A Presidential Tea

Our Presidential Tea was celebrated this past Sunday in anticipation of Election Day.  As they were seated, our guests were offered Olde Towne Tavern Raspberry Shrub Spritzer, a delightful combination of Raspberry Shrub, Chablis, and sparking water.  Shrub, a colonial-day drink, is a concentrated beverage made by combining fruit, vinegar, and sugar.  When mixed with water and/or wine, it yields a refreshing drink that is both tart and sweet.  We carry a wide variety of shrub flavors produced by the local Pennsylvania company, Tait Farms, at The Rosemary house.    

A few of our guests arrived in colonial garb.

 First course, Spinach Salad with local organic greens, mushrooms, celery, peppers and tomato vinaigrette.

The Afternoon Tea sandwich plate featured Apple Beet Relish Boats with Pecan Cream Cheese, Turkey & Provolone Cheese Spirals with Arugula Pesto, Waldorf Chicken Salad Triangles on Multi-grain Bread, Slow Roasted Pork with Peach Conserve Crostini, and a Cucumber Canape with French Style Cheese Spread.

Traditional English Cream Scones, Organic Butternut Ginger Tea Bread, accompanied by Sweet Cream and Orange Curd with Fresh Orange Slices was served after the sandwiches.

And dessert included a Cheery Cherry Cakette, Ambrosia Tartlets, and Triple Layer Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies. 

Following dessert, we were pleased to welcome George Washington, portrayed by Jeff Greenawalt, a first person historical theater interpreter.  He regaled us with stories about Washington's life.

Please Vote today!

Meatless Monday - Stuffed Peppers

We enjoyed Mexican Stuffed Peppers the other night, a recipe from the Clean Eating Magazine.  Large green bell peppers are stuffed with a beautiful assortment of finely diced onion, pepper, grated zuchinni, minced garlic, corn, tomatoes and red beans, plus a host of seasonings.  They are then put into the crock pot and allowed to simmer most of the day, topped with cheese just before serving, and enjoyed by all!  The recipe can be found here.

This recipe was a winner the first time we served them, that I've made them again.  Clean Eating Magazine is about enjoying whole foods in its most natural state, making healthy meal choices and avoiding foods that have ingredients you can't pronouce.  I've tried several of their recipes, and have been pleased with the ones that I made.  This is a vegetarian meal, but there is a wide variety of all types of food options offered in the magazine.

 

Pink Peppercorns

Pink "peppercorns" are from the Baies rose plant, grown on the tiny Reunion Island very near Madagascar. They are not really peppercorns at all but are referred to as such because of their shape and peppery flavor.  It is a light and unmistakeably sweet  flavor which will add both a splash of color and a delicate fruity heat to your cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes or steamed leafy greens.  These berries are softer so they aren't usually ground in a spice mill, instead you can lightly crush them in a mortar and pestle. These pink peppercorns are often slightly higher in price, but you use them sparingly and it is so worth it for the taste.

Lemon Pepper

Lemon Pepper is a mixture of cracked black pepper and also lemon zest.  You can certainly make your own lemon pepper by zesting the lemon and mixing it with the cracked pepper (allowing the blend to dry first before bottling it).  Mixing your own lemon pepper gives you the control to add other seasonings to the blend: garlic granules, onion powder, salt, or other herbs are certainly flavoring options.  Lemon pepper is a delicious coating on chicken, fish and even along the edge of a hamburger.

Mixed Peppercorns

Not sure which pepper to use in a meal?  Use them all!  The berry of the pepper plant (Piper nigrum) is certainly an ubiquitous seasoning.  Shown here is a 5 pepper blend consisting of two types of  Black peppercorns, White, Green and even Pink "peppercorns".  This combination creates a flavorful and colorful blend which is very pretty in a clear acrylic spice mill.

 Almost every antique or vintage spice chest we have there is a spot saved for pepper.

