Idea’s to Inspire this Easter with Tea with Mary Kate

Tea with Mary Kate dares you to take action to create a wonderful, connecting Easter experience this year.

Easter is all about connecting with the celebration that is Spring

First of all, I’m all for bringing spring indoors (it’s still a little chilly after all!), and fresh spring flowers are such an easy way to enhance the aesthetic & connecting experience of Easter. A very easy trick is to lay freshly picked ivy from the garden all around the cutlery too – it makes you feel like you are having your lunch in the freshly sprung leafy & green spring. I adore daffodils, displayed in a simple vase, it’s impossible for them to fail to cheer. I also love this basket with its green satin ribbons & imaginary spring forest floor to showcase the very edible chocolate bunny, inspiration for creating your own centre piece for your special Easter celebration.

There’s nothing more welcoming than a beautifully decorated Easter Table…..gorgeous ribbons and chocolate filled buckets

For a beautiful Easter table, you could tie your cutlery with beautiful Easter ribbons, gingham’s & polka dots are my favourites which I order from Crafty Ribbons. They are passionate about ribbons & I have found this company to provide a great product of excellent quality, at good value for money, with a great service. Their web site also provides really lovely ribbon seasonal ideas. I also use their ribbon to wrap all my presents. It is such a simple thing but makes all the difference – there is such pleasure given by wrapping gifts in lovely ribbons. There was even an Easter Ribbon challenge. Although too late for this year, I’m hoping this will be an annual event! I love their chicks & eggs from their Easter treat ribbon range.

Another idea is to use children’s miniature buckets as a take home present for everyone. These can be filled to the brim with Easter goodies like Cadbury mini eggs & placed on everyone’s table setting. I did this last year and it instantly transported everyone back to their childhood, thrilled to indulge child like in sweets & chocolate as a total treat at the end of Easter gathering. It’s a simple but lovely way of getting into the Easter vibe and getting the Easter proceedings underway.

Personalised name place setting with an Easter theme to delight this Easter……

Alongside the Easter ribbons & miniature Easter buckets, I lay the table with an Easter card for everyone. Each is personalised with their name, its first purpose being as a seat planner, but it provides a beautiful theme for the table, at very little cost & it gives everyone a beautiful momento of Easter lunch.

One theme I have used is the very cute and engaging Chick & Easter Egg cards from Rachel Ellen Designs. For our table, the girls were “chicks” & the boys were “Eggs”, but of course there were desires to be the other one on both sides!

Rachel Ellen Easter chick & egg place cards

I have also found a very stylish Easter bunny card from BellyButton designs. This is an inspiring company too, initially funded by a grant from the Prince’s Trust, ideas’ from fashion & art are the inspiration that has now led to a shop in Didsbury & a thriving business. I also applaud the fact that BellyButton are being nice to trees, an occupational hazard when you manufacture cards, however, it’s good to hear they are working to be more environmentally friendly, very encouraging news for those of us who still like to send & receive cards.

BellyButton Bunny

Another really wonderfully inspiring Easter theme I’ve found is from  Belle & Boo, a collection of artworks from the imagination of illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe. Belle & Boo are two of Mandy’s favourite characters, Belle with her bobbed hair, bright eyes and vintage clothing, is insistently curious about the world  around her. Boo is Belle’s adorable bunny rabbit companion and confidant. I think these designs are amazing & so evocative of Easter, they could not fail to provide an inspiring table place setting.

Beautiful image for Easter from Belle & Boo

For those with a talent for serviette folding, go for a bunny inspired fold for each of your guests.

Creative Idea’s for a very special Easter

The world is your Easter oyster! Even if you get half way down the page & think, oh, gosh, I’m never going to do all this, just choose one thing – lay a beautiful tablecloth if you don’t normally, use your lovely crockery, light a few candles and find some cards you love to make everyone feel especially invited. My wish though is that this has inspired you to unleash your creativeness and connect with those that you love – have a wonderful Easter!

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Celebrate St Patrick’s Day – with Tea with Mary Kate

Now, Mary Kate is Irish, through and through, so I thought it would be fitting to share a few thoughts about St Patrick’s Day, on 17 March to celebrate the day. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland of course, but for me, the day is all about celebrating your Irish heritage, and testimony to the scattering of the Irish are the parades  that have taken place for centuries in countries all around the world. I can trace my own roots back to a potato famine, where my Irish relations fled to Wales rather than starve.

