Making Chai in a Happy Cottage Kitchen

I love our happy kitchen.

 Even when it's cold or dreary or rainy or dismal outside...

it is happy in here....

I am happy that we finally have our dream kitchen..

..that we modeled after the charming display we saw a few years ago in

 Penzey Spices, Winter Park, Florida..

I'm especially happy when I see this happy Santa looking back at me....

Thank you dear Susan Branch for creating a new Christmas dishtowel...

...and for a pretty Christmas Recipe book to remind us that our kitchen truly is the heart of the home...

...especially in the midst of this season.... 

And a huge thank you to fellow girlfriend, Janie, for the snowflake garland! 

Phia and I love the pretty shimmery flakes:)

So when I saw what Alicia Paulson had whipped up in her kitchen

at www.rosylittlethings.com

and decided it would be just the right thing to whip up for those on my Christmas list,

I commenced planning and ordering.

(and thanked her for the perfectly perfect idea;)

Once everything arrived, via express mail,  (for time was of the essence) I was quite excited.

Penzey spices ...mini-weck jars ....disposable paper tea bags....

recipe printed...

check...check...check....and....check

cute little stickers on the spice jars...

intoxicating fragrance..

(I'm now in love with fresh Cardamom pods)

chop...

Heaven!

Everything into a pan and into the oven for 5 minutes...

and when your entire Happy Kitchen is filled with the fragrance of cloves,  cinnamon sticks, and the blending of the remaining spices...

...be prepared..

for when you open the door of your oven...

You will want your home to always smell just like this.

Allow the spices to cool and then distribute evenly on a cutting board.

Using your rolling pin...crunch carefully over the spices, in order to release even more fragrance..

as if it can possibly get any better.

In a bowl, mix the spices with PG Tips loose tea.

(I went for the big bag, as this tea is fabulous with the mix, but equally as delicious by itself)

After filling all my little mini-weck jars, there was just enough left over to fix a batch for taste-testing....

I brewed the Chai tea mix, according to instructions...steep ....add milk...

and used my Emma Bridgewater tea pot and mug...and a cute little strainer....

(I didn't use the fillable tea bags or infusers for this batch)

I'm just going to tell you right now...have honey handy...

it is THE perfect sweetener...trust me...

I also loved having a good reason to use my special honey spoon....

a treasure, crafted by Julie Whitmore. 

 (Google her...she creates the MOSt darling pottery)

...and since I mentioned Julie...I have to show you the first spoon I purchased from her...

Really! ...is there anything sweeter than a bunny bun sniffing hollyhocks?

I just don't know that there is!

Okay...back to the preparing... 

I guess I could have copied a set of instructions for everyone, 

but you know me... 

....It had to be cute...pretty...pleasing to the eye...

The little jars were tucked into gift bags, along with enough fillable teabags, and the Instruction card.

I had so much fun with this gift preparation. 

I am sure it's because it was a combination of baking and crafting.

...my two favorite things... 

...especially because I was in my happy cottage kitchen...

The Heart of our Home

*******

Hoping your Christmas was wonderful ...

and 

that you were blessed with the comforting fragrances of home

Blessings for a Happy New Year

Goodness and Mercy

We have been aware of the presence of Goodness and Mercy,
but we have finally come face to face...

They appear tattered and worn on the outside,
but on the inside..their spirits are refreshed by the thought
that they have been sufficiently acknowledged.

Isn't that how it is?
We 'feel' a presence,  just like we 'feel' the wind...
but when we finally see it face to face....
like leaves swirling in mid-air...
we can truly believe!

Goodness..who is nicknamed 'ohma'
because of Grammy's favored saying,...repeated often by Xavier .."ohmagoodness"..
is now known ..
as something God shares with those who seek Him.
Her dearest friend is Mercy...
formerly known as a very southern term ..followed by very many exclamation marks...
is now known for being one of God's greatest gifts!

These two have been around for quite a long time...

working steadily... all these days... in the home of Grammy and Big Daddy.

They scurried silently through the rooms...


...Welcoming children who would call out "Grammy and Big Daddy"...

Xavier, lover of all God's tiniest creatures...
including Chicky Chick...who would go to Heaven, not long after Easter...

and Baby Bun...
wounded beyond repair, who we would lose the following week...

loving them with his tender heart, whilst they were on this earth...


