Tea at the Gallery Tea Room, Knoxville, TN

Scone with Clotted Cream and Citrus Glaze

Perhaps it is because my parents were Savannahians that I've always been so comfortable in the cozy confines of tearooms. Tea was something you would most likely have at someone's home when I was small. In Europe, tearooms are quite common and I certainly spent my share of time in them. It may be thought the refuge of ladies, but I've always admired a man who handled himself with grace in such an environment. There are so few places today where you can go and enjoy a truly elegant and civilized culinary experience that is so relaxing.

Today I took a break from the frantic last minute Christmas shopping in Knoxville to enjoy just such a tearoom. When you walk in to Tea at the Gallery the tension of the day slides off your back. It is elegant and intimate with art on the walls and white linen covered tables. I'm sure there was music of some sort, but it was so unobtrusive that I'm not even sure what it was. That is as it should be.

The menu is simple and offers three selections: Morning & Afternoon Tea Services, Luncheon Tea and Signature Luncheon Tea. Your pot of tea is separate and served in a lovely designer teapot, properly brewed to order.

I had arrived late but they graciously allowed me to have luncheon tea. "The Tea Ladies" as they are called in Knoxville, are Elisa King and Colleen Hayzen, both from South Africa. They can call you "madam" and it sounds lovely and inviting and not at all forced. I felt immediately welcomed.

They have their own line of teas and if you are not a regular or experienced tea drinker, you can be assured that there will be something there to your liking. I ordered the Lapsang Souchong, a dark smoky tea that is my favorite and a bit hard to find.

With my tea, I had some lovely finger sandwiches. There was cheese, rich gourmet salami and one of the best egg salads I've ever tasted used as fillings. The soup was rich corn chowder. A little savory mini-quiche was offered. There were scones topped generously with clotted cream, one drizzled with a citrus glaze and the other topped with strawberry jam. A slice of decadently rich pound cake and a ginger biscuit topped off my tea tray. All of this was artfully arranged on a silver pedestal platter and the sweets were lightly dusted with powdered sugar. It was as much a joy to look at, as it was to eat.

If you are in Knoxville, I highly recommend stopping off here to catch your breath and enjoy a spot of tea. They also offer tea appreciation classes, gift baskets and a tea of the month club. Tea is served Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The store is open those same days from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for purchases of loose teas and tea-to-go.

If you would like to experience a tearoom, but are not near Knoxville, I recommend checking with TeaMap, which lists tearooms across the country. I think tea may be the next big thing in the U.S. It's about time we got over all of that Boston ugliness.



Written by Rosie:
Smokey Mountain Breakdown

The Christmas Story

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed .
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed , every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was , that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered .
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes , and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field , keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo , the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid .
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold , I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes , lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying ,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Caroling poses its own set of problems

CELIA RIVENBARK

It's caroling season and, if you're a lousy singer or you have trouble remembering the words to your favorite Christmas songs, it's important to make up for these shortcomings by singing very loudly.

Face it: After a certain age, human beings are incapable of remembering whether it's 10 ladies dancing or eight or if Frosty's hat was made of felt or silk or if that incredibly annoying drummer kid's drum goes rah-pum-pa-pa-bum or something else altogether. In the end, all that matters when caroling is that you sing lustily, filled with the joy of the season and maybe a few pomegranate martinis, if you're the shy type.

The truth is, almost no one gets the lyrics to holiday songs right. It's OK when you're trying to fake "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," less so when you're supposed to be giving reverent attention to "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."

Recently, I butchered that last one pretty badly. "It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious night of old, with angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold. Peace out! They said from their, er, holy homes." And it went downhill from there.

Ditto "Away in a Manger," which stumps me with its mention of cattle "lowing," whatever that means. I find it useful to toss in random "nigh's" when in doubt. As in "Bless all the dear children in thy tender care and nigh and far and nigh, nigh, nigh."

Trust me; NO one will notice.

One of my very favorite Christmas carols is "What Child Is This?" but I have long forgotten the words. Which is why it ended up during caroling last week as "What child is this who lays in bed while shepherds wa-atch a little TV."

