Maybe you’re already able to easily transport yourself to the relish the gifts of summer. I’m sure someone somewhere has already said that summer is a state of mind. If I had to only rely on my childhood memories of summer, I would remember 7am swim practices at the local pool, eating dozens of plums off my friend’s backyard tree while lounging more by her pool and talking about our latest crushes, and practicing my writing on (insert deep sigh here) an electric typewriter.
But as I get older, I find myself relying more on summer talismans: anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings or actions. These include:
- a pair of colorful flip-flops with painted toenails.
- popsicles to offer any child that walks through the door.
- a basket of reading and writing materials by my deck chair to go with my glass of iced tea or Sauvignon Blanc.
- Susan Branch’s The Summer Book.
Have you discovered Susan Branch yet? I spent time with her work today and it truly inspired me to create works of art in my summer meals. Not over the top, buy 14 new ingredients and still not have it look like the picture recipes, but recipes and inspirations filled with little touches to make them special. Here’s a copy of my favorite. And in case you didn’t know, Susan Branch illustrates every one of her recipe pages, including the text. Blogging format hardly does it justice.
Fisher Farm Picnic Squash Salad
8 cups very thinly sliced squash, any kind (yellow crookneck and green zucchini=pretty!)
2 cups Paul Newman’s salad dressing
20 fresh nasturtium blossoms
2 Tablespoons fresh herb of choice (optional)
Put the squash into a large bowl. Bring salad dressing to near boil ~ pour over squash, toss lightly & then chill. Before serving toss again ~ pour off extra dressing. Toss again with fresh herbs & top with fresh nasturtiums.
Yes, nasturtiums are edible if you haven’t watered them with Miracle Grow. On the recipe page, she encircles the text with a nasturtium vine wreath and includes a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Earth laughs in flowers.” I find myself emotionally responding to these darling and simple beauties.
How about you? What are your summer childhood memories? Have you been able to hang on to the specialness of summer as you’ve grown? What simple summer delights do you treasure? Please leave a comment and let us know.
July 1st, 2008 |
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Last night, Steph W. of Steph’s Cup of Tea and I met for the first time ever over dinner! I have read about other bloggers meeting blogging friends in real life and I can finally say I’ve experienced this joy. Stephanie is one of the longest reading and most consistent commenters here at Tea Party Girl.
A graduate from the Washington School of Protocol (and it showed!), Stephanie shared with me about falling in love with afternoon tea in Ireland and taking Denise LeCroy’s Tea in London tour. A young and beautiful thirty-five years, Stephanie was gracious and a good conversationalist. Here’s a picture of our shared Cherry Creme Brule and Mint after-dinner tisane.
We ate at Paul Martin’s American Bistro in Roseville, CA; a local (for me!) restaurant that plans its menus around the best seasonal ingredients available. My kind of place for sure, and it was a thrill to share it with a new friend who also could appreciate it. We chuckled over not enjoying afternoon tea together, but our schedules allowed for a relaxing dinner instead.
Thank you, Stephanie, for taking the risk and meeting together!
June 27th, 2008 |
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I think this was a title of a book on my family’s bookshelf in the 1970s.
The calendar overflowed in April, May, and June. I met deadline after deadline, hauled child after child, and organized event after event. I’ll even admit to guzzling and not sipping my tea more often than not.
In my heart of hearts, I don’t buy the belief that we’re all so busy. I think we’ve been given the same amount of time by our Creator. And I believe many of us, especially in affluent America, own more choice about how we spend our time than we often give ourselves credit for. But like the dizzying choices we’re given just picking out our toothpaste, weighing all the options available intertwined with our value systems and fears often mean life can easily start to feel beyond our control.
In my early 20s, years went by before I started to examine all that was pulling me along. Back then I remember sincerely wishing I would get really sick so I could just stop and rest. Now I can only last weeks before I have to stop and as I call it, “find my center”. I must live and make choices out of who I believe I am and called to be, not who I wish I was.
