AFTERNOON TEAS

Let's admit it! The art of afternoon tea is mostly lost on Americans. The other day I saw an advertisement in local paper for a High Tea on Sundays at such and such fancy hotel. The time advertised was 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. That raised my suspicions that the hotel hasn't the foggiest what they are talking about. And sure enough.

The High Tea for two was $30.00 and they served several different teas, finger sandwiches, sweets, tarts, pastries and a hot chicken dish complete with vegies and mashed potatoes. All you can eat, of course. Bingo! I've got them. I called the Maitre d' and revealed to him that the hotel is engaged in false advertising as the occassion should be called Low Tea and not High Tea and I added that it is served at a wrong table. Ooops. Maitre d' being of Middle Eastern or Indian ethnicity congratulated me on the knowledge of English tea customs and explained that here in America they call it High Tea because people know what to expect.

To those of you who are not privy to the English tea customs, an explanation:

The invention of the English habit of an aternoon tea has been attributed to Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857). At that time it was customery to eat breakfast and dinner only. Dinner was usually served as late as 9:00 pm. As the time between these meals was very long, especially in summer, the Duchess had her servants secretly serve slivers of bread with butter, mackeroons, cheescakes and pastries in her budoir early afternoon. Voila, the Afternoon Tea has been born. It became very fashionable especially among the high and middle classes. Ladies of status created At Home socials. These socials were announced on a simple white cards stating that: "Mrs. John Smith will be at home at three o'clock on February 3, 1824. Afternoon tea and light refreshments will be served. Morning dress." In case of a longer event such as a ball "Carriages at five o'clock" was rather amusing way to let the guests know that they are expected to leave at 5:00 pm.

These Afternoon Teas or At Homes were usually served at low tables such as todays coffee and side tables and hence they were referred to as Low Tea. The typical fare other than the tea was small finger sandwiches, breads, tarts, pastries, cheesecakes and such. Nothing elaborate.

Young people and lower classes preferred tea between 5:00 and 6:00 pm. Young middle class people played tennis, bridge and other games in the afternoon to amuse themselves and the lower classes worked till 5:00 pm so late tea was preferred in these circles. The lower classes had the afternoon tea after 5:00 pm and because dinner time was usually as late as at 9:00 pm or so people ate more substantial meal with the tea at a dining table which was high as opposed to low coffe table hence High Tea. The High Tea was also called Family Tea as it was mostly a family affair. High Tea meal was also called supper in some circles. For some folks this meal was also a dinner if it was substantial. Therefore, at High Tea, more elaborate and substantial food was served. The heavier the food the earlier High Tea was served. Light High Tea was served as late as 7:00 pm. The food usually included one or two small hot dishes, cold chicken, game, ham, tarts, custard and fruits.

Now for the tea. The kind of tea served was the domain of the hostess. These days the teas available even in specialized stores are mostly blended teas of various flavors and colors. At "High Tea" today there is a selection of teas in tea bags for the guests to choose from. Never serve a tea bag at High or Low Tea. That's Rule #1. Always select loose tea. And remember, usually the higher the tea the better. "Higher" refers to the elevation at which the tea is grown.

Types of teas:

English Breakfast Tea - blend of Ceylon and Indian teas. Strong and best left for breakfast.

Russian Caravan Tea - blended tea and excellent for afternoon tea.

Yunnan Tea - sweetly flavored, deep golden tea ideal for iced tea.

Jasmine Tea - flavored with jasmine petals, good for aternoon tea and late night tea. Drink it weak and with slice of lemon in a cup.

Darjeeling Tea - a blend of India teas from high Himalayas. Indian tea at its best. Served at English clubs and country homes. Pure Darjeeling tea is very costly and available only in specialized high end stores. To be served with milk.

Earl Grey Tea - blend of China teas flavored with oil of bergamot. Excellent for afternoon tea. To be served with lemon. Twining brand is the best available in markets everywhere.

Lapsang Suchong Tea - very distinctive tea greyish in clor and with smoky pungent flavor. Drink naked or with lemon. Never with milk. Not all guests may like this tea.

Keemun Tea - this tea is from Northern China and has smooth, sweetish flavor.

Oolong Tea - comes from Formosa (Taiwan) and is lighter version of Darjeeling tea and very delicate. This and Keemun are teas of connoisseurs.

Black Currant Tea - blend of black tea and black currents extract ideally suited for afternoon tea and for iced tea.

Note: When using milk in tea always pour smnall amount of milk into a cup first than add tea.

