Bigger on the Inside

It is time to say goodbye to the Traveling Teapot and she did want to prove one thing to me before she left.  She is bigger on the inside.  She actually holds quite a bit of tea when she takes a mind to.

Here she is after filling some 50 cups

Sexy claimed that she still had plenty of tea, but I was out of easily reachable cups.  By the way it was a rather nice Margaret's Hope Darjeeling.  I think she prefers Indian to Chinese, but I could be wrong.

Crafting with the Traveling Teapot

Today, was a stay at home day for Sexy and I.  When enjoyed a morning of Autumn Crescendo Darjeeling and card making.  Of course, being the traveling teapot, Sexy insisted on making a tea themed card.  We used a new rubber stamp that evoked memories of Downton Abby for us.

Here's a close up of our finished card.

Mary Ann's Tearoom

Our traveling teapot visited Mary Ann's Tearoom today.  This is a new tearoom in St. Louis city.  It hasn't even been open a year and it was my first visit there as well.  Sexy was very excited to go to Mary Ann's after looking over their website.

When we arrived the entrance was begging us to enter striking.

The tearoom was in the rear of a very posh boutique.  When you step into the room, it is like stepping into another era.

Our table was set with Royal Albert china and fresh flowers.

Sexy once again captured attention as she took pride of place on the table.

Service was prompt and we had a waiter and busboy fans of tea and Dr. Who.  Here is our waiter, Gavin posing with us and Sexy.

The fool had a lovely presentation.  The scone course had three varieties cinnanmon, raspberry, and blueberry.  They were served with three types of fruit conserve as well as clotted cream.

The savory course was composed of tiny chicken salad tarts, salmon mousse served in a hollowed cucumber, potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar, and egg salad sandwiches.

Our Sweets course was chocolate dipped strawberries, iced oatmeal cookies, tiny cheese cakes, chocolate petite four, and a tart with a chocolate chip cookie crust and Nutella filling.

Although quite beautiful the food was unfortunately only average.  However, having our first taste of caviar did make up for that.

When we were finished with tea, our waiter presented us with beautiful yellow roses.  It was the perfect finish to a lovely day.

Chinese Lantern Festival

After a busy day visiting the variety of gardens at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Sexy decided to stay late and check out the Chinese Lantern Festival.  This is the second year for the festival in St. Louis.

A variety of lanterns are placed throughout the garden and are light at 8 pm after a performance by some talented young Chinese acrobats.

Two of the lanterns are made of a number of pieces of  china; dishes, cups, plates, and spoons.

Here is our Tardis with an elephant fountain pictured during the daylight.

Then there is the Buddhist temple

Here is a close up of the teacups and plates used to construct the temple.

This is the temple lite for the night

The garden was like walking through a fairy tale with all the beautiful lanterns

Missouri Botanical Garden

Sexy had a rather big day and we will be dividing up the post into two bits for the two halves of our day.  We all went to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.  It is also known as Shaw's Garden as it was founded by Henry Shaw in 1859.  It is the oldest and longest botanical garden in the nations that has been in continuous operation.  The Garden covers 79 acres and is divided into a number of smaller garden exhibits.

Above are Me, Sexy and my daughter Bonita who has a business that is Geisha themed entertainment and education.  She is also fondly known as the Garden Geisha as she is almost always found wearing traditional Japanese dress while at the garden and is always a part of the Japanese festival held during the Labor Day weekend.

                         

Here is Sexy posing with one of the lion sentinels at the gate to the Chinese garden and again on the Chinese bridge.

Our little Tardis garnered quite a bit of attention during her stroll through the gardens and had her picture taken with a number of tourists from all over the country.

London Tea Room

The Tardis' next outing was to a very nice tea room here in St. Louis run by a charming woman who hails from England.  This tea room has a wonderful reputation, but up until now, I haven't been able to visit.    They have recently changed their location and they are now in a wonderful old turn of the century brick building.

The London Tea Room has a cafe in the front with over 92 estate and special blend teas.  I have to admit I did get a bit greedy and took home four Darjeelings and their special blend, Naughty Vicar.  (Don't you just love that name?)

The ladies who owns the tearoom was tickled pink to me our Traveling Teapot and delighted with the idea of Sexy being a Tardis.  I believe there were several Whovians among the staff.

It was wonderful to be in an establishment that actual knew how to brew tea.  The water was heated to just the right temperature and the grounds were decanted after being timed for the perfect cup.

I enjoyed a pot of Margaret's Hope Darjeeling and my daughter had a Mango/Pear White tea.

The food was marvelous,  We each had a current scone that was baked in their kitchen to a beautiful shade of gold.  They were served with clotted cream and raspberry jelly.

The savory course was a very appetizing chicken waldorf salad with a hint of curry on a tiny croissant, a simple cucumber with goat cheese on pullman bread, and a smoked salmon on wheat that I declined as I don't care for fish.  My daughter informed me that it was quite tasty.

The desert course was HEAVENLY.  We began with a lemon tart topped with fresh berries that was made in house.  The remainder of the sweet course was baked at a patisserie a block down the street.

(I shall definitely be making more than one visit to see them.)  We had a tiramisu that was so light and creamy that I savored every tiny crumb  and I don't care for anything coffee flavored.  We also had a chocolate cake topped with berry mousse and finally two macrons one flavored with green tea and the other with the house blend of Naughty Vicar tea.  The Naughty vicar has a berry blend with a hint of vanilla in a black tea.

Over all Sexy had a wonderful time at the London Tearoom and has said she might pop back in at any time for another visit.

4th of July

Unfortunately, here in St. Louis, we have been deluged with rain.  In fact, my chickens are considering sending out for the webbed foot option.  Even though it did not in fact rain on the 4th of July, the ground i so swampy that many firework exhibitions were canceled.

My Johnny Luv is pyrotechnic enthusiast and usually shares a 30 minute exhibition of his own for the locals at our friends farm.  This year he had to work so along with that and the rain, we spend a quiet (mostly) Independence Holiday.

Sexy did insist on a bit of a picture though.  She posed with my little patriotic mouse who travels around my house popping up in different places.

N

Next to Sexy you can see my Patriotic Tea Party hat bedecked with flowers birds, stars and trim.

St. Louis 2015

I was enjoying a quiet cup of tea with my Johnny Luv when we heard an unusual noise on our front porch.  It set all the dogs to barking, so, I decided to see what they were going on about.

It was THE TRAVELING TEA POT.   We laughed ourselves silly, of course a Tardis teapot would make a racket upon its arrival.

As we introduced ourselves, the Tardis informed me that the Doctor called her Sexy and that was what she preferred to be called.  So, not wanting to be a rude hostess I have complied.  It has been a bit embarrassing on and off when we are out in public though.

Now, that I have finally figured out how to actually access the blog, I will be back with Sexy's further adventures in St. Louis.  By the way, just to let you know, we are in the year 2015 the month of July.  I believe Sexy thought it was 1904 when she first arrived.   She was a bit miffed to have missed the World's Fair again.