Tea. Earl Grey. Hot

This post is a salute to the delicious tea variety of Earl Grey. Named after the 2nd Earl Grey (a British prime minister) the tea is flavoured with the oil of bergamot. It is used as a flavouring in food, confectionary and cocktails and as a fragrance in cosmetics- examples of which will be seen in this post. See Wikipedia for all the information that I could have just copied and pasted here.


I have recently become a massive fan of the old Earl Grey and have been looking at Earl Grey themed items in order to understand it's addictive properties. Quite frankly any tea that requires you to use capital letters when you type its name deserves respect and a blog.


Oh and the title of this post (Tea. Earl Grey. Hot) is a famous quote from Star Trek, Jean-Luc Picard loves the stuff and that is how he requests his brew.


Earl Grey 80z Creme Fraiche Whipped Soap
www.Savor.etsy.com

The item above looks delicious. I really think I might get into the luxury soaps that are available on Etsy, the whipped soaps look amazing. The soaps this seller sells look really nice and don't seem to be scented using sickly sweet fragrances... I would love to smell like an Earl Grey cuppa. They do a 'Gangsta olive oil soap' which is delightful and as they say 'they need good soap too'. This one is also vegan which is good to know.



Earl Grey Tea Shea Butter Soap
www.sweetpetula.etsy.com

Some more soap... The packaging of this Earl Grey themed item is really pretty- I like the botanical paper alot. Again the items from this seller seem really lovely and use natural oils and frangrances.



Claire Lowe Tea Jewellery
http://www.clairelowe.co.uk/page2.htm

Extrememly stylish and beautiful silver & resin jewellery which encapsulates real tea leaves and flecks of black tea.




Earl Grey Bracelet
www.jetaimeboutique.etsy.com

This bracelet came up on my Etsy search. I really like the silver grey colours of this bracelet and especially like the tea pot and spoon clasp.




Earl Grey a la Creme Truffles
www.denisesdelectable.etsy.com

Oh yeah... truffles infused with earl grey. A brew and chocolate is absolutely lovely I can only imagine what a brew and one of these delectable little treats would be like. This seller's other items include espresso martini truffles- No words are required to describe how good they sound.

This seller is also fundraising for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer using her Etsy sales.



On the subject of edible treats I have an American recipe for Earl Grey cookies.

2cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of icing sugar
1 cup of butter
2 tbl spoons earl grey tea
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla


1.Cream butter and sugar
2. Sift in flour, salt and tea
3. Add vanilla
4. Chill the mixture for about half an hour
5. Preheat the oven to 180
6. Roll into balls and flatten- place on a prepared baking sheet
7. Bake for around 13 minutes until the edges are golden brown
8. Leave to cool


I have a tried and tested Earl Grey tea loaf recipe also. I will get a photo of this one up.

4oz/125g baking margarine
1/2 pint/ 275ml Earl Grey tea
60z/ 175g mixed dried fruit
40z/ 125g castor sugar
9oz/ 250g of self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mixed spice

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4
2. Line a loaf tin
3. In a saucepan heat the margarine, tea, sugar and fruit. Stir continuously on a low heat, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat-simmer for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Sift together all the dry ingredients
5. Mix the dry and tea mixture.
6. Pour into tin and bake for around an hour until golden brown

And check this one out from the BBC

Earl Grey 'MAR-TEA-NI'- Serves 1.

50ml/2 floz of Gin
35ml/1.5 fl oz of cold Earl Grey tea
20 ml/ 3/4 fl oz of lemon juice
12.5ml/ 1/2 fl oz of sugar syrup (gomme)
1/2 free range egg white
a twist of lemon peel to garnish

Shake all the ingredients up and serve with the lemon.

Red necklaces and ideas for displays

Ok so I made the necklace below and didn't think twice about it. I liked the rose pendant (which was a in box of unwanted jewellery donated by a family member) and I liked that it didn't look like anything else I made.. It really stood out on the stalls and people seemed to be drawn toward it. My friend saw a picture of it too and really really wanted it. I went to see if I could get it from her as it was for sale on the stall but someone else had already bought it! I'm really curious about why people like it so much... maybe I can harness the good qualities for my other things. I know it sounds like I think this necklace has magical properties.. but I kind of do



Also my items are going to a really cool thing this sunday its called Crafty music and its at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester. Its a day to raise money for anti land mine things and there will be crafts and fashion shows and break dancers and things... Sounds grand!! So I wanted my stuff to look more professional as I think first impressions count and also they'll give a better idea of what they'll look like on if their displayed nicely. I used all my incomings from Theblackkatdesigns to buy some interesting display things.. I will put up pictures as soon as I get them.

Worth it's own blog

This cake is a brilliant cake. I made it.

Things I have made recently

Finders keepers

Today I took my ware to the 'Finders Keepers' craft and vintage fair at Emmanuel Hall in Didsbury. It was really busy showing how popular vintage things are at the moment. There were some really nice handmade items including some I bought for my dear friend Tilly who has broken her ankle.

There were some amaazing beads for sale too which I somehow resisted. I left my items with Marilyn. They did look really nice although there was only room for chairs rather than a table but after Saturdays table transportation trauma I really didn't mind. People did look at them as soon as they were put out.

I wonder if there are any fairs which are more crafty and less vintagey...

My photos are rubbish..

My first solo stall..what I did learn

I had my first stall yesterday at 'the mansion' in Rusholme, Manchester. I spent the week before working my eyes out making lots of stock and thinking about packaging and signs and presentation. There is alot that goes into making a stall. My stall was really homemade looking but I quite liked that. I ended up with lots of stock and it did look really good together.




The best part of it was talking to other stall holders, there was about 5 stalls. I got some really good advice and asked them lots of questions... I recommend anyone starting out to pester existing stall holders.. I think they'll probably like it- If I had worked hard getting everything right and becomming successful I would be really proud or myself and enjoy talking about how ace I was.


www.courtesanlatex.com, www.thedandd.etsy.com, www.busybetsy.etsy.com


A man said that the usual crowd would have gone nuts for my stuff. I did sell some bits- mainly the polymer clay jewellery which was interesting.. What was more interesting was seeing everyones reaction to different pieces... certain pieces really attracted people you could see them point at them. Some people were also really helpful.. top tip number 2- ask the customers what they think. That was really helpful.. be prepared as people will be brutally honest with you.

The fashion show was pretty cool too, there was tshirts, jugglers, poi-ing, deconstructed clothing and latex.. oh the latex.

I'm also going to invest in some busts for the necklaces as all laid out it was a bit overwhelming with all the colours. I need a way to display my bundle bracelets as they do look much better on... any ideas? I want a way of encouraging people to try them on.. I did tell them to and I showed them what they looked like on.

Also packaging is really important. Im also going to look into that my sister suggested lovely tissue paper which is simple and effective and I have some brown paper bags with my details on.
So all in all it was really interesting and i'm also taking some of my jewellery to a craft fair tomorrow and have listed the rest on etsy.

http://www.theblackkatdesigns.etsy.com