A Teapot Story

This is a story of my three teapots.  I am getting a little ahead of the Tea Swap over at the Odd Ducks of Ravelry.  I figure someone someday is going to come looking at this blog and want to have this information.

The Teapot of Parties Past

This is the teapot of parties past.  When I originally conceived the idea for this blog post, it was to be entitled My Three Teapots.  Composing the post in my head made me want to use one of my teapots, so I pulled this teapot down from the cupboard and brewed me some Genmaicha.  I love me some Genmaicha of a weekend.  It's very soothing and the little "popcorn" (rice, actually) kernels are fun.

As a helpful note, Genmaicha is best when it's made in a mug or a restaurant.  By which I mean, if you're going to serve your Genmaicha from a teapot, go to a restaurant.  If you brew it in a teapot at home, then you are left with cleaning all the brown rice and green tea leaves out of the pot and that can be awkward.  One could accidentally break the lid of her teapot while cleaning up after a pot of Genmaicha.  And then one would have a late teapot.  (And by that I mean late in the way that Precious Ramotswe uses the word when she is referring to her father or the way that John Cleese uses late when he is referring to a recently purchased parrot.)

For what it is worth (very little unless you're planning on making a coffin for my late teapot), and as you can see by the ruler in front of it on the table, this teapot is 3.5" high and 8.5" from handle to spout.

This teapot has now been reassigned as the future home of an ivy cutting that is growing roots in a vase on the kitchen windowsill.

The Teapot of Parties Present

This teapot belonged to my late mother, may she rest in peace.  (And I am using late in the same sense as Precious's father and Cleese's parrot again.)  This teapot is 6.5" from handle to spout and 4" high.  It is much smaller than the other teapot, but it is an ideal size for the amount of tea I drink.  This teapot will never contain Genmaicha.  In fact, this teapot will never contain tea leaves unless they are contained in tea bags.  (For the purists among you who protest about making the perfect pot of tea, let me remind you how few late mothers' teapots a person can own in a lifetime.)

The Teapot of Parties to Come

This teapot was featured in my blog back in 2005 in a post entitled Jungle Fever.  I had high hopes for it, but it has only been used one time.  It has been another one of those "too good to use for everyday" items that is about to become an everyday item unless I get a teapot to replace my late teapot cum flowerpot.  I still have all the matching plates and I am awaiting an occasion to use it/them.  It measures 10" from stem to stern and is 6" high.

When all is said and done, I think I'll stick to mugs.

Jungle Fever

Some time back in an effort to control our portion sizes, DH and I started to buy smaller sized dishes with fun patterns on them. Usually they're children's dishes with colorful cartoonish animals on them. Eating at our house is not very elegant, but it sure is fun!

As a result of this project, I now have a new and wonderful obsession. It started with this:



I happen to love animal prints anyway, especially leopard, so when I caught sight of these demitasse cups on eBay, I just had to have them.
Once I got them, I wanted a teapot to match or at least coordinate. I got outbid on one that the same seller had on sale, but she was kind enough to inform me when she got more jungle animal crockery to sell.
Which led to my buying this:

and then this:

Luckily, DH loves them. I've been justifying the purchase by exploring recipes that will present well on them when taken to potlucks. I'm going to have to rearrange the china cabinet to fit them in and I have very-little-to-no wiggle room for any more china in the apartment now.
The eBayer who sold me the above has become one of my favorite sellers. They don't have a lot of china to offer so I'm lucky in that respect, but they do have some great toys my adopted grandkids are going to love.
Although, my original standing search for a jungle animal teapot came up with this recently. I successfully resisted bidding on it:


Until yesterday.
Oh, well. Maybe I should start searching for curtains, rugs and pillows in animal prints to complete the theme. At least I have some room left for those in the apartment.