A Mad Tea Party 2012

Dearest Dear Friends of The Tearoom,
I hope you are not feeling neglected and dejected!  I have not meant to be absent!  I do have some wonderful news and some fun projects that I will be sharing very soon and it will explain (at least part of) my absence!  But, in the meanwhile, I have the very loveliest news!  Once again this year, I will be participating in the extra-elegant, most-magical, super-special Mad Tea Party Blog Party hosted by The Most Very Dearest Mademoiselle Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist!  The date of the party will be Saturday, July 28th and as usual, I will be keeping the details of my party a secret until that day for The Maximum Madness Factor!

Won't you please join me here on that day for fun and madness in the style to which you have become accustomed here at The Gossamer Tearoom?

Blood and Chocolate

(Before we begin, please allow me to thank the following for their wonderfully inspirational collage sheets and blogs:
Marsha of Tumblefish Studios
Karen of The Graphics Fairy
Kirsi of Itkupilli
Cristina of Asunder Ephemera and
Hollie of Holliewood Studios
And especially to My Dear Mr. V for his amazing photos of shadows and spiderwebs, which I then turned into wallpaper and tablecloths for The Tearoom. Thank you, My Love!)

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Tonight, there is something so special in the air, isn't there?

I am so glad you have made your way through the fog...

I welcome you to the annual Halloween blog party, which is hosted by the brilliantly creative Mademoiselle Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist. Please be certain to visit her party, as well as the other participants in this creative gathering of souls, here in The Aether.


I have been so remiss, Dear Ones. I have hosted Teas of the Aether for you with so many types of tea and so many sweets, but I had not yet given a special tea, just for my friends who love chocolate. So, please sit, make yourself comfortable and indulge in that which is rich and dark, sweet and irresistible.


The Tearoom is simply enveloped in the scent of chocolate tonight...
It just might be Kusmi's Chocolate Tea! I imagine it must be just perfect with cream and sugar. Or a cloud of vanilla-scented whipped cream...

Our treats are from The House of Pierre Hermé, where I am happy to introduce you to his newest macaron flavor: Caraquillo. It's an intriguing mix of chocolate, coffee and anise, dark and warm. It comes to you in one of his newest macaron boxes, designed by Nicolas Vial, embellished with a lovely chocolate-colored kittykat! And please, won't you help yourself to some lovely chocolates too! (Did you notice how slick and gorgeous Monsieur Hermé's new site is? I have been sadly remiss in pointing it out to you before, so I hope you will take a moment to browse and dream now...)

Ladurée's new macaron flavor is Black Forest! They describe it thus: "Its mahogany shells contain a delicious chocolate ganache combined with cherry jam and tasty bursts of cherry-flavoured Kirsch." I'm sure this is sublime! Black Forest is one of my favorite flavor combinations!



Our special guest tonight is Mademoiselle Madeleine. She specializes in growing a particular type of flower. She developed a variation of the dragon lily, which is spectacular, but generally smells very bad! Her variation has kept the lush, beautiful color and shape, but changed the fragrance to chocolate! As you saw when you had a seat, she has gifted us with them for this very special Halloween soirée and the entire Tearoom has smelled wonderful all day! Merci Beaucoup, Mademoiselle Madeleine!

As promised, Lina shares with us tonight some of her photos from her recent trip to Transylvania!



The lovely hotel where she stayed...


And, nearby...The Chocolate Garden. Along with the marble chocolate pansies and white chocolate tulips. The very special Chocolate Dragon Lilies are growing there as well.

As you saw when she returned to The Tearoom, she had spent much time in the rays of the full moon, which gave her skin that lovely pallor...

What a lovely beach it was...All of the girls she met seemed to have their own beautiful beach cabanas.
They seemed to spend a lot of time in them during the day, but at night, they came out to play in the moonlight and surf.

The moon looked on as the beach balls bobbed in the tide....
So sweet...
But what do you think those odd sea-birds are?

Here are some lovely pictures that Lina took of her new friends that she met there at the beach...







Lina tells us that she feel very compelled to return there soon, perhaps to stay. Oh, we hope not, we would miss her so...
LINA! Why are you standing so close to me?....
You really are making me quite uncomfortable...



(To Be Continued...)

Halloween Blog Party 2011!

Hello Again, Dear Friends!
As promised, I'm back tonight to announce that I will happily be participating in the Halloween Blog Party on A Fanciful Twist again this year!!! The date is October 22! I am so very excited and I hope you are too! Simply click on the button on the right for more information and Vanessa's fantastic post announcing the party! Spooky thoughts are already churning in my head!! I hope you will join me and the rest of the participants this year!!

Welcome!

(A Mad Tea Party With Books)

The love of learning,
the sequestered nooks,
all the sweet serenity of books.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Welcome to my Mad Tea Party and please go to A Fanciful Twist to see the lovely party Mademoiselle Vanessa is hosting there. While you are there, please check out the other parties too!

I am certain you all know the story by heart, but please indulge me while I read the relevant passage to you aloud:

"The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that there were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into of the cupboards as she fell past it."

