A Tea Party for the Birds

What you need:

1. Antique tea cups and saucers (3 of each)
2. Diamond drill bit and electric drill
3. 3 x 6mm threaded steel rods
4. 3 x 6mm Wing nuts and 3 x 6mm standard nuts

Instructions:
Get together some old tea cups and saucers. We purchased a bright coloured mixed set of 3 from our local thrift shop for 50 cents each piece. Sets displayed in odd numbers always look nicer.

Drill holes through the centre of each cup and saucer the size of your steel rod. To drill the holes, place your cup or saucer securely in a vice, wrapped in a tea towel for extra protection. We used a small diamond drill bit to get through the ceramic. It is a very tough material, and it was a slow procedure (about 10 minutes per hole). Go slow and rinse the drill bit with water after every 5 seconds to keep the drill bit cool. There may be other drill bits more suited for this material.

Once drilled, thread a wing nut upside down onto a rod, thread the saucer on top, then the tea cup and then the bolt on top. Tighten the wing nut and bolt so all is secure.

Once finished, you can decide if you want to fill the feeder strictly with birdseed or use the cup for water and the saucer for seeds. Now just sit and wait while your backyard birds sing for their supper. And of course, as with any project, there are as many variations as their are people.

Setting the perfect table...and pulling it off!

 If you have ever fallen in love with the elegance of fine dining but feel strangely out of place, try to remember my favourite scene in the movie Titanic, where Jack dresses up as a First Class passenger and pulls off an elegant mystique during the evening. You may not have the unsinkable Molly Brown to dress you up and teach you etiquette, but you can certainly learn how to put on the glitz with some of these helpful hints.

This is a classic and simple place setting for a formal breakfast. Generally these include a cereal or fruit, a plated entree, coffee or tea, and milk, juice or water. This place setting can be added to or simplified depending on what you chose to serve.

This is a formal lunch place setting and a generally good guide to follow for setting places indoors or for a formal outdoor meal. Usually lunch can include a salad or soup as well as an entree and may even feature a light dessert.

 This place setting is for a formal high-tea. It can of course, be simplified but can have up to three dishes, served individually, and  may include: sandwiches, scones, cookies or small cakes. There may also be tea, coffee or water.

 This is a simple or "low-tea" place setting. Rather than serving guests an individual portion, low tea often features a variety of foods served on dessert tiers or from one large cake or platter of foods.This often comes with a sandwich or small lunch and some simple desserts. Usually this may include coffee, tea or water with the meal.

This is a formal dinner/supper place setting. An informal dinner is typically set the same as the lunch place setting with additional dishes for extra courses. When in doubt, Always place large utensils towards the inside of the place setting and dessert forks or spoons to the top of the place setting. Any additional cutlery should be served with the dishes they are used for (bread knife on bread dish, caviar spoon, with caviar dish etc.). 

If you are ever in doubt about how to arrange your table, just remember to "make your bed!" The table is ALWAYS set with the mnemonic B-E-D.... Bread- Entree- Drink!

With any luck, your guests will assume you have always been the pinnacle of grace and perfection at the table.