Fine China Tidbits and Care

The various chinas labeled as bone china or porcelain china, may be confusing, but understanding the properties of the clays used to make fine china will quickly dispel any confusion.. The properties of clays include plasticity, shrinkage under firing and under air drying, fineness of grain, color after firing, hardness, cohesion, and capacity of the surface to take decoration. The purest clays are the china clays or kaolins. “Ball clay” is a name for a group of plastic, high temperature clays used with other clays to improve their plasticity and to increase their strength.

The finest china is bone china with its translucency and a distinct chime unequaled by any other pottery. What sets bone china apart from other teaware is the addition of bone ash to the clay. If you hold a piece of bone china up to light you should be able to see the light through the china. China clay, is one of the purest of the clays. China clays have long been used in the ceramic industry, especially in fine porcelains, because they can be easily molded, have a fine texture, and are white when fired. Bone ash is the ingredient that gives bone china its added translucency and whiteness over porcelain.

The early ceramic industry was based in the Staffordshire England towns of Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke-upon-Trent and Tunstall. These six towns were amalgamated in 1910 to form a single entity - Stoke-on-Trent. Stoke-on-Trent, at the center of the area now known as "The Potteries", has maintained a leadership role in the ceramic industry, building upon the traditions and skills established three centuries ago. The area known as "the potteries" is often referred to as the birthplace of bone china.

Porcelain china is white, hard, permanent, non porous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. There are two main types of porcelain: soft paste and hard paste.

Soft paste porcelain is more creamy in color and contains more glass-like substances and remains somewhat porous. When broken, it reveals a grainy base covered by the glassy layer of glaze. Hard paste porcelain is purer white in color, non porous and when broken it is nearly impossible to distinguish the base from the glaze on the outside. Porcelain is valued for it's beauty and strength and is often called china or chinaware. The type of porcelain used for tableware has a bell like ring to it when struck.

Caring For Your China

Care should be taken when handling china. Never place fine china in a dishwasher as strong dishwashing soaps could damage the china over time. Hand washing in hot water and mild detergent is the recommended course of action. Wash in plastic containers or line your sink with a towel. Rinse in cool water to which you add 1/4 cup of vinegar per gallon. Air dry or dry with a lint free cloth. For stain removal, try mixing hot water with baking soda, about 1/4 cup per gallon. Fill the teapot or tea cups with mixture and let soak for an hour. Follow with a regular hand washing as described above. If this does not produce the results you want, combine a small amount of salt with lemon juice or vinegar. Pour small amount into teapot or tea cup and gently scrub using your fingers. Rinse in cool water to which you add 1/4 cup of vinegar per gallon. Air dry or dry with a lint free cloth. If your bone china has gold or silver trim it should not be placed in a microwave.

Displaying Your China Collection

A collection can be anything from tea bag tags to complete china tea sets. Displaying your collection will not only protect it from damage but will make it enjoyable for others to view. Making your collection a part of your decorating theme adds personality to your home.

So if you have a collection, or have started your collection, how do you display it? Look first for the obvious possibilities; coffee tables, end tables, shelves, sideboards and walls in living or dining areas. The less obvious areas might be, over or along doorways or unused closets or cabinets. Grouping your collections together gives them a more powerful presentation while a variety of shapes, sizes and colors creates a strong focal point.

China cabinets offer the best protection and will showcase your fine china collection beautifully. The lighting in the cabinet adds further enhancement, while being enclosed exposes your china to less dust and grime. It may be the best way for protecting an investment and is recommended when your collection includes pricey antiques or precious family heirlooms. If you only have a few specially valued pieces consider individual display cases of wood and glass or acrylic. As an Internet search for display cases proves, the collectors market is full of manufacturers of various display cases which you could adapt to your prized teapot or tea cups.

Another cabinet idea is for those that have more kitchen cabinets than they need for everyday storage. Glass doors on a section of cabinets easily converts them into display cabinets for your china collection. Lighting could also be added for greater "show off" ability.

Here are some tips to spark your creative side when looking throughout your home for display possibilities.

-Doilies of lace or fine crochet under your china collectibles adds texture and completes the setting.

-A collection of plates or tea cups is a wonderful touch over a doorway or a narrow section of wall.

-Fill a basket with cups and saucers and lace or crocheted doilies or napkins.

-Light up your table with tea cups. Fill with water and insert floating wick candles.

Use other items with your collection such as a framed photo of your grandmother with the china she gave you.

Unless a bedroom contains a sitting area, it is best to display your china collection in the living, dining and kitchen areas or your home. Most importantly, don't be afraid to use your fine china, it is made to be enjoyed and then handed down to the next generation. If you have never experienced tea or coffee from a fine china tea cup or mug, you have missed a memorable experience.

