Happy Vintage Halloween 2019! Leftover Candy Cake Reminder

Happy Hallowe'en...or All Hallow's Eve to you...the day before All Saints Day. Here are some vintage postcards...such fun!

These are some of my antique and vintage postcards and some from open source postcard archives....

and even a tea themed one! 

and the candy corn is here...but the bowl is slightly emptier....

This is my favorite graphic for today...with a tea theme!

And favorite costumes...

And fun pumpkins!

There will probably be left overs hanging around after October 31st, so I wanted to share again a great recipe I found on MyRecipes.com a couple of years ago with an ingredient of the 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.

Things are exciting here, as our out-of-state daughter and husband put in an offer on property here yesterday!

Now to see if it's accepted!!!!

Happy Halloween from Antiques And Teacups... with a Shelley Wileman, of course!

Oh... and don't forget to change the clocks to Fall Back this Saturday night into November 3rd!!!!

Visit to Abkhazi Gardens And Tea House Victoria BC

Last month we visited Victoria, BC and had a lovely afternoon at the little known Abkhazi Gardens and Tea House.

We arrived in the afternoon and had an hour in the gardens before our reservation for afternoon tea...

The gareden is really like a miniature Butchart Gardens, right in a residentional neighborhood by Oak Bay.

The gardens were a labor of love for couple with an astounding love story.

In 1922, heiress Peggy Pemberton-Carter met Prince Nicholas of Abkhazi, last surviving royal of a country that had just disappereared in World War I. The prince was a refugee in Paris where Peggy was visiting with her mother when they met and became friends. The pair were separated as Peggy and her mother traveled and lived in many places.

At the outbreak of World War II, the Prince was captured in France, and Peggy also became a prisoner of War in Shanghai.

When the war ended, they met again in New York and were married.

They moved to Victoria, BC and began to develop their property and garden, as a work of love.

Upon their deaths, the property was left to their long time gardener, who was elderly and could not keep it up, and decided to sell in 2000.

The only one interested was a developer of high rise multi condos. However, the neighbors stepped in,  formed the Land Conservancy and Abkhazi Land Trust and saved the property.

The garden and the Prince and Princess' home were renovated. The gardens opened first, then the house was opened as a social space for rent and finally as a tea house and luncheon spot in 2013.

The tea house and gardens are staffed totally by volunteer  who share a love for this magical place.

I had been to the gardens, and one to the tea house in 2013, but it was time for a repeat visit, and it did not disappoint.

The tea room space is limited, although in summer there is also an open terrace outside. As it was a very warm day, we opted for indoors, and were seated at a table for 2 in the open window in the far upper left.

One wall had display shelves of momentos, and a set of Shelley Dainty Blue china! Of course I had to photograph that!

All of the tables were set with charmingly mismatched coordinating settings....

We had a choice of 2 teas... an herbal tea and a black blend made exclusively

for the tea house by local tea blender Silk Road called the Royal Abkhazi blend, which we opted for and loved. More about that below.

The bottom of the 3 tiered served was the savories...

cucumber, watercress and cream cheese on wheat

currued chicken salad on pumpernickel

cream puffs filled with crab salad

mini cheese, onion and prosciutto quiches

cheese and ham croissants

I skipped the crab, my Honey enjoyed them... everything else was delicious!

The middle tier was orange currant scones with wild strawberry jam from the garden strawberries and clotted cream, yep, the real thing!

The top dessert tier included some delicious offerings from their in-house pastry chef...
luscious lemon tarts
Linzer shortbread with strawberry filling
mini Eccles cakes (puff pastry filled with currants and spice)
Decadent chocolate fudge cake square

Lol! We had finished the scones, and I had almost finished the lemon tart when I next remembered to take a photo. We were having so much fun talking about our various trips to Victoria, etc!

As to what was left....
it was one of the best afternoon teas we have had in Victoria...and that includes the Empress!

The photo above is from their website of their gift shop which includes the tea served and local artisan products. I bought a lovely batik silk scarf stenciled with silver leaves as a souvenir with a tin of tea.

The handout given to us about the tea room...

And my own Shelley Dainty Blue teacup. Sometimes people are confused, because the shape is called Dainty and the pattern is called Dainty Blue.

The Royal Abkhazi tea blend by Silk Road...
Tea of Refinement... Black Tea

The description says Indian, Ceylon and Chinese black tea bergamot essence, vanilla beans and essence. 
And it is like a mild and restrained Earl Grey... which is probably why I liked it. I usually find Earl Greys overwhelming and one dimensional. This is lovely!

So thanks for joining me for a lovely garden and tea room visit!

Below is the link to the website:

https://www.abkhaziteahouse.com/

Dungeness Crab And Seafood Festival 2019, By The Sea Dunoon Mug

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...We can sing that a lot around here!

The post I had planned to do today, was interrupted by the happy news that our daughter and son in law were arriving from out of state.

So, it was drop everything and get prepared! Happy chores!

But the photo editing of our recent trip to a special tea house in Victoria, BC will have to wait!

So I am focusing on our seaside location, with a Dunoon, England mug...

In a design by Emma Ball called By The Sea...

Love the watercolor drawings of bathing huts, boats, seagulls, deck chairs and a lighthouse,

With the poem throughout:

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...

Brightly painted beach huts,

A very British thing!

Available in my shop.... Antiques And Teacups

 The annual Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival in Port Angeles was earlier in the month. PA as we call it) is about 15 miles away, and is where the ferry leaves on the route to Victoria, BC Canada.  Here are some of the photos I have taken at the Festival. Heavy rain had been forecast, but we had our time at the festival and got home before it started.

The Port Angeles Community Pier Clock Tower, the main approach to the festival.

The first order of business is always lunch! The main crab feed plate is corn on the cob and coleslaw from Nash's Organic Farm in Sequim and lots of seafood. The Dungeness crab gets it name from our area...just by Sequim is the Dungeness Spit and Dungeness Lighthouse near the place where the Dungeness River dumps into the ocean. All of the crab had been freshly caught in the last 2 days and kept in tanks until....well, you know!

Above are the huge pots of crab, and below, what I always have...Local Halibut and chips. The halibut was locally caught the day before as well. The best!!!

Outside there was crab for sale, cleaned or not...the high school football team was cleaning it as a fund raiser at $2.00. Then there were crab derbies, arts and crafts, and other seafood and carnival type food booths. The fav outside was the grilled fresh scallops on basil pesto rice.  Here are some other sights around the festival:

And of course, crab was available to take home... wrapped up in the traditional newspaper!

And the local high school fund raising crab cleaning station for those who either want to eat a freshly cooked one right there, or take it home.

Then, of course, local artists and vendors had a fair on the grounds as well.

And, as you can see, a lot of folks dress up in honor of the Dungeness Crab!

What can be more fun than local festivals!

Oh, and there was a tea seller too, so even better!