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!

A Happy New Year...

Dear Friends of The Gossamer Tearoom,
Once again, I would like to thank everyone for joining me here this year. When I started this blog exactly a year ago tomorrow, I had no idea that I would meet so many nice people and there would be such a nice reaction to what I do here. I am sincerely grateful and hope our friendships through the aether continue for a long time!

Tonight, my dear Mr. V and I will be having a special New Year's Eve Tea! Here is the menu...

tea sandwiches:
egg salad with dijon mustard
cucumber with watercress spread
smoked salmon with wasabi mayonnaise

fresh raspberry tarts
chocolate madeleines
french nougatine with almonds

earl grey tea
sips of champagne


...and the reason for our special celebration tonight? It's not just the beginning of a new decade, but the beginning of a new life for us soon. Late next month, we will be moving from Washington, DC to Maine! It will be a big change for us, but one we look forward to.

So, if it seems as though my time here will be scarce for a while, there will be a reason. Please be assured that I will miss you all, my dear friends, and will be back having our lovely salons in our imaginary tearoom just as soon as I am able.

In the meantime, I will still be blogging, in between packing everything we own for the move!

Bonne Annee and Happy New Years to you all, Dear Friends,

Betty

Don't Forget to Treat Yourself!

Dear Friends,
I have made the nicest discovery! I have found a wonderful Etsy shop called 5 Dollar French Market! These ladies make very sweet glittered, rubber stamped and tea-stained handmade items and everything in the shop is just $5 (plus a small amount for postage)! This is what I got from them . . .


. . .Five yards of gorgeous ivory seam binding, hand rubber stamped with French text. It comes on a tea-stained, hand-stamped tag. There were also very sweet surprises in the package and each item was packed in stamped glassine bags! In addition, the order was shipped very quickly! What fun!

I think that the next time you are not having the best day in the world (or even to celebrate if your day is going great!!), I would recommend ordering a little something for yourself! The prices are great and the minute you open the package, you can feel the love these ladies must have for making things!

Look for another post later today with my big news . . .

Happy Christmas Night

(I started this collage with an image from my new friend Marie-France's blog)

Dear Friends of The Blogging World,
I do hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend! I am so grateful for every person who comes to read my blog!

Christmas hugs for you all,

Betty

A Post from Outside The Gossamer Tearoom...

Dear Friends,
Today, I ventured outside The Beloved Tearoom in my mind to take tea in the real world with a very dear friend of mine, one who I don't get to see nearly as often as I would like. We went to Teaism in Penn Quarter, here in Washington. There, they serve a rather eclectic, Pan-Asian menu, which includes a really lovely traditional afternoon tea (with some slight Asian twists). Here was our menu:

Tea-Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches with Miso Mayonnaise
Cucumber and Watercress Tea Sandwiches with Wasabi
Ginger Scones with Jam
Two Tiny Lemon Mousse Tarts topped with Strawberries
Vanilla, Chocolate and Matcha Tea Shortbread Cookies
Chocolate Truffles
A Pot of Tea (mine was Earl Grey, of course and hers was the Berry Tisane)


Very lovely. Also, there was a beautiful koi pond with huge orange, white and black koi!

Recently, I have been particularly interested in all the delicious looking Christmas teas from all our favorite Houses of Beautiful Tea in Paris. Which one would you pick if we could all have a lovely toasty afternoon in front of the fire, back at Our Tearoom of the Imagination?

-Soir de Noël (A Christmas Night) from Fauchon - with flavors of caramel, pineapple, sweet orange and marachino cherry.
-Any of the Christmas teas from Dammann Frères - Noël à Londres, Noël à Paris, Noël à Pékin, Noël à Prague, Noël à St. Petersburg, Noël à Venise, Noël à Vienne, Noël à Alsace, Noël à Provence (Christmas in London, Paris, Peking, Prague, St. Petersburg, Venice, Vienna, Alsace and Provence, respectively)
-Kusmi's Christmas tea (Chinese black tea flavored with orange, almond, vanilla and spices) or Ginger Lemon tea



The snow is falling outside.
Inside, all your favorite friends, the fireside and a delicious cup of steaming tea are waiting for you...