Bright green shamrock biscuits

The tradition and celebration of this day and the time of year did put me to thinking of other Irish traditions. I know many of you familiar with the film “The Quiet man” will recall Michaleen Oge Flynn, the “shocklhorn” or matchmaker, who formally introduces Sean to Mary Kate. Sean just planned to “honk his horn” to have Mary Kate a running but Michaleen advises that there is a route that needs to be taken, customs that need to be followed.

Mary Kate & Sean are both impetuous, and having waited for the approval of Mary Kate’s brother, a tricky and lengthy negotiation, the pair escape the eagle eyed gaze of their watcher, and end up in an old church yard in the rain, with a shared passionate kiss that is for me the most romantic scene of the film, or any other film for that matter.

Passionate kissing in the rain - Sean & Mary Kate

No St Patrick’s Day would be complete without a song, and I admit a romantic bias for my absolute favourite Irish song in all the world “O Danny Boy”. I have such strong childhood memories connected with the singing of this. “Danny Boy” was originally said to be intended as a message from a woman to a man but has been interpreted by some listeners as a message from a parent to a son going off to war or leaving as part of the frequent massive Irish emigrations that took place. The song is widely considered an Irish anthem, and trite as this may sound, I confess I can never quite make it to the end without a glimmer of a tear in my eye.

Danny Boy

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling
‘Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow
‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.
And I shall hear, tho’ soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For ye shall bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

Have yourself a very special St Patricks Day – and see the opportunity of celebrating the day as a gift. Find a parade, go to Dublin Saint Patrick Day on Wednesday 17th March, London St Patricks day celebrations takes place on Sunday 14th March, the Manchester Irish Festival also looks great fun. Dress up in green, make a cake decorated with shamrocks, sing a few songs, have afternoon tea, with a strong cup of your favourite Irish blend, invite some friends around to celebrate.

Above all though, my hope is that this blog gives you the impetus to change your plans for 17th March, and provides you with the motivation for you to connect with those who are important to you, to celebrate your friendship together, to create your own traditions, to remember that part of you that is forever Irish.

Irish celebrations for St Patricks Day

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

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Ideas for Mother’s Day treats – Thoughtful musings from Tea with Mary Kate

Historically, this was a day when serving girls in Britain were given the day off to visit their mothers, take them a cake & spend time with each other.

You’ll know by now from the numerous blog posts to this site, Tea with Mary Kate looks to inspire us to take note of the ordinary & appreciate it for the extraordinary that it is, each and every day. Many of you will know that it’s Mothering Sunday on 14th March 2010 in the UK, but at many different times around the world. Historically, this was a day when serving girls in Britain were given the day off to visit their mothers, take them a cake & spend time with each other. As a child, I remember all the ladies of the church, actual mother or not, receiving a beautifully scented daffodil corsage. It was a very special occasion & the smell of that daffodil can still transport me back to being on the steps of the church on that Sunday.

While I feel it’s important to say thank you, I also feel there is such pressure, such expectation these days that it can swamp the whole Mother’s Day affair & leave it feeling more like a duty than something you’d choose to do

But I hope this blog does inspire you to choose something different, unique & special this year, & far from necessarily expensive.

On this day for some, it’s a time to remember their mum’s who are no longer with them – but more I think it’s a time to appreciate those in our lives who play the role of “mum” to us (& this could be someone different from your “official mum”). What I hope this blog post will inspire you to do is to choose to show the mum to you what they mean to you, when they’ve really supported you & why you appreciated it – after all, it is the simple day to day acts of kindness through which we show our love of others.

Taking or more boldly making Afternoon Tea

This could be at one of the many excellent Tea shop’s that we have (see my blog posts on Bettys Tea rooms & Peak View tea rooms). While I can say that would be a truly lovely treat, there’s also a decent chance of these places being very busy or worse fully booked – so for this day if you’re running out of options, how about making an afternoon tea for that special person? You could serve it on a cake stand if you have one, alongside a small bunch of beautiful spring flowers, with your creation of cake that you’ve just wrecked the kitchen making ( do tidy this up though as otherwise, it will be fair to say that the treat could perhaps be perceived to be a little misplaced!).