Pepper

At The Rosemary House, we sell a variety of specialty peppercorns.  We sell the peppercorn berries whole and suggest you grind them at home using a pepper mill, spice grinder or a mortar and pestle.  Fresh grinding them will ensure freshness and pungency. The typical black peppercorn that you purchase is a blend of Malabar and Lampong peppercorns and yields a robust, hearty and aromatic blend.  Malabar is grown in India's state of Malabar.   However my favorite is Tellicherry peppercorns a pungent bold berry that is allowed to remain on the vine longer and produce a more complex flavor.  It always amazing how one plant (Piper nigrum) can produce so many flavors.  The Muntok White peppercorns has its own unique and mellow flavor.  It is frequently recommended for adding to cream sauces, since it won't leave little black specs in the sauce!   The green peppercorn berries are picked young making it milder than black peppercorns.    

The top right is a bowl of Szechuan pepper, a main ingredient in Chinese Five-spice powders.  This pepper is not from the Piper nigrum but is harvested from a variety of the prickly ash tree, Zanthoxylum piperitum. It is a peppery flavor with citrus notes.  Commonly used in many dishes such as Kung Pao chicken, we like it in rice pilaf or scrambled eggs. 

Happy Halloween

A wizardly scare crow wishes you a

Happy Halloween

from the pumpkin patch!

Ghostly Lemon Tartlets

Our annual Halloween Tea was held yesterday, and for dessert, in addition to the Candy Corn Cookies, we served Ghostly Lemon Tartlets.  These are very easy to do!  Make small pie shells, or purchase the filo shells in the freezer section, fill with lemon curd (microwave recipe here).  The day of your party, fill the pie shells with the chilled lemon curd.  Pipe a large dollop of Cool Whip on top of the lemon curd, and gingerly add two eyes using miniature chocolate chips.  Once assembled, they will keep for several hours, refrigerated.  Serve them for a very special Halloween treat!

Oxford Hall Tea Shop and Grocery

Oxford Hall Celtic Shop has been located in nearby New Cumberland, PA for years selling fine imports from Ireland: wool sweaters, Belleek, gifts and teas.   Recently, they have opened an Irish Style Tea Shop in their newly renovated building. They still carry all their fine Irish imports but now you can pop in for afternoon tea or soup and a tart.  

Cedar enjoyed playing the ring game, typical in Irish pubs (safer to toss rings then darts while drinking Guinness).  

This casual style tearoom was another outing as part of Angelica's October birthday month celebrations. She chose to have chicken salad with grapes and walnuts.  

Nancy and I split a Tomato Basil Tart, Cranberry scone and a peach turnover accompanied by a hearty mug of Chai. All very fresh and very tasty.

We had fun exploring the grocery shelves full of jellies, curd, cream, sodas, crackers and more.

Shown here is owner Cindy and her chef Sam near the Oxford Hall tea selections. Below is their open style kitchen and case.

Candy Corn Cookies

This adorable Halloween Cookie idea was discovered on Pinterest, a bulletin board for categorizing ideas, recipes, dreams, and thoughts. When I 'found' this one, it was immediately stored on my Halloween board, to be found again when the time was right. Well, the time is right now! We made and served these at our Halloween tea last Sunday, and will make a new batch for this Sundays tea.


Pretty easy to make, the recipe yields a large amount (about 5 dozen) of bite size cookies.  You simply make a sugar cookie recipe, divide it into three clusters, tinting one cluster orange, the other yellow, and leaving one cluster the original color of the cookie dough.  That gets layered in a small loaf pan and then placed in the fridge until firm.  Then, slice the loaf into 1/4 inch slices, and then slice each piece into triangle.  Simply bake and enjoy!  The recipe and additional instructions were shared on Fake Ginger.

Happy Halloween!

Going Batty!

More tea room decorations for the Halloween season.  These cling on bats are on the front door, the main entrance to the tea room.  And this lace collection of bats, shown below, hangs in the doorway between two rooms.  Love those bats!  (as long as they are lace or flat cling ons!).

And the winner is....

Mary Jane of Amherstrose is the winning entrant for the Tea-inspired Recipe booklet giveaway.  Contact Nancy with your mailing address, and we'll drop the cookbook in the mail. Congratulations, Mary Jane!