©2006 All rights reserved Patricia Roberts

Cool Weather Garden Tips

So dull and dark are the November days. The lazy mist high up the evening curled, and now the morn quite hides in smoke and haze; the place we occupy seems all the world. ~John Clare

I'm hoping for some sunny days this week to do last minute fall garden chores, so I thought I would share some of the things we can do for our landscape this time of year.

Chrysanthemums should be cut back fairly close to the ground once they have stopped blooming and the cuttings can be added to your compost pile. If you have potted mums that you purchased, remove the plant and add to the garden, giving it a hole a little bit bigger than the pot was. After planting, cut as mentioned, water and mulch.

If your peonies, roses or hollyhocks developed diseases such as rust, blight, or anything similar, remove the leaves or branches that were effected and burn them or dispose of them in your waste bin-- don't compost. Do the same things with other plants and trees too. Check your phlox, beebalm (mildew can effect it), dogwoods and lilac. You don't want to prune your spring blooming trees or shrubs, JUST remove the diseased parts.

This is also the time you'll want to empty out all your outdoor planters, baskets, clay pots and window boxes. Empty the soil into the compost pile and wash the containers with soap and a weak bleach solution before putting into storage where they will stay dry and not freeze. You'll be way ahead in the spring!

Water all of your evergreens deeply one last time before a major freeze. This will help them throughout the winter season.

We all know mulching is great to keep moisture in during the hot months, but it also offers protection during the winter. However, it's really best to wait until the ground starts to freeze but before the blizzards hit. I know-- it's a much colder chore doing it this way, but if you do it too soon you may be making a nice cozy place for mice and other critters to hang out. Mulch can be free organic matter like pine needles, straw, chopped leaves or bark chips/shreds.

If you have planted trees this year you may have been given advice on wrapping the trunks with a paper tree wrap, but it's been found to actually injure trees in many cases. If you do decide to wrap the young trees trunks do it ONLY in the winter and remove it in the spring. You can protect the tree trunks from rodent damage by using plastic guards or mesh wire. It can be from 12 inches to 2 foot tall. If you have very deep snow in the winter you may want to go taller than that. Remove before the tree grows too wide. Also, make sure there is no debris around the tree trunks.

A few notes for warm climates:

Some of you are entering a cooler season but won't have the cold winter many of us do. You can plant bedding plants now such as snapdragons, calendula, ornamental kale or cabbage, and dianthus. Some wildflowers can even be direct seeded now: bluebonnets, rudbeckia, pansies, calendula, candytuft, foxgloves, snapdragons, stock, and sweet alyssum. Calendula is a wonderful cool weather plant and is easily direct seeded!

In locations like Southern Florida vegetables can be grown now such as tomato, endive, escarole, snap beans, potato, peppers, peas, lima bean, collard greens, parsley, celery, turnip, mustard, onions, spinach, lettuce, radish, cabbage, beet, carrot, cauliflower, and broccoli.

One note for warm climate gardeners on bulbs. If you are in Zone 8 or up you will need to chill your spring bulbs before planting. It's usually 10-12 weeks of chilling in the refrigerator.

We have mulching tips from an excerpt on OFL:
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/mulching.html

~Brenda

Fall Activities for the Entire Family

Between Halloween and Thanksgiving is a perfect time to try a few nature crafts with the kids. The great thing about the crafts below is they are fun for teens, as well as smaller kids, and adults. It's easy to get wrapped up in the holiday rush as it gets closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think spending a few cold, rainy days making art is a good way to get away from the crowds, the video games and the television.

Make leaf rubbings. You'll need fresh, moist tree leaves or other plant leaves, a hammer, and pieces of cotton muslin. Lay one muslin down on a piece of paper, taping it down around the edges with masking tape. Place the leaf down on top of the piece of muslin, and lay a thin piece of paper over top of it (scrap will do). Pound the leaf with the hammer evenly over the entire leaf. This will transfer the leaf shape and color to the piece of muslin, so make sure to pound it all. Afterwards, you can glue the muslin to a piece of cardboard-framing it with a colorful mat if you wish.

Have the kids gather leaves, and make a big collage on a piece of poster or foam board. This won't be a "keeper" art project, but they will have a great time collecting, being creative with their design and gluing the leaves in place. Hang it up or display the collage for the season, and be sure to take a picture of it for them too. Slip in learning fun by having them identify each leaf and place the tree names in their collage.

Pumpkin or squash seeds are so light in color that they can be dried and painted to use for art. Air dry, or spread them on a cookie sheet to slowly dry in the oven. Don't use oil or anything else on the seeds. Once they are dried, and cooled divide the seeds into groups, depending on how many you have. Example: ten of each color, using browns, blues, reds etc. You can also water down paint if you want them to be softer colors. Let the seeds dry completely. Use them to create pictures, collages, mosaics or anything else that strikes your fancy.