Traditionally, fall and spring are my busy seasons, and summer and winter allow for a slower pace-if I allow for it. A recent check of my calendar for July revealed six multiple overnight trips between the three children, five day field trips, three different parties, two multiple days with workmen in home projects, and one homeschooling conference out-of-town. Are you kidding me?! And I run around less than many mothers and families I know.
I must. make. time. A Human Development major in college, I really enjoy personality tests to understand myself and others better. One reveals that I am a contemplative. Another reveals that I deal with things according to how I feel about them; how they fit into my personal value system. But I’m so externally focused that it’s especially important for me to spend time alone. Otherwise I easily forget what that personal value system needs to be. And the Internet’s opened an unlimited arena of influence and community. Talk about an opportunity for unlimited distraction!
When you relax, do you feel guilty? How much time alone do you need? For those of you whose children are grown, please share your perspectives with those of us in the thick of family managing.
June 26th, 2008 |
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You are Celtic (over one in ten Americans are) and Elizabeth Knight’s written a book published this year for you.
I spent some time with her book this afternoon (accompanied by a cup of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold loose leaf tea). Not sure what to expect, I enjoyed finding not only thirteen new themed tea party ideas, but learning about Celtic history and how it relates to the tea culture. With Irish and Welsh ancestry living in a town founded by Cornish immigrants, I wanted to learn how tea traditions did not belong to the English alone.
I first turned to July’s theme, the Hen Party Tea. I always thought calling women a group of hens derogatory, as if we all “cackled”, but instead I learned it’s an old Scottish custom where the women gathered the night before a wedding to pluck hens for the wedding feast. Now, Ms. Knight isn’t advocating we all gather to pluck hens, but to celebrate the best of our strengths and contributions over the ages. One of my favorite of her ideas was to offer, in her words, the original chic(k) lit book - The Little Red Hen as the tea party favor. Do you know the story? Isn’t that just a darling idea?
Another resource the book provides is one of the best charts, A Guide to Teas, I’ve seen. It includes the tea-type (i.e. black), its place of origin, a description, the brewing time, serving suggestions, and a list of complimentary foods. And because my tea table article is the most-read article here at Tea Party Girl, I’ll mention that I found the appendix Set to a Tea: The Tea Table a simple and complete explanation of what your tea table needs and why.
The book was issued by Benjamin Press, Bruce and Shelley Richardson’s publishing arm of their work. If you haven’t yet heard of the Richardsons, it’s worth spending some time at their website and learning about their contributions to Americans learning to appreciate afternoon tea. They operated arguably the most recently famous tearoom, the Elmwood Inn, from 1990-2004 in Perryville, KY and the teas are still available, along with cookbooks based on the afternoon tea menus from those days. Of the two I own, I like A Year of Teas at the Elmwood Inn the best because the menus are organized by month which helps my full brain with decisions. But all their books are well-photographed and the other book I own, The Tea Table, is full of “Tea Time Hints”. Here’s an example appropriate for this time of year:
“Keep your tea out of the sun! Making sun tea is no longer promoted by the tea industry. Putting tea in the water and placing it in the sun for several hours is like making a petri dish for the growth of bacteria. While tea does not contain harmful bacteria in its dry state, it can become a haven for bacteria when brewed and cooled. In traditional brewing methods, the addition of boiling water kills any bacteria that might be present. If you do make sun tea, be sure to boil it before you consume it.” (Richardson, 65)
Any Benjamin Press books make great gifts for the tea or book enthusiast. Who do you need a gift for? Are you Celtic? Do you know the story of the Little Red Hen? Had you heard of Elizabeth Knight, Bruce and Shelley Richardson, or the Elmwood Inn before today? Do you still make sun tea? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with us.
June 25th, 2008 |
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I don’t know, but it’s possible my family has hit their quota.
Between a Little Girl Luau:
To Wedding Wonderland:
I am wiped out.
And since I’ve spent over one hour now trying to post something more informative for you all and gotten nowhere, I think I’ll sit with my latest favorite novel, Broken for You, for awhile instead.
I’m sure you understand.
How was your weekend?
June 23rd, 2008 |
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