As I write this, I am encrusted in dough. There is dough in my hair. There is dough under my nails and on my face (I don’t even know how it got there). I actually had to clean dough of the kitchen wall. My kitchen looks like it needs a total remodel. I still have more cleaning to do, and dinner to make, but my back hurts, and I need a bath… desperately. My expensive ingredients and my dream of delicious baked goods have now been thrown into the trash in a fit of housewife hysteria. It’s moments like these where I wonder why I bake at all. It is all so messy and so time consuming. And after all that, if you don’t have anything worthwhile to show for all your efforts, you just want to scream! If you are willing to spend your husband’s money on top quality products, there are so many delicious goodies available for purchase that taste just as wonderful as anything you baked in your own kitchen (and sometimes even better). I know people say that homemade is always best, but I honestly think thats a load of crap. Tell me that next time you are on your hands and knees cleaning dough out of your kitchen grout, okay?!?!
Okay, I think someone needs to put me in to bed for a nap. Either that, or perhaps a nice and soothing cup of tea (and some cake that I didn’t have to bake). Here in England, tea is the answer to all of life’s problems. It is so silly, but also very civilized.
If, like me, you are feeling a bit in need of a pick me up, you’ve come to the right place! I am hosting a giveaway in partnership with Kusmi Tea. Up for grabs is a fabulous sampler of their most popular teas. There are so many lovely blends represented here, everything from a comfortingly familiar Darjeeling to an exotically spiced Kashmir Tchai. It would certainly make a great holiday gift for any tea lovers out there, as Kusmi is a well respected, luxury brand tea with an illustrious history. All you have to do is leave a comment and you are automatically in with a chance. All my readers are eligible, it doesn’t matter what country you are in 
.
As only one of my lucky readers is going to win that lovely tea selection, here’s another chance for someone else to leave with a goodie. You see, not that long ago, Moi was visiting my dear blogger friend Valerie, The Canadian Foodie’s page, and somehow I caught the attention of the Fairy Hobmother who lives at Appliances Online! I’m not sure if it was my stunning good looks, or my blinding array of sparkling diamonds that made her look my way, but look she did! I ended up with a wonderful surprise, a shiny Amazon gift voucher. How lucky am I? Don’t be jealous daaaaahling, you can entice the gawjaaaas creature to come pay you a visit too! All you have to do to be in with a chance is leave a comment at the end of this post. Even if you are not normally a commenter, I urge you to do so. You’ve got two chances to win!
UPDATE: The giveaway for the Kusmi Tea sampler is now closed. Congratulations to Deana from Lost Past Remembered, the lucky winner ! Let’s all go over to her house for some tea and snacks now, shall we?
Christmas always comes early here at the divine HH’s blog!
Wishing you (and the equally divine Mr P of course!) a fabuloussssss weekend,
*Kisses*
XOXO Lola:)
You know I don’t need a giveaway to visit you and comment dahling, but hey…who’s complaining if I win? It is good to know that the likes of you messes up sometimes too, because your desserts are always stunning. Good doesn’t mean I’m happy though, I wish everything had turned out as you hoped.
oh darling i do hope by now you’ve gotten your whiskey err tea and hot bath.
I was just complaining about my old ice cream maker to another blogger. I hated it… really… with a passionate, dark hatred. It hated me back. It would seem all nice and civilized when I started it without the cream mix… then I would add it and voilá, it would go off track, make a mess all over everything and I’d end up stirring it by hand.
I just sold that horror and it felt sooooo good. I now have a real one and, well, I no longer dread making ice cream. I soooo feel your pain. Sweetened flavored cream in your long hair is the worst. Crying when you make it is just wrong.
Cheers to tea (lime flower, please!) for making everything better… that and your perfect madeleines!
Dahhhling.. Even covered in flour and sugar, I know you are still the most fabulous baker of us all. Those teas looks divine. Bisou-Bisou!!
My dear…what WERE you making when your dough ended up all over the place??
Not that we don’t all have the identical thing happen from time to time. Ah yes, tea is the answer. (well, actually and gin and tonic would be a better answer, but I’ll agree to tea just this once.)
And this tea, which is new to me, certainly sounds perfect for regaining patience and calm.
And no doubt the fairy hobmother helped make up for the mess!
There is nothing like a cup of tea to soothe frazzled nerves and frustrated bakers. Isn’t it strange how sometimes whatever you try to cook even the most straightforward it just doesn’t work out. I think it must be kitchen hobgoblins. GG
Oh I love Kusmi Tea! When I was in Paris this past April I loaded up on a bunch of flavors, thinking it wasn’t available here in the USA. And guess what I came across at Bloomingdale’s? A whole lot of Kusmi Tea.
Anyway, I am so sorry for your baking frustrations. You just have to avoid the whole thing like I do…buying these things are so much easier you see.
PS: Gordon Ramsay’s NYC restaurant? No. Good.
Oh sweet girl! I wish I could come over and bake bread with you. We could make it work, I promise! But tea is always a good way to soothe frustrations. Thank you for sharing with me. I hope you are having a relaxing weekend with family and good food. Many blessings this week, my friend!
It’s a great combination of home made bake foods and the kusmi tea! Me as an individual, I want to try if tea is the answer to all life’s problem. But I’m kinda expect that it will help to me. Thanks for sharing this and keep up the good work!
We have all been there, except you are brave enough to voice our frustrations and failures. I feel ‘cooking disasters’ make one a better cook, its a bit like putting diesel in a petrol car by mistake, one will NEVER EVER repeat the mistake, whatever you made will be a shining example of your cookery prowess next time!.