Enjoy!

George

I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE

Hello People,

on Saturday morning, November 7, 2009, I have learned from the Internet that the future has arrived. That is, I have learned that our House of Representatives (what a misnomer) has passed the Obama Care Bill. Assuming the worst outcome, the Senate will pass their Obama Care Bill and thus propel us into future proper. I have seen the future and I didn't like what I have seen (am I mistaken or is this a title of a book?).

What I mean is that I have come to America from Czechoslovakia where the socialist regime provided free health care for all. Having read the important parts of the Obama Care Bill, I assume the health care in America will not be unlike that of a socialist country. I personally cannot complain much about the free health care in Czechoslovakia in 1950's and 1960's because I was mostly healthy boy and later young man and visited doctors very infrequently. Here is how it worked for those who needed health care:

Doctors were employed by the state as everyone else. Their salaries were set by the state and amounted to approximately 2x the average salary. Specialists were paid approximately 3x the average salary. Doctors were assigned the localities where they had to serve. Doctors fresh out of school got the worst places where nobody wanted to go. People had to go to the doctor assigned to their district or at place of employment if it had its own medical facilities. If people wanted to go and see a doctor that was recommended to them by friends and acquaintances who was not within their district or place of employment they first had to be accepted by that doctor as a private and illegal patient (black market was working without a hitch) and then pay a fee requested by that doctor, again illegally. Illegality aside, such was a common practice.

Since there were no appointments to see doctors when people got sick they had to wait for at least an hour, sometimes longer, in the waiting room with 10 to 20 other patients. Many people, especially those snobish people who thought they were important, brought bribes which they gave the nurse upon arrival. Some waited to give the bribe to the doctor personally. The bribes were many and varied. People in the country brought geese, ducks, rabbits, eggs, meat, and sometimes even small domestic or farm animals. People in cities brought Cognac, Scotch or some other good imported liquor, expensive wine or simply cash. The quality and frequency of the health to some extent depended on the quality and quantity of the bribe.

When hospitalization was needed it was an expensive proposition. Everyone who had anything to do with patient's hospital stay expected a bribe. Doctors and nurses got the bulk of the bribes. If bribe was not given service suffered. Food in hospitals was typically worse than in the Army and many relatives brought food for the patients every day. There were several good hospitals fully equipped with the latest medical technology and devices. These were few and far in between. The run of the mill hospital lacked the latest equipment and had to do with what they had. Considering this state of affairs, they worked miracles. To my knowledge care was never refused but in some cases came slowly and in low doses. There were medical review commissions who had far reaching decision making authority. These commissions decided whether the treatment recommended by the doctor will be followed, adjusted or changed. Every hospitalized patient went through such decision making. These commissions also approved the drugs recommended for the course of treatment.

Drugs were available free to patients. There were no bribes at the pharmacy for thye domestic drugs. Yes, there were two types of drugs, imported (mostly from Switzerland) and domestic. Needless to say, all patients wanted the imported drugs. In the minds of people imported meant good, domestic meant marginal or bad. The imported drugs were very scarce and thus were the only drugs subject to bribes. Big bribes.

Overall, the system worked as nobody was allowed to die without some health care. The quality of health differed from place to place and depended mostly on the doctors' skill which varied widely and in some cases on the amount of the bribe. Drugs were free. Terminal patients always received pain killers at the very least. From what I observed and heard from people at least 75% of the patients used the bribe system. Only the very young adults like me were ignorant of the benefits of the bribes and did not give them. The cost of the free health care to the patients was not cheap but then free things are usually costly.

Look forward to this type of health care when the government gets hold of it!

George

Not So Big House

Years ago when we (Yours Truly and his wife) first thought of building our house and started to work on various floor plans we happened to come across Sarah Susanka's book Not So Big House. Actually, it was right when it first came out. We thought that her concept although foreign to most mass builders and people we knew was totally logical. Our floor plan design already reflected most of her concepts. We have always wondered why do new houses need two living rooms (living room and family room) and in some cases media room and game room, and two or three eating places (dining room, breakfast nook, and eating space at kitchen island). In addition there is nowadays another living room in most master bedroom suite. We thought that all of this is a big waste of space and planned our house accordingly. During the planning process we were guided by the concepts of Frank Lloyd Wright. We liked the Prairie house concept in general and the Usonian House concept in particular. So we resolved to build a house that would incorporate many of these concepts. I mentioned Susanka's Not So Big House concept because when it comes right down to it is really the Wright's usonian concept restated and adjusted for today's living. I'm not an architect but that's the way I undestand it.