Usually, if you can just hang on until the chorus, things will click back into place.

This is why you must sing the chorus extra-loud because you're now back in familiar territory.

"This! This! Is Christ the king, whom angels love and leopards ring!" See?

What you don't want to do is mix your sacred and your Rudolph because, like insisting that Santa wraps, it's just plain wrong.

"O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night, on the rooftop, reindeer pause."

It makes sense that we'd botch lyrics to songs we only enjoy once a year. Face it, there are still a lot of people who sing "I'm the god of Velveeta, honey."

Fortunately, Christmas is the season of forgiveness. As long as you remember the names of Rudolph's pals - Donner, Blitzen, Vixen, Cupid, Comet, Dasher, Prancer and Brandon - you'll be fine. Would I lie to you?
---------------------------


To read past Celia Rivenbark columns, go to her page at MyrtleBeachOnline.com.

Contact CELIA RIVENBARK at celiariven@aol.com or visit www.celiarivenbark.com.

Southern Style Christmas

Celebrate Christmas with a touch of southern warmth.

This book was written in 2000 and can be purchased on Amazon.com and Ebay. I haven't reviewed it, but it looks to be a nice coffee table book for the holidays.

This elegant, full-color gift book boasts a wonderful collection of heartwarming stories, poems, regional traditions, and recipes from people whose roots and hearts are deep in the South. Enjoy reflections by great writers and well-known Southerners. No matter where you live, this book will help you soak up the beauty of Christmas.

Includes selections from:Jan Karon, Liz Curtis Higgs, Max Lucado, Anne Rivers Siddons, Charles Allen, Michael Card, Ruth Bell Graham, Catherine Marshall and others.

Wanted: Southern Style Christmas Traditions

I would like to request that if you have Southern or even Southern-ish holiday traditions in your family that you send them in to the Dew. I would like to publish a story sharing these traditions.

Please send the story to Idgie at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com.

Thank you!

The Last Christmas Tree - Part 2

Continued from December 3, 2007 ----------------------------------------------

“Taylor, you and the other kids put these on the tree. Now, be careful
and don't knock any of the white stuff off, and I'll tell you the story
of this tree. You think this tree is different. It is. This is a
special tree. It’s special because it has magic. I guess that you
notice that the tree has no needles on it. The reason for this is that
this was the last tree that no one wanted last year, but the tree still
has life in it for this Christmas and other Christmas’ to come. After
this Christmas, you can plant it next to the house where that bare spot
is. The secret of the tree is not in the tree but in each of you.” The
three young kids were spellbound by what the old man was saying to
them. Ms. Lilly was standing by the kitchen door leaning on the
doorframe. She was exhausted from being on her feet for nearly twenty
hours and in five more hours she would have to be at the diner waiting
on customers again. At least the children had a tree, even it was the
strangest tree she had seen or had. Ms. Lilly didn't give him his five
dollars. She had better things to spend her money on.

Walt stopped talking suddenly and spit a large wad of the chewing
tobacco in the tin can that was now a quarter filled with tobacco
juice. "That old man sat there and convinced those kids that they had
the neatest tree in the world. The old drunk man wasn't satisfied with
this. Old man Lucas followed up this story by telling the kids if they
learned to do for other people and give to other people without
expecting anything in return, the tree would grow into a large fir tree
that they could show their grand-children." Walt shook his head while
he cut himself another plug of tobacco and placed it in his mouth,
wiping the corner of his mouth where a stream of tobacco juice had
dripped.

That Christmas the kids got hand-me downs and the church went by and
brought numerous presents for each child. The kids told everyone that
they met about the magical tree that had no needles on it that was in
their living room. At first, everyone laughed behind their backs but
once they saw the tree with only the two strands of lights, they
marveled at the trees beauty. Some adults told of the aura that the
tree projected outwardly into the dull room where it stood alone
against a bare wall. The following year old man Lucas had numerous
calls for a similar tree but he would just shake his head and turn
around, when he was out of view from everyone, he would take a drink
out his clear pint bottle.

