2nd Annual San Francisco International Tea Festival

Afternoon Tea Across America members meet up!
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

Mr. Fong and Mr. Pratt opening the
2012 Festival.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

My friend and I went to the The San Francisco International Tea Festival at the Ferry Building Marketplace last Sunday.  A big highlight for me was meeting up with some of the members of the Afternoon Tea Across America e-mail group on Yahoo (see photo at left)!  We had a good time, and will probably go again next year.  The festival, open to tea lovers outside the professional tea trade, involved 16 tea vendors and various experts who offered samples of their tea and tea products, gave lectures and led tea tastings.  There were about 1,000 attendees, who received a small bag of promotional handouts, a few samples of tea, and an official tasting cup, at the festival entrance.

Experimenting with domestic receipts: historic hair washes.

Image from ClipArtETC.

Over the years of reading historic household manuals, etiquette books, and cookbooks, I have seen many recipes and instructions for making cosmetics, personal cleansers and any number of toiletries, and while my allergy to almonds prevents me from trying many of them (since almond oil seems to have been a popular ingredient), I have recently been experimenting with some of the recipes for hair washes.  It began in the spring – I don’t remember exactly how – with me reading the recommendations posted to a discussion forum for people with long hair.  People were doing so many different things to encourage their hair to grow, to improve its texture, and it never really occurred to me that using anything other than my modern shampoo and conditioner would make a difference with my hair.  My hair is waist-length, very fine, and I don’t have much of it, but it has good color and a smooth texture, and I’ve been pretty satisfied with my regular hair-care routine, which is as minimal as I can make it!  I’m not one for serums and other products in my hair; I basically shampoo and condition 3 times a week, brush it every morning and evening, and wear it in a ponytail every day.  I own a can of hair spray, a canister of mousse and a tube of hair gel, as well as an assortment of bobby pins and hair pins, which I use when I put my hair up into a historic hair style, but that’s pretty much it.  However, the women on the hair forum were discussing the use of regular bar soap, bar shampoos, and various hair rinses instead of commercial shampoos and conditioners for cleaning their hair.  It was intriguing to think that I might be able to get out of buying huge bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and still keep my hair in good condition.

A springtime Victorian craft: lavender "bottles".

The Victorians are known to have been lovers of nature and flowers, as well as decorative handicrafts.  Seasonal crafts for spring often included natural elements like fresh flowers, leaves, ferns, as well as twigs and other found objects from the woods and gardens.  Pressed flowers, growing ferns and greenery in terrariums, and making potpourri are some of the crafts mentioned over and over in 19th century magazines, but a slightly less common one involves weaving lavender stems and flowers into "bottles" or "wands".  This is a slightly time-consuming project, but it's a good one for a rainy afternoon or when you're sick in bed for the day.

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?

Lavender-Lemon Shortbread for tea.

Lavender-lemon Shortbread by E. Urbach (right), and purchased Speculaas cookies (left).

Today's the day for the Victorian Hairwork Tea party, and it's a beautiful sunny day. It's unusual for it to be sunny and 60 degrees in January, even in this part of California, but that's what it's been all week.

We have a good group of people who will be gathering at my friend's house this afternoon, and we'll watch the first episode of the vintage TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs" while we have our tea, and then get started on the hair art. My friend said that she was going to use some of her husband's hair for her project, and I meant to look through my boxes and get out the envelope containing my grandfather's hair, to use today, but I ran out of time. In giving a tour at the museum where I work (www.historysanjose.org) I spoke with a 4th grade or 5th grade girl who saw the "family tree" hair art arrangement that we have on display, and said that her mom sometimes makes ornaments out of hair! I am going to see if I can get in contact with this lady and ask her to lead a hair art workshop in the future, because I am happy to know that someone in this area has that skill. I will definitely be using my grandfather's hair to make a little something once I learn how to make hair art better! Pictures will be posted.

I spent a good part of yesterday evening baking for the tea today (I still need to make a few sandwiches and the trifle), and one of the recipes that I re-discovered and used, was this one for Lavender-Lemon Shortbread. This is very fragrant and yummy.

Lavender-Lemon Shortbread
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms, chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (I used Meyer lemons from our tree)
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar with the chopped lavender and grated lemon zest. Using a hand-held electric mixer [or by hand], beat in the butter at moderate speed. At low speed, beat in the flour and salt until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Form the dough into a 4-inch log and chill for at least 45 minutes longer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the shortbread dough into ¼ inch thick rounds and place the rounds on un-greased baking sheets. Freeze the rounds for 10 minutes. Bake the shortbread for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Transfer the baked shortbread to a wire rack and cool completely. Makes about 1½ dozen cookies. *author’s note: the cookie dough log can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw slightly before slicing. The baked shortbread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

-- from “Morning Glory”, by Alison Attenborough in Food & Wine magazine, June 2002.

MY NOTE: I put in more lavender, by accident; I had measured one tablespoon of culinary lavender, chopped it and mixed it in, before I looked closer at the recipe and realized that it called for one teaspoon of lavender. I like lavender, and I didn't think it was too much. I mixed this by hand; after mixing in the flour and salt I immediately formed the dough into a log, wrapped it in waxed paper, and refrigerated it overnight. The log was about 2 inches thick and 6 inches long. In the morning I unwrapped the dough, sliced it into 1/4 inch rounds, and baked it immediately. This saves cooling/freezing time. Also, I baked the cookies for a much shorter time, 15 to 20 minutes. I had baked the cookies for 20 minutes when I made them before, and they were almost burnt black, so check the cookies at 15 or 16 minutes, and take them out just when they start to brown on the edges. You can put a thin icing and culinary lavender on top of the cookies or leave them plain.