Susanka's Not So Big House Concepts that guided our efforts in designing the house:

Quality over quantity

Every room gets used

Double duty rooms

Comfort

Public and private spaces

Shelter around activity

Fitting our lifestyle

Outdoors is also a room

Energy efficient design

Frank Lloyd Wright's Concepts We Followed:

Integrity of site and structure

Natural materials

Human scale

Common and private spaces

Multilevel interiors

Sheltering

Indoor/Outdoor space

Simplicity

These concepts translated into the following design elements:

The house was designed as a three level house (multilevel design) to fit the severely sloping site (integrity of site and structure). Simple beauty was the goal of the design.

The exterior of the house was designed as a prairie house using stucco, stone and wood as materials (natural materials). The stucco and stone have number of design elements to provide a variety of minor design elements such as raised integral trim around windows and windows and vertical stone bands in a horizontal stone pattern.

The interior has a varied ceiling height, 9 ft. on lower level, 9ft. on the first floor with partial cathedral ceiling in living room and clerestory windows above, and 8ft. on the second floor. The rear hall on the frist floor has 7'6" ceiling with three steps at the rear entry making the ceiling in this part of the house open up to 10'6" high (human scale, multilevel interior). The second floor is partially open to the first floor with a balcony the width of living room (multilevel interior).

Entry foyer, living room, dining room and kitchen are open common area with bedroom wing closed to make it private (common and private areas).

Organic shelves of varied width run throughout the first floor at a height of 7'6" (sheltering). The 9 ft. ceiling in dining room which is adjacent to the cathedral ceiling in living room make the ceiling in dining room and kitchen seem lower than 9 ft. (shelter around activity)

The living room has a 6 ft. wide sliding glass door with a 3 ft. fixed panel on each side. Master bedroom has a 6 ft. sliding glass door. These doors open up onto a balcony/deck running the length of the house but of varied width (indoor/outdoor space, outdoor room).

The roof has overhangs of varied widths (sheltering) are based on sun azimuth angles to allow sun into the interior in winter and shelter the interior from the sun in summer (energy efficient design). Large part of the balcony at each end of the house is under an 11 ft. roof overhang (sheltering).

Both the interiror and exterior of the house are of simple design with straight lines and no curves (simplicity).

Insulated concrete forms were used for the areas that are under the ground with 2 x 6 framing for the walls and increased insulation (energy efficient design).

The house was designed for our lifestyle, comfort and full use of the rooms (fitting our lifestyle, comfort, every room gets used, double duty rooms). The fountain in the entry foyer is not only an esthetic feature (quality) but also provides some humidity for the house. The office also serves as Susanka's Away Room. Living room is also a media room because we spend most evenings watching TV or listening to music. No need for a separate media room. The large

kitchen has an island with seats for eating at the bar heigh counter and a real bar. The large space between the island and the bar serves as a gathering place for family, guests, and during parties. All of these features fit the concept of comfort, fitting our lifestyle and quality. Upstairs are two guest bedrooms and a balcony overlooking the living room. This space serves as a space for guests to relax and lounge and as a library. Guests can enjoy view of Pike's Peak through the clerestory windows. Pike's Peak can be observed from every room in the house (quality).

The interior materials include drywall, stone and wood (quality). The stairs are made of wood. The ceiling on the second floor and on the cathedral ceiling in living room is wood. All trim throughout the house is wood. There are built-ins made of wood on the main level. Simple horizontal wood paneling with a batten to cover the horizontal joints was used on one wall in each guest bedroom (natural materials, quality). All wood throughout the house is stained.

We set out to design a house that would at first look appear to be a contemporary interpretation of a prairie style house with a somewhat usonian interior and beauty throughout. Surprisingly, the house does not look out of place amid the local Colorado mountain architecture.

Artists' Trading Cards

Artists' Trading Cards or ATC's for short are gaining popularity across this continent of ours. For those of you who have never heard of ATC's, they are cards the size of sports trading cards made by artists. In the ATC movement there are only two rules: 1. The ATC must be a card the of a sports trading card that is size must be 2 1/2 in. x 3 1/2 in. 2. ATC's are traded, never sold! Otherwise anything goes. Any art techique and genre is acceptable. This is an ideal hobby for kids, grown ups, seniors, artists, non-artists, in short it is a hobby for anyone. The small size is great for beginners because they do not have to spent hours on end to complete the work. ATC's are intended for trade not for sale.

