Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

'Passengers'  Exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum  In one of history's great migrations, more than six million people have crossed the world to settle in Australia.  At the Australian National Maritime Museum, the Welcome Wall stands in honour of all those who have migrated to live in Australia with names of individuals and families permanently engraved in bronze. Looking out onto the harbour from the Australian National Maritime Museum  Located outdoors on the museum's northern boundary, the wall faces Darling Harbour and Pyrmont Bay where some of the many new settlers arrived. Accessible all year-round,  it's lovely to stroll along the bronzed panels and learn more about the migration experience as well as reading the names engraved. Welcome Wall Plaque  In 1950, my husband Jim was a three year old and he travelled on the SS  Chitral  with his mother and father, Rose and Don Simmons and his sisters Patricia ...

Twelfth Night Cake - with crown  I have already cut my Christmas Cake - just to test it, of course. I was surprised to learn that in times past, the "Christmas" cake was not eaten until Easter, and then later on on the twelfth night of Christmas.... why? The traditional Christmas cake is the evolution of two popular dishes, plum porridge and the Twelfth Night Cake.   First cited in 1573, plum porridge was traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve after a daylong fast. It wasn’t long before dried fruit and honey were added to the porridge mixture.  Its was also the origins of the Christmas pudding.  During the 16th Century the oatmeal in the porridge was replaced by butter, flour from wheat and eggs. This mix would still have been boiled and it was not until richer families had ovens in the home, that the mix was baked. Dried fruit was added and finished off with marzipan. Traditionally it would have been eaten at Easter.  The Christmas Cake  evolv...

Today's tea tantaliser is a book . I am currently reading "Liquid Jade - The Story of Tea from East to West". I am thoroughly enjoying this social history of tea, finding beautiful poetry, funny and fascinating stories, interesting facts and new knowledge about tea and its integral part in the history of  'East meets West' . Here is an extract from the blurb : ... Liquid Jade's rich narrative history explores tea in all its social and cultural aspects... .  Entertaining yet informative  and extensively researched, Liquid Jade  tells the story of Western greed and Eastern bliss ... also depicts tea's beauty and delights, not only with myths about the beginnings of tea or the lovers' legend in the familiar blue and white porcelain willow pattern, but also with a rich and varied selection of works of art and historical photographs, which form a rare and comprehensive visual tea record... Connecting past and present and spanning five thousand years, B...

Christmas Countdown ...4...    Christmas Cards are another tradition started in England in 1843 by Henry Cole by John Horsley who was the designer of the first Christmas card which was quite expensive – one shilling. As railways were built, postal services became cheaper (only halfpenny for a Christmas card in an unsealed envelope), and printing methods improved, Christmas cards became popular by the 1870’s . At first nativity scenes were depicted on cards, and then images of red robins and winter snow scenes.  the first Christmas card 1843 ( from  http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/cards.shtm) l

NZ publication available from Fishpond Every tea towel might tell a story, but nothing rhymes with 'tea towel'  - is this true?    There is a lot of interesting information surrounding the humble tea towel ...  The name 'tea towel' originates from early 19th century Victorian England. The tea towel was the linen of choice for Victorian ladies who liked its absorbent, fine weave soft linen fibres. They deemed it ideal to dry their expensive and delicate china, glassware, and serving pieces without scratching or leaving surface lint. A popular Victorian pastime was to embroider personalised tea towels which were used at tea time to cover food, to wrap around the outside of the teapot (tea cosy), and to take care of any spills....During the early 20th century , American housewives showed great ingenuity by transforming empty animal feed cotton into dish towels( tea towels). The feed sacks  were cut into suitably sized pieces of material, and the women wo...