We Should All Have Treats...

Dear Friends,
Christmas is a time when we treat our loved ones and ourselves with delights that we save for just this time of the year. The image above is a digital collage that I have made for some very special cards this year. Doesn't the doggie look so happy to see the tree full of treats? Inside, it says, "My Mommy and Mr. Santa said I was a very good dog, so I may have treats! We hope you get all the treats you are dreaming of this Christmas!"


And speaking of treats, please go visit Karen at The Graphics Fairy! She is having a great giveaway! On top of all the beautiful images and project ideas she gives away on her site everyday, one lucky person will win a package of soap and lip gloss from the amazing company Tokyo Milk! They not only make very nice quality items, but their packaging is just beautiful! You can leave a comment everyday on this post of Karen's site until this Friday (December 18) to make yourself eligible to win these pretty things! And while you are there, be certain to browse through all the lovely images on her blog!

Fête des lumieres (Festival of Lights)

Happy Holidays to you, Dear Friends!

Each year in Lyon, France there is a beautiful, creative spectacle of lights! Here is a taste from the last 10 years!

Fête des Lumières 2009
by ville-de-lyon

Hoping your holidays so far are full of beauty and light!

Betty

PS - More fun holiday news to come!

I Think She Must Be Smiling...

Dearest Friends,
Two lovely bits of news from the world of haute patisserie...

The first, shown above is the new color that Ladurée has unveiled for its boxes for autumn. I am not always that much of a pink person, but isn't this just yummy?
This is what they had to say about it:

For the autumn season, Ladurée is cloaking its macaron box in moiré pink, like an haute couture fabric,decorated with a beautiful frieze featuring black interlacing motifs.

And in even more exciting news...

Ladurée chooses to open its first store as part of the Royal Courtyard at the Palace at Versailles.

In this refined place, Ladurée lovers can discover all of the "signature" items such as candles, perfumes, shopping bags, the embroidered pouches, beauty kits, stationery and Beauty fragrance collection Violet, Rose and Almond, without forgetting the essential and indispensable delicacies of Ladurée, macaroons and chocolates sold in their finest boxes.

I would like to think our Beloved Queen is somewhere in the purple aether, smiling...

Image of Marie Antoinette from Kirsi of Itkupilli, remainder of images from Ladurée.

A Winner...!!!

(An Image from the collection of Les Museés de Strasbourg)
Dearest Friends,
There is a winner in my giveaway from our fun Halloween Blog Party!

It is....

sherry ♥ lee

!!!

Please e-mail me at gossamertearoom@gmail.com so I can get your address and send you a deluxe package of my handmade cards!

This has been so much fun and I would like to thank everyone who participated!
And love and hugs to my very dear friend and blog party partner, LuLu!

Betty

The Bats Have Left the Bell Tower...

My Dearest Friends,

It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you

to The Gossamer Tearoom on this...

a very special...




It is such a dreary, rainy night.

Aren’t you glad you are on the inside?

Of course, The Tearoom has been decorated in a particularly dark fashion. . .







The Ghost of Lina Cavellieri wanders the halls of The Tearoom most nights. Tonight, in honor of this most magical of nights, she walks the catwalk, modelling the most glorious dresses, designed only for her. Please witness as she leaves you enchanted, enveloped in the deep scent of dark roses, the crackling sound of black taffeta, the touch of a cape as dark and soft as a bat’s wing...









The playlist for the show is a camp rock and roll extravaganza:

From The Rocky Horror Picture Show -
Science Fiction, Double Feature
The Time Warp (Remix)
Sweet Transvestite
And of course, some sexy snarl from Billy Idol-
Eyes Without A Face
Flesh for Fantasy

The tea table is set, dear ones. Please indulge yourselves in bat bane tea and spider-toe crumpets from Patisserie Nightshade.



Thank you to Julia of Cemerony and Kirsi of Itkupilli for some of the delicious images I used in my collages.

