A CELEBRATION OF AUTUMN for "Tea In The Garden"

 Welcome to my blog and glad you could visit

for another pausing time. 

 Let's have a cup of

tea in my garden.

It is very windy out so when the wind comes

up, I will be holding this vase.  I lost

2 vases this summer by having them out on 

windy days.

I love the older faded and soft quilts.

We are finishing up lots of things in

the garden and outside today.

I am sure you are doing the same.

It seems every project always takes longer

than we remember it taking the last

time we did it.  We must block it out of our

memory somehow.

We are having lovely cool days now. 

 It started to cool off the last couple of weeks

of August and then into September there was

a huge change.  You know that feeling of

shock that it could feel so cool after a 

hot summer.  Our furnace has come on

at night already.

My husband and I have stayed close to home 

with the dangers and concerns about Covid. 

 Our hospitals here in Columbia have

 17 patients with

 417 active cases in our county.

I hope you are well and staying safe.

MID AUGUST "Tea In The Garden"

 

Welcome to a middle of
 August
 "Tea In The Garden":

After a very hot July we are now enjoying
some cooler temperatures which is frankly
quite surprising since this is usually an
 even
hotter month.

I am sharing a new to me teapot that just came this week.

I adore Crown Dorset teapots.

Serena is a beloved pattern:

Right now the garden is a little boring but I was able to gather up enough flowers for
 a nice big bouquet.

Here's what's growing now:

I hope your summer has been free of
illness and you have enjoyed some
gardening, hobbies and 
 activities at home with family.

JUST BEFORE AN AUGUST RAIN STORM for "Tea In The Garden"

This will be one of those really quick posts

but I am glad to do one as I have missed out on blogging lately.  Today I baked some cookies for my Grand kids so I have some to share with you.  I made both Oatmeal Raisin and Peanut Butter Cookies for them. 

Right as I was setting up the sky began

to rumble so we will move right along.  This has sure been a challenging time

 with Corona Virus. Our city of 

Columbia has mandatory masks in public places.   I have kept busy in the garden and

sewing and baking.

I am sharing one of two fun Victorian spout tea strainers that I purchased 

earlier this year.  They are sterling

 silver and very interesting.

I am already missing the spring bulbs in the garden but for now we have lots of pretty hydrangeas.  

Here is the recipe for the cookies!  

We are ready for the flooding rain with

our little dry creek which really does help.

I made a bouquet with flowers from the

garden.

So we have had plenty of hot weather lately.  Camping out has really been popular here because of covid.  I never was much of a camper - sorry to say!

I enjoyed sharing this little tea time

with you and hope you have a 

healthy "rest of your summer"!

STRAWBERRY CREAM TARTS for "Tea In The Garden"

The heat is on in Missouri now but I 

slipped out this morning for a little

"Tea In The Garden":

This morning by 10:00 am it was

already 92 degrees with 50% humidity

so I did this tea time as quickly as

I could.  This year we have little

Carolina Wrens nesting in the

birdhouse on the wall of our little

porch entry area.  It really wasn't

intended to be "used" by birds so

they were most unhappy this morning

with me scooting by with  things I brought out

the  front door nearby.

During the Corona Virus we have spent

time on many projects at home and also

in the garden.  Several long term

garden projects are done including mulching

all the flower beds front, sides and back.

So let's sit and enjoy

 these sweet little

Strawberry Tarts!

My recipe called for a quart of strawberries

but I only had a pint of them and it still

worked fine to make a 2 by 9 inch oblong tart

 and 3 small round 3 1/2" tarts too!

Here is the recipe for a Strawberry Cream Tart: Ingredients for the Pastry:  1/2 Cup Butter, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla and 

1 cup flour

This pastry makes what taste like a shortbread  cookie and is delicious!  In a small bowl, cream the butter and sugar, vanilla and add flour. 

 Press this onto the sides and bottom of your

 tart pan with a removable bottom (2 x 9")

 Make the cream cheese filling next. 