Alongside the cake, I would suggest to serve this with bread & butter with the option to spread lashings of apricot Jam (home made if you have it) & whipped cream, together with a hot pie (gooseberry was my personal favorite, the next being blackcurrant, with the deep purple sweet juice to serve with it). You could also cheat & order from the  Clifton Cake cafe which supply their delicious cakes for your special event if you are in the Bristol area of UK.

Clifton Cake cafe mothering Sunday Tea & cake

Another savoury option is to make the ubiquitous but gorgeous egg & cress sandwiches (do add my secret ingredient garlic salt when you make up your egg mix, trust me, you’ll never have egg mayonnaise sandwiches without this again once you have tasted it). I love old fashioned cheese & pineapple on sticks, with Quiche & other pies.

And of course,  a big, steaming pot of strong tea to warm the heart as well as the toes, in the most lovely cups that you can find, to make it an extra special treat.

Mother’s Day Breakfast Tea Tray – tea in bed is such a wonderful indulgence on Mother’s Day.

Another idea is to hit the ground running from the first moment with breakfast in bed for your excellent mum. This could ba a tea tray, with a beautiful cloth on it, again, a beautiful bunch of flowers would go just perfectly alongside toast, marmalade & for simplicity, boiled eggs are a rather good addition. A lovely bowl of fruit salad or favourite cereal could also be served, the treat being that’s all ready for them in a lovely bowl, with all the cutlery shining & ready to use. And of course, this would have tea, a perfect breakfast blend to accompany breakfast – I can’t imagine a better treat – tea in bed is such a wonderful indulgence on any day, especially on Mother’s Day.

Beautiful tea tray for breakfast

Home made Mother’s Day lunch

If you are feeling like being extravagant & totally going for it – make Mother’s Day lunch! Devise a menu, lay the table with a crisp cloth, a simple decoration of spring flowers – daffodils, snowdrops & the first tulips in miniature buckets would be perfect. Even ivy laid trailing around the table is very effective at bringing spring indoors. You could print/write a menu, make little place cards, with the “mum” place card having pride of place.

And then serve your lunch. I’d go for a simple starter of homemade soup, or a fresh salad with grilled goats cheese or smoked salmon. Followed by a roasted main course, so yummy it is difficult to beat – roasted veggies are fabulous – do put in a little crushed garlic & I promise you they will taste gorgeous! Finally, a baked pudding of some sort is a lovely finish – but the sky’s your limit – make all their favourite food!

Mary Kate welcoming Sean & her brother to supper

If you’re far from home

Then do send a card, & perhaps some flowers & chocolates, but next time you’re together, have a “Belated Mother’s Day”, so you don’t miss out on the chance to say thank you.

I wanted to finish this mother’s Day treat’s blog with this lovely illustration of “A very Victorian tea party” from MME illustrations, a great idea for a mother’s day gift!

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Celebrate St David’s Day – Inspiration from Tea with Mary Kate

Tea with Mary Kate is passionate about celebrating St David’s Day. Most will know that St David is the patron saint of Wales – what most struggle to comprehend is why it matters so much to the Welsh & all those with Welsh lineage. So although Mary Kate has her roots in Ireland, I’ll let you into a little secret…..her blog creator has the same roots but was born in Wales, yes, the land of our fathers. & I am fiercely proud of that heritage. The Welsh are passionate, have deep rooted traditions & a beautiful ancient language which is growing in Wales but incomprehensible to many – an aspect exploited frequently when English speakers are within ear shot.

Passionate Welsh women in national dress

There are strong symbolic associations also, the leek & daffodil being amongst these. According to legend St David advised the Britons on the eve of a battle with the Saxons, to wear leeks in their caps so as to easily distinguish friend from foe.  This helped to secure a great victory. Today Welsh people around the world wear leeks on St David’s Day.  It is also a surviving tradition that soldiers in the Welsh regiments eat a raw leek on St David’s Day. The Welsh for leek (the original national emblem) is Cenhinen, while the Welsh for daffodil is Cenhinen Pedr. Probably over the years they became confused until the daffodil was adopted as a second emblem of Wales.