I still have art that my kids made when they were small. I love to get it out and put it up during the fall. Of course I'm also a pack rat:)

~Brenda

Friday Recipes:Old Fashioned Halloween Party

It's Halloween and you want to stay away from the big parties and door to door trick or treating with strangers. What do you do? Give an old fashioned party that will please everyone and get the whole family together! We can take some hints from The Modern Priscilla Magazine issue from October 1915. They advised the hostess to invite family and friends that are close to each other so everyone can feel comfortable dressing up and joining in.
The Invitations and Decorations

Invitations and menu cards should be adorned with witches on broomsticks, owls, black kittens and such things. Menu cards aren't used much for family gatherings, but they are a fun memento for guests to take home. Simply cut cards out of stiff paper, decorate and neatly print the occasion, the menu, date, and even a little poem or quotation. Place one by each guest, or hand them out at the door.
Decorations in the early 1900s were simple but fun. Jack-o-lanterns peeking from every corner, dried corn with branches of colored fall leaves would be suspended from chandeliers. Pumpkin shells can be scraped clean and used for soups, dips or casseroles. Dye cheese cloth yellow and attach autumn leaves, string popcorn spray painted orange, or a modern touch of black plastic spiders can be added. Faces were also painted on gourds and turnips to decorate the entire house.

Festive Food

The food was rather light and easy, which fits in perfect with our busy lifestyles today. Egg, chicken or tuna salad sandwiches, cut into fourths with additions of thinly sliced cucumber, herb butter, tomato or watercress could be served on platters with colored toothpicks holding the bread in place.
Nut sandwiches were a suggested treat. Bake gingerbread or poundcake in loaves and thinly slice. Toast nuts for a few minutes in a hot oven, then chop or crush. Mix with whipped cream or honey and spread on the slices of bread. In addition to the sandwiches serve brownies, fruit compote or salad, hot cider and salted nuts.

Hot Spiced Cider

2 quarts cider
1 cup brown or white sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
6 cloves
1 tsp. allspice
nutmeg
Add the sugar and spices to the cider in a large saucepan. Simmer, do not boil, for 15 minutes. Strain and serve hot in small glasses or mugs. A little grated nutmeg may be sprinkled on each glass before serving.

Halloween Bars

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 well-beaten eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 tsp. orange extract
1 cup flour
1 cup crushed nuts
Cream sugar and butter, add eggs, molasses, extract, flour and nuts. Mix and turn into a buttered and floured cake tin and bake in a moderate (350 degrees) oven for 30 minutes. Cut in fingers and serve warm or cold.

The Halloween Games

Bobbing for apples, dancing, and door prizes were some of the simpler activities in the early 1900's. We can add some modern touches too. On the bottom of each plate tape a number. After everyone finishes eating draw numbers and give away adult and kid's door prizes. Bean bag animals, marbles, and card games are fun and inexpensive for the kids. Adult door prizes can be boxes of herb tea, jams, coffees, fancy cookies or crackers.

Be sure to have some fun music such as the Chicken Dance, The Hokie Pokie, or songs from classic musicals like Oklahoma or The Sound of Music. Besides dancing, musical chairs is a great game to encourage the kids and adults to play together.

A game of Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin can be fun for all ages! Draw and color a large pumpkin without a stem on poster board. Using another piece of cardboard or construction paper cut out a stem, and attach a tack to it with tape. Tape the pumpkin onto a cork board. Blind fold each guest during their turn while they try to pin the stem on the pumpkin. The kids will love seeing the adults playing right along with them!

Old fashioned Halloween parties are a great alternative to door to door trick or treating. It's fun, and safe, plus it brings together family members of all ages to share in the memories.

What is Chai? Where Did It Originate?

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. ~Bernard-Paul Heroux

In the simplest terms, Chai is a tea brewed with spices from India. If you live in India, the word "chai" is actually a generic word for tea in Hindi. The brewed, spiced tea we think of as chai is actually known as masala chai. The tea leaves and spices are boiled with water, then strained to serve. Some prefer it stronger and it's actually "stewed" for awhile before straining. Recipes vary from family to family, some have been handed down from generation to generation. Masala chai was thought of as a "cure", kind of like we think of chicken soup in the US. It's possible families have been making a form of masala chai for thousands of years. Early versions most likely used herbs, barks and spices instead of black tea, but changed as black tea was brought to India and became more common.

The following recipes are variations of masala chai. You can use loose tea or tea bags, but all need to be strained before serving. It's fun to create your own version of the chai once you have tried your hand at these recipes!

