Tutorial: Steampunk-friendly millinery flowers

Japanese hana kanzashi flowers turned into
Steampunk-friendly millinery flowers!

I've taken a bit of a detour from my Victorian and 1912 day dresses and started to flesh out an idea I had for a Steampunk hat trim.  I usually don't make my own hat trims -- heck, I have trouble using pre-made trim and silk flowers on my hats -- because I just don't have the right kind of imagination to come up with something that looks good.  A few years ago I was at Costume Academy -- a one-day costume conference put on by the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild -- and ended up taking a class on hana kanzashi, or the delicate, elaborate flower-bedecked hairpins and headdresses that Japanese geishas wear. Making them involves doing origami with tweezers and 1/2 inch squares of hand-painted China silk ribbon to make the individual flower petals, and is very time-consuming and fiddly.  I didn't really know how I would ever use the information, but because I was getting ready to help with the costumes for a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado, I thought it might come in handy for making headdresses for the women in the cast.  While I didn't end up making any headdresses at that time, I did start thinking about how to alter the design and production for theater costume purposes.  I ended up with cool Steampunk propeller-flowers for my hat (which I don't have yet, but that's another story)!

March Tea and Craft Workshop in San Jose!

AntiqueClipArt.com

Join the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild for our March meeting.  We'll be making a Victorian tussie-mussie of cute paper flowers! 

Crepe Paper Flower Workshop: we’ll prepare for spring by making a bouquet of paper flowers.  Older children welcome!

Date: March 12, 2011. 2 p.m.
Location: a private home in San Jose.  E-mail the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild for the address. 
Tickets: $20 (Ladies' Tea Guild members)/$25 (non-members)
Suggested Costume: modern dress. 

Please R.S.V.P. and send your food and supply fees by Thursday, March 10, 2011.  We need to know how many people will attend so that we can make the food and purchase the workshop supplies!  We can accept checks as well as payment through PayPal.  Contact the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild for more information. 

Pumpkin-flower sandwiches, an Italian snack ready for the tea table!

pumpkin flower. Wikimedia Commons.

My family, like other Italian families, enjoys a lot of old-world style recipes and habits when it comes to cooking.  One thing we like is to eat pumpkin and other squash flowers.  My great-grandmother came up with this recipe for a frugal sandwich filling that would make great tea sandwiches, I think! 

Pumpkin-flower sandwich filling (all ingredient amounts are to taste)
Bacon
Green onion
Hot banana pepper
Pumpkin blossoms or other squash flowers

Cook, drain, and chop the bacon, reserving the bacon fat in the pan.  Wash and chop the green onion and pumpkin blossoms.  Chop the banana pepper. Saute them all together, and use to fill sandwiches. 

While pumpkins are in the stores now, it may be hard to find pumpkin flowers.  I may have to wait until the spring comes around again to make these sandwiches! 

In keeping with the Valentine theme of this month: Passion blend tea from Sterling Teas.

Passion blend tea from Sterling Teas. Image sourced from the company website.
Sterling Teas' Passion blend tea contains green tea, black tea, pineapple bits, papaya bits, flavoring, marigold blossoms, safflowers, and cornflower blossoms. This tea has a lovely floral and tropical fruity aroma and flavor. The green tea is not a prominent flavor, but adds to the light floral aroma; the strongest flavors include the pineapple and papaya. There is also a nice, yet mild, “black tea” flavor in combination with the tropical fruit and flowers, which taste and smell almost rose-like. The tea is a light amber color when brewed, and does well brewed hot or as a cold-brew in the refrigerator, although the flavor is lighter with the cold brew method. I received a free sample of this tea last year, from a friend, and especially enjoyed it as an iced tea last summer. I drink this tea, as I do most teas, without milk or sugar, but it can handle a little bit of sweetening; I made a sweetened iced tea version with Splenda for my family, and found it refreshing. I have really enjoyed this blend and I think it's a nice one to drink, especially these days when it's been cold, rainy, and overcast. It evokes the aromas of spring gardens as well as tropical vacations!

Sterling Tea company website
Some other tea reviews:
Republic of Tea’s Orange Blossom White Tea
Teagre Teas’ Chocolate Mint rooibos
Honest Tea’s Organic Lemon Black Tea
SerendipiTeas Buccaneer Blend

It's Midsummer! Why not celebrate with a tea party?

MorgueFile.com image.
Inspired by the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild's Rosewater Tea tomorrow, I was reading about the uses of rose water over the years, and that led me to re-reading some of Shakespeare's works. I was reminded of A Midsummer's Night's Dream, and then I thought, "I may not be able to have a tea party in a fairy garden like some people do, but I can plan a fairytale tea party! Instead of a midsummer night's dream, a fairytale afternoon tea should be A Midsummer Afternoon's Reverie, or something similar. The food should all be exotic, delicate, and unusual. The whole menu could be based on flowers: both sweet and savory! I found some similar recipes a year or so ago when I planned a Pre-Raphaelite Tea, so here is a re-worked list of menu suggestions if you want to do your own Midsummer Afternoon's Tea and Reverie!