Daffodils & leeks

Image by flickr user Barbara Rich, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 license

Another strong association is with the harp, and is regarded as the national instrument of Wales.  By the end of the 18th century, the triple harp – so called because it had three rows of strings – was widely known as the Welsh harp on account of its popularity in Wales.

St. David is unique amongst the patron saints of Great Britain in that he is the only one to be born in the country that he represents. The shortage of real historical evidence about him is more than made up by the colourful legends that abound about his life and work. What is known is that he was born at Henvynwy in Ceredigion sometime between 462 and 512 and is believed to have studied under St Illtud at Llantwit Major. He became a prominent figure in the Celtic church and founded a monastery at Menevia in Pembrokeshire, which eventually became known as St David’s. His most famous act is the miracle of Llanddewi Brefi and was related by Rhyfygarch, a monk writing in the 11th century. St David is said to have made the ground rise up so his words could be heard by the huge crowds. A white dove was seen settling on his shoulder. St David is believed to have died on Tuesday March 1 in 589 at St David’s in Pembrokeshire. Amongst his final words was “do the little things in life” which is now a very well known phrase in Welsh.

So although March 1st is a day to celebrate the life of St David, its real resonance now is that it’s a celebration of Welsh Culture – with national dress worn, leeks, & schools having celebratory concerts. I remember as I child the tricky but skillful way in which leeks & daffodils were pinned to jackets – a real art I can tell you!

The Welsh Flag is a Red Dragon (or in Welsh Y Ddraig Goch) & was granted official status in 1959, but the dragon itself has been associated with Wales for centuries. Some say it’s the oldest national flag still in use, and that it was used by King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders.

The Splendid Red Dragon that adorns the Welsh Flag

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (translated in English as ‘Land of my Fathers’) is the Welsh National anthem. It was written in 1856 by Evan James and his son, James James, from Pontypridd in Glamorgan. It is traditionally sung before national sporting events but I have sung it on many a bus trip home.

Lyrics

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd,
Tros ryddid gollasant eu gwaed.
Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i’m gwlad.
Tra môr yn fur i’r bur hoff bau,
O bydded i’r hen iaith barhau.

How will you be celebrating St David’s day this year? Do visit the Wales blog for exciting events taking place – or better still, bake a few Welsh cakes to have your own Welsh Tea, they are really delicious when still warm just off the griddle . For me, St David’s Day is all about identity, just as those Welsh soldiers used leeks to recognise each other, & it’s all about belonging & connecting  to a community, whatever that community may be for you. My hope for this St David’s Day is that this blog will inspire you be part & take part in that possibility of connection.

A Traditional Welsh Tea

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Mary Kate Thoughtful Musings on a Valentine Tea

I’m guessing with the day’s ticking down to February 14th, the male of the species may be starting to get quite twitchy – Valentine’s is so fraught with emotion, assumption & expectation….& frankly cost.

So I’d like to suggest an alternative, with Valentine’s Day itself offering us a signpost for our future interactions.  It could be so much more than signalling  our feelings opposite a relationship with our “significant others” on just one day. & so much more than just being “romantic” on 14th February. It’s an opportunity to take a moment to assess what we would wish for the future, for ourselves,  for our significant relationships & for everyday.

Mary Kate with one of her significant marriages

I am a great admirer of the poet David Whyte whose recent book “The Three Marriages” explores and challenges on the standard assumptions and definition of marriage and what happens when we fall in love. David Whyte is passionate, deep, with some uncomfortable messages which he also acknowledges for himself.

I’ve been lucky enough to see him speak on a couple of occasions. It’s life affirming & humbling that his self awareness allows him to take great dollops of his own medicine. If you read nothing but the introduction to the book, then it would give enough stimulus for at least a modicum of growth – I laughed and empathised at getting himself  into a pressurised situation & fretted for him.  Do go for reading the whole book for his views on three marriages – that which we conventionally think of with a significant other, the second being that with work, where he has some fascinating alternative thinking on “work life balance”, and his “third” marriage, that of the relationship we have with ourselves.