On New Year’s Day, the children planted the bare tree in the spot where
the old man had told them to put it. During the following spring, the
children watered the barren Christmas tree daily and looked with
intensity for it to come to life, but the Noble Fir stood bare. Crows
would come and perch on the top limbs to look around. Their weight
would seem to almost break the thin fragile limbs of the barren tree.
Meanwhile, on Saturdays, when their mother would go to town, the
children started to help people. Nothing big or dramatic, but the boys
would help the people by carrying their groceries to their car or would
help someone get out or enter a car by holding the door. The youngest,
Taylor, would open the door of the car and move next to the opening,
letting the elderly person use his short sturdy body to grip on so they
could straighten and pull up. Lynn, the girl, would pick out an old
person in the grocery store and pull items off the shelf for them. The
oldest, Larry would go to the Smoke House while his mother did the
grocery shopping and straighten up the magazines on the bottom shelves
for old man Cone. The boy did not understand how much old man Cone
appreciated his help. The old man had the worst back that I had ever
seen.

The following Fall, Ms. Lilly finally finished the secretary course at
the business college, and with some help she was hired at the bakery,
where she worked until she retired. She turned out to be a good
secretary."

Walt stopped talking. He made a disgusting look. Harry smiled and
turned his head so Walt could not see his smile. Harry suspected that
Walt had swallowed some of the tobacco juice but that’s the chance a
person takes chewing and talking at the same time. Walt quickly grabbed
the tin can and spit out a large amount of liquid into the can.

"By the next Christmas everyone in the household had forgotten about
the tree that they had bought the year before. Ms. Lilly had bought a
station wagon from my Dad. This Christmas she didn't go back to see old
man Lucas for a Christmas tree. The following spring Larry started to
help old man Cone once a week when the magazines came in. Taylor and
Lynn helped their mother around the house. Taylor planted a garden for
his mother and the kid could grow the most vegetables in the smallest
amount of space." Walt paused and cut another plug off the bar of Red
Man. Harry noticed the plug was a smaller one this time. The bulge on
the right side of Walt’s cheek looked like it was ready to bust.

That summer, Ms. Lilly received a promotion at the bakery and she
started to give each child an allowance of twenty-five cents a week for
helping around the house.

Next Christmas, Lynn mentioned that she wanted another beautiful
Christmas tree like the tree that the funny old man had brought them.
Ms. Lilly refused and told everyone that she had been keeping an eye on
the "so called" miracle tree that the old man had given them. There had
been no sign of life since they had planted the tree. In the spring,
they would cut the tree down and plant a pink dogwood in its place.
This announcement made each child sad. They had helped the needy and
the old as much as they could and had not asked for anything in return
like the old man had said to do but the miracle tree had not shown any
sign of life."

Walt paused and was silent for several minutes. Harry figured that he
was trying to figure out how to tell the rest of the story. Suddenly
Walt started to speak again, but now he had a more serious tone of
voice.

"Each child had saved most of their allowance money. Larry distributed
a large portion of money that he had saved from helping Mr. Cone at the
Smoke House to Taylor and Lynn. Larry had talked to old man Cone about
what they wanted to do that Christmas. The young man made old man Cone
to take a sacred oath, that was, to never tell of his involvement in
what they would be doing Christmas Eve.

That Christmas Eve, a strange thing happened in this small town. Many
were surprised and astonished at the presents that appeared at random
on the doorsteps of certain people in the small town. Canes appeared
leaning on the doors where once there was a need of a sturdy body to
pull up on, bags of sweet candy appeared on the doorsteps of people who
lived alone. A coffee cup was given to old man Cone the first year. The
cup was one of the old man’s prized possessions. No names were left,
only a simple covering of Christmas paper wrapping was left or a simple
Christmas bow. People talked about these strange events for several
months until time took its toll on this oddity.