Originally, ATC's were made by artists to exchange with other artists and to get their work out there into the world. These days it's a hobby for people. Hobby that is quick, gets results fast and ATC's are collectables. People like the fact that one can build a fine collection in relatively short time. There are groups created just for thyis purpose. If you want to check out ATC's in greater detail go to http://www.theatcexchange.com/ . This is a small group of ATC enthusiast actively trading their creations. Or you can visit http://www.atcsforall.com/. This is a very large group and there is always something going on for everyone.

Trip to Europe

I just came back from our annual trip to Prague. I learned few interesting facts on this trip. First of all, THE BEER OVER THERE IS STILL THE BEST! According to United Nations statistics the Czechs drink 165 litres of beer a year per person, kids and old people included. Accounting for kids 14 years and younger, senior citizens over 70, women and non-drinkers it means that most beer drinking people drink just about 500 litres a year or 1 1/2 litre a day (5 of our 12 oz. beers). The distant second are the Irish then nothing and only then the Germans. And that brings us to the international politics. Just about everyone in Europe loves Obama. It is easy for them to love him since they don't have to live with the immediate consequencies of his actions and decisions. They love him because they believe he will finally subdue America and bring her down to their level. Nobody likes a winner over there but they love losers. They are totally jealous of America and by creating the European Union and with Obama's help they think they will finally win over America. They can't wait to strip America of her leadership role in the world and her living standard. Maybe in their dreams. Even with Obama's help they can only hope for the impossible. By te way, statistics are telling us that the country with highest standard of living in the world is Luxembourg. Have you ever been in Luxembourg? You did not miss much. The country is nice, granted, and the Archduke has nice digs. But if Luxembourg is the Shangri-La why is there a line in front of the gates of America? There is no line at the Luxembourg's border. I know - I was there. Surprise!!

There is so much bickering in Europe that they can never hope to be a serious competition for America. With the damage over the past 40 years or so perpetrated by the socialist governments over there they should strive to put their house in order first. The recently proposed Lisbon Treaty proposes to strip the EU members of their sovereignty and subject all members to the rule of the European parliament in Brussels. The treaty is being pushed by the beaurocrats in Brussels, Germany and France (very not surprising). Plain people everywhere are finally waking up and it looks like the treaty will be rejected. When Slovakia recently changed their currency to euro their economy went down by about 4% and prices went up about 10%. People are incensed. Austria banned trucks on weekends and Czech Republic followed suit. Scandinavia is obsessed with making their people equal in all respects by high taxation and controlled wages so that their people won't need to keep up with the Jones's. In addition, their model free health care system denies access to medical treatment to those who need it. That's one sure way to lower the cost of the health care. And the English keep on drinking their tea acting like the slow disappearance of England as wwe know it at the hands of immigrants from the colonies is none of their business. On top of everything else Europe is dying because the birth rates in all countries are well below the self-sustaining rate of 2.11. They will be taken over by the muslims by peaceful means in about 50 years and they don't even know it or don't want to admit it. When I tried to intelligently discuss this point most people said it does not affect them because by that time they will be dead. And there you have it!

George

NEW ZENTANGLE ATC's

Here are my new zentagle artist's trading cards (ATC's). I went to work on them this afternoon

in the middle of the snow storm of the year here near Colorado Springs. We had only about 27 inches of snow since Friday night. In Denver they had nearly 36 inches and west of Denver a bit more. I-70 was closed due to lot of accidents and an avalanche or two. So, snow storms are good for something. In my case it was good for 4 zentangle cards. If you want to trade send me an e-mail.

George

Tea Party 2009

Anyone out there went to a Tea Party on April 15, 2009? Or any other time? I went to our local Tea Party in Woodland Park, a small town of about 7,000 people. I was totally surprised how many people showed up. It was a lot for a small town. Peoiple were protesting high taxation, government spending in general, stimulus package in particular, and generally wanted to know why none of their elected officials pay attention to their grievances. As far as I could tell, everyone had fun, people talked, compared notes, and went home. A peaceful event. These people were your "couldn't be more average" people. Yet these folks were portrayed on evening news as right wing extermist of the worst kind - the enemies of the people and certainly enemies of the government. The commentator I watched on NBC TV accused these good folks in a condesending and arrogant way of being angry, anti-government, anti-Democrat, anti-establishment, anti-liberal, anti-American, unpatriotic, uneducated, anti-everything gun toting extremists ready to start an anti-American revolution. All reports I have seen were by arrogant commentators (they are not journalists or reporters) who think they ate all the wisdom and they let it be known that the losers attending Tea Parties are nothing more than whinning whimps unwilling to help at a time of need. How do you like them apples? But I have to give one to the networks for being astute observers - These folks are pissed. Me included.