Strawberry-Lavender Scones
Candied rose petals and lavender buds
Lavender jelly
Rose Petal Jam

Fried squash blossoms
Fried dandelion flowers
Open-faced tea sandwiches garnished with nasturtiums and herb flowers
Salad garnished with carnation petals

Lavender-Lemon Tea Cakes
Pansy shortbread
Shrewsbury Cakes (rose water shortbread)
Lavender-Mint Shortbread
Meyer Lemon and Orange Flower Yogurt Cake
Cherry Orange-Blossom Cakes
Dandelion Flower Cookies

Combined with some mint, rose petal, violet, or lavendar tisane, this could be quite a spread! How about it?

The culinary uses of violets.

image from AntiqueClipArt.com

The Victorians used floral flavorings much more than we do in the 21st century. Rose, orange flower and violet were very popular flavorings, and with almond and lemon, were more popular than vanilla for flavoring cakes, sauces, and custards. If you are lucky enough to have access to sweet violets, which are clean and not contaminated by auto exhaust, animal or human waste, or other substances, you can use them in a variety of tasty treats for the tea table. Below are some basic instructions for creating violet blossom garnishes, candied violets, and even violet water for flavoring tea.

"Violet leaves and flowers are often used as garnishes in chilled soups and for a festive touch in punches. The petals can be candied and used to garnish cakes, fruits, and pastries. The leaves are tasty enough to be eaten alone, but also work well when added to green salads.

To make candied Violet flowers, pick a large number of flowers and let dry on a paper towel for a couple of hours. Beat an egg white to a froth, and color it with food coloring, if desired. Using a fine brush, carefully coat each flower with the egg white, then pour fine sugar over each. Blend the sugar in your blender to make it a finer consistency, if desired. Lay each flower on wax paper to dry, then use as a decoration for your confections when the flowers are stiff enough to move.

Violet water is made by steeping leaves and flowers in water until it becomes fragrant. The water can then be used in teas and in puddings and for flavoring ice cubes."

http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbViolet.htm

Celebrate Black History, and other things!

image from AntiqueClipArt.com
Beginning before the Victorian era, people attached symbolism and meaning to many things, including flowers and months of the year. We follow that tradition in our own way in the 21st century, by remembering and celebrating holidays and special people every year.

According to some people, each month is represented by its own flower, and each flower was given a meaning, especially for the purpose of sending discreet messages to loved ones. February's flower is the violet, and the February gem (or birthstone, as is most familiar today) is the amethyst. Blue and white violets each had their own meaning; the blue violet signifies faithfulness, and the white violet means modesty. Amethysts have stood for several ideas over the years: royalty (because of their purple color), safety from poison or drunkenness (and therefore peace of mind), piety, celibacy and dignity.

There are many events and people that we can remember, in the spirit of the Victorian era, because of their faithfulness, nobility of character, piety, and other virtues this month. February 1st, Freedom Day, celebrates President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864, abolishing slavery. February 4th is Rosa Parks’ b-day, February 12th is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 15th is Susan B. Anthony's birthday, and George Washington was born on the 22nd. The Boy Scouts of America was founded on February 8, 1910. Other famous people who were born in February include Charles Dickens (Feb. 7, 1812), Thomas Edison (Feb. 11, 1847), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Feb. 27, 1807).

February is also African American History Month and American History Month. We should also remember our history as a nation and as a part of Western Civilization, including the not-so-pleasant parts, so that we can learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of those who've gone before us; the month includes Japanese-American Internment Day of Remembrance (Feb. 19), as well as Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent.

Let's take a few moments this month to remember these things and re-establish our bond with history, learning from the past as well as celebrating it!

Sources of information:
"Birthdays -- Information, Fun Facts, Tips, Humor, Links, and More" http://www.butlerwebs.com/holidays/birthday.htm
Boy Scouts of America website, http://www.scouting.org/
"February 19: A Day of Remembrance," http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/remember/
"Gemstones and their meaning", http://www.e-jewel.co.il/en/Site_Page_number.aspx?PageID=232
"The history and language of flowers and herbs -- origins and meanings", http://victorianbazaar.com/meanings.html
Rosa Parks' website, http://www.rosaparks.org/
Charles Dickens museum website, http://www.dickensmuseum.com/

A "Nice Plum Cake" baked in a flowerpot?

I was just taking notes from a book I downloaded from Google books, called _Inquire Within For Anything You Want To Know_, published in 1858, and marveling at the random assortment of information it contains. Recipes, medical advice, child-rearing advice, agriculture, solutions for minor marital difficulties, and etiquette instructions are only some of the pieces of information grouped in this book. Unfortunately, the information is not sorted by topic or type, and you have recipes for cake in between recipes for rat poison and cement, which means you have to read the whole thing to find, for example, all of the recipes. I've spent quite a while reading it already, and only made it through the first 170 paragraphs! In paragraph 72, however, I found an interesting cake recipe, which suggests that the batter be baked in a terra-cotta flower pot saucer! That's the most unusual baking container I've read of, yet!

"72. NICE PLUM CAKE.—One pound of flour, quarter of a pound of butter, quarter of a pound of butter, quarter of a pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of currants, three eggs, half a pint of milk, and a small tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda. The above is excellent. The cakes are always baked in a common earthen flower-pot saucer, which is a very good plan."