You Are Invited To Tea Time With The Cozy Chicks

I am so excited to Welcome to the table today The Cozy Chicks and their new book Tea Time with the Cozy Chicks. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down with some of your most favorite authors for tea? Today some of my most favorite cozy mystery authors have come to share about a their new book and let you know about their wonderful blog. Please welcome the Cozy Chicks as my guest bloggers today.

Tea parties have been around for well over 3,000 years. People on all parts of the earth have tea parties every day. So sit down, pour yourself a cup of tea, and let me tell you about Tea Time With the Cozy Chicks.

First of all who are the Cozy Chicks? If you haven’t visited our blog before, please pop by http://www.cozychicksblog.com. It’s a great way to get to know us and to catch a glimpse at the crazy life of a mystery writer. The Cozy Chicks are…Ellery Adams, Lorraine Bartlett, Duffy Brown, Kate Collins, Mary Kennedy, Mary Jane Maffini, Maggie Sefton, Leann Sweeney.

We write cozy mysteries and in our books characters often gather around the table to discuss cases. They drink a staggering amount of caffeinated beverages and seem to be surrounded by an endless array of mouth-watering sandwiches, cookies, pastries, and chocolate. In short, these gals in our books have a pretty good time…unless they're chasing the killer...and we thought it would be fun to spend a little time in their world.

The result is Tea Time With The Cozy Chicks filled with the lore of tea in so many of its incarnations. The book offers an assortment of tea parties like how to have a Bon Voyage tea, bachelorette tea, proper Yorkshire Tea, Chocolate Lovers tea etc. There are menus for each party, invitation suggestions, decorations, flowers, table settings, recipes galore and all hosted by characters from our books to add to the fun.

An afternoon tea party is suitable for many celebrations and isn't as involved as a dinner party. Often a tea party can be the answer to friends just getting together. It's an ideal format for a simple elegant party where the food is prepared before your guests arrive and is either presented buffet style, or by passing plates of goodies at the table. The best thing about a tea party is that the only thing you need to serve is the tea itself, leaving you plenty of time to relax and enjoy your guests.

There is more in Tea Time With the Cozy Chicks than just tea parties. There are ideas on tea paring, tea towels, antique teapots and cups, reading tea leaves and the book even offers suggestions on blending your own teas like:

Floral Fantasy Tea

Ingredients

1 teaspoon lavender

1 teaspoon yarrow

½ teaspoon chamomile

½ teaspoon stevia

Spiced Anise Tea

Ingredients

2 teaspoons anise hyssop

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon vanilla bean

¼ teaspoon cloves

Devoted Remembrance Tea

Ingredients

2 teaspoons rosemary

2 teaspoons lavender

2 teaspoons marjoram

1 teaspoon anise hyssop

Dark Rose Tea

Ingredients

2 teaspoons rose hips

1 teaspoon anise hyssop

2 teaspoons yarrow

1 teaspoon bergamot mint

So tell us about your favorite tea. Do you have a special blend for the summer and one for winter? A tea for when you’re sick or have a cold? Tell us about your tea and we’ll give away two adorable teapot measuring tapes from the answers.

To enter to win please leave a comment below about your favorite tea blends and visit The Cozy Chick website by clicking here. 
Thank you to the Cozy Chicks for stopping by to share their recipes and up coming release with us today!

To Pre Order your own copy of Tea Time with the Cozy Chicks please click the links below:
Kindle
Kindle World Wide
Kobo
Nook
ibooks

Thank you to The Cozy Chicks for stopping by for tea with us today and thank you for joining in the fun. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Trader Joe's Earl Grey Tea~ A Great Tea To Take With You!

I have been for years now someone who carries tea with her in her purse. I really was glad after a stop at Mcdonalds in Utah where I ordered tea and (I always ask for the bag on the side) was handed my way to hot cup of water and a tea bag that looked like it was years old and had been stepped on, half open and did not smell good. This experience was an excellent reminder as to why I bring tea with me and I was glad to have my own special blends of loose leaf tea and a selection of individually wrapped tea with me.

When I am state side I like to stop in at Trader Joe's, we do not have this store where I live and I found that their Earl Grey was really great and the price is really reasonable.  Lots of tea drinkers will turn their noses up at bagged tea claiming it is the "sweepings" and the stuff not good enough to go into loose leaf blends and while with some brands of tea I will agree with them I find that this Earl Grey is on par with some of my more expensive loose leaf Earl Grey teas. This is a great tea to have on hand, keep in the car or your purse. Did you know that tea really doesn't go bad? The best before dates on the boxes are really sell by dates. Tea will loose flavor over time but to fix that just add an extra bag or tsp to your pot!

On my table this morning is Tails, You Lose by Carol J. Perry and it is fantastic. I read half of it yesterday and hope to get more reading time today to pick up where I left off last night.
Thank you for joining me for A Cup Of Tea and A Cozy Mystery. As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Traveling Teacup In Boulder Day 2...

As I am traveling I am reminded of just how glad I am to have brought my own tea kettle, teacup and saucer and a selection of my favorite teas. Being this far from home and sharing a room with 4 of my favorite people sometimes requires the simple familiar comfort of home and a bit of liquid sanity.

I am so looking forward to visiting Celestial Seasonings Tea Company while I am here in Boulder hopefully tomorrow, I am enjoying the little comforts of home in my room and in the breakfast area downstairs. I am reading Joyce an Jim Laveen's Give em' Pumpkin To talk about and sipping my favorite tea, wrapped in a lovely throw blanket this hotel offers its guests.

When I am down stairs some people stare, some people inquire and some people just sit and wonder why bother?...I can say simply because it is important to me and if  something is important you make a point of making sure it happens. Taking tea, reading books and finding comfort is important to me, Doing so in as enjoyable a way as possible makes the tea tastes its very best.
So my tea tip for you is if you are traveling bring some of the comforts from home. They may break get lost or they may survive and you will thrive. But do make a point of trying the local tea shops, blends and brands that are offered locally! Oh and when driving across 5 states in one day, stopping to order tea, get the bag on the side and use your own familiar blend rather then the stale half opened tea bag from Mcdonalds.....
Thank you for joining me for A Cup of Tea and A Cozy Mystery today. I look forward to sharing more of my fun finds and reviews with you again tomorrow.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com