Twelfth Night - Epiphany.

Quite a sad day today as we take down the Christmas decorations, un - decorate the Christmas trees and pack everything away again for another eleven months.

I know many of you did this chore last week but I always like to wait until Twelfth Night - Epiphany, the Christian feast which marks the visit of the Three Kings to the baby Jesus.

google image

I think it harks back to our time spent living in Bavaria when on this day a group of children from the village, known as the Sternsinger, would visit our homes

 dressed as the Three Wise Men collecting donations for children's charities.

They would sing us a song or recite a poem before inscribing

the year, C + M + B in white chalk above the front door. 

 " 20 C + M + B 15".

For a long time I thought the letters represented the names of the Three Magi

 Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar 

but they really stand for the Latin phrase

Christus Mansionem benedicat 

 "God protect this house"

As a treat on this special day I thought I'd take the opportunity to sample some delicious
Downton Abbey tea with a slice of "galette des rois", the traditional French cake eaten on this day.
The tea was a recent gift from my lovely friend Sarah who like me is a big fan of Downton Abbey.

Will I chose "butler's pantry blend"  -premium black tea with essence of honey.
a favourite of Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes or
mrs's patmore's pudding tea - with caramel and vanilla which Mrs P & Daisy prefer?

A delicious confection of puff pastry and frangipane the cake of kings
 contains a small porcelaine figurine and whoever finds it in their slice becomes king for the day.

The Senior Partner and I don't care for frangipane so we ordered a galette des rois with an apple filling, well we are in Normandy after all!

Are you a tea drinker or would you prefer a cup of java with your slice of galette?
I'd love to know.

Tea and Tea Things Swap - the reveal!!

Can you see me doing my happy dance?

No, well believe me I am!

The lovely Beth @ Beyond The Garden Gate recently arranged a Tea and Tea Things Swap amongst her friends and followers and lucky me because I got Beth, the gracious hostess, as my swap partner.

Today, our post lady delivered a great big box all wrapped up in pretty paper and it was addressed to me.
Take a look at what was inside.

Quelle surprise when I unfastened the clasp on the small Parisien attache case and discovered new and exotic fruit teas (Tazo "Berryblossom White and Pomegranate, a green tea produced by Harry & David) and a teapot shaped tea bag holder festooned with roses.

This beautiful book "The Art of Tea and Friendship"  is sure to become a firm favourite and will inspire me endlessly when writing my tea time themed blog posts over the coming months.

Here is just a sample -

"May your home always be too small for all your friends", reads a plaque in my friends house. I once lived in a home that was so small that a guest remarked, "I can't believe real people live here!"
Even if your home is too small to host all of your friends at one time, you can throw open the doors and welcome them all with a "Come and Go" Tea Party, an idea I learned from my mother.
By staggering the times on your invitations, you can enjoy all your friends at one special party. Invite one third of your guests to tea from 1 - 3 p.m. one third from 2 - 4 p.m. and one third from 3 - 5 p.m.
Enlist the help of two or three friends to serve the food and tea and clear the tables so you can be sure to be available at the door for every "Hello" and "Goodbye".
Not only will you enjoy seeing so many friends together, each of them is sure to find some new friends at your house!"
SANDY LYNAM CLOUGH -
Marietta. GA.
Click here to go to the author's website.

Thank you so much Beth, for initiating this delightful Tea things swap and extending the hand of friendship to me and everyone else who took part.

Y: is for Yorkshire Tea & Delia'sYorkshire Pudding.

I should imagine that not many of my US followers know too much about the Wars of the Roses?
No, not the movie with Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner!

The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1487 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

The name Wars of the Roses is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists. Major causes of the conflict include: 1) both houses were direct descendents of king Edward III; 2) the ruling Lancastrian king, Henry VI, surrounded himself with unpopular nobles; 3) the civil unrest of much of the population; 4) the availability of many powerful lords with their own private armies; and 5) the untimely episodes of mental illness by king Henry VI.Source:http://www.warsoftheroses.com/
The end result of the Wars of the Roses was that Henry Earl of Richmond killed Richard
Of Gloucester at the Battle of Bosworth, became Henry VII and went on to found the Tudor Dynasty.
Now, (or nethin as we say in Lancashire) that was a few hundred years ago and I have to say that there is still some slight rivalry between the two counties.



However, on our recent trip back to the UK we stayed in a great little gastro pub with rooms, the New Inn, in the village of Marsden situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, just a few miles outside of Saddleworth, where my family now reside. It was lovely.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Marsden like this:
MARSDEN, a village and a township-chapelry in Almondbury and Huddersfield parishes, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Colne, adjacent to the Manchester and Huddersfield canal and to the Manchester and Leeds railway, under the backbone of England, 4¾ miles E of the boundary with Lancashire, and 7¼ SW by S of Hnddersfield; is a large place; and has a station on the railway, a post office under Huddersfield, and fairs on 25 April, 10 July, and 25 Sept.
Source: A Vision Of Britain Through Time.


Although I am a born and bred Lassie from Lancashire, (that is not me in the vt! I just wanted you to hear the tune) I have to admit that there are some things that the folks over in Yorkshire have done well, and one of them is to produce Yorkshire Tea!
If you like your tea strong, this is the one for you.
Check out this fabulous website to find out all about it.

Another very special foodstuff to come out of Yorkshire and one that I think everyone knows about, is Yorkshire pudding and if I say so myself the ones that I make are Historic! In a good way!
Helping to make Yorkshire puddings, a traditional part of the family Great British Sunday Roast when I was growing up, was a treat for a young girl and over the intervening years I have tried and tested many different recipes.
However, I always come back to Delia's classic Yorkshire pudding recipe, (well, we do share the same family name: Smith).

I hope you've enjoyed our little virtual visit to Yorkshire, England, now head on over to Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Class for more Y posts from around the globe.
See you at break time (recess)!