I was away for a bit, visiting my son and his little family. Yesterday I had my first me-time teatime since coming back. It was simple and delightful.
I had my usual sandwich that I enjoy so much: turkey, cheese, and mustard on rye. However, instead of tea, I had hot cocoa. And a couple of York chocolates. I guess it was a chocolate kind of day!
My daughter and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo a few days ago with a colorful tablescape and delicious smothered turkey burritos.
I adapted this recipe by switching ground beef for ground turkey, and using canned pinto beans instead of refried beans. I also added a bit of mild taco seasoning and mild salsa to the filling.
Our Cinco de Mayo lunch was yummy!
I’ll close this post with this photo of the tree next to my house. I love the bright spring green of new leaves.
“Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.”~Katrina Meyer
My last tablescape featured three thrifted Nikko Secret Garden dishes and a set of striped table linens from an antiques store. You’ll find more details in my tablescaping blog: www.tablescapingideas.wordpress.com
I absolutely love the plates and hope to find more on one of my thrift store treasure hunts.
Last week’s me-time teatime consisted of a simple sandwich (turkey slices, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on rye bread), pineapple juice, latte-flavored cookies, and Earl Grey.
This week I changed the place setting a bit. The melamine salad bowl, napkin, small white bowls, and pink bottle were thrifted. The polka-dot plate is from Amazon, the pink juice glass and woven placemat are from Target, the teacup and saucer are Corelle, and the teapot is from World Market.
Teatime was tandoori chicken & rice (so yummy!), potato chips, pineapple juice, Annie’s gummies, and Earl Grey.
And Ciel for company.
I’m loving my me-time teatimes. When I first started this self-care practice, it all felt staged and a bit stressful, but I’ve learned to slow down, lighten up, relax, and really enjoy these quiet moments.
“Tea and honey is a Very Grand Thing.” ~from Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
I didn’t have a me-time teatime opportunity during Holy Week, but my daughter and I celebrated Easter with an all-day Peter Rabbit-themed Easter Tea.
I absolutely adore Beatrix Potter’s children’s books and illustrations, especially The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I don’t have a lot of Peter Rabbit decorations, but I used what I have plus cute Peter Rabbit paper plates and napkins from HomeGoods to create this joyful table setting.
We had egg salad sandwiches (chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with sweet relish, Miracle Whip, and black pepper on pumpernickel toast) and Irish breakfast tea for breakfast.
We had turkey Cuban sandwiches (butter, mustard, pickles, Swiss cheese, and smoked turkey slices on hoagie rolls) with potato chips, “Key Lime Pie” dip and cinnamon graham crackers, and black afternoon tea for lunch.
And we had home-baked scones with clotted cream and guava jam plus Chai tea in the late afternoon.
Also, as you can see, we ate lots of Easter candy throughout the day.
All in all, we had a lovely, yummy, hoppy Easter Sunday.
“Every clever bunny knows that tea refreshes – top to toes. So put the kettle on and brew, a lovely cup for me and you.” ~Found on Pinterest
I still had my St. Patrick’s Day tablescape set up, so this week’s me-time teatime was St. Patrick’s Day-themed.
Instead of my usual sandwich, I enjoyed some yummy leftover farmer’s pie (similar to traditional shepherd’s pie, but with ground turkey instead of ground lamb) and apple juice.
For dessert I had a slice of angel food cake (store bought) topped with apple pie filling and cinnamon, and black tea.
On my way to do some me-time shopping this morning, I took this photo of one of my favorite Colorado views: Mount Blue Sky (formerly known as Mount Evans). So beautiful!
Happy first day of spring!
“Life is like a cup of tea… It’s all in how you make it.” ~Irish proverb
This week instead of sitting down to a lovely me-time teatime, I went thrifting, or as I like to call it: treasure hunting. I had an equally lovely time, and these were my finds:
Two saucers and one salad plate by Nikko; two Dash of That cappuccino cups that go well with the Nikko saucers; two Fiesta Apricot cup and saucer sets, two yellow napkins, and a set of four metal napkin rings.
I keep track of all my tablescape purchases. Here are a few more treasures that I found earlier in the year:
Two McKee Thatcher milk glass goblets, two Johnson Brothers Holland saucers, two ecru napkins, and two white embroidered napkins.
Two vintage Libbey glasses, an incomplete Blue Delft children’s tea set (no cups and saucers), one vintage Lenox crystal bud vase, and four Lenox Blue Pinstripe bread & butter plates.
And clockwise from top left: a Temp-tations Valentine’s Day vase, a woven bread basket (under the orange napkins) that matches placemats and napkin rings I already own, a Temp-tations ceramic rooster, four vintage Franciscan Apple plates (two saucers and two bread & butter plates), two embroidered beige napkins, and the best find: several vintage Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz plates (2 dinner, 1 salad, 2 cereal).
