Leaves pattern...

This set is in the Gainsborough shape and so the teapot is very curvy...which I love!

The pattern was a true mid century design with it's stylized leaves a "snow crystals? and was only made from 1956 to 1966 when the pottery closed. The pattern number is number 13848.

The teacups are so sweet...I love the Gainsborough shape...actually one of my favorites!

 The mark again...the set was made late enough in Shelley's history that the pieces are always marked with the pattern name.

Many earlier china only had numbers, not marks, and then they became more consistent with marking with the name.

I am using another of my embroidered tea cloths...this has multicolored Daisies. It has a few stains, so I have a projest next week to see if I can get those out. I recently found a forgotten box of linens in the back of the closet I brought home from an England trip just before a move that I had completely forgotten about! Just like Christmas!

I also have luncheon plates in the Drifting Leaves pattern, and a creamer and sugar basin and a cake plateau which I forgot to get out, although I remembered the sandwich tray!....

And a rectangular sandwich tray...those are really hard to find... on the tray are the fresh Strawberry Scones I made...the recipe is below...

And now... a Giveaway! I don't know if you noticed, but at the back of the tea table is a book....
Summer At Fairacre by Miss Read.

I have collected the entire series of her books. The series features school teachers in small Cotswolds villages of Fairacre, Thrush Green, Caxley and surrounding areas and cover from the late Victorian to the 1970s in varipus books. They are wonderful! I was first given one by my new sister-in-law after marrying my husband in 1974 and visiting his family in England, and was instantly hooked. 

My husband and I were at our local library monthly book sale and he picked it up for me, knowing how I love the auther. The hardback book is a dulpicate, so I will pass along the joy to a new...or already hooked...reader...

To enter...just comment  "EnterMe" on this post. I will draw a winner on Monday, July 24th, and post it on this blog as well as on Facebook and Google +. Please check back on the blog, because some commenters are hard to reply or contact with the new blooger commenting rules.

We get 2 kinds of organic strawberries here...the larger American variety seen at the top of the blog...perfect sliced for pies or dipped in chocolate...and the smaller English variety seen in the photo above, with a different and more intense strawberry flavor that we love. They are the straberries I used in this recipe, although both are good!

The Strawberry Shortcake Scones recipe I used is from the blog BellyFull at

http://bellyfull.net

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE SCONES

PREP TIME

20 minutes

COOK TIME

18 minutes

TOTAL TIME

38 minutes

Tender flaky scones with fresh strawberries throughout and a dreamy glaze!

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 12 small strawberries, hulled and diced
• 3/4 cup half and half

For the glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender (or your hands) until mixture resembles crumbs.
3. Toss in strawberries and coat lightly with the flour mixture. Add half and half and fold together gently until the mixture just begins to come together and form a soft dough. (Do not knead or over mix the dough.)
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 1-inch thick rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into 6 squares, then cut the squares on the diagonal to form 12 triangles. Place scones on prepared baking sheet and bake 16-18 minutes or until cooked through and golden.
5. Place a sheet of parchment on a work surface, then place a cooling rack over top of parchment. Remove scones from pan to cooling rack. Cool about 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, make glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, vanilla, and half and half until smooth. (If glaze is too thick, add a bit more cream. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar.)
7. Generously drizzle scones with the glaze. (Glaze will firm up when scones are completely cool.) Eat and enjoy!

There you go! They didn't last around here! Moist and tender...delicious!

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 Tuesday Cuppa Tea linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there!  I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up