Princess Kyleigh...who would enjoy her very first Tea Party......

..... ever smiling...Colin...

..and "Miracle at Christmastide"... newborn, Sophia...

Around the kitchen, they'd sneak ... smelling eggs that were 'scrandled'...

spying their Dormice friends, John Jacob and Eliza....

 ...passing Scout's favored 'circle of sunshine' she found each morning, in the foyer...

And up the stairs...


into the play room....
watching Xavier as he played with a set of 'lincoln logs'...
enjoyed and cherished so many years ago, by my Matthew, Cale, and Olivia....

and the wooden train set...each piece, a Christmas gift for my mother , who began requesting the set when she became a 'memaw,' and her grandchildren became toddlers...

out the windows, they hopped....

...landing with a bounce, into the blooms of the climbing hydrangea..

...and into the blushing petals of the 'Bride'...

'neath the towering stalks of Xavier and Grammy's Hollyhocks...

...stopping to gaze at the first bloom of Xavier's 'Rainbow' summer cutting garden....

down the drive...
to the pond and the great marshmallow tree...

a little boy claimed as his own....

......Sprinkling their blessings every where they stopped to rest.

How evident are their gifts all around...do you see? Goodness and Mercy are everywhere at once..for that is the nature of these two ..

They are now joined by a new friend, Shirley...

Who shares with Goodness and Mercy, the resource she has found...in Grammy's growing library...

(Thankful to a very talented craftsman, Seth Tudor...
son of our beloved Tasha Tudor....who crafted the wooden art stand)

..and Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy shall follow Grammy and Big Daddy for all the days of their lives...

into their new home,
and into the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Such a gift!
How blessed we are!
And one day, we will all dwell in the house of the Lord!

These are the children...along with the ones who love our children...and the grandchildren ...of Grammy Christie and Husband...worshipping on Easter Sunday...
All of us together, at once. I believe it was a first. God is so Good.

Thank you, in advance, all my dear friends...new and dear...tried and true...
for all of your prayers in these next several...
very hectic...
days ahead.
May God add His richest blessings upon you!

The Language of Flowers

"I cannot imagine a more appropriate plant to symbolize female ambition, its tall pretty pastel blooms swaying at the back of our cottage gardens."

This is a quote from a lovely book, which has become quite the resource in my home, describing the Hollyhock...one of my very favorite flowers, and one that I must plant in the gardens of our Rose Water Cottage.

I first heard reference to this book as I watched one of my best loved series...Cranford...one dreary, winter evening while husband was away.  Wearing my long, white, victorian-style nightgown, wrapped under a cozy blanket, with beeswax candle lit,  teacup of hot tea by my down-cushioned chair...I approached the quiet evening and this wonderful BBC production (a dear-to-my-heart birthday gift from my mother). 

Remember these specifics, as you come upon an evening with a clear agenda. 

In the movie, based on the delightful book by Mrs. Gaskell, the ladies witness the delivery of a bouquet of anemones, received by a young lady. With their dresses swishing, as they hurry to search for the tiny book, there is a rapturous sigh as one reads from the text, the flower's meaning. Steadfast love...another chorus of ....ahhhhhh.....

 

In the movie, the book was so tiny, it seemed as if it might be a miniature. How I searched for such a clever little book...one that was antiquated and similar in size...but not one could I find. The book I came upon, shown above, has suited me and has become a lovely addition to my library. Each page is beautiful in itself, with lovely botanical paintings and other Victorian inspired themes. The meaning of each flower is followed by its origin...I refer to this quite often, in these days of discovering English Cottage Gardening.

In the movie 'Cranford' ... one of my favorite terms used by the women of the quaint little town, is "Elegant Economy."   The candles on their mantles and at their bedsides, were used quite sparingly, as beeswax was quite a luxury.

How fortunate I am to have found such a splendid gilded copy of this favored book.

The tiny beeswax candles were found in Old Salem...the wonderful little town in North Carolina...at the Moravian Bookstore and Gift Shoppe.

You will see a vintage Webster's Dictionary amongst the books in the photo....it dates from the early 1900's, and it was acquired to discover the definitions of words used at the turn of the century...as this is the era in which most of the books in my collection were written. I hope this will prove helpful to you, as well.