What sort of books do you suppose were there on those shelves? I would think that only beautiful, colorful, magical books lived there and if only she could have spent a bit more time, she would have read some of them!

And so, if I were to pick the books myself, here is what I would pick (they are all currently in my bedside reading stack of books!)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - illustrated by Camille Rose Garcia
This is a beautifully illustrated edition of the story of Our Alice! Camille Rose Garcia brings her edgy, almost goth vision to the visual re-telling in vivid pastel shades, black and gold. This book is a treat in every way, from the black and purple end-papers to the glossy black accents on the dust-jacket! Her illustrations turn our favorite piece of literary psychedelia into an even more intense visual confection.

Alice I Have Been - Melanie Benjamin
This is quite a fascinating book, a fictionalized account of Alice Liddell's life. To read it is to feel as though one has lived in that time, burdened by the constraints of social mores but steeped in the wonders of the time. As you may know, Alice Liddell was the little girl who inspired Lewis Carroll to write "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
This book has received some mixed reviews, but I liked it a great deal. It will undoubtedly push some readers' boundaries, but is that not why we read, to provide us with other perspectives? Sisters, twins, lovers, ghosts and others all swirl through this story and a great deal of it is set in Highgate Cemetery in London.

Paris Patisserie (Forward by Pierre Hermé)
What can I say about this book except this: Read it and dream. If you have not yet visited The Divine Patisseries of Paris, you may now do so vicariously through this book! The photographs are so beautiful that you will have to remind yourself not to lick the pages!

And now, on to our tea. . .

Today, for this special occasion, it is being served from the beautiful and unusual Fornasetti teapot . . .. . . do you take cream and sugar, or lemon perhaps? Here is your cup, Dear Friend.

Our Very Mad Tea is inspired by that tempting jar of marmalade that Alice put back on the shelf on her way down The Rabbit Hole! Please enjoy a cup of Summer Blend with me, from Betjeman & Barton of Paris! They tell us this tea is comprised of black China and Ceylon tea with "essential oils of lemon, lime, orange, blood orange, tangerine, clementine, bergamot orange and grapefruit"!


A very special surprise guest has brought our teatime treat today! The Little Prince visits with us and brings us something delicious named for him, "Le Cake Petit Prince" from The House of Lenôtre in Paris!! It is described as "a soft cake sprinkled with almonds, orange zest and a syrup delicately perfumed with Grand Marnier"! ("Cake" in France is somewhat like what we describe as pound cake here.)
Finally, treats for you! Please don't forget to leave a comment so that your name will be entered into the drawing for the lovely give-aways! The first person drawn will receive "My Life in France" by Julia Child. If you saw "Julie and Julia" and loved Julia Child's story from the movie, you will adore this book.

The second randomly-chosen Mad Tea Party attendee will receive a copy of "The Patisseries of Paris" by Jamie Cahill. This is such a lovely little book and I promise you will love it! It is just small enough to tuck in your bag while travelling for reference while hunting the not-so-elusive pastry in Paris!!!

Each of these lucky winners will also receive one of my lovingly handmade Chapeaux des Gateaux bookmarks for their books!

Since I know this party could go on all weekend (or even into the week!), I will do the drawing for the give-aways on July 1st!

Thank you so very much, Dear Friends, for having visited with me today at The Tearoom!

Betty

Please Say You Will Come to the Party!

Dearest Friends,
I am so very happy to tell you that I will be participating once again in The Mad Tea Party, being hosted by Mademoiselle Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist! You all know how much I love a blog party! You can click here to see all the fun I had last year! I have already dragged out the trunk of ideas and images and am happily sorting through the things I will use for the party! What a mess I have made already, but I promise everything will be just perfect for you on June 26th! I just can't wait! But it won't be party if you are not there! So, please, won't you visit Vanessa's beautiful blog to find out how you can be there too?

Ooooooh....Spookily!

Dearest Friends,
The Month of Spookiness is upon us and in honor of it all, The Gossamer Tearoom will be decorated in all of its spidery-web finery! First, don't forget about the bound-to-be fun blog event at A Fanciful Twist this coming Saturday! Vanessa throws just the best blog parties!


And next, I am so very happy to announce that my very dear friend LuLu of Coastal Sisters and I will be having a joint blog event on Halloween Day! We will both be posting some especially fun and spooky goings-on at each of our respective blogs! Keep checking back for even more details!



(By the way, if you haven't seen it, the first image above is from one of my favorite movies ever, Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast". Please find your way to watch this sometime in the Halloween season. It is gorgeous and creepy at the same time and one of my favorites!)

It's The Spookliest Time of the Year!

(At least that's what my Dear Mr. V tells me!)

Dear Sweet Soul Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist is having another extra fun blog party, this one entitled "Halloween - A Hauntingly Magical Celebration" and she is holding it on October 17th. Of course, I have asked to participate! I love Halloween and cannot wait for the festivities! In fact, it is entirely possible that there will be two Halloween celebrations at The Gossamer Tearoom, but there will be more on that at a bit later time! For now, I am just so excited about Vanessa's party! Please spread the word!

Wishing you a wonderful night, Dear Friends!

Betty