Wednesday, June 30, 2010

All Things Lavender Tea

We recently held a lavender themed evening tea in Sweet Remembrances. The majority of the lavender recipes (marked with an *) were prepared using recipes from The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley. It was a delightful evening tea followed by a program presented by Madelaine and Tom Wadja of Willow Pond Herb Farm in Fairfield, PA. They have an annual Lavender Festival that is quite enjoyable.
Our menu:
French Herbed Cheese and Crackers
Lavender Ginger Lemonade*

Spring Greens with Raspberries, Blueberries
& Rosemary Lavender Walnuts*
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Lavender Egg Salad in Puff Pastry Rounds
Strawberry and Mascarpone Cheese Sandwiches
Lavender Pecan Chicken Skewers* with
Rhubarb Apricot Dipping Sauce*

Traditional English Cream Scones
Lavender Scones
Lavender Lemon Curd
True Devon Cream
Purple Grapes

Chocolate Lavender Brownies*
Lavender Shortbread

Friday, June 25, 2010

Puzzle (puz'l)

vt. -zled, -zling to perplex; bewilder -vi. 1. to be perplexed 2. to exercise one's mind, as over a problem -n.
1. something that puzzles 2. a toy or problem for testing skill or ingenuity -puzzle out to solve by deep study -puz'zle-ment n. - puz'zler n.
Miss Spider's Tea Party, a 35 piece Ravensburger Puzzle, 1997, Made in France

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Today's Puzzle....


Life is a puzzle.
It makes you laugh,
or it makes you cry.
Are you laughing today?

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Puzzled?

Find the answer in tea.... If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you. William Gladstone

Monday, June 21, 2010

Life is Puzzling

If only the answers could be found in this little Playskool puzzle.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Blog Hopping

Susanna and Nancy have been out and about today on our Traveling Herb Seminar (sponsored by The Rosemary House) to Pittsburgh. While in Pittsburgh, we connected with friend and fellow blogger, Lemon Verbena Lady. She has already posted photos on her blog and shared about our first stop at the Rodef Shalom Biblical Garden where we toured the beautiful garden and enjoyed a herbal luncheon from Sweet Remembrances. Be sure and visit her blog for a peek into our adventure. Our herb shop and tea room also made an appearance on Bernideen's Blog today. Although we haven't met Bernideen, we hope to some day. Her herb garden and gift shop (in Colorado) are at the top of our wish list of places to visit! She wrote a lovely blog post today about our side-by-side businesses and the tea room cookbook.

Thank you to both Lemon Verbena Lady and Bernideen for your kind words! You have made us both feel very special!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sugar Rimmed Glasses

Here's a fun way to celebrate National Iced Tea Month. Dip the rims of your glasses in a shallow bowl of lemon juice. Then simply dip them in another shallow bowl with sugar. Turn right side up, and let them dry. Carefully fill with your favorite iced tea, or in this case lavender lemonade (which is why they were dipped in lavender sugar).

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Stone Garden Planters

Aren't these cool? They are made with pieces of slate or riverstone and held together with rapid set cement.* We made them in a dishpan of moistened play sand. You stick the stones in the sand upright to create the shape you want the planter to be and then pour in a soupy mix of the cement. We added some black acrylic paint to the cement to make it darker and used pieces of twigs to make drainage holes. To make the cement "soupy" use a proportion of 4 parts cement to 1 part water. You can leave all the mess/work to us and come make one here on Wednesday, June 9th 2010.
(Call 717-697-5111 to make a reservation.)
* Be sure to use rapid set cement, not concrete. Too much aggregate in the concrete and they will not hold as well.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

A Culinary Adventure

So last Saturday, Nancy won two tickets to the kick off fundraiser for The Gettysburg Festival. The tickets we won were sponsored through one of our favorite local magazines, Susquehanna Style. The event was billed as a A Culinary Adventure: Foodies Delight. It featured Pennsylvania's Iron Chefs at multiple stations throughout the venue. The venue was Oxford Hall Manor, the private home of Mike and Jane Rice. The Rice Family owns the delicious UTZ potato chip company. Lucky for me Nancy let David and I use the tickets. The evening was threatening rain so the very first thing my husband and I did was walk the gardens. A Foodies Delight -- this evening was a gardeners dream!
The blue are blown glass rain drops.
Wonderful garden statuary all through the acreage. We enjoyed one of our courses in here. I want a conservatory like this. The swimming hole. On the other side of the stone bridge is a Koi pond. Somewhere in the middle it becomes chlorinated water.

Doesn't David look handsome?

Oh Yes, the food was out of this world as well. Featured here is David Stoltzfus (Executive Chef, Morrison’s at Rydal Park, Abington, PA), a sample of what he prepared Petite lobster and rosemary flan with lobster confit, Conch and crab fritters with mandarin orange glaze, Jamaican Jerk pork crostini with ligonberries.
Desserts included: Chocolate Mousse profiterole, Grand Mariner Torte, Key Lime Creme Brulee, Chocolate truffles.

It was a grand evening! We won by listing our favorite local food purveyor. Our answer: Spiral Path Farm.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Handy Helper

The fresh shipment of mulch arrived, and Cedar pitched in with a shovel just his size and a wheelbarrow just his size. The gardens are looking quite pristine with the new layer of mulch.
The gift of a helping hand.... what else could you ask for on your birthday? Happy Birthday Susanna! May you have handy helpers to your hearts content.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Blackberry Iced Tea

Celebrate National Iced Tea Month in style!
Blackberry Iced Tea
3 cups frozen blackberries, thawed
1 cup sugar
1 - 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
pinch of baking soda
4 c. boiling water
3 family size tea bags (Luzianne)
2-1/2 c. water
Cover blackberries with sugar and let 'juice' for 10 minutes or more. Crush blackberries with wooden spoon. Add chopped mint and baking soda. Set aside.
Pour 4 c. boiling water over tea bags. Allow to steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bags.
Pour tea over blackberry mixture; let flavors marinate at room temperature for 1 hour. Pour blackberry tea through a wire mesh strainer into a large pitcher, discarding solids. Add 2-1/2 c. water. Chill. Garnish with fresh blackberries and fresh mint sprigs.
To make a Blackberry Sage Tea, substitute sage leaves for the fresh mint. Shown here, the blackberry tea with sage blossoms.