I visit one of my local thrift stores once a week, if I can. Sometimes I don’t find anything special, but I often do. That’s part of what makes thrifting fun!
Thrifting works for me because I only buy items that will work well with my tablescape plans, that cost very little, and that are in excellent condition. It also helps that I don’t search for complete dinnerware sets, since my tablescapes are usually for just two people, and I like to mix and match.
Here’s an example:
I combined woven placemats and napkin rings (from Amazon), two white embroidered napkins (thrifted), two Pier 1 dinner plates (a gift from my eldest daughter), two Chinese decorative plates (thrifted), two Wedgwood cups and saucer sets (thrifted), two Johnson Bros Willow bowls (thrifted), two Anchor Hocking glasses (purchased long ago), and a few pieces borrowed from my youngest daughter (the Chinese rice bowl and spoon, the forks, and the chopsticks), to create this very inexpensive Chinese New Year tablescape.
“If you wait until you have enough money to decorate and make your home your own, it will never happen. If you wait until you can afford to buy everything new, you are missing the point. It is the old, the new, the hand-me-down, the collected, the worn but loved things in your home that make it your own.” —Stacy Risenmay, Not Just a Housewife
This week’s me-time tea time was super simple. The menu was tuna pasta salad with canned corn and homemade vinaigrette, sugar cookies, and Earl Grey.
I took my first spring nature walk. I didn’t see any flowers, but the blue of the Colorado sky sure made up for it.
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.”~Eleonora Duse
I put together a simple nautical-themed tablescape to celebrate my son’s and my late father’s birthdays.
For this week’s me-time teatime, all had to do was modify my place setting.
The menu was a simple breakfast sandwich (egg-and-cheese omelet on rye bread), pineapple juice, a cookie and a peppermint patty, and Earl Grey tea.
Ciel joined me of course. Either he likes to pose for the camera, or he was hoping I’d give him a treat. Or both! 😹
When the world is all at odds And the mind is all at sea, Then cease the useless tedium And brew a cup of tea. There is magic in its fragrance, There is solace in its taste; And the laden moments vanish Somehow into space. And the world becomes a lovely thing! There’s beauty as you’ll see; All because you briefly stopped To brew a cup of tea. -William Gladstone
I was able to put together a simple Chinese New Year tablescape after all, so this week’s me-time teatime was about celebrating the Lunar New Year (https://www.cnn.com/travel/lunar-new-year-2024-illustrated-guide-intl-hnk/index.html). We say good-bye to the rabbit and welcome the dragon. May we be blessed with health, strength, and prosperity.
The three books I used to decorate the table are Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan, and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. The little decorative plate souvenir was a gift from my son.
The menu was a simple sandwich (roast turkey slices, provolone cheese, mustard, and sweet relish on toasted rye bread), ladyfingers with lemon curd, and Earl Grey.
Happy Year of the Dragon!
“Tea tempers the spirit and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness.” ~ Lu Yu
Today I enjoyed a pre-Valentine’s Day me-time teatime. The table is ready for a Valentine’s Day breakfast tomorrow with my daughter (and our cats).
The menu (store-bought) was a turkey-goat cheese-fig jam-spinach baguette sandwich, a cinnamon doughnut muffin and Earl Grey tea. Delicious.
The “Love is all you need” table decoration is from Target. I added the beanie cat. The card is handmade from years ago. The “Love” mug is my daughter’s. I love how it matches the polka dot runner.
I’ve been working on a fun dragon-themed tablescape, hence the toy dragon and the books about dragons that you see in the photos.
The Lunar New Year starts in a couple of days, and I couldn’t find any decorative items with Chinese dragons anywhere in my house, so I decided to have a bit of dragon fun anyway with what I did find. The toy dragon is Norbert from the Harry Potter books, and the books are Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George, Dragon’s Fire by Jane Johnson, and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The teatime menu was turkey sausage and cheese mix sandwiches, petit French beignets (yum!), and Earl Grey.
The sandwich filling was chopped savory turkey sausage mixed with a spicy pimento cheese mix plus cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Miracle Whip, and apple cider vinegar. I had to add the apple cider vinegar to tone down the spiciness of the filling.
All in all, it was a lovely me-time teatime.
–Is that… a dragon?
-That’s not just a dragon. That’s a Norwegian Ridgeback.
-My brother Charlie works with these in Romania.
-Isn’t he beautiful? Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy.
-Hello, Norbert.
-Norbert?
-Yeah, well, he ‘s gotta have a name, don’t he? Don’t you, Norbert?
(NORBERT SPITS FIRE)
~From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Catch a Butterfly 