The Floral Teapot

Todays Tea of the Day was Passion Tango Herbal Tea.  I have had this tea in the cabinet for a while, this is the first time I have brewed it!  According to Teavana's website, " Bright tropical notes of papaya and mango with bright citrus lemongrass with a hint of cinnamon."  The ingredient list is:  Hibiscus  flowers,  cinnamon , candied  papaya  pieces (papaya, sugar), rose hips, apple pieces, lemongrass, natural and artificial flavoring, blackberry leaves, candied   mango  pieces (mango, sugar), rose petals.  I prepared this in my Brevill Tea Maker according to herbal tea  preparations:  208 degrees for 5 minutes.  I put some Sugar in the Raw in it for the first cup but it was way too sweet.  Subsequent cups didn't have any sugar in them.  This tea is sweet and tart, I love it!  It is very reminiscent of Starbucks' Passon Tea.  This will be fantastic iced in the summer.  ...

As my love of tea has grown so has my love of pretty things to serve my tea in.  I have had my eye on the Yedi Housewares Inside Out Hearts tea set for some time.   I was late to the game on this one.  It was featured several years ago as one of Oprahs favorite things.  And, like most of Oprahs favorite things it sold out fairly quickly.  YediHouseware.com sells the set, however, I didn't want to pay that price.  I finally found the set at a site called WholeLatteLove.com.  This site had free shipping over $50 and I found a coupon as well.  I ordered this on a Thursday and it as here on Saturday!  Talk about fast shipping! The set came in a very pretty hat box and was well wrapped.  You get six cups and six heart-shaped saucers.  You can mix and match the colors.      A look inside the box that the set came packaged in After I got the set I then wished I had purchased the matching heart-shaped t...

It is a very snow day outside.  I for one am sick and tired of the snow.  We live in a pretty rural area and thus it is difficult to get in and out when it snows.  My husband does a fantastic job of keeping our drive clear but it inhibits Mr. Brown Pants (AKA the UPS man) from making deliveries.  Living out in the middle of nowhere I have to order most things online.  The funny thing is we are just an hour and a half train ride to downtown Chicago.  It is such a contrasting dynamic to live here in rural America and then be in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the U.S. in no time. At any rate, rural living and being a Stay at Home Mom does create certain challenges.  The nearest city large enough to do anything is 15 minutes away.  The city that I do my shopping in is 30 minutes away.  Needless to say, when I am cooking and forget an ingredient I am out of luck!  This takes a great deal of planning on my part to be prepared at a...