Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tea Tuesday: Birthday tea

Today I'm honoring a friend, Annette of Scrap Happens Here whose birthday is today.

Since Annette only drinks tea from a cup and saucer, and because I'm not really a cup and saucer gal, I decided to keep my holiday set out for one more day and have hot mulled cider.

Along with the cider, I'm having some lovely marzipan stollen, straight from Germany. I found it in a quaint little shop near Michael's when I was out shopping on Saturday. It looks like fruitcake, but I assure you, it is not. Along with the cider, I have added a tea bag holder to hold the added contents of the cider.

Now I can't tell a lie. I made this cider for a New Year's Eve celebration. Most everyone wanted the alcoholic kind, so I was left with a lot of the non-alcoholic cider I made using apple juice and several spices.


Two of those spices were star anise and cinnamon sticks, which I am now using to decorate the cider. While I was taking this photo, I realized how good my photos look when I have the camera on macro setting. You can see the lace detail of the place mat, the stem of the goblet, and of course, the anise, which looks a bit like a spider bobbing in the cider, but which adds that licorice-y taste I love.


About that time, I also noticed the way the light played with the plate's image on the crisp white place mat. Now if I could just take all my photos in macro, I'd be happy! Of course, I saved these in a very large format off site, so they won't get much bigger (if any) if you click them.

So please wish Annette a happy birthday today, then head on over to Kimmie's Art in Red Wagons, where you will find links to all the other Tea Tuesday participants. And since it's the new year, you might consider joining us every Tuesday. You don't have to drink tea, you don't have to enjoy your drink in tea cups. Just have fun, get creative, and celebrate a day of good drinks and friendships every Tuesday.

19 thoughtful remarks:

Dianne said...

a lovely repast with a thoughtful friend...looks yum! love the photo of the shadows on the linen! have a warm & cozy day...

~*~Patty S said...

Using your Macro setting is giving brilliant results Elizabeth...your hot apple cider looks inviting...Love star anise...and very thoughtful of you to honor your friend!
Your attention to detail is just one of the many things that makes you special
Happy T to you!
oxo

Jaime Haney said...

How sweet! Cider and/or tea with a friend :) I love both. Fabulous photos!

I enjoyed a wonderful concoction with a friend before Christmas, it was very simple. It was just half cranberry juice and half tea accented with cinnamon sticks. She kept it warmed in a crock pot. Yummy and warm in your tummy.

BadPenny said...

Super images in these photos. I'll try to get back to joining the T Tues gals soon xx

Lynn Cohen said...

Very pretty and I like the shadow of the leaves on the linens. enjoy!

donnalouiserodgers said...

oh I fore see lots of macro shots.

I love the star anise one,

and I too am partial to Stollen,

yummy

Dx

Unknown said...

your cider sounds yummy and our stollen looks scrumptious! I have a tea bag holder similar to yours - mine has a monet painting on it. When I was making up my mind which one to buy it was such a tough choice - yours looks quite new - unfortunately my monet flower garden is quite tea stained in the middle.

Your macro shots are fabulous .... I have my camera always set to macro .... and then I have trouble remembering to UNset it when I photograph the mountains and stuff .... hahaha the opposite problem you have. Anyway - looks great!

Yvonne said...

Your cider sounds so good with the star anise and cinnamon. Great shots of your lovely setting. I love how you notice details like the shadow. Will visit Annette and tell her Happy Birthday. Nice having tea with you today.

Halle said...

Yummy goodies...not fair to tease! :)
Your macro photos are wonderful! Awesome job!!

Unknown said...

Since I am a detail person, I love macro shots! Nice close ups and I had to giggle at your bobbing spider comment-- because the star anise DOES look like that. ha! Tell me, how did you get HOT cider in a stemmed goblet without the glass shattering? It doesn't look like tempered glass. The stolen looked like a scone- yummy either way! I'll be right over! Oh, sorry, maybe I shouldn't just invite myself?! haha

Caterina Giglio said...

love those close up shots just wonderful and your cider is yummy looking! yes finally a dusting of snow which is hanging around due to the cold weather, I think we have had maybe 8" to date and we had about 5' last year at this time!! it was a big snow year and tough winter!! keep warm and I hope you get a dusting at least!!

Anonymous said...

1. I LOVE marzipan.
2. The photos Do look pretty good on macro.
Xx,
Amy

Unknown said...

How lovely to recieve all these quality gifts you must have made some too to swap with these ladies I am sure they are just as fabby.

About your macro setting (looks wonderful BTW) do you hace an DSLR camera with a macro lense?

Hubby bought me my new camera for Christmas but it hasn't got a macro lense with it. I can do close ups with the flower symbol with my other camera. please explain.

I have also got my Journal book ready to recieve paints and ink and stamps etc so wish me luck ha ha I will be making a start on this before the end of Jan. And you can bet I'll be popping back often for inspiration.

Love Dawn xx

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos! Isn't it great when you learn something new with the camera, and you get such great results! My favorite is the shadow left by the holly and the star anise! Perfecto my dear! Happy T, hugs Christen

Julia Dunnit said...

Ooh lovely photos Elizabeth - love the shot of the Anise, and the shadow of the holly. Mmmm cider, I like the sound of that! Just off to wish Annette a HB!

*jean* said...

ooo what a nice post! i LOVE stollen and it is one of our holiday traditions along with advent gifts...happy tea tuesday!

Gayle Price said...

Hi Elizabeth and Happy New Year to you. Your cider sounds delicious, with or without the alcohol. I am a huge fan of star anise, love how it looks and love how it tastes, delicious as a flavouring with duck. Love your macro photographs too, things seem to take on a whole different look when viewed up close. Cheers to you and Tuesday Tea. xx

Dianne said...

What a great photo! Enjoy our cider... it looks and sounds yummy...

Darla said...

The macro photo's are great. What a pretty setting you made for your tea/cider.

Darla