Spring came early that year; Ms. Lilly was being courted by old man
Lucas’ son, Clyde. Larry had started junior high baseball and Lynn was
part of the Girl Scouts. Taylor was planning a bigger garden. Everyone
seemed to have forgotten about the barren tree they had planted over
two years ago until that Wednesday night at the supper table, when
their mother announced that weather permitting, the family would be
cutting down the old barren Christmas tree the following weekend. A
pink dogwood would be planted in the trees place.

Saturday morning came early for everyone. Ms. Lilly knew her children
were to learn a hard lesson about listening to old drunken men and
their folly when they were drunk. She sensed the despair in her
children’s hearts and their souls; their beautiful dream would be torn
to pieces. Yet, this was life and not a fantasy world like the old
drunk lived in.

Walt halted and spit twice into the tin can again. The tin can was now
half full of the brown slimy liquid. Walt looked around to see if the
other men were looking at him. Half of the men had fallen asleep, but
they had already heard the story once. The other half was moderately
interested in learning the cruel end to this tale. Walt understood that
most of the men had heard his story several times since he had told it
the first time.

"That morning after breakfast, Ms. Lilly told Larry to get the rusty
hand saw that hung on the wall in the tool shed next to the door. She
directed Taylor to get the shovel where he could dig the hole for the
pink dogwood. Ms. Lilly and Lynn would drag the pink dogwood around the
back of the house to the old Christmas tree.” Walt spit again into the
large tin can pausing only slightly.

"When the family turned the corner of the back of the house where the
large azalea grew, each member stopped and starred at the Nobel Fir.
The tree had grown a foot from the last time that anyone had paid any
attention to it. Examining the Noble Fir closer, each one could see the
evidence of the emerging small green needles appearing on the bare
wooden branches of the Noble Fir tree.

Their mother’s voice broke the dead silence by directing Taylor to
begin digging a hole next to the fence for the pink dogwood. No one
dared to mention anything about the condition of the Noble Fir until at
supper, when Ms. Lilly announced that she would be calling old man
Lucas about planting another tree in their yard. She figured that old
man Lucas had replaced the tree at some time during the previous month
when no one was at home. To this day, no one knows the out come of that
call that she made to that old man.”

Walt spit a large amount of tobacco juice into the nearly full tin can
of disgusting liquid, followed by a large wet mass of tobacco.

"Ms. Lilly married old man Lucas' son, Clyde, six months later, after
old man Murphy moved in with the rest of family. Clyde worked the
Christmas farm that his father ran, and sold trees every year at the
same lot that his father had at Christmas time, but Ms. Lilly would not
let Clyde create any more trees like old man Lucas did that year for
her." Walt paused briefly.

"The tree with no needles that they planted years ago is still living.
It’s nearly fifteen feet tall now. I go by there every Christmas to see
the tree. Taylor travels to foreign countries telling people how to
grow their crops. Larry is a publisher of a book company and instructs
people to teach other people sign language. Lynn is married and has
three children, two boys and one girl. She's a nurse.

What's sad? Old man Lucas quit drinking five years before he died. The
old man knew that the booze had finally caught up with him. But I'll
never forget the old man’s smile when he told me the ending of the
story about the last Christmas tree; there was a smile on his weather
beaten face when he finished telling me the story.

Both of us sat there that night in the cold for the longest time not
saying a single word to each other. The old man broke the silence by
telling me one last thing. I don’t think I'll ever forget those words
he spoke.

"Christmas is for kids. It’s a time when they learn the real miracle of
this world. The miracle is ‘giving’ without expecting anything in
return. Most of us grown folks don't understand that it’s the giving
and it’s done during the rest of the year. That’s where the miracle
lies." and you know that old sucker winked at me. Then old man Lucas
got up and went to the old camper that he kept at the market during the
Christmas season. He died a of couple weeks later."” Walt paused for a
brief moment to regain his composure. Harry noticed Walt’s eyes. They
were watery.

"The old man never told anyone else that story." Walt was silent again
but now he had a little smile on his face.

Everyone in the group nodded. They understood that this was Walt’s gift
those who wanted to listen to his story about his dear friend.

--------------------------------------------

Written By Franklin P. Smith @ Tales from the Smokehouse