HAPPY 249TH JANE AUSTEN BIRTHDAY

 

LAST DAY OF THE YEAR WITH JANE AUSTEN TEA COZY

I am sharing my Jane Austen

Tea Cozies I made on this last

day of the year.

I love Jane Austen's novel "Persuasion"

which is the love story of Anne Elliot

and Captain Wentworth:

Please check out my site

on Etsy.
 

YOUTUBE VIDEOS CONTINUED

 I want to suggest 

 some more videos I have

come across:

#1Victoria and Albert - A Love Story 

# 2

This one is with Kirsten and is

called Tea with Jane Austen

And my last suggestion is

CHRISTMAS AT HIGHCLERE 2020

I hope you enjoyed these

videos and got some decorating

ideas you can enjoy.

And this is a late addition 

I couldn't resist - I would

love, love to visit the

Cotswold's:

Kirsten and Joerg in the Cotswolds 

CELEBRATING JANE AUSTEN for "Tea In The Garden"

After purchasing a new book
in Hannibal on Sunday about
 cooking and Jane Austen,  I thought

it would be fun to enjoy a little

tea time today with that theme.

I already had a collection of Jane
 related books and now I have added
 this one published in 2013.

So rather late in the day yesterday,
I set up a little tea area outside.
The mosquitos were definitely
out and about!

I found a few pieces of purple
transferware Sunday too:

The only changes to my scones were:
I used 1 chopped peach instead of 
strawberries and I used 1/2 cup 
of sugar and I used buttermilk!
(see link to the recipe by clicking above)

I have an abundance of zinnias!

So this new book has wonderful recipes that
represent conversations in many of Jane's 
books!  There is a lot of interesting trivia
which is very fun! Recipes are for foods
seen in Pride and Prejudice, Emma,
Persuasion, etc.  I was reading it
out loud on the way home in the car
and my husband and I got a real
eye opener about how spoiled we are
with all our present day kitchen's
 modern conveniences.

I have to tell you that I read that Mrs. Bates 
(from the book and movie "Emma")
 was so poor she had to  "borrow"
 the use of a neighbor's stove
 during the night as the ambers
cooled in the kitchen and it was not 
in use by the neighbor.  That really 
showed me how awful her 
circumstance was, yet she never
complained.  I'd say I have a
new appreciation for my stove!

"Indeed,  I would rather have
nothing but tea."   Jane Austen

And lastly - a friend left a lovely
gift on my front porch - a box
of dried hydrangeas.  I put
them in a wire basket next to
the fireplace area.

JANE AUSTEN'S IRISH PASSION

If you've seen the movie "Becoming

Jane" then you know a little something

about Jane Austen's relationship

 with the Irish fellow Thomas Lefroy

 and maybe you are the one who

 really knows the answer to the

 question:

  was Thomas Lefroy the inspiration for

 Mr. Darcy (Jane's beloved 

character in Pride and Prejudice

 or was it the infamous

 Mr. Wickham who was 

created to be like Lefroy?

With Saturday being St. Patrick's Day

I thought it best to stay on this journey

of Irish tribute and tea time - at least 

for this blog posting.

I do love the clothing of this Regency Period of time.  Do you? The Regency styles remind me of the sewing I did in the 70's when we wore those puff capped sleeves gathered at the top and then drawn in and went down tightly to the wrist.   The empire style had a lovely raised waist.  That sure brings back memories!

Yes, this photo from 2010 in my shop
brings back memories of a Jane Austen
 Tea Event.  I am retired now and both
 of these ladies (Elizabeth and Katrina)
 are now married and 
 Elizabeth on the left has 2 children.
   These young women were delightfully wonderful!

As you can see we have some lovely Irish
Raisin Apple Scones and you can find
this recipe - HERE.  I suggest a little 
more sugar - maybe 2/3 cup.

This tea cozy has Jane Austen fabric:

A 200th YEAR JANE AUSTEN LITERARY ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

We are celebrating the 200th

anniversary of the literary

work of author

Jane Austen!

She was born December 16, 1775.

I baked a special cake

 just for our tea time:

English Regency Lemon-Raspberry Cake

This recipe came from the February 1995 issue of Victoria Magazine.  Changes:  instead of the raspberry filling, I used Stonewall's Seedless Raspberry Jam and instead of making lemon curd, I used Irish Chivers Lemon Curd. (I also changed the name for the sake of Jane Austen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cake:  You will need 3 cups sifted cake flour, 4 Tsp baking powder, 3/4 Tsp salt, 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 2 Tsp vanilla,  3/4 Cup unsalted soft butter, 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

Lemon Cream Frosting:  1 cup unsalted soft butter, 4 cups confectioners sugar and 3 Tbs lemon juice (I only used cups cups confectioners sugar but if I made this again - I would use a cream cheese based frosting as this is very sweet)

To make the cake:  Butter and flour 3 round cake pans and also line bottoms with waxed paper and also butter and flour the wax paper.  

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt - set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 eggs, milk and vanilla.  Set aside.
In a larger bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter til light and creamy.  Gradually beat in 1 2/3 cups sugar, beating til light  Add flour mix alternately with milk mixture beating until smooth for 1 minute.  Divide batter between 3 pans.

Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes....

check with toothpick and cool 10 minutes.

Peel wax paper off 1st layer and place on cake platter - spread lemon curd on top.  Next layer: place raspberry jam on top and then  3rd layer on top and then ice entire cake with Lemon Cream Frosting reserving 1 cup of icing for decorative effects using a pastry tube.  This cake needs to be refrigerated.

"The garden is quite a love....I live in (the) room downstairs, it is particularly pleasant, from opening upon the garden.  I go & refresh myself every now & then, and come back to Solitary Coolness. " Letter to Cassandra, 23 August 1814

There are many wonderful books available with ideas for a 

Jane Austen tea party or dinner. 

 This would be perfect for Valentines Day.

THE REGENCY GIRLS STOP BY TO VISIT!

 I just had to show you these darling "Regency Period" girls who popped in yesterday at my store!  Aren't they cute and they made their outfits and Caitlin (2nd from the left) made their hats!

Left to right: Carissa Horton, Caitlin Horton, Elizabeth Barber and Amy Burch.

PHOTO GALLERY OF OUR JANE AUSTEN AND ELIZABETH BENNETT TEA EVENT

Bernideen's was thrilled to have a dramatic presentation by Katrina Harris (right) who portrayed  the author, Miss Jane Austen and Elizabeth Simpich (left) who portrayed Miss Elizabeth Bennet one of Jane's characters from her book "Pride and Prejudice".