friday feast: ♥ true love in three acts ♥

February 14, 2014August 14, 2017 ~ jama ~ 87 Comments

“You must always be awaggle with love.” ~ D.H. Lawrence

~ With advance apologies to Tea S. Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Brewing and William Shakespour.

1. To tart or not to tart, that is the question.

Reasons for not making fruit tarts:

Pesky little tart pans
Stirring vanilla cream in nippy kitchen
Finicky pastry dough
Locate pretty fruit in the dead of winter? Oh, come on.

Reasons for making fruit tarts:

Len loves them. Cornelius loves them. I love them. What person in their right mind doesn’t love them?
It’s Valentine’s Day.
Beloved blog readers might be impressed that ~~an adorable~~ a self-sacrificing writer stood in an icy kitchen for ~~hours~~ some minutes stirring, stirring the vanilla cream and whipping finicky pastry dough into shape after ~~walking~~ flying to Chile to pick fresh berries.
Good excuse to buy a new tartlet baking set.

*The baking set comes with a 12-well non-stick tartlet pan, a dough cutter and a tamper.*

*Handsome assistant demonstrates use of tamper.*

In the room the women come and go,
Talking of rolling pie dough.

* * *

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a spot of downton tea with rock cakes

February 4, 2014August 4, 2025 ~ jama ~ 49 Comments

Good Morning!

You’re just in time to join us for some freshly baked rock cakes and a bracing cup of Downton Abbey® Grantham Breakfast Blend. Would you like yours with a splash of honey and almond milk?

Better to stay indoors and chat about Downton than brave the winter of our discontent, which just keeps “gifting us” with more snow, ice, bitter winds, traffic snarls, school closings and slushy messes. We are definitely NOT amused.

Tea and Downton, Downton and tea, what would we do without you?

So, what do you think of Season 4 now that we’re about half way through?

I know some Downton fans have jumped ship — angry and disappointed with Julian Fellowes for the shocking storyline about Anna. Words like “exploitative,” “gratuitous,” “implausible,” and “manipulative” have been bandied about.

For those who have viewed Downton as a means of gentle escapism, this was simply the last straw, some saying the attack on Anna was an assault on the series itself, definitely marking a turning point for better or worse. A devastating turn of events to be sure, with Joanne Froggatt turning in a brilliant performance. It’s interesting how this plotline is unfolding — Bates must temper his smoldering rage with genuine care and concern for Anna. What repercussions? Will justice be served?

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lemon teacake from emma block’s tea and cake

January 14, 2014August 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 51 Comments

I’ve long been a big fan of illustrated cookbooks, often adding them to my collection without ever intending to make any of the recipes. I’m content to ooh and ahh over the beautiful art, happily satisfying my visual cravings.

But since we’re all about tea and England this winter, I thought it would be nice to try something from Tea and Cake: Recipes for the Perfect Afternoon Tea (Hardie Grant, 2011), which features the lovely watercolor and paper collage work of London-based illustrator Emma Block.

Emma was actually commissioned by the publisher to do the illustrations while in her last year at university; the recipes themselves were created by a team of recipe writers whose names, oddly enough, do not appear on the cover of the book. But Emma’s name is there, front and center, and she definitely deserves the spotlight, because it is her work that really makes this book shine.

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hangin’ with mr. tea, or, a warm tale for a cold winter’s day

January 24, 2013October 24, 2017 ~ jama ~ 44 Comments

Mr. Cornelius and I have a new friend in the Alphabet Soup kitchen. His name is Mr. Tea, and so far, he’s taught us that:

It’s socially acceptable to take your pants off in public.
It’s also socially acceptable to wet your pants.
Another name for tea infuser is “Hot Pants.”

Come along on Mr. Tea’s first adventure. So many cups, so little time!

*Mr. Tea arrived in a Christmas stocking and immediately stole our hearts.*

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shortbread and scones from the unofficial downton abbey cookbook

January 17, 2013August 4, 2025 ~ jama ~ 41 Comments

“Are we going to have tea, or not?” ~ Violet, the Dowager Countess

Yes, we are definitely having tea today, along with a couple of treats from The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook by Emily Ansara Baines (Adams Media, 2012)!

Thank goodness Season 3 is finally underway, as I was suffering from extreme DA withdrawal for the last several months. So thrilled that the always brilliant Dame Maggie Smith won a Golden Globe on Sunday, that Mrs Hughes is okay, and that the Crawleys don’t have to sell the Abbey after all. I’m also crushing on Thomas after seeing Rob James-Collier on numerous talk shows — his character may be slick-haired surly and restrained, but when he smiles in real life — hubba hubba!