When my brother and sisters and I were growing up, we eagerly watched the front porch at Christmas. We got excited about every delivery, but we waited for one package in particular: One from my grandma containing tea ring, the best Christmas breakfast pastry I have ever had the good luck to eat.
She made two tea rings for us every year, without fail, my entire childhood and mailed them to us in Oregon all the way from Illinois. They arrived slightly squished, but that just made the deliciousness more dense. We never complained.
Tea ring is a Christmas breakfast pastry that combines a fluffy dough, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter—lots of butter, of course. It’s a little like a cinnamon roll but won’t give you a sugar headache afterward. Even better, the recipe makes two, so you don’t feel bad going back for seconds—or fourths.
In the Christmas spirit of giving, I’m sharing my family’s most-treasured recipe for tea ring here. It’s legendary around these parts: Family friends continue to talk about tea ring, and friends of mine have dropped by Christmas day to “say hi”—aka angle for a slice of tea ring.
I’m always willing to share. If you have Christmas breakfast pastry this good, it’d be cruel not to.
The other day, I read a post from the food blog Hummingbird High about an amazing-looking chia seed pudding with pistachios and kumquats (oh my gosh, right?). Michelle wrapped up the post by asking what readers’ dream breakfasts would be. The question made me realize that I had been getting my own perfect breakfast-in-bed for weeks—though it looks pretty different than how you might imagine.
Peeper goes through phases in her routine. She’ll wake up asking for a book for weeks on end then all of a sudden switch one day. For a long spell, she wanted nothing more than “raisin toast”—a cinnamon-raisin English muffin—as soon as I got her from her crib.
We developed an AM ritual. Eric would toast and butter a muffin and leave it for me on the bedside stand when he kissed me goodbye at 5:30. I’d sleep until Peeper woke up, and the breakfast would be ready for us.
Peeper and I would crawl back into my bed. We’d each grab a half of the English muffin and nibble while I read book after book to her—as many as lasted through my daughter’s appetite.
I kept a stack of books in the bedroom just for this reason. Peeper would snuggle into me and slowly wake up; I relished not only the closeness but the extra rest it gave me as I struggled through the tail end of morning sickness.
Sure, I had to sweep out a small mountain of crumbs from the sheets every day, and our comforter has butter stains now, but that was a small price to pay in return for the sweet wake-up routine.
One day, Peeper decided she no longer liked raisins. Just like that, she had switched allegiances to “triangle toast”—just toast cut on the diagonal, which apparently tastes completely different than toast cut in rectangles. Now we skip the books in bed entirely; she’d rather play while I cook our morning oatmeal.
I’m grateful to Hummingbird High for reminding me of that beautiful and crumb-filled stretch of breakfasts in bed. In the years to come, we might end up celebrating holidays by bringing pancakes or waffles (or chia seed pudding, dare I hope?!) back into bed, but something tells me I’d rather share cold English muffins and a few stories with my firstborn.
I was happy to see the other day that Raising Alex The Great nominated me for a Real Neat Blog Award. (I’ll send you my address so you can send me the check/plaque/gold-plated statue. K?) She writes about motherhood and the unique challenges—and joys—of having a premature baby. Check out the blog!
She posted a few questions I answered, below. Beyond that, I’ve nominated 7 blogs that I love—take a look for some phenomenal reading.
What’s your go-to dish to make when you know you’ve got important company coming over?
I tend to make black bean-sweet potato enchiladas. (I made them last night, in fact, though we didn’t have anyone over. They’re just so good!)
Do you believe in the 5 second rule?
Abso-freakin-lutely. I know that science says that food on the floor picks up germs, but I’m with the 87% of people who give dropped food the thumbs up. I’m just not germ-phobic.
What is your favorite online shop?
I don’t like to shop, either in person or online, but when it’s someone’s birthday, I head to Etsy. I like that I’m supporting independent creators and that my friends and family get unique gifts.
What is your favorite joke?
I’m not a good joke-teller—I tend to laugh before I get to the punchline—but I like the corny ones.
To wit:Where did the king keep his armies?
In his sleevies!
*crickets, crickets*
What is one thing that has made you smile today?
Peeper, as usual! She loves walking into our bedroom closet and sticking her head out the other end. “Peek!” she says. It makes me laugh every time.
Peeper is an equal opportunity peek-a-booer.
What makes your house a home?
An open door. Our place is always a mess, especially now that Peeper can pull her own books and toys off the shelves, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting friends or family to come over.Growing up, our house was in a permanent state of disarray. I was rarely embarrassed, though, and my parents were always more than happy to set the table with an additional plate for a friend who stopped by—or even throw down an extra mattress for someone who needed a place to crash for months.
Home is a welcome mat.
What’s for breakfast?
Lately, I’ve been eating Life cereal. Peeper’s breakfast requests have been getting very specific, though (“Hot dog! Avocado! Fork! Bib!” was her demand request the other day), so her tastes keep mornings interesting.
I nominate the following blogs:
Urban Bliss Life is a down to earth but stylish lifestyle blog with posts about recipes, kids’ parties and actually easy DIY.
The Monster In Your Closet tells it like it is, hold the BS. She writes about work, raising two sons and the balance of immersing yourself in the present moment without abandoning the past.
