I've been doing research on a few of the things I have decided I am definitely going to do. I am researching costs, planning the best dates for things & that includes my tea party.
For starters, I have a menu planned out. I found several recipes for tea sandwiches and I am already tasting the cucumber mint sandwich that sounds like it would be yummy. Plus I have a recipe for scones that I know comes out yummy. The petite fours I'll buy at a local bakery. I don't have the knack for making them.
I've also been hitting the web to find the most important items for my tea party...the tea set. I'm going girlie on this mission. I'm going to find the perfect set & all the matching accessories...like the teapot, the dessert plates, strainers, teaspoons, honey...oh yes, I'm going all out.
For starters...I found a great website for teas & accessories.
Check it out --> http://www.adagio.com/.
I ordered a glass teapot, a few sample packs, & a small sample bag of Amber Sugar Crystals.
The glass teapot is pretty good...so far. Keep in mind, I did just get it tonight. It's a 42oz glass pot with a metal infuser included. I love using loose tea & sometimes the strainers aren't the best option as they sometimes let pieces into the cup. This infuser is perfect! It has the right size holes to allow the water to flow through the loose tea to make a flavorful pot of tea.
I have never used Amber Sugar Crystals before...but had heard they can enhance flavored tea. For $2 I figured I'd try a bag. I have to say...yes, they are good. They didn't overly sweeten the tea.
As for the sample packs of tea, I bought a few different flavors to get a feel of what their tea is like. I ended up ordering Ceylon Sonata, White Monkey, Spearmint, Coconut, & a Berries Mixed Sampler pack.
The Ceylon Sonata is black tea from Sri Lanka. According to the site, this tea is a perfect afternoon tea. The reviews were really good for this flavor, so I got it.
White Monkey...yes, that really is the name of the flavor! Come on...I had to buy it if only for the name alone! So according to the site, White Monkey is a green tea from the slopes of the Taimu mountains in the Fujian province of China. It's supposed to be 'noticeably sweet, and infused with a fresh, delicate scent'. I love green teas and this one had some positive reviews. Okay, okay...plus I love the name.
Spearmint...mmmm...I love spearmint. It can be soothing when warm and refreshing when cool. I know this is going to be a favorite even before I brew a pot.
The Berries Mix Sampler is a set of black teas in various berry flavors. There is strawberry, raspberry, blueberry & forest berry. I picked out this variety because I love berry flavored teas. I can't wait to open this pack & try them all.
I started with the coconut tea. I love coconut flavored anything. I love the tropical smell. I love the feeling of being whisked away to a beach where I am laying on a lounger with an umbrella over me as I watch the ocean waves crash against the shore. (Damn...that's poetic!) So I brew the new tea in my brand new glass teapot. I scoop a few scoops of this amazing smelling coconut tea into the metal infuser. As I have water boiling in another teapot on the stove, I am instantly loving the smell of the coconut tea. I take note that there are pieces of coconut mixed in with the Ceylon black tea leaves.
As I work out these words to form this blog entry, I am sipping on a lovely hot cup of the amazing coconut black tea. Oh this is so yummy! The glass pot is going to be emptied before I can get this entry posted!! It's so good. I love the coconut smell filling my apartment. I love the feeling of sudden calm after a rough week.
I ordered a few sample packs from this site being none of my friends had heard of it. (I'll later find out in a Facebook post that my friend Kathy has ordered from this site before. She will suggest various flavors for me to try. Thanks Kat!) If the rest of the samples are anything like this first pot, I did good. I lucked out. And I'd like to add that this site works pretty quickly at filling orders having received the order today after placing the order only two nights ago! I am already impressed. Plus they have a message board for tea fanatics to get together. Guess who joined it tonight?? (Yup...this dork!)
I love that you can read reviews from people who have bought various things from this site. And I love that you can obviously leave feedback for others. I know I am going to have a lot of positive things to say...at least for now.
So my mission tonight is to find the right tea set. I have found a few that I like & a few that I'm not too impressed about. I know the cost is running through various budgets. I found a pretty set for $15, but I'm not over the moon about it. And then I found a set that I would love to own...but it's over $300. Yikes! So there is still plenty more research to be done before this tea party can be set.
But yes, folks, #11 hostess a tea party is a definite!
Wait...need to pour a second cuppa tea...