And biggest hugs to my dear, dear friend LuLu of Coastal Sisters for hosting this party with me! Please be sure and go visit her party also!

And now...please don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in my giveaway! The winner will get a deluxe package of my handmade cards and stationery from The Gossamer Tearoom!

Thank you so much to everyone who has visited!

Wishing you a happy and spooky Halloween!

Betty

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film Six

On this final night of the festival, I bring to you a very fun, spooky video. This is the cover of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Nouvelle Vague. This is a very good cover of the ultimate night-before-Halloween song, matching the darkness of the original by Bauhaus. Of course, a video was never made of their original version, unless you count their very spooky performance as the band playing in the bar in "The Hunger". What I really love about this version are the clips from "Dracula", with lots of fun and scary shots of Monsieur Lugosi himself!

I do so hope you have enjoyed your time here at the Film Festival!

And please let me see you again tomorrow for a very special Halloween blog event!

Happy Halloween Eve,

Betty




(All videos from YouTube.)

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film Five

I do so hope you are enjoying the festival!

I am so very pleased to bring to you tonight a clip from one of my favorite movies ever. As I have mentioned before, if you haven't seen Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, please do so. Please make yourself a cup of your favorite tea, along with one, or better yet, two, of your very favorite tea-time treats, turn out all the lights and experience one of the creepiest, most romantic, most beautiful movies you will ever see.

Once in a while there are movies which are not really movies, but experiences. This is one of those movies.




(All videos from YouTube.)

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film Four

Welcome back, Dear Friends!

My selection for this evening's video is "Dr. Mabuse" from the German band Propaganda.

The music is pop and fun, the images strange.

Relax and enjoy.




(All videos from YouTube.)

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film Three

Dearest Friends,
I'm so happy to see you again today!

This evening's short is the second Quay Brothers video for the 4AD band His Name is Alive's song "Can't Go Wrong Without You".

Please make yourselves comfortable as the festival of strangeness continues...




(All videos from YouTube.)

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film Two

Dear Friends,
Thank you for returning for another little video treat, on this, our fun Halloween week! And don't forget, there will be a new one each evening until the week ends with a very special blog post on Halloween Day!

Today's short is one of two from the very creative minds of The Quay Brothers. This is the video for the 4AD band His Name is Alive's song "Are We Still Married?".

Very cool. Very creepy.
Enjoy.




(All videos from YouTube.)

The Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival Film One

Dearest Friends,
As promised a few days ago, I'm beginning the Halloween festivities with the first ever Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival! Each day, I will show a short or video, each of which is "creepy, kooky, mysterious or spooky" (I will send a prize to the first person to comment and tell me where that line is from!)

I begin the festival with a short from a group called "Bats and Swallows" with "Noir comme l'ange" (Black As An Angel).

Please dim the lights. The first film is about to begin.




(All videos from YouTube.)

A Special Announcement...

Dearest Friends,
As the time for Halloween creeps closer and closer, so do the blog festivities planned by my friend LuLu and myself! We will be having so much fun posting especially spooky posts for your Halloween reading pleasure!

First off all, I will be having my first-ever giveaway!! Everyone who leaves a comment on the special Halloween post on October 31 will be entered to win! And what will they win, you might ask? I will be very busy between now and then making a special package of Gossamer Tearoom greeting cards, all handmade by me! I don't know about you, but even I find myself wanting to send a special card to someone and not having one I want to send! If you win this giveaway, I will send you this special package of cards to keep on hand just for when you need them! The package will contain some of the items I sell in my Etsy shop (I can't tell you which ones yet! It's a secret!), but also some new designs I have not yet produced to sell, so you will be the first one to have them! I promise you will love them all!

Second, because I love surprises, please check back next week before the event on Saturday as I will be posting the first ever Gossamer Tearoom Film Festival! Please join me for several days next week and as I promised when I opened the doors of the tearoom in January, "...black and white shorts will flicker before your eyes as the raspberry/rose pastry cream from your religieuse sticks to the end of your nose in a pink dot..."

(I love it when you have rose pastry cream on your nose!)