seeing ~ our friend Aaron’s Hualong (fish transforming into dragon) teapot. This very beautiful and rare teapot by Shi Fusheng is made from mixed ZiNi clay, and truly transforms the tea experience. feeling ~ lucky and blessed to have tea enthusiasts as next door neighbors and friends smelling and tasting ~ several fantastic teas! my…
I’ve been having so much fun developing muffin recipes using the Demarle muffin pan. My first recipe using this pan was the Butternut Spinach Souffle Muffins (everyone seems to adore these savory muffins…great with breakfast, as a lunchbox treat, or as an accompaniment to a soup and salad supper!) The second recipe was for Apple…
Days seem to be passing very quickly lately. I’ve been working on creative things, puttering around my house and getting absorbed in the minute details. I will cook or bake something, take photos of it, edit the photos and sometimes that’s all I get done in a day. Other days I can obsess over one…
Hello friends! I’m busy working in my studio today…and putting together a “Tea for Two” gift! We gave tea gifts to all of our friends a few years ago, and it’s such a fun way to share the love of tea. You can buy everything new, or you can stash little antique shop/tag sale/ thrift…
I took a little break today so I could make a special scone recipe for teatime. Jeff and Gracie recently discovered their love for Biscoff spread. They’ve been scooping it out of the jar and eating it by the spoonful…melting it and pouring it over ice cream… I had to hide the rest of the…
tasting ~ Chocolate Rocket Yerba Mate by David’s Tea…a gift from our friend Aaron…soooo yummy! chocolate, raspberries and almonds… oh my! and, a delicious turkey dinner made by the cute hubby for date night smelling ~ drawn garlic butter for steamed artichokes…. the fresh scent of pine needles filling the house…the best Christmas smell… seeing…
Hello Lovelies! As I mentioned in my Apple Butter Oat Muffin post, I am having so much fun playing with all of this Demarle Silpat cooking/ baking stuff. I made these savory muffins to go with soup a couple nights ago and they turned out just as beautiful as the sweet muffins. The flavors remind…
Such pretty, sunny, dappled days here in the Mississippi River Valley. This last week-or-so has been especially lovely. I figured out how to crochet a ripple, which makes me happy. I’m thinking about busting out all of the ends of my old skeins and making one big afghan. Jeff warned me not to start crochetting…
Here’s another little libation I dreamed up featuring Joia all-natural soda. Joia makes some of the best, most uniquely flavored sodas I’ve ever had. Delicious and truly refreshing. I’m not much of a soda drinker…but these fruity concoctions, with flavors such as: pineapple-coconut-nutmeg, lime-hibiscus-clove, grapefruit-chamomile-cardamom, blackberry-pomegranate-ginger, and ginger-apricot-allspice, make lovely drink mixers. They’re also nice…
a beautiful first day of our autumn adventure. tea for two from Dunn Brothers… lunch at Pizza Luce in Duluth (pizza shown here: The Classic with extra garlic), and finally settling into our suite on lake superior’s north shore…sipping wine…sitting fireside…relaxing and reconnecting. XO, ~Melissa