Easy Indian Milk Tea

Ingredients:
2 black tea bags
2/3 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1 cardamom or small piece of crushed ginger
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Place the tea bags in water and boil vigorously for 5 minutes.
Pour in milk and add sugar. Let it to boil just until the milk
rises. Add crushed cardamom pods or ginger. Steep for
ten minutes and serve hot.

Chai Tea

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. fennel or anise seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 inch piece ginger root, peeled, sliced thin
1/4 tsp. black peppercorns
7 cups water
2 Tbsp. loose Darjeeling tea
6 Tbsp. honey or brown sugar
1 cup milk

Add the fennel/anise, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger,
peppercorns and water to a pan. Bring to a boil, and simmer
5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons loose Darjeeling tea. Steep
for 10-15 minutes. Strain. Place back on heat and add the
honey or brown sugar and the milk. Heat just until boiling.
Serve.

Masala Tea

Ingredients:
1 tsp. loose Ceylon or Darjeeling tea
1 pinch cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon
a drop of pure vanilla extract
boiled milk
1 tsp. granulated sugar

Steep tea and spices at least 10 minutes. Strain tea,
add milk and sweeten to taste. Serve hot.

Enjoy! ~Brenda

Wordless Wednesday: More Fall Photos

I realize this is "wordless" Wednesday, but I wanted to make sure I gave credit for the photo on this post. It was sent to me from Tinker Swiss Cottage in Rockford, IL. Thanks for the lovely shot!

The other three photos are ones I took around town here.

More Kitchen Tips

Last week I wrote about a few things that help me in the kitchen. I asked if you had any and Deb in Wisconsin was kind enough to share all these wonderful ideas. Thanks Deb!

Using your favorite pancake recipe.....bag up all the dry ingredients in a quart-size zipper bag. I sift the dry ingredients into a bowl first, then pour into the baggie. You can also do this with scones, johnny cake (cornbread/cakes), and pizza dough. I've been doing this for years, and the only "problem" I've ever encountered was ONE TIME when the baking soda in the scones mixture kind of clumped up, so the batter didn't rise properly....so I DID use up that batch (I make about 10 baggies at a time), and simply added another portion of baking soda to the mixture before adding the wet ingredients.

To make this really simple, I posted the Wet Ingredients needed for each recipe, on a sheet posted on the inside of my cupboard door nearest my baking/cooking center in my kitchen. So I don't need to get a recipe book out, just open the cupboard door, and there's a note with the needed ingredients.

Another "step ahead" you can do, when you're freezing or canning any of your garden veggies, make them in sizes that you'd use in your regular recipes. For example, my favorite pumpkin cake recipe uses 2 cups of pumpkin, so when I can or freeze our pumpkins, I do them up in 2-cup portions. Same for grated zucchini (or yellow crookneck summer squash) for
my Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe.

It also helps to do some mega-chopping sessions with nuts...then freeze them in portion sized zipper bags--they're ready for your recipe!

When red, orange or yellow sweet bell peppers are on sale I buy a slew, then wash, dry, slice and chop into small-ish pieces, lay them out on a cookie sheet (or two), then pop the cookie sheets into the freezer for a few hours (or even longer--as I usually forget!). After they're frozen, I use a pancake turner/spatula to loosen, and then pour into a large plastic container
(with a tight-fitting lid). Whenever I make spaghetti, chili, sloppy joes, or any Oriental recipe, I grab out a handful or two (or more) and into the sauce it goes. They don't stay as firm as "fresh" peppers do, but they still have that great flavor--and the color is just what perks up a winter-time dinner!

Another EXCELLENT time-saver at the end of August or beginning of September...when your tomatoes are all turning red at the same time, and you can't stand another minute cooking in a hot-n-humid kitchen, or you don't have time "right now" to make up tomato sauce.... Put your tomatoes (right off the vine) into a large brown paper grocery bag. Fill that right up,
then close it tightly. Put in the freezer and in about January, when you dig in there after all the holiday fuss, you'll see that bag (or bags!) of 'maters. Then all you have to do is SO SIMPLE: fill the sink with HOTTEST tap water, drop about 13 'maters in there, let float for 20-30 seconds, and the skin should slip right off. Plop the de-skinned tomato in your LARGE canning pot; when the pot is as full as you want, then cook at low to medium heat, they will be juicy and need stirring every so often. Once they break down, you can add your other ingredients. I run mine through a blender--after they've cooked down. I like my
tomato sauce to be broken up.

Thanks for all those fabulous tips Deb! I especially love the tomato idea, excellent. If you have some time saving kitchen tips, send them my way and I will post them here.