Okay...I definitely need to buy the big bag of this tea. It gets better with the second cup! I'm going to have to ice the rest to try it cold.
By the way, if anyone knows of a good site for teacups and saucers sets plus accessories, I would love to know of them! While I have found several, I am still not set on a pattern yet. Like I said, I want to go girlie. I might end up with a pretty floral patterned set, but I am open to any and all suggestions.
The list of suggestions has grown a little since my last entry. And there is still time to get in on the fun. I'm not done picking my list of 20 things...so feel free to make some suggestions. Remember, it's 40 things to do over 40 weeks to celebrate turning 40 this year.
May will be here soon enough. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to getting these missions started.
Here's the list as of tonight...
1 - full body massage
2 - take a hike
3 - frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity in NYC
4 - Gravity Hill in Bedford, Pa
5 - learn to speak Spanish
6 - read 'War & Peace'
7 - get a tattoo
8 - take Salsa lessons
9 - take a cooking class
10 - get set up on a blind date
11 - hostess a tea party
12 - ride a Harley
13 - buy 40 different pairs of socks
14 - get a make over
15 - get 40 people to join me for a picnic in a park
16 - go whale watching
17 - eat a papaya...I've never had one
18 - cook a Thanksgiving dinner
19 - sing karaoke w/some friends
20 - visit the gravesite of Billie Burke, Glenda from 'The Wizard of Oz' in Vallhalla, NY
21 - learn sign language
22 - paint my bedroom
23 - clean out the living room closet
24 - go to Niagara Falls
25 - Spend the day in Philadelphia
26 - go on a "spiritual Retreat"
27 - rodeo riding
28 - bungy jumping
29 - walk across the Brooklyn bridge
30 - go to the Statue of Liberty
31 - start a book club
32 - go skinny dipping
33 - go on a photo taking tour of Queens
34 - ask out a certain guy at the gym
35 - get a group of people to walk in the Breast Cancer walk at Jones Beach
36 - write the next great American novel
37 - go to a movie every day for one week
38 - learn to knit
39 - go to a Zumba class
40 - go to a hot yoga session
41 - try the belly dancing class at the gym
42 - visit a state/city that you've always wanted to visit
43 - try pole-dancing
44 - chop down your own Christmas tree
45 - donate to a charity you never thought you would give money to
46 - volunteer at a soup kitchen
47 - volunteer at an animal shelter
48 - go Christmas Caroling
49 - horse drawn carriage ride in Central Park
50 - ice skating at Rockefeller Center
51 - make holiday cards & gifts for 2011
52 - trip to Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC
53 - go to Junior's for a slice of cheesecake
54 - volunteer at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary
55 - go to Sylvia's in Harlem for chicken & waffles
56 - take a trip to the Long Island vineyards
57 - check out the Montauk lighthouse
58 - visit a cranberry bog
59 - go see a Broadway play
60 - visit Mark Twain's house in CT
61 - go to Atlantic City & lay down a $50 bet
62 - hot air balloon ride
63 - stock car racing
64 - white water rafting at the Delaware gap
65 - take a picture w/the Naked Cowboy in NYC
66 - go to Medievil Times
67 - go to a Murder Mystery Dinner
68 - go for dinner at Havana in NYC
69 - go to the circus
70 - go to a football game
71 - go cayaking
72 - Fleet Week in NYC
73 - Circle Line cruise around NYC
74 - Hayden Planetarium laser show
75 - Hershey Park, PA
76 - visit a dude ranch
77 - take a photography class
78 - bike riding with Hippie Dave
79 - go on a vacation alone
80 - go to the beach looking for seashells with Hippie Dave
81 - Howe Caverns
82 - go see the Mets at Citifield
83 - rock wall climbing
84 - fly a kite
85 - archery w/Anthony
86 - go to the Halloween parade in the village
87 - go to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria
88 - go line dancing
89 - Governor's Island
90 - ride the Staten Island Ferry
91 - ride the Roosevelt Island tram
92 - go to a midnight movie show w/Tracy wearing your jammies
93 - go to the Noguchi Museum in LIC
94 - go to the King Manor Museum in Jamaica
95 - go to the Fisher Landau Center for Art in LIC
96 - go to the Sculpture Center in LIC
97 - go horseback riding
The teapot with the coconut tea...
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