Tea

M.K. over at Through a Glass, Darkly, has been talking about tea lately and how loose leaf tea is better than tea bags which contain the "fannings" or tea "dust".  I realized there is a shop in a local mall that has a lovely selection of teas and decided to buy some and see for myself just how much difference it makes whether one uses loose tea or tea bags.

This lovely young woman was very helpful ( remember, it's October 31, hence her face painting). I chose Organic Earl Grey tea which the cute little canister ( free, by the way) tells me has Black tea, cornflower petals, and natural flavouring in it.
 

This is the type of tea (bags) I've been using until now. I like it a lot so I guess I'll see now how they compare. I do like the fact that the loose tea is organic since I've heard that tea can contain a fair amount of pesticides.  Comparing prices...   I buy the boxes of tea bags on sale for 2.99 and that is for 33 grams of tea.  The loose tea cost $9 for 100 grams.  IF my math is correct then the cost is more or less the same.

     If I'm going to be using loose tea I have to use a tea ball. Fortunately I have two!!
     Here you can see the cute canister the tea came in.
 

Ahhh! This tea is very tasty.  Even had it with no sweetener  ( although a bit of honey will make it even nicer).

Are you a tea drinker?  Loose, or tea bags?   Regular, or Herbal?   Leave a comment, please!

     Granny Marigold

A Few More Houses

                  Bear with me, I promise these will be the last ones!!

 

                               Granny Marigold

The House of Ghosts

I like this poem by Humbert Wolfe and seeing as this is the week of ghosts and spooks it seems like the right time to share it.

The House of Ghosts

First, to describe the house.
Who has not seen it?
Once, at the end of an evening's walk
The leaves that suddenly open,
And as sudden screen it,
With the first, flickering hint of shadowy eaves.

Was there a light in the high window?
Or only the moon's cool candle, palely lit?
Was there a pathway leading to the door?
Or only grass, and none to walk on it?

And surely someone cried:
'Who goes there, who? '
And ere the lips could shape the whispered 'I! '
The same voice rose, and chuckled
'You, tis you! '
A voice, or the furred night owl's human cry?

Who has not seen the house?
Who has not started towards the gate, half-seen,
And paused, half-fearing,
And half beyond all fear,
And the leaves parted again,
And there was nothing in the clearing. 


Granny Marigold

 

More Old Houses

These first two are quite dilapidated but the others, especially the third one, are in much better shape.
I like the last one, the more 'ordinary' one, the kind you might actually see in the older part of town.
What fun it would be to fix up one of the less decayed ones and bring it to its original beauty.  ( My DH does NOT agree. )

Happy Sunday!     Granny Marigold

Old Houses

It's coming to that time of year that I'm not at all fond of....Halloween!  Witches and spooks are not my thing but...  abandoned houses that look spooky, those I find I like. Not that I'd ever be brave enough to go through one but to look and imagine how they once looked when they were cared for. So I thought for the next while I'd post some pictures of just that. They are all ones I took off the internet not ones I myself took. I hope you enjoy them.

Now on to something totally different.   My tomatoes had quit ripening but there were still some green ones so I made Green tomato salsa .  It was very simple to do.  
 The first time I made it with 2 cups of chopped green tomatoes, a small jalapeno, minced, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice and a cup of sugar. I  simmered it until it reduced stirring from time to time. It took about half an hour or so.  It was a hit so I made a second batch. This time I doubled everything except the sugar since my family found it too sweet . I included half an onion, chopped and instead of the jalapeno I used two Serrano peppers.  If I make it again I'll go back to using jalapenos, which we definitely preferred. This batch seemed to have quite a bit more liquid so after half an hour of simmering I dissolved about a teaspoon of corn starch in some water and stirred that in. It quickly got to a nicer thickness. 

 Here's my last pic. My cup of tea and cookie on my lovely new set!

Happy Friday!   Hope you have a nice weekend.
                                                                                      GRANNY MARIGOLD

Today's treasure

Went this morning to a branch of a thrift store I usually go to. It is very big and spacious, almost too much so. I think I prefer a smaller store. I did browse around and found a Christmas CD that might be nice. Buying Cds,  whether Christmas or not, is such a hit and miss thing so I prefer to buy for 1.50 instead of 20.00. 

