TAKING DOWN FALL

Today is a constant flow of taking

 down fall. This is never 

as much fun as getting it out!

I paused long enough to take a

 photo of the little Victorian style

house I made this summer using

 Tasha Tudor's pictures:

And a peek inside below:

I hope your Thanksgiving was 
wonderful
as I surely was!
I guess I better get back to work!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

THANKFUL FOR FRIENDS

While some have already decorated for

 Christmas this is the last week to

enjoy the fall decor at our house:

We are excited about bringing the smell

of roasting turkey and pumpkin pie

into the kitchen here this week as

our son and daughter in-law and

two "grands" come for Thanksgiving.

On Sunday I had a tea downstairs
 for some new friends from the church
 we attend.  It was a "Thankful For
 Friends" tea and it was a beautiful
 day to just relax and enjoy the
 calm before the busy week.

That little sign read "Gluten Free"!

So today we are enjoying a
 few leftover

treats from the tea:

Two recipes here at the bottom

are for the Pumpkin Cookies and

the Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. 
 I made the brownies in another
 batch using gluten free flour for 
some of the ladies so you can just 
substitute the flour in the recipe.

Pumpkin Raisin  Cookies:  350 degrees for 15 min MAKES ABOUT 60 medium or 46 large cookies

Combine ½ cup (1 stick) soft butter, 2 eggs ½ cup sugar, 1 ½ cups Brown Sugar, 1 Tsp vanilla, 1 Tb lemon juice

Combine: 2 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ginger,

 ¾ tsp baking soda, ½ Tsp salt, 1 tsp Cinnamon,   Next add these first 2 groups together and then mix in this: 1 ½ cups of canned pumpkin, (recipe  uses not quite a 15 oz can – rest will be for icing)  ¾ cup nuts and ¾ cup of raisins

TIPS:  I like to use parchment paper on my baking sheets to keep them clean.  Chill cookie sheets before dropping dough on them and also chill again in between batches - putting more on them.  Remove them to wax paper on counter/table to cool and get ready to ice them:

 ICING FOR COOKIES:  ¼ cup pumpkin, 4 Tb melted butter, 3 ¾ cups powdered sugar,  ½ Tsp lemon juice, pinch of salt and add ¼ cup of milk (or little more if dry) 

Chocolate Peppermint Bars 
This recipe will make about 4 dozen small rich bars:
#1  You will need for brownies base:    4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, 2 sticks butter, 4 eggs, 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1 cup all purpose flour,1 cups of nuts
#2  You will need for the mint filling:  1 lb.confect. sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), 1 stick butter, 3 Tb milk, 2 Tb imitation peppermint extract, ½ tsp vanilla extract, green food coloring
 #3  You will need for the glaze on top:  2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate and 3 Tb butter
 Get started on the brownies base:  melt the 4 squares of chocolate with the butter in a small pan. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar.  Add the flour to the egg mix and beat well.  Beat in the chocolate, and then fold in the nuts.  Bake 350 degrees in a greased and floured pan 11” x 16” or 2  8” square pans for 25-30 minutes.
 For the filling:  combine ingredients and beat till smooth. Spread as smoothly as possible on warm brownies.
 Melt the glaze ingredients together and brush on top of the filling.  Chill well.  Cut into small squares as these are rich,   You won’t be able to stay out of them!                  

THANKSGIVING A TIME TO REMEMBER for "Friends Sharing Tea"

I recently purchased a used book which

I found to be lovely and also refreshing.
It is by Barbara Rainey:

This book was written about 15 years ago

and shares the story of the first Thanksgiving

here in America.

 Did you know that "After 65 days at sea from Plymouth, the Pilgrims caught a glimpse of their destination, the new land where God would be worshiped freely and - in time- where freedom would flourish.  Shouting for joy and falling to their knees to pray, they celebrated by reading Psalm 110!"

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.  Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.  Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.....

I will certainly be celebrating

 Thanksgiving with

a cup of delicious tea:

I will celebrate with these 

publications

that I recently won in a Victoria

Magazine drawing:

I recently had some new friends over

for lunch and Norma gave me this

Shelley Creamer.  I am thankful
for friends - both former and new.

What will you be thankful for this

Thanksgiving?  I hope you can join me

today for my Tea Blog Party below.

I will be sharing at:

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

 Home Sweet Home

An InLinkz Link-up

SHARING TEA BOOKS

I love tea books and no matter how many

 I have, I always seem to find another.
These are my cookbooks:

And this area is just for tea books:

Emilie Barnes has gone to be with

 the Lord but she left us with 

 many wonderful teatime books.

  I had the privilege of meeting her

 one time  when she was speaking 

at Glen Eyrie  in Colorado Springs. 

 She told me she had asked if there

 were any tea loving shops around

 and was told  about mine. 

 She talked with my 

husband and I a good hour and 

what a wonderful and humble

 woman of God!  This  book will give

 you so many ideas for Christmastime

 Teas!  This next book is also by

 Emilie and is both practical,

 inspirational and full 

of ideas for tea time celebrations.

The next one I am sharing is "English Tea & Cakes" which is a tea recipe book and has many ideas for tea parties and menus.

Back in 1991 Victoria Magazine came out 
with this next book and it has always been
beloved - "The Charms of Tea" will
 always
be a book you can get lost in...

I remember many years ago being 
very excited to find the same table 
topper that I had seen in
 "The Charms of Tea".

"Let's Have Tea Together" was a sweet
 Holly Pond Hill book by Susan Wheeler.  The photos are darling and the book
 moves through the seasons
 to delight children:

And another Susan Wheeler book "Tea
With Victoria Rose" came out years ago
and was offered at that time with
a small child's teaset.  And I had to
laugh as all this time - I didn't notice
before but the inside of both of 
these books......is the same!

Now I want to share "Tea With Jane Austen" 
because so many of you love Jane's books and the movies made from them:

Kim Wilson's book above has lots 
of fun tea trivia that surrounded 
Jane's life and recipes and ideas.

So now the last one I am sharing
takes us back to Emilie Barnes
and her precious book "The Little
Teacup That Talked"  This is still
available and is a wonderful
and meaningful book for a child:

Well, these are just a few of the books here
as we could spend all day going through
many more but I hope I at least presented
one of two you weren't familiar with!