tea time

For the rest of the world, today marks the end of International Hot Tea Month.

But for me, every month is Hot Tea Month.... I love the stuff and it's how I get my daily dose(s) of much-needed caffeine (because I hate coffee and soda).

However, I did celebrate tea this month in a few special ways.

I went to afternoon tea and a tasting (learning all about white, green and black teas) at Chado with my friend Leslie. This reinforced my previous opinion that light teas are meh.. and black teas are amazing! (My faves are chai, earl grey, english breakfast and Chado's Mauritius, which rhymes with delicious!)

Today, I also cleaned out and organized by tea shelf because it was getting a little out of control ;) Most of my loose leaf teas are now dry and secure in tins next to my hoarded and carefully rationed stash of Marks & Spencer shortbread petticoat tails from London (thanks Daryl, James and Susie!), which are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of hot tea.

If you want to celebrate with a hot cup of deliciousness, here are tips for brewing the perfect cup of tea from Twinings.

And remember...

on the third day of christmas...

... my dear friends gave to me, a lovely afternoon tea!

I think anyone who has read this blog lately knows I love afternoon tea. So when my friends Daryl & James invited me over for tea on the Friday after Christmas -- using Daryl's fancy silver and gold trimmed china -- my only response was, "What time should I arrive?" :) It was a super fancy way to celebrate the third day of Christmas!

We had two rounds of tea -- a yummy "house" blend and a citrusy Christmas blend. They even had sugar cubes, which apparently you can get at the supermarket. I need to pay more attention to my sugar purchasing options. Sugar cubes are a quick and easy way to fancy-up a cup of tea if you're not drinking out of china teacups and saucers ;)

The first course consisted of really good, homemade egg salad and chicken curry finger sandwiches.

The second course was a delish scone with a choice of yummy apple cinnamon jelly or mixed berry preserves. (However, if you're smart, you cut the scone in half so you can have both -- one per half :). And then the final course was a mini mincemeat pie with brandy butter. 

It was a lovely, lovely afternoon! And I even got a lovely parting gift -- since Daryl had just been to London for work again, he brought my favorite cookies ever back for me! A tin of Marks & Spencer Scottish Shortbread Petticoat Tails. Yay! And just in time... my previous stash I've been rationing was down to two triangles. Now I should have enough to last me through March (I hope!)

PS: I would just like to note that my blog now comes up as the #4 Google search result when you search for "marks and spencer scottish shortbread petticoat tails." Woot!

products i love: marks and spencer scottish shortbread petticoat tails

My friend Daryl works for the British government here in LA and had to travel to London back in September for work. He was taking requests for souvenirs so I told him to try and find me something from the London Summer Olympics. 

When he returned, he brought me two cute collectible pins featuring the Games' mascots Wenlock and Mandeville. That would have been enough. But then he handed me a shopping bag containing what has turned into two months of streched-out, carefully-rationed edible heaven.

This is the totally adorable Marks and Spencer London Olympics souvenir biscuit tin that was inside the bag...

And these are the amazingly wonderful Scottish shortbread petticoat tails that were stacked inside of it...

I'd never had "petticoat tails" before, but upon one taste, they became my favorite cookie in the world. 

They remind me of a thinner (and therefore better for you, right? ;) version of the old Girl Scout Shortbread cookies they had back when I was a Brownie. (These weren't just a plain "Trefoil" shortbread cookie like they sell now. These were the amazing, now-discontinued "Scot-Teas" that had sprinkled sugar on top, which I used to lick off before devouring the remaining cookie. ;)

These petticoat tails also have a light sprinkling of sugar on top. And taste oh-so-delicious with hot tea. The tin had about 10 of the cookie sheets (pictured above) inside of it, which can be broken up into six individual wafers, which I've been seriously rationing since October because when they are all gone, I'm going to be very, very sad. 

Of course, thanks to the internet I could order more (although the cute collectible tin is now only available on eBay). But that just wouldn't seem as special. 

So from now on, if anyone is going to London, you now know what you can get me as a special treat. My sweet tooth and I will love you forever :)