Some Sweets for You While You Wait...

Dearest Friends,
Thank you so very much for your recent comments and kind thoughts for our new life. While you wait for me to return to The Tearoom full-time, I do have some lovely sweet things for you. . .

First of all, I submit to you a temptation from Monsieur Pierre Hermé. . .his Satine cheesecake. It is the ultimate indulgence, and it's only being offered in his shops until February 14 (when I'm sure the singular pleasures of Valentine's Day will appear). Satine is one of his fetish flavors and in case you are new to the pleasures of the tearoom, his creations in this delicious flavor combination include cream cheese, orange and passionfruit. In this case, this is a creamy passionfruit cheesecake covered in orange marmelade. This is the description, in his words, translated from French:

It is the fruity taste that comes first in this completely re-invented cheesecake. This cake plays on the association between the pastry, the cheese cake, the passion fruit and orange marmalade. As each component is working in a completely different texture, all these flavors are found successively to be harmonious but distinct.

As I was contemplating this post, another Satine made her way to my mind: Nicole Kidman's character from "Moulin Rouge". Here is a gorgeous picture of her in that role:



And what could be more natural than telling you about a beautiful website that sells sugar for your tea? And of course, this not just any ordinary sugar! From Belle de Sucre, these bits of sugar are flavored and made into pretty little shapes!! How clever is that? I would so love to try them at our next tea party, dear friends! Their gorgeous website is here. (The beautiful blogs French Blue and Madame Sucre have brought this to my attention and if you haven't yet, please pay these ladies a visit too!) If these pretty little bits of sugar were served at tea, how could you ever resist? Not only are they pretty, but some of them come in different flavors, as well as colors! One of the combinations is shown below, containing violet, rose and raspberry flavored sugar in such luscious shapes and colors!



I miss you all and can't wait to check in and say "Hello" to you later this week!

Wishing you all a beautiful day!

Betty

First Entry

Dear Friends,
This is my first entry in Itkupilli's and Elegia's brand new challenge blog "Collage Obsession"! Their first topic is "Worn Out", so using the image they have provided, I created a collage which seems to illustrate my current state of mind! This is our last week in Washington. After organizing endless amounts of stuff and herding dust buffaloes out the door everyday (there is just too much dust to call it "bunnies"!), I am just dropping into bed everynight!

I Am Very Honored!

Dearest Friends,
I am so very honored to have received my very first blog award! The very divine Duchess of Tea from The Rose Tea Cottage has named me one of the "Honorary Nobles of the Most Excellent Order of the Blog Empire". And to add another sugar cube to the cup, my dear, dear friend LuLu of Coastal Sisters has also been honored the same way! What a very nice surprise!! Please go visit my friend The Duchess in her beautiful world filled with tea, pastries, flowers and all things royal and beautiful!

Thank you so very much to The Duchess of Tea for her continued interest in and appreciation of The Gossamer Tearoom!

Wishing you all a lovely evening!

Betty

A Night Visit...

Here is a poem I wrote while gazing at the night sky one cold winter night recently...

A Night Visit

In the fragrant, black rose garden of the night sky, our dear friend Mademoiselle Moon and her darling crimson cousin Mademoiselle Mars hover near our window tonight.

Bee angels and dragonfly ghosts float about them, spinning their webs in the cold winter night to keep our friends warm.

Inside this chilly night, they sip night-thistle tea, cream of clouds and extra squirts of ghostbee honey .

Small clouds of milky-tea steam warm their faces and lighten the sky.

Closer and closer now, their webs of glittery moon-light and rosy mars-light creep in our window, across our floor, up to the foot of our bed as they reach to tickle our toes and wish us good-night!