So, how about a major reframe of Valentine’s day, where you no longer fret if you receive any mysterious cards or roses – have a Valentine’s for you – you’re the person that you’ll have the longest relationship with. Have a Valentines with your significant other if you have one – & I’d advocate in a humbling, authentic way – I’m wondering why folks would cram themselves into a restaurant on one particular night when the service is always at a stretch. The most precious times I’ve experienced have been simple acts of love – a cup of tea in bed when I was far from expecting it – precious, precious moments to treasure always.

Have a Valentine’s week – a whole week where you take care of your interactions with those who matter to you & who you consider important to you.

And do you know, how about have a Valentine’s life, with devoting time to having a greater awareness of all three marriages, to take care of relationships in the moment.

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Mary Kate’s Inspiration for a Pancake Tea

It’s Tuesday, you seem to have used up all your motivation just for Monday & even though it’s only the second day of the working week, you’re running out of energy with a list of things that you wished you’d found a spare moment to sort over the weekend.  It’s later than you’d hoped, you’ve had “one of those days” & the last thing that you feel like doing is, well, actually anything at all!

But what will you choose to do on  Tuesday 8th March?

Many of you will know this is Pancake Day, or otherwise know as  Shrove Tuesday. The day has its origins in religion…but that’s far from the reason I mention it here.

wonderful Pancake tossing 1950s pictures are by Micheal Greatorex Winster Derbyshire.

As a child, I remember the whole night being devoted  to making our pancake creations – no “proper” tea, it was all pancakes until you couldn’t fit anymore in!

I’ve realised that our pancakes were a bit different too – they had currants included! Yes, you put them in when one side was still cooking so they ended up as part of the pancake. & you’d never volunteer for the first one out of the pan, as more than likely, the cook would not have their hand in at that stage, it would be too thick, or broken. It was such a competition to make the best, the most perfect pancake! But here’s the thing – I remember those nights from my childhood as special, & it was such a simple thing that will be part of me always.

Pancake day- Wonderful 1950s pictures are by Micheal Greatorex Winster Derbyshire.

Tea with Mary Kate seeks to inspire using seemingly ordinary everyday activities as the portal to connect us to those that matter & to what can give us purpose & meaning.

So, if you’ve come this far & are wondering what this has this to do with a Pancake tea, then you may as well read on……instead of thinking – oh why would I do anything at all? I’d like to paint another picture, to inspire you to another vision of what joy, what fun, & how lovely  & memorable that Tuesday Pancake Tea could be.

Make it special, lay the table with a beautiful table cloth, use your favourite crockery – what else are you saving it for? & bring out your favourite tea cups. Ok, so I will concede, it is far from the healthiest of tea, but  the feel good that it is generating will do everyone the world of good. And if you are feeling totally adventurous, have a tossing competion…or go for it, and have a race!

Pancake Tea Fruit special

While you are whizzing the milk, eggs & butter to make that all important batter in the mixer (or hey, cheat & buy a packet to mix), because you’ve decided that the joy is in the doing, the excitement is in creating a bit of a mess when you are tossing. You can employ the rest of the party to create a gorgeous fruit salad that you can graze on while the serious stuff of pancake mix creation is going on.

But here’s the really lazy method – buy them already made – I know, it’s amazing that you can do this & they are quite nice…….. & if you are near Stoke or the Nantwich Saturday Market, you can buy some from the London Road Bakehouse, a really wholesome bakery that has brought back to life it’s coal-fired ovens. The bread is absolutely gorgeous too!

And of course, hot, warming tea! With pancakes, I really recommend Lapsang Souchong, a gorgeous smokey tea, with a dash of honey, or Pembrokeshire Tea company’s Rose tea (see blog article also), as you want something that is full of flavour but without the milk, as you’ll get more than enough from the pancakes!

Family & Best friend Approach

If whizzing up some eggs, flour & milk to create your Pancake mix even at this point is seeming like a step too far, rush to inspire a friend whose more adept on the cooking skills front – & invite yourself around with your other skills in tow. Although I would say that DOING IT is half the fun, I concede that you all may not be on the page of that’s going to be a great idea, but perhaps you can be the catalyst for the opportunity to pause, as these are the times that can nurture our spirits and give space for knowing & healing.

The wonderful 1950s pictures are by Micheal Greatorex Winster Derbyshire. What will you plan to do for pancake day?

Racing along on Pancake Day

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