Ingredients for the Filling:

1 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl, mix all this and set aside while you preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  You are going to spread the filling over the pastry and bake it at

 450 degrees for 8 minutes - reduce heat to 

350 degrees and bake 8-10 more minutes.

Now cool this tart shell.

Ingredients for strawberry topping:

1 pint - 1 quart strawberries, Reserve 1 cup of strawberries sliced for final top and chop the rest putting them in a sauce pan with 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 cup water and 3 Tb cornstarch

Bring all this to a boil until it thickens - cool!

When your strawberry topping is cooled it is ready to pour over the cream cheese base.  It is nice to have sliced fresh berries to fill in across the top.

This recipe is really very easy to do and once you make it once -

 even easier the next time!

You may have noticed the hummingbird feeders are no longer on the deck.  We

 caught one raccoon in a cage and a friend relocated him for us but unfortunately we seem to have an abundance of them and

 they are not afraid of us.  I was refilling

 the hummingbird feeders every day which

 is a lot of work.  Yes, they drank it all.

 

If you make the tarts - I think 

you will love them!  

I hope you find ways to enjoy

 each day this summer! 

JUNE COLLAGES

I have been having fun 

making some collages:

Right now our springtime blooms

 have ended and we are 

moving on to summertime....

When not in the garden - I am busy sewing!

Please check out my Etsy site:

LAST "Tea In The Garden" for May

Welcome to my last May "Tea In The Garden" which

I am squeezing in between rainy times.

 I am using the new blogger format and I can tell you I

don't like having to learn new things but that seems to

be the norm now - something new all the time that

we have to learn.

Please help yourself to one of these lovely scones

and a cup of  Yorkshire Gold Tea.  I baked the

scones using the small scone cutter and I think

I like this little size. I think they would be perfect for having

ladies for tea because of all the other goodies.  

 These are Lemon Cream Cheese

Scones I have often shared on my blog.  The 

recipe is at the bottom below.

We have basically been at home since March 25.  My

husband has eye doctor appointments once and month

and he has done the grocery shopping once a week

during the "senior" early hours.  I don't mind staying

home but I am praying our country can get people

back to work.  

As you can see, I am sharing some red transferware

pieces.  I love the Copeland Spode pattern and also the

Mason's Vista.

We are currently saying goodbye to our peonies.

The irises are now gone and of course earlier we

enjoyed the tulips, daffodils and alliums.  We still

have some alliums here and there and now we

have some roses blooming too.  Soon the Japanese

beetles arrive though and they are sure naughty.

Please help yourself to a lovely scone and some tea.

We have had quite a lot of rain which beat the poor

flowers down.  I have staked up some of them.

I may have shared this tea cozy before - she

is Queen Elizabeth - the daughter of King

Henry the 8th....

Last year I planted some Sweet William

seeds and so now I have more which I am

loving for bouquets.

My garden is so full that I dug up many things and

it looks better.  I think now I shall just maintain

a bit and of course I have planted some seeds.

Depending on how you count, my garden is 4

years old but really in a way it 3 because the first summer

was all about digging and digging all summer.

Some asked about the cozy - it is made in England from a company which (I think) is no longer in business:  Frances Worters - you can

find them on ebay, etc being resold

This is a time we are praying for our country,

leaders and a renewal of integrity in our country.

Lemon Cream Cheese Scones:

Mix these dry ingredients:  

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar

 and 3 tsp baking powder

add to this 1/3 cup chopped butter and

4 ounces of chopped cream cheese

I used my mixer to beat this together and then added

1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk, plus 1/4 cup

lemon extract and the grated rind of 2 lemons

I rolled mine out and cut them with my smallest

scone cutter.  I sprinkled lemon juice and sugar on

the tops of the scones and bake them at 400 degreees

for about 8 minutes - convention (probably 10 minutes in

a regular oven  This made 18 small scones.