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Showing posts from February 20, 2011

Kalyn's Triple Berry Smoothie

Recently, my kids were home from school for 9 consecutive days due to Tulsa having more snow than ever before.  All area schools were closed for this amount of time, which is a record here.  Being all cooped up inside really made us all yearn for Spring.    With the exception of cleaning it, my kids love being in the kitchen creating their own recipes.  On one of the snow days, Kalyn came up with this simple but delicious fruit smoothie.  It's so good, so easy I wanted to share it with you all.  Kalyn's Triple Berry Smoothie 2 single serving containers of lowfat blueberry yogurt 2 Cups frozen strawberries 3 Tblsp blackberry jam 1 cup ice cubes appx. 3/4 Cup milk Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. The strawberries , blueberries and tart blackberries combined make a pretty pastel color.   A perfect match, served on a lavender transferware platter, with adorable demi spoons shaped like twigs and leaves . A perfect combinat

The Tea Tax of 1784 and it's Relation to Transferware

Prior to 1784, tea was smuggled into England.  In 1784, the East India Company and the London tea traders, unable to compete with the price of teas being sold on the black market, petitioned Prime Minister Pitt to reduce the tax on tea.   The Commutation Act 1784 was passed reducing the import tax on tea from 119% to only 12.5%.  This was wonderful news for the middle class and less wealthy people as it made tea drinking affordable to them.  Unfortunately though, the tax on silver was increased at the same time.  The combination of these two factors substantially increased the demand for ceramic tea services.  Transferware had just recently been invented and was in the very early years of production.  Some of the most beautiful and collectible transferware teapots were made during this period and well into the 20th century.    I am re-posting photos of previous teascapes and tea tables.  Hope that is okay!  I have had to take a little time away from blogging for various reasons.  I