Twelfth Night Tuesday Cuppa Tea, National Shortbread Day, Make Dos

Hello and welcome to a Tuesday Cuppa Tea when a lot of the contry is in a deep freeze...and we have had our first days in the 40s in almost 3 months!

I have rather a different Tuesday Cuppa Tea offering today. This next teacup section as a repost of one of my most popular blog posts ever...from January, 2014.

At first look, this all hand painted cup and saucer is just a late Victorian drop dead gorgeous cabinet cup and saucer....

The design is all hand painted and features floral bouquets on pale blue panels alternating with panels of heavy gold arabesques with a fancy ring handle and further gold trim. Just Beautiful!

The cup and saucer made for Thomas Goode, Ltd. England in the Edwardian era, 1900-1918.  Thomas Goode of London is a premier upscale goods shop that was established in 1827 and still is in business. They are famous for designing and commissioning fabulous china, furniture and other items from the most famous manufactureres know. The items are often only marked, as this is, Reserved To Thomas Goode Company, Ltd in the United Kingdom. We don't know the maker, but whoever it is was top-of-the-line...reminds me of some of the Mintons or Crown Staffordshire designs, and is similar to a Coalport shape, but I am not sure....

But here is the intriguing part...the teacup was broken and repaired. It was a treasured piece, that the owner sent to a jewelers...an expensive project...

Can you see where the cracks were carefully riveted together with metal staples? In England in the Victorian era, this was called a "make-do" and was often roughly done by the equivalent of a blacksmith for utilitarian items. But for a repair on something of this quality, obviously cherished, it went to a jeweler. Only the most cherished items were repaired like this. It gives added character to the teacup. As you can see by the brown crack lines, the teacup continued to be used for tea, as those are tea stains.

Reminds me of the care Jesus takes mending our broken hearts and lives into something beyond the former value. We proudly carry the signs of the healing always, and continue to be useful to His glory.

There are people who collect this type of piece, knowing it was worth the high cost of repair because it was cherished and treasured.  Photos from my archives.

I hope you enjoyed the repeat...I was reminded of it a few weeks ago when someone in a Facebook group asked about Make Dos...

And January 6th is traditionally Twelfth Night...

And a reminder that this is Epiphany, or Twelfth Night. One term, Epiphany, refers to January 5th or 6th...depending on tradition or calendar...being the night the Wisemen or Magi reached the baby Jesus...

It is also the end of ....

Which we all know and love, and can probably sing until we forget something and fall into giggles...

And I found this great graphic by The Business Insider.com which compares the past and current market value of the gifts as of 2013...

wonder what it is this year...but they have instituted a pay-per-view only, so....

Quite a fun comparison....wonder why the swans have appreciated so much and the 8 maids-a-milking hardly at all...hmmmm...

But in Midieval England when William Shakespeare wrote a play by that name, Twelfth Night was the end of the reign of the Lord Of Misrule which was a period from just before Christmas for frivolity,  foolishness...the word "fool" is probably founded in the revelry here... and some mayhem. 

Historic Twelfth Night cake from English Heritage

The Twelfth Night cake is historically a rich fruitcake, iced or not, but containing a dried bean.

Whoever found the bean was crowned the Lord Of Misrule and was in charge for the night...and possible up to all kinds of bad behavior...

Wassailing was a favorite pass time. I found a great website that gives a lot of info about the famous "Lambs Wool" punch favored for wassailing with a recipe...click HERE from RecipeWise UK.

We take our outdoor Christmas lights down January 7th, as we do it after Twelfth Night. Then everything looks bare and dull, inside and out!

January 6th is, apparently, National Shortbread Day in the UK....so here is a recipe for 

Lemon Vanilla Shortbread from Tea Time magazine that I shared on my Facebook page...

Lemon-Vanilla Shortbread

Yield: 8 wedges

Ingredients

1. ½ cup salted butter, softened
2. ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
3. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
4. ½ teaspoon lemon extract
5. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
6. 1 cup all-purpose flour
7. ⅛ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Lightly spray an 8-inch shortbread pan* with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with a mixer at high speed until creamy. Add confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, lemon extract, and vanilla extract, beating to blend. Add flour and salt, beating until incorporated.
4. Firmly press dough into prepared pan. Prick dough with a fork.
5. Bake until shortbread is light golden brown, approximately 35 minutes. Let shortbread cool in pan for 10 minutes, and turn out onto a cutting board. Cut into wedges to serve.

Notes

1. *We used an 8-inch hexagonal Scottish thistle ceramic shortbread pan from Brown Bag Designs, available at Birmingham Bake & Cook Company (bakeandcookco.com, 205-980-3661). Shortbread can also be baked in an 8-inch round cake pan.

I am so glad you have joined me for Tuesday Cuppa Tea. And I hope you are staying warm...and what is better for a day inside in the winter than tea and shortbread!

I am joining...

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

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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