A giveaway for Mother's Day - The Rabbit Hole tea pack

Does your mum like tea?

Do you want to give her the coolest gift ever?

Do YOU like tea?

Do you want to buy your mum something else and win this for yourself?

Once upon a time a brand new little organic tea company tweeted me and asked if I'd like to try their tea. Just randomly, no strings. They probably didn't even know I was a blogger. They sent me three packs of tea to try and just said "I hope you like it!" and left it at that.

Oh my god. I did.

I liked their tea a LOT.

Over time they've sent me other bits and pieces, and when they found out I was pregnant, sent me a huge batch of their Ginger Snap tea to help combat my morning sickness. Again, for no other reason than they are the super-kindest and most thoughtful gals in the tea business.

Ladies and jellyspoons, meet The Rabbit Hole Tea. Corinne and Amara went to the World Tea Expo in Vegas in 2010 and came back inspired. They made their own organic tea in the most phenomenal flavours, and made it available online. Their mission? "To serve you tastebud tingling tea. No teabags, no chemicals, no disrespecting farmers or the environment. Just natural, organic and fairly traded leaf."

I love them so bad.

I love them so bad I knew you guys would too, so I asked them pretty please would they like to maybe, perhaps, please, package up something for my lovely readers as a gift, and they did!

Their tea is insane. Flavours like White Peony, Lavender Cream, Berry Bomb, Lemon Aid, Licorice Allsort and Toffee Apple (zomg toffee apple) are available alongside regular types of tea and so many others.

They have been awesome enough to not only provide a huge batch of their brand new Grey Goddess tea released in time for Mother's Day, but also a Bodum Travel Tea Press (which is like a tea plunger in a travel cup! I'm obsessed with mine) and SIX MONTHS OF FREE HAND-CRAFTED ORGANIC TEA SENT DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR. A new one every month.


Not even kidding. Not even jealous...

All's you gotta do is leave a comment below describing your first tea memory. Mine is my nana making me tea and telling me I couldn't have coffee because I was a little kid and it would kill me. I thought I was so cool having a cup of tea, dressed in one of nana's old aprons, swinging my leg just like she did and watching Wheel of Fortune. And getting annoyed when she knew all the answers all the damn time.

I'll get the Rabbit Hole gals to choose their favourite, then I will post off your little goody bag just in time for Mother's Day.

Competition will close Friday, May 4 at 9am. I will email the winner so please make sure you're contactable! Open to Australian residents only. Judged on creativity and whatever else the girls say. It's not a game of chance, so make sure you actually answer the question!

Good luck!

Where in the World is Veggie Mama?

Over here. At Cupcakes Frocks and Pink, pouring a cup of tea and chatting with the delightful Mrs Kypo and her painfully pretty blog. Come and join the conversation!

Peach Jam

This year, I have decided to make all my christmas gifts - and it has been amazing. What you think would be extra effort and work actually isn't. Well, to me anyway. It's hot, I'm pregnant, I'm not excited about the hordes of shoppers, I hate the constant struggle over that "perfect present", and I'm spending more time at home lately so am kicking it old-school and putting that time to good use. This way everyone gets something they like to eat or use and I haven't spent a fortune on one of the tons of presents they're going to get that day anyway.

Besides, I get to keep one of just about everything.... a good trade off!

I love jam, it goes so well with toast, or crumpets, or scones or pikelets, or just about anything you can have with tea, which is obviously going to appeal to me! Jam seems so terribly British, and makes me think of the Famous Five eating huge slices of thick, freshly-made bread with churned butter and home made jam.

Jam is insanely easy to make. And tastes way better than the store-bought stuff, even the ones in fancy jars. Isn't that always the way?

And because I like to make things easy, I've made this out of canned peaches. But you don't have to.

Ingredients:

2 large tins canned peaches (should be equivalent to 1.5 kilos of fresh)

1.5 kilos warmed sugar

Juice from 1 lemon

50g packet Jamsetta

Directions:

1. Warm the sugar in a 160C oven for 6 minutes.

2. Drain the peaches and add to a huge pot - you want the whole mix to only occupy 1/3 of the pot.

3. Mash the peaches to as much of a goo as you can. Add the warmed sugar and Jamsetta and stir constantly over medium heat until dissolved.

4. Bring to a boil and boil vigorously 10 minutes. Have ready some saucers in the freezer. Place a level teaspoonful on a cold sauce and after 30 seconds, drag your finger through it. If it crinkles, it's ready to jar. If not, try again in three minutes with a new saucer.

5. Leave to cool 5-10 minutes, then spoon into warm, sterilised jars and seal straight away.

May the Famous Five be with you.

Buttery Scones

There is basically two schools of thought on scones - you're either on the dense, buttery side, or you're on the light and fluffy side.

Or you can be me, who is on the side of a magical, mythical scone that is both light and buttery, and exists only in my dreams.

For today, indulge in the buttery scone. The kind that literally melts in your mouth and mingles with the indulgent chantilly cream. I will deal with the light and fluffy later.

Quick - somebody put the kettle on!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour (or the same of plain flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder added)

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g butter, grated (I used a wee bit more for extreme melting texture)

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup milk

Method:

1. Heat oven to SUPER HOT... we're talking 275C... that's the highest my oven goes, anyway. You want these babies to rise fast and cook through.

2. Put flour and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix.

3. Add butter and rub in with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, or sand (picture follows, because I always used to be concerned I wasn't doing it right). You could also use a pastry cutter, but I've never had one.

4. Add sugar, toss to mix.

5. Add milk and mix slowly - I used to use two knives and cut in opposite directions as you really don't want to over-work the dough. Now I just gently use a fork until the dough just holds together.

6. Sprinkle some flour on your workspace and put the dough on top. Press out gently until the dough is about 1cm thick.

7. Dip your scone cutter (I use a glass) into the flour and cut out into rounds. Give the rounds a little squeeze and a spin to puff them up a bit to help them rise. (pictured below)

8. Lay them on an ungreased baking tray quite close together. this helps them rise up instead of out! Brush the tops with milk.

9. Bake in super hot oven 10-15 minutes until brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

10. Top with jam and so much cream you can barely see what is underneath. Oh... is that just me?