I also saw a large display of Royal Albert snack sets in a beautiful blue/gray pattern of roses and leaves. There must have been a dozen sets marked at $9.50 each.  I went back no less than three times to gaze at them. Finally I just chose one and went to stand in the (long!!) line-up to pay.  This pattern is "Inspiration". I had never heard of it before.  I especially like the shape of the cup which I learned is called MONTROSE. All my favourite cups are this shape.

        This next pic is off the internet and shows other pieces in the same pattern.  This pattern was discontinued in the 70's.

In the 50's and early 60's "snack sets" were quite popular and I had two sets. One I gave away years ago but I kept one. I must get it out and take a look at it. I cannot remember what pattern it was, only that I liked it better than the one I gave away.

It's still raining here in B.C. and I guess we might as well be resigned to this as the most likely weather for the next 5 months.  Hope your day is a good one.

        Granny Marigold

This and That

When we moved to this area many years ago the town was small but growing. Now it has become a city and the need for space has created subdivisions on the hills around us. There seems to be no end to the development of new areas.

As we drove around the other day we saw this unusual tree. At least the fruit is unusual. I'm wondering if it could be a Persimmon tree?  The orange fruit was "segmented" like a pumpkin.

I like what these homeowners did when they closed in their garage. It looks so inviting with the striped awning and the vine growing over the window.

I picked these mushrooms while on my walk. The one on the left is a perfect ball with a sturdy "trunk". It most probably is an Amanita muscaria, a very deadly mushroom should anyone be foolish enough to eat it.

Here's that same mushroom after a couple of days in the house. Now the cap is opening and becoming more flat. The pattern on the cap is quite raised.  The other two that I brought home quickly became slimy and were thrown out.

It's a windy day here with the occasional bit of rain that gets whipped against the house. A good day to be indoors.  I'm baking bread. What did you do today?

                        Granny Marigold

This week's thrifty finds

So many lovely treasures to show you this week!  The first is an awesome book filled with
more than 200 famous paintings in colour and with a short description. The book is in like new condition and was only two dollars! 

in

Next is a quilt that is neither crib size nor single bed size but something in between. It is partly machine made and partly hand sewn. It needed a bit of mending, which I was able to do. When I'm really old and need a lap blanket this will be the one I reach for.

All the treasures below came from the same garage sale. The movies were .25 each, the books not much more.  The long box is an unopened box of French Lilac drawer liners.  The almost full Mod Podge is matte. I had the glossy kind and was looking for the matte.

                             A cute BP book that includes stickers that are still in it!!

                                            A cozy cardigan that was a dollar!

 The teddy bear was sitting all forlorn and no one wanted him so he came home with me. I think he looks much happier now, especially since I found a nice sweater for him to wear.

I love my 'new' china mug. Unlike so many others that I have this one can go in the microwave.

This pretty cup has made in England "Washington" written under the saucer. I like the Autumnal shades of brambly flowers ( which look more red here but are not). The saucer is unusually deep. I like it.

 Last of all are these 4 custard cups which look old. Maybe they aren't. I got them because they please me and were a $1.25 for the set.

I hope I haven't bored you with my long list today. Some weeks I find next to nothing and then comes a week like this one.  Kind of makes up for the stressful week I had LAST week.

I hope your weekend is going ever so smoothly. My 2 daughters will be coming by for tea shortly as it is the eldest's birthday today. Yesterday was my youngest son's and today is my oldest's with almost exactly 12 years between them!

              Granny Marigold

Black Forest Cake

This is the Black Forest Cake I made for my son's birthday. It's so easy ( I forgot to include the Duncan Hines Cake Mix box in this picture). It's a matter of assembling everything. It was delicious!!

    I did cut the cake in half and put a mixture of Cool Whip and chocolate pudding in the middle.

     And here's my granddaughter wearing her favourite sweater and hamming it up! Funny girl.

      

                                   GRANNY MARIGOLD