Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden: 2022

Saturday, September 24, 2022

A FALL AFTERNOON TEA

Today I had an Afternoon Tea for a

group I started back in March. (for the

ladies living in my area)

I was so glad it wasn't as hot as

some of the

days we have had

this summer.

This was the table earlier as I was setting

up for 5 ladies plus myself. As always,

some could not come as we all have

a lot going on.

I recently changed things up down in

the tea room by moving the cabinets

with tea wares to a different wall, moving

the mantle and mirror. This is where

a husband really comes in handy!

I was blessed to be able to share
some "fallish" English cups
and saucers this time and I had
taken time to copy all the
recipes of the items we enjoyed.
I don't always have time for that
but this time it seemed to happen.

This was the menu and

we had both iced and

later hot tea:

I always seem to miss taking

photos of all the food

goodies!

Saturday, September 17, 2022

CHECK OUT MY TEA COZIES

Please check out my tea cozies

made from vintage crochet, lace

and embroidery.

Bernideen's Tea Time on Etsy

Thursday, September 15, 2022

A BITTERSWEET CELEBRATION for "Tea In The Garden"

We have had a lovely break in our

temperatures enjoying some weather

in the 80's and everyone has loved it.

That's a good reason to do a little tea time

in the garden along with the fact that

the bittersweet is getting lovely on the

arbor.

I did a floral with a variety of items

and colors from the garden and

added some pink market roses:

Today I baked a BUTTER PECAN CAKE

but I have to say that I don't know where

this recipe came from. I copy a lot of

recipes and print some but I usually write

on the copy information about which book

or magazine issue the recipe came from.

I will need to skip dinner tonight
since I had an early
slice of this cake!

I don't give a lot of directions for recipes

since most people know how to mix up

a cake batter so here are the basic

ingredients:

Cake body - 3 layers with 8" pans buttered and floured 350 degrees My oven is convection which took 27 minutes otherwise 30-35 minutes

1 cup chopped pecans, 3/4 cupt butter, 1 1/3 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 3 eggs if small or 2 large, 2 cups sifted flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 cup milk - mix all together well and then stir in the 1 cup of chopped pecans

And now I need to say that I doubled all that to get this tall cake but if you want - just

use this recipe for a smaller one.

Icing: 4 Tb butter, 3 cups confect sugar, 3 Tb light cream and 1 tsp vanilla and 1/3 cup of chopped pecans. Sprinkle the 1/3 cup of chopped pecans on top after icing the cake.

I hope you have had a nice summer.
We had such a need for rain that my
flower garden had to be watered and
even that was not making the plants
happy.

If you want to toast your pecans you just

chop them up and dot 3 Tb of butter over them in a shallow pan and toast them

at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (stir occasionally during the baking process)

The first day of autumn

is September 22!

Sunday, September 11, 2022

SUNDAY CELEBRATION

Monday, August 29, 2022

BLUEBIRDS AND AUGUST FLOWERS

We have had a hot and very dry summer.

As I was watering my backyard today

I suddenly noticed about a dozen

bluebirds show up taking turns in

the birdbath.

It is about 91 degrees out and we are

told rain is coming our way later

today, which

would be wonderful.

I am happy to see the

bittersweet getting

ready for fall.

The bluebirds never go to the

birdfeeders and are very

timid.

With August coming to a close, we

look forward to cooler weather

and fall baking.

Friday, August 19, 2022

TIME TO CELEBRATE MY 200th "Tea In The Garden"

Back in 2010 I started a little garden in

my Colorado Springs backyard. It took

me quite a while to dig out my lawn and

plant because I worked full time +.

I remember I had already been

participating in Sandy's Tea Time

Tuesday blog party for quite a while

and then I decided to incorporate the

garden I was developing and have my

own weekly link party called "Tea

In The Garden".

(Back then, in the winter,

I changed

to (Friends Sharing Tea")

So over the years I have done many

of these photos shoots and I have

recently designed a magazine

publication with many past photos

of my gardens.

(click for link)

We had so little rain here in

Missouri in July, our lawn is very sad

so I hung up these old antique curtain

pieces to dispel the dreary lawn. Please

help yourself to hot tea. It is only

in the 80's this week which is wonderful

weather compared to the high 90's.

So though I started counting these

photo shoots in years back in

Colorado, now they take place

in our Missouri garden. Of course

these places have very different

climates.

Time does fly just like they

say. I can hardly believe we

have now lived in Missouri 6 years.

I just started collecting a few pieces

of Green transferware which

will be lots of fun to hunt for

and this pattern (tray) is called

Havana by Johnson Brothers.

And of course for this occasion,

baking is important too so I looked

at my fall muffin folder and found this

recipe I had cut out of the Colorado

Springs Gazette back in 2010.

It is for Fall Harvest Muffins and

includes pumpkin, an apple, some

craisins and pecans. I have the

recipe at the bottom of this post.

Right now I have some lovely white

with green hyrangeas and on one

side of our house, we have those

strawberry type ones.

Many years ago in Old Colorado

City there was a darling and

elegant little shop called

"The Lace Chest". It was in

the west side historic district

of Colorado Springs where I had

my business and was owned by

Sharon Dougherty. Back then, she

went to England and to Paris

to buy her inventory. Her shop was

so tiny but gorgeous! She sold all English and French vintage and antique lace

that was cleaned and ironed

to perfection.

Also, she sold antique jewelry and

china.

I purchased these old antique

curtain panels from her.

RECIPE FOR FALL

HARVEST MUFFINS:

375 degrees makes 16

reg oven: 20-25 min

convection: 18 min

Use a large muffin tin: grease with butter

and flour well. Shake out excess and

will be filling 3/4 full

Mix ingredients in a bowl:

1 cup of reg flour, 1 cup of whole wheat (I used all regular), 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger,

1 tsp ground allspice, 1/4 tsp cardamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 Cup of melted butter, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 2 eggs (I used 3), 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of canned pumpkin, 1 chopped, peeled and grated apple, 1/2 cup pecans chopped and 1/2 cup of dried craisins

Mix all above dry ingredients well and then add fruits and pumpkin Pour into muffin tins and top with 1-2 tsp topping below:

Topping: 4 Tb melted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup gran. sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup oats