If for a moment we allow that The White House, Congress and our government are really sincere about helping Americans out of the present mess why are they mortgaging our kids' and grandkids' future like there is no tomorrow. Why is it that their deeds do not match their words? Why are those who were instrumental in creating the present crisis allowed to attempt to fix it? Why are those who have never managed a successful business venture allowed access to vast amount of monies? Why are they allowed to make far reaching life changing decisions? Why are those who mismanaged everything they touched in the past allowed to manage our money? These are puzzling questions to which nobody is seeking answers. Are we to automatically assume that those who helped to create the crisis know how to fix it? I doubt that very much. If for the moment we allow that our elected officials have our welfare on their mind uppermost why do they make choices that no one who managed his own household for at least one month would make? Why are our elected officials hell bent on proceeding with policies known to have failed everywhere in the world where they were tried despite opposition from a sizable constituency? Why are they rushing to do everything in the first 100 days of the new Presidency? I believe "they" are trying to accomplish these things on a rush basis because "they" believe they can do all of it before people wake up and realize what's going on.

George
Signature member of Hillary's Vast Right Wing Extremist Conspiracy (read average American just like you)

NEW HOUSE SHAPED ATC's

I'm taking part in a swap on Yahoo Group "ATCS for All". This is a swap where people create a house shaped ATC and fill it with whatever strikes their fancy. I have created 3 house shaped ATC's. My first ATC houses. I fist cut out the shapes and then gave the cards a background cover. I chose blue because it is the most un-house color. I was contemplating fire engine red color but that seemed too wild to me. Then I put some collage pieces on the cards and gave it several uneven sporadically placed coats of acrylic color. Some thick, I was thinking about stucco; some thin washes as in paint on a house that is at least 100 years old. And voila, house shaped ATC's are here.


The first ATC has some sad clowns on it. The idea occured to me when I was reading about the bad housing market and foreclosures. People who overextended themselves will probably lose their houses unless they do something drastic hence the sad faces of otherwise happy people.

The second card has big window on it, or is it a glass door? In any case it's the way to get inside the house. I put a big cat in the house and some goodies and spices for the people who live there. Goodies so they don't go hungry and spices so the house smells nice. The cat is huge because cats usually rule the house and do pretty much what they want.


The third house is a picture of an old house, maybe 200 years old. To me it looked like one of those houses that should be in Gotham City so I titled this ATC Goth House. The house itself is now probably an apartment house because no single homeowner today can afford an upkeep for such a house unless, of course, that person is a corrupted government official of some obscure Third World country government who can afford such houses because their people pat for them although they cannot afford their own houses. Sort of like government pensions here; people are forced to pay lavish pensions for government workers yet these selfsame people cannot afford to pay their own pensions. This house personifies that kind of situation to me.

16th Century Dutch Photorealism

Just in case anyone is wondering what is 16th Century Dutch Photorealist style of painting, here are few examples. Yours Truly coined the term and there was a write up on it on Suite101.com . Please bear in mind that in 16th century they did not even think about a pinhole camera yet as this kind of camera was invented by Johannes Keppler in 1604, I believe. The pinhole cameras came into wider use in late 17th century and Carl Zeiss, the proverbial father of optics, was born in the 19th century, wasn't he?





These paintings are all oil on canvas of various sizes, largest being 28" x 22". They were painted long time ago. The first one in 1972. The first painting is a painting of Prague Castle. It dominates the Prague skyline and is like an omnipresent fixture. The construction of St. Vitus cathedral was started in the 15th centure and the official year of completion is 1927.




The second painting is a spoof on still life, a very popular genre in Holland around the 16th century. While we are on the subject, I always thought that when refering to Holland one should say The Netherlands as Holland is only a province of The Netherlands but I came to find out that even the Dutch refer to their country as Holland. Go figure. I guess it's like us says United States instead of United States of America.

The third painting is a painting of Prague bridges as viewed from Letna, a hill with a plain on top overlooking the river Vltava and part of New Town.


So, there you have it. And now you know what is the 16th Century Dutch Photorealism style all about.

New Paintings

I used to paint in the 16th Century Dutch Photorealist style. But lately, I got interested in Abstract Art, mostly painting. Here are several of my new paintings.