Tailgating and Tea

I recently returned from a trip which included giving a cooking class at A Southern Season. For those of you who live anywhere near Chapel Hill, SC, A Southern Season is a Must Visit Place. They not only have a wonderful selection of teas, but also a wonderful selection of specialty foods , kitchen tools, and culinary appliances. It is the Home Depot of the Food World!

While in Chapel Hill, I had the pleasure to stay with longtime friend Anna and her husband Mike. They treated me to a wonderful al fresco dinner on their deck the night before my class. I just thought I would feature Mike's (yes Mike's) handy work outside while Anna was busy fixing us a delicious dinner. The picture below doesn't show the lantern with a candle inside hanging from their beautiful eucalyptus tree that drapes their deck!  I wish I had a picture of the dinner that I was treated to.

The next morning it was off to A Southern Season for my Southern Tailgate Tea Party! Along with being a great culinary store, they also have a wonderful Viking cooking school.  I was invited to teach at CLASS (Culinary Lessons at A Southern Season) again in late August.  The theme was A Southern Tailgate Tea Party and Iced Tea.  The recipes came from Tea with a Twist and the history of iced tea in America came from The World in Your Teacup.   The United States has quite a bit of tea history beyond the Boston Tea Party.  Most people don't realize that the Boston Tea Party was not the first tea revolt.

Their venue has a really great setup with elevated seating and tables that have silverware setup. 

They also have a two big mirrors and cameras set up with 2 large screens on either side of the mirrors for closeups shots.

The staff is really great to work with as well.  They have prepped so much that it is easy to come in and demo and talk about your recipes and expertise. 

Here is the recipe for

Cheesey Cornbread Sausage Balls

-perfect for tailgating

1 lb package of breakfast sausage

1 1/2 cups self rising cornmeal mix

10 oz freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese, do not use pre-grated

4 oz jar pimentos drained and chopped

¼ cup chopped jalapenos in jar

Dash of hot sauce



Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all the ingredients together with hands in a large bowl until well blended. Use a 1 ½ inch scoop and form balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet with sides and bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly brown. Sausage balls may be frozen uncooked or cooked.

Thanks so much to Anna and Mike for hosting me and to the staff at A Southern Season especially Marilyn Markel and Caroline Cahan!

Happy Sipping & Tailgating, Lisa

Cooking at A Southern Season during Chocolate Season-Brings Life Full Circle

Calling all Chocoholics-the All About Chocolate Tea Party from my book Tea with a Twist was created just for us.  Christmas time is the perfect time of year to indulge and treat you and your friends to a chocolate party from first sip to last bite-savoury to sweet! In my next blog, I will be sharing my microwave chocolate truffle recipe with you that you will want to make for yourself and as gifts for friends-so easy and sooo good! 

Christmas is the time of year that I really embrace being a part of the Chocoholics group.  I recently returned from Chapel Hill, North Carolina where I was invited to a cooking demo and book signing at the most fabulous "foodie" store you could ever step foot in-A Southern Season and the All about Chocolate Tea Party was the main event.  Going back into A Southern Season really took my mind back 20 years to the first time I stepped foot in this store.  It was in a different location and much smaller, but still wonderful all the same. 

I had just graduated from California State University at Fullerton and moved to Durham, NC.  I was waiting tables to earn money while I looked for a job and met Anna who was also a waitress and finishing up at UNC.  She was my guide to realizing I didn't fall off the face of the earth moving from California to North Carolina.  It was Anna that took me to A Southern Season for the first time and I remember thinking how wonderful the store was and wanting to buy everything.  Anna and I lost touch over the years and we have just reconnected on facebook this year.

Life really does come full circle and there is a season for everything just as God says.  Twenty years ago, I would have never dreamed that I would be a tea specialist with 2 books published and one of them award winning!  It was truly surreal for me to be standing in A Southern Season's Viking kitchen with a sold out class and Anna sitting on the front row.  After the class, I signed books. 

You see 20 years ago,  not long after visiting A Southern Season,  I became a widow at the age of 25 and it was Anna that was with me the night I found my first husband had killed himself.  God has an amazing way of carrying you through something that you never think you can recover from.  How awesome it was for me to present a cooking class in the same town that almost twenty years ago, I thought I would never return to.  Now I have begun new memories in Chapel Hill-good ones and a reconnection to a dear friend.  How blessed we all are that seasons only last for a while but I do hope that A Southern Season is here to stay.