Recipe Books and Weekend Jaunts

I realized yesterday that I had yet to share the recipe book that I found at Barnes and Noble in January or the one I received from my cousin for Christmas.  So the first part of the post will focus on the books, and then a bit about my Saturday jaunt.

My cousin gave me this wonderful tea book for Christmas, which was written by the owner of a local tea Blender, Tea for All Reasons.

I have some of this tea company's tea, I just haven't reviewed them yet (I don't want to use up my tea stock as blog material too quickly!).  The ones I have bought thus far have been wonderful, and often have some theme or concept they are trying to convey...but more on that when I review one of the company's teas.  I really enjoy flipping through this book, which is divided up into different menus for different themed teas. 

I also enjoy the pretty pictures of teacups and flowers that go along with the theme of the menu it is paired with.  The recipes are also very good, and include all three afternoon tea courses, sandwiches, scones, and desserts.  They also recommend one of the company's teas that matches the theme of the menu.

The other recipe book I wanted to share is this book I got from Barnes and Noble in the reduced section (and it was still in my local store the last time I checked):

This recipe book has wonderful pictures inside and gives the recipes in both U.S. customary units and metric units.  One of the authors is a descendent of the man who opened Betty's Tearoom in York, England, which I thought was a fun fact behind the book.  It includes a few savory recipes (but not many), lots of scone and tea bread recipes, as well as dessert recipes.  It also includes some ideas for decorating desserts, especially cupcakes.

Switching to a new topic, I thought I would share a bit about my day.  I went to Warrenton, Virginia again and saw a wonderful display of spring hats in the window of one of the stores on Main Street.  Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do the hats justice, but it immediately brought to mind thoughts of Spring garden tea parties.

This is the window of Piccadilly, a cute gift store that sells silver, crystal, and a wide variety of other gifts.  On this trip they had a wonderful selection of hats inside the store, which made me seriously consider whether I should get one for myself.  How can you put on tea parties if you don't even own one cute hat of your own?  Maybe I should have picked one of these from one of the hat trees inside:

And of course, the real reason we went to Warrenton was to visit the Irish pub there, since we are getting closer to St. Paddy's day.  Anyone fancy a pear cider imported from Ireland?