Punk Porcelain

I am partial to collecting pieces of fine china. Mismatching cups and saucers with tarnished gold rims and dusty old lady floral prints, from The Salvos.

I don’t own any porcelain with a Sex Pistols attitude. Plates which are slightly mouthy, but disarmingly charming. Saucers which flash a bit of leg and demand seconds. Perfect partners for an afternoon tea.

[Thief!]

[Sambo]

[crumbs!]

[The wedding]

tea and toast please

Reading Jane Brocket’s blog is like sipping a cup of tea and munching warm toast – it’s delightful, simple, refreshing, homely and hits the spot every time.

[tea and toast]

Jane’s blog is a treasure trove of recommendations for books, yarn, films, thread, bulbs, quilts and most importantly afternoon tea destinations. My mouth is drooling in anticipation of visiting:

- Albion

- Peggy Porschen Parlour

- Baker & Spice

Chai Banana Ice Ice Baby!

My! Oh! My I do like Chai. Aromatically pleasing when brewed and sweetly soothing when sipped. Delicious! But...

It's horribly humid, I feel like I'm living in a sweaty, old shoe. Oh what, oh what should I do?

I'll take a tip from Vanilla Ice:

All right stop collaborate and listen

Ice is back with my brand new invention

Chai Banana Ice Ice Baby!

Makes 8 2-ounce popsicles

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 ripe banana (substitute1 ripe pear, peeled and cored, for pitta and kapha)
¼ cup agave or honey
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ cup miniature bittersweet chocolate chips

Combine the soy milk, banana, agave or honey, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and allspice in a food processor or blender and beat until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour mixture into popsicle molds or a one quart air tight container. Freeze 2-3 hours or until firm.

Lady of Leisure

I’m going to be working for the next nine days straight, so I decided that I needed to indulge in a spot of luxuriating laziness today.

Starting off with a visit to the Sweets Workshop, I broke a sweat just taking a mental stock-take of all the gorgeous art I wanted to buy. My heart (and future pay packet) was robbed by Kate Banazi’s series of Victorian Gents.

As I was on my way Bourke Street Bakery, I passed a place that my sister and I have been calling the ambiance café. With a pair of antique winged-back chairs upholstered in lime green velvet sitting on the sidewalk – we’ve been meaning to check it out for months now.

Already savoring the thought of richly bitter coffee and buttery pastry awaiting me, I suddenly decided that I needed to mix things up. Turning the car around, I headed back.

I still don’t know it’s actual name – so I’ll continue to call it the ambiance café. But it wasn’t the industrial meets granny chic setting that justified its namesake – it was the super friendly staff. Booty shaking to Beyonce and experimenting with tangy fruit juice concoctions, they bubbled with chatter.

Even though I was stuffed from a Portuguese Chicken burger, like any practiced lady of leisure I had enough stamina for a spot of afternoon tea.

The Tea Parlour hasn’t been opened long, but it has the feels like stepping into a little old lady’s sitting room. A cozy affair of mismatched chairs and soft armchairs, the vibe is deliciously feminine with crystal chandeliers, silver candlestick holders, fresh roses and china tea sets. Surveying the scene is a stuffed peacock.

A soundtrack of Kanye West and The Kinks reminds me that I’m still in Redfern and not at a CWA meeting.

It felt like I was performing highway robbery when I was charged only $6 for two enormous homemade scones, served with generous dollops of jam, lashings of freshly whipped cream and washed down with a massive pot of Chai.

It felt delightfully decadent to sip from china cups...and so worth the painfully stuffed belly ache that followed.

Tea(ser)

I stared out the fogged up kitchen windows this morning in dismay. Torrents of rain was bucketing down. Certainty not the weather to attempt to walk twenty five kilometres over the Seven Sydney Bridges. With no sign of respite, I decide that the only reasonable action to take is to pretend that i'm in London.

Kettle on the boil, i pop "Singing in the Rain" in the DVD player and let the loose leaf Earl Grey infuse. Delicious.

Only later do i venture out to Bourke Street Bakery. Double delicious.

Tea for two, or two for tea?

Nothing beats morning wake up rituals.

Fumbling through the haze of sleep to flick the switch of the kettle. The rumble of anticipate as the water bounces and bubbles rapidly. The treasured china mug and tea bag on the ready. Neuronal synapses misfiring in want of caffeine as steam slowly curls out of the spout.

However rituals evolve with the ebb and flow of time. So i won't say no to the gift of new tea accessories...

And a canister of Black Rose to toast the new ritualistic implements...

A bright and wonderfully bold fruity infusion of flavours. Keemun provides a floral orchid base on which tropical mango and papaya play with juicy currants. Silky smooth with a decadent velvety finish filled with blooming roses. A beautiful brew that continues to blossom in the cup and makes a sweet summer refresher when served iced with orange and lemon slices.

Yummy.