Loni Found Herself chronicles the adventures of raising a toddler in LA. I admire her openness in goal-setting and reflecting on how becoming a mom has changed her.
Little Fall Creek is a mama-homesteader who mixes posts about wrangling free-range chickens with photos of her daughter getting muddy in the yard.
A Tiny Rocket posts about motherhood and art. I can’t figure out how she finds the time to create her gorgeous paintings daily (follow her on Instagram, too!), but I find her dedication inspiring.
West Metro Mommy reads more than I thought humanly possible and publishes honest reviews of each book. This is where I go before heading to the library; I get most of my recommendations from her.
Snapshots & My Thoughts is a style and family blog out of Austin. I love her photographs, inspiring style posts and—ahem—giveaways!
Here are my questions for you bloggers to answer!
1. What do you do if you have writer’s/painter’s/photographer’s/creator’s block?
2. What’s your food guilty pleasure?
3. If you could magic yourself into an alternate career, what would it be?
4. What was your favorite childhood book?
5. What’s one thing you love about yourself?
6. Dogs or cats?
7. Any upcoming travel plans? Where?
I was happy to see the other day that Raising Alex The Great nominated me for a Real Neat Blog Award. (I’ll send you my address so you can send me the check/plaque/gold-plated statue. K?) She writes about motherhood and the unique challenges—and joys—of having a premature baby. Check out the blog!
She posted a few questions I answered, below. Beyond that, I’ve nominated 7 blogs that I love—take a look for some phenomenal reading.
What’s your go-to dish to make when you know you’ve got important company coming over?
I tend to make black bean-sweet potato enchiladas. (I made them last night, in fact, though we didn’t have anyone over. They’re just so good!)
Do you believe in the 5 second rule?
Abso-freakin-lutely. I know that science says that food on the floor picks up germs, but I’m with the 87% of people who give dropped food the thumbs up. I’m just not germ-phobic.
What is your favorite online shop?
I don’t like to shop, either in person or online, but when it’s someone’s birthday, I head to Etsy. I like that I’m supporting independent creators and that my friends and family get unique gifts.
What is your favorite joke?
I’m not a good joke-teller—I tend to laugh before I get to the punchline—but I like the corny ones.
To wit:Where did the king keep his armies?
In his sleevies!
*crickets, crickets*
What is one thing that has made you smile today?
Peeper, as usual! She loves walking into our bedroom closet and sticking her head out the other end. “Peek!” she says. It makes me laugh every time.
Peeper is an equal opportunity peek-a-booer.
What makes your house a home?
An open door. Our place is always a mess, especially now that Peeper can pull her own books and toys off the shelves, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting friends or family to come over.Growing up, our house was in a permanent state of disarray. I was rarely embarrassed, though, and my parents were always more than happy to set the table with an additional plate for a friend who stopped by—or even throw down an extra mattress for someone who needed a place to crash for months.
Home is a welcome mat.
What’s for breakfast?
Lately, I’ve been eating Life cereal. Peeper’s breakfast requests have been getting very specific, though (“Hot dog! Avocado! Fork! Bib!” was her demand request the other day), so her tastes keep mornings interesting.
I nominate the following blogs:
Urban Bliss Life is a down to earth but stylish lifestyle blog with posts about recipes, kids’ parties and actually easy DIY.
The Monster In Your Closet tells it like it is, hold the BS. She writes about work, raising two sons and the balance of immersing yourself in the present moment without abandoning the past.
Loni Found Herself chronicles the adventures of raising a toddler in LA. I admire her openness in goal-setting and reflecting on how becoming a mom has changed her.
Little Fall Creek is a mama-homesteader who mixes posts about wrangling free-range chickens with photos of her daughter getting muddy in the yard.
A Tiny Rocket posts about motherhood and art. I can’t figure out how she finds the time to create her gorgeous paintings daily (follow her on Instagram, too!), but I find her dedication inspiring.
West Metro Mommy reads more than I thought humanly possible and publishes honest reviews of each book. This is where I go before heading to the library; I get most of my recommendations from her.
Snapshots & My Thoughts is a style and family blog out of Austin. I love her photographs, inspiring style posts and—ahem—giveaways!
Here are my questions for you bloggers to answer!
1. What do you do if you have writer’s/painter’s/photographer’s/creator’s block?
2. What’s your food guilty pleasure?
3. If you could magic yourself into an alternate career, what would it be?
4. What was your favorite childhood book?
5. What’s one thing you love about yourself?
6. Dogs or cats?
7. Any upcoming travel plans? Where?
In case you haven’t looked out your window recently, know this: It’s fall! The best time of year! The season that smells like crisp leaves and votive candles burning inside pumpkins! The months when you get to snuggle in sweaters and flannel and cozy PJs! The time you dress up and eat candy or stay smugly inside and laugh at the fools who spend all that time and energy just to be uncomfortable in their costumes!
There aren’t enough exclamation points!
To take advantage of glorious autumn, we took a trip to the orchard and picked a bucket-full-o’ pears. Red and green Bartletts were in season, and they were easy to pick from the low branches at Sherwood Orchards. Eric was good enough to be primary Peeper wrangler while I focused on picking pears. Because we needed a lot of pears—pears for this almost-too-easy-to-be-true spiced pear sauce.
