Teatime Tuesday #11

(ETA: Unfortunately, the server for my website was down for most of Tuesday evening, so this post is going up one hour after midnight. Apologies for the wait!) Once again, it’s teatime! I received an adorable tea set from DAVIDsTEA this Christmas, so I decided to use it today.

teatime11a

Isn’t it cute? The stars in the design are white and shiny silver. Plus the teapot comes with its own stainless steel basket to hold loose-leaf tea, which is a nice convenience. It holds about four or five cups worth of tea—and the cups are actually a little bigger than I expected.

teatime11b

Today’s tea selection is a new favorite of mine: Vanilla Comoro (also called Vanilla Decaf) from Harney & Sons. I’ve tried a few decaf teas in search of a low caffeine option, and this is probably the best one I’ve tried so far. It steeps to a surprisingly dark color, and the aroma is delicious. It’s a sugary, cakelike vanilla smell. It actually reminds me a little bit of a toasted marshmallow.

teatime11c

So for my teatime treat, I thought I’d make s’mores. They compliment the vanilla in the tea really well. Plus, toasting a marshmallow and sandwiching it between some chocolate and two graham crackers is about as cozy and nostalgic as it gets. The taste reminds me of some of my school retreats in the mountains, of huddling together with my friends around a bonfire and watching tiny sparks float into the sky like fireflies.

teatime11d

And since the theme for this post is apparently marshmallows, here’s a bonus picture of something else I bought recently…

teatime11e

These impossibly adorable foot-warmers are made by Smoko Inc. They hook into your computer via USB cable and keep your feet nice and toasty. I’ve been using them a lot so far this winter. (Plus they’re s’mores with little smiles on their faces… How can I possibly resist that?)

Thanks for joining me for tea!

Welcome to 2015!

Happy New Year, everyone! My regular blog posts will resume in a few days. For now, I thought I would share some of my goals for the coming year, in the spirit of holiday resolutions.

  • Write more. I hope to draft one, maybe even two novel-length manuscripts this year. (This process also includes research and outlining, and hopefully a round or two of revision, if all goes well.)
  • Query more. This is a hard one for me, but I’m in a good spot as far as preparation goes.
  • Read a book a week.
  • Continue posting on this blog, semi-regularly if not regularly.
  • Get back on Twitter.

That’s it! Not especially ambitious, perhaps, but it should be more than enough to keep me busy. Here’s hoping that 2015 is a happy and productive year. I wish you all the best of luck with any resolutions you’ve made.

See you in a few days!

Teatime Tuesday #10

Hello again! I’m pleased to say I survived the cold/flu/plague I contracted during Christmas, in the grand tradition of getting sick on holidays. And I’ve come out no worse for the wear, save for a chapped nose. With that said, onward to teatime!

Today I’m doing it up old school, with some jam-filled shortbread cookies from Wolferman’s, and tea from Harney & Sons.

teatime10b

Harney & Sons is a pretty famous tea company—so famous that they provide tea for the Historic Royal Palaces of England, with blends inspired by imperial English history. Which brings us to Tower of London, today’s tea blend. It’s a black tea mixed with stone fruit, bergamot, and honey flavors. Very English, very Elizabethan, and a fitting tribute to the Tower. Plus the sweet jam notes go well with the buttery shortbread cookies.

teatime10c

Incidentally, if you’re ever in London, make sure you take a day to visit the Tower. It’s spooky and old and beautiful. The first time I visited England, I spent two whole days there, climbing up and down stairs and taking photographs in the vain hope that a few ghosts would show up on my film. (This was back in the ancient days before camera phones.) And where else can you find so many stories about princesses, traitors, and tortured spirits? It’s the very definition of Romantic. (Which admittedly is kind of my thing, but still. Ravens! Prisoners! Beheadings! What’s not to like? And did I mention the supreme bling that is the Crown Jewels?)

teatime10a

Well, that’s it for today’s ultra-English teatime. Thanks for joining me!

The Best Holiday in Fiction

So, about Christmas… I could wax poetic for today’s post, enumerate in detail all of the reasons why I love the holiday. I’m guessing you’ve heard them before: family, presents, twinkling lights, gingerbread cookies, etc.

christmas14a

Instead, I want to talk about why I love to read about Christmas in fiction. Christmas scenes are one of my favorite things to read in a novel. (When appropriate to the setting, of course!)

Why? There are lots of reasons, but here are a few key ones:

  1. Setting – Let’s be honest, I’m all about a pretty set piece. So the chance to read about characters interacting amid a backdrop of falling snow and evergreen boughs and flickering candlelight is always welcome. I like beautiful settings, and the aesthetics surrounding Christmas are gorgeous, sometimes even breathtaking. This point leads nicely into…
  2. Victoriana – I’m obsessed with the nineteenth century, and many of the tropes we associate with Christmas come from that time period. So it’s no surprise that my love for the Victorians extends to the yuletide season. I still watch some film version of The Christmas Carol every year, even if it’s just the Mickey Mouse one. I would venture to say that it’s my favorite story by Dickens. Classic Victoriana with a dash of gothic flair? Yes, please!
  3. Sentiment – Christmas is indeed pretty. It’s also a perfect catalyst for all kinds of emotion, in stories and life. Family members are crammed into close quarters. The year is ending, making the time ripe for personal reflection… Not to mention all the drama of gift-getting and gift-receiving! Any time when people are likely to make wishes and confess secrets and interact with their fellow human beings with heightened emotion of any kind makes for great story fodder. Which, of course, I love to read.

These are just a few of the things that bolster my obsession with Christmas in novels. To conclude, then, here are a handful of my favorite stories with pivotal Christmas scenes or settings. (I just finished the last one, Clockwork Princess, a week ago. It has an adorable Christmas scene, along with plenty of Victorian goodness, buckets of angst, and quite possibly my favorite love triangle ever—and I say that as someone who is generally weary of love triangles in YA.)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“A Christmas Carroll” by Leanna Renee Hieber

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

christmas14b

Merry Christmas, everyone! And Happy New Year.

 

Teatime Tuesday #9

Apologies for last week’s hiatus, dear readers! I took a few days off while a friend visited from Tucson. We had a lot to catch up on, and we saw The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies together. (Probably not my favorite Peter Jackson movie, I admit. But it was worth seeing, just for the sheer joy that is Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage on screen. Sweet Tolkien, those two know how to play on a fan’s heartstrings.)

My friend gave me a thumbs-up on my latest story premise, though, and left with a copy of my latest manuscript to read (once I’d hooked her with the first chapter). So I’m prepared to call that a win, even where writing is concerned.

In any case, I’m back with another Teatime Tuesday! My grandmother who lives in Chicago was kind enough to send my family some English muffins from Wolferman’s for Christmas, as well as some strawberry preserves.

Naturally, I sampled them right away, like the carb fanatic I am.

English muffins! Also preserves.

For my tea selection, I chose Verdant’s Black Laoshan Chocolate Genmaicha. Genmaicha is a type of tea (usually green, though not in this case) mixed with toasted rice. Verdant also added cocoa bits to this particular blend. The taste is incredibly cozy, with lots of roasted chocolate notes.

English muffins, with the preserves!

Thanks for joining me for tea, and have a wonderful week. I plan to post a brief entry on Christmas Day, about why it’s my favorite holiday in fiction. In case I don’t post it on time, though, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!