Fine China

I have a confession, I'm a china fanatic. I thrive in antique stores looking at all the tea cups and china sets.

Its always been my belief that every household/woman should have a set of fine china. And that the pattern should reflect its owner in a positive fashion. (oh the symbolism of flowers!) So i have begun thinking of what pattern i should choose to be my main set (with all the plates etc.) and found its really hard!

Theres just so many patterns i dont know where to start! but while i'm floundering about trying to make a decision ill leave you with a tip:

I you hold a piece of china up to a light (in this case a teacup) you can tell if its real bone china if you can see the brand on the bottom through the cup.

Its kind of hard to take a picture of but the grey in the middle of the cup is the brand showing through the cup in the light. otherwise the inside of the cup is pure white.

If the cup isn't real china the light wont shine through. or it wont have a brand mark.

Hope it helps you out sometime!

Ideas For Spring tea

my mix matched tea cups!

A great Idea for a spring get together would have to be a tea party! With all the snow melting, the grass coming back and life returning in general! its a good time to sit back, relax with some friends and enjoy the weather before it becomes too warm.

If you like, try to make a mix matched tea set! Its a great way to show off all the different patterns and styles and lets your guests find a tea cup that suits them!

The forgotten cake

Ah~ the wonders of pound cake! the most underrated cake of all! I hadn't even heard of it till I watched a cooking show on TV about the history of pound cake. But now that I've tried it I dont see why it hasen't made its way into more loli tea partys.

Its easy to bake, and requires no icing! for those watching what they eat. and you can make it in a variety of flavors (vanilla or chocolate being the main ones). I myself made a chocolate one the other day and it turned out great! (a but burnt on the sides though, but thats really just me failing at baking).

Vanilla recipe

Chocolate recipe

yum! whats your favorite tea sweet?

a tea party for beginners.

My weekend was fun! my friends loved the bears i made! yay~ but after all the tea drinking at the party i feel inspired to do a post on a proper tea party! this is mostly a reference for the host of the tea party having it in their own home/yard though ^^.

The Tea Basics: Know your tea, theres many different styles but the main 4 are black, green, white and herbal. For a tea party you want to choose a tea that suits the party and is probably on the fancy side, aka a loose leaf tea. you can get nice tea from specialty stores that specialize in coffee or tea theres bound to be one in your town somewhere.

Black tea is best for a tea party because you can add milk and sugar to it and it is the most common of the teas. But there are still different blends of black tea, some more fruity, some more bitter, try to pick one that you think your guests would like. the 3 normal black teas are Orange pekoe, earl grey and english breakfast.



Set Up: the set up depends on your location, is it indoor or outdoor? what season is it? but you always want a nice table and a table cloth that reflects the season and the colours of the room or garden. I would also recommend a plastic tablecloth liner to go under the table cloth and protect the table just in case.

you will want a centrepiece for the table, like candles or a flower vase and to have a nice napkin holder and nice napkins, fabric or paper whichever you prefer. you will also want comfy chairs.


Tableware: Theres 2 ways to go about tableware for a tea party, you can have everything match or you can have a bunch of different styles that don't really match.

Either way you will want everyone to have: a teacup, a saucer, and a teaspoon.

you will also need: a sugar spoon, a sugar container, a creamer, a teapot and if you are serving food a plate/platter for that.

*note: the guests dont use their tea spoon to add sugar to their cups, that is what the sugar spoon is for. teaspoons are for stirring tea.


Etiquette and such:

-you should add all the tea and sugar BEFORE pouring the tea in the cup. if you do it in the reverse order it will have a different flavour.

-you should pour out the guests old or cold tea before pouring them a new cup.

-the host should at least pour everyones first cup of tea.

-unless your eating lots of food you can avoid extra plates and have them put their cookies and other bite sized treats on their saucer.

-ladies are always allowed to keep their hats on at the table because it is considered a part of their outfit. just like you wouldn't take bracelets off to eat because they are part of your outfit.

-always try to be in host mode unless something big happens, don't just let your guests fend for themselves.

my away time

I've been away for a while and i thought i should explain the reason why, of coarse its dance related, there was a national exebition in our city preparing for the world gymnaesrada in 2011 in switzerland (link here). The canadian gymnaestrada was from thursday to saturday and was super tiring with the hours of practice before hand and whatnot and actually performing. there was also an article in the newspaper written about us! (here)

But, as you can see i have survived to blog again! and should mention what else i have been up to lately.



today i went and bought some lovely tea from Cornalia Bean called cornelia rose, they sell all sorts of tea and coffee stuff, i also got a travel tea mug that will be put to good use! it has a built in strainer for tea leaves and everything.

I've also been sewing cosplay for the upcoming anime convention, heres hoping that everything will be finished on time!