Bonne chance and best wishes
Aggie
Oh my, I feel your pain.
I got up Thursday at 5:30 to make my pies. Tried new crust recipe which was the pitts but finally got the crusts in the pans. Then made the pumpkin filling, got those suckers in the oven. Thought, Hmmm, I’m hungry so I went to frig to get an egg to scramble…EEEKKK I forgot to put the eggs in the pumpkin pie filling! Pulled the pies out of the oven (pretty dang hot at this point) dumped the filling in a bowl, (dropped one pan and all in the bowl) added the eggs and re-baked (you can -simply imagine how totally ugly those pies were at this point).
Baked fine (except for looking awful) but when I served it, no one wanted any because the pies tasted simply awful. Don’t know what I did but total failure! Thank heaven my Sister baked a chocolate chocolate chip cake for her daughters birthday!
I could use a cuppa!
I passed from your blog to say hi after a very very long time being away from blogging and here I am commenting for two giveaways. It must be my lucky day:) There’s nothing like a hot cuppa tea on a cold day!
Sorry for your mess but believe it or. Not we all go through that and I would agree that to sit down with a nice hot cup of soothing tea will help to relax you and get you to feel better. Such a nice assortment of teas, thank you for the offer.
Also congrats on the fairy Hobmother gift card. It will come in habe for the holidays.
I have to remember not to comment on my cell phone. Too many auto corrects. Sorry for the misspelled words.
Sweetie, you need a Roomba. My vacuum cleaner lives under the dining room hutch and comes out every night after I go to bed and magically cleans my floor of sprinkles, dough, and everything else I drop while playing. Its like fairies cleaned over night when I get my morning cup of coffee every day.
cheers,
Jamie Girl
Hard to believe that you could ever be in a baking mess..not after seeing those lovely croissant
Darjeeling or Kashmir Tea..I just need my chai every day (6 cups..Shh..). Does this makes me more eligible for the giveaway
in San Fran for daughter #2’s wedding – glad you stopped by – thrilled about this… can’t wait to see who wins – not a tea drinker at all… but hope you follow my travel posts as I get them up after the wedding – as I am sure you will have lots of personal experiences to add to them as you read them.
V
You need some green tea and violet bath salts and a g and t darling – always soothes my frazzled mind after a pastry based disaster.
Lovely give away HH! I can get the flavors of the tea…… as Darjeeling is very near to my town !
Have a great weekend!
~~~ I need that tea, Daaaaling. I really do.
Nobody needs it more than I.
Xx its’ gettin’ cold in MN.
Ack! I have my days of baking frustrations – have a peace of mind that you aren’t alone
Those tea bags look pretty fancy and soothing.
hehe..about the homemade is the best…well, I guess they meant the food, not the work after…
I think we all know about baking frustrations – there is much to be said for a soothing cup of tea.
I lurve tea and you Brits do it best. Also, I understand your baking frustrations. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a recipe just doesn’t work. That’s when you blame the recipe writer, not the baker, and call it day.
aww, the baking frustrations. Been there done that. What annoys me even more is when you have made a recipe so many times even your husband’ know how to make it and you fail at it when you less expect
(
A cup of tea with a little milk and a soothing bath always helps
You bake because you love it even though sometimes it frustrates you! What were you making? Tea is the answer to everything and this looks like an amazing selection of tea. Definitely super jealous of your amazon voucher. Wonder if I will be lucky enough to get a visit from the fairy hobmother?
Oh, kitchen catastrophes! They are all too familiar in my world. That desperate need for a bath sweeps over me far too often. And that tea looks simply amazeballs. I’m interested in this fairy hobmother business, too!!
Hope you’ve recovered from such a stressful time 
love tea! what a nice assortment…fingers crossed I win.
sorry for all the kitchen frustrations, but you will conquer them all because you are awesome!!
We have all had those frustrating days in the kitchen!
Sad to hear that your baking exploits aren’t going as fabulously as they should be
A cup of tea really is a cure all, especially with a slice of cake – while someone else cleans the kitchen!
Sorry to hear of your baking woes! I have had more than my share of them lately too. They call for a big pot of restorative tea.
Tomorrow is another day! I’ll bet I would have liked whatever you made
Chin up girl!
What exactly were you trying to bake???? Dough on your walls?? Tea really is civilised and even though I am a coffee fanatic (as my blog titles states) I love all kinds of tea ( I am English after all). Thanks for stopping by and giving me a heads up. Thanksgiving was crazy and I am still ploughing through my desserts (and getting fat along the way)
Don’t give up on the baking!
xx
At last a give-away where we can ALL participate….Everything is “USA&Canada only” The rest of the world does not exist???? It’s like witnessing the organisation of a party where you are not invited !!
I raise my glass of champagne for you !! (one thing I learnt in France is that it is never too early to drink champagne ;D
Bisous!
I hope you got to sit down with a cup of tea eventually. There’s nothing more frustrating than a big doughy mess and a disaster in the kitchen. Ugh!
You’re funny, HH as I know that your an excellent baker. You really must be having a bad day. Perhaps your planet is in retrograde or something? I do hope that you’re better soon.
The kitchen remodel thing is a marvelous idea… so long as you’re living at the Four Seasons throughout.
Thanks for the head’s up! BTW, it sounds like you made a mess. My specialty!
I love Kusmi’s BOOST tea!
I am also easily thrown off by baking, I hope you feel better. Great giveaway!! Congrats on the visit from the fairy!!
There! there! Shhh… poor HH. I’m sure a cup of tea and a biscuit (you forgot the biscuit), made it all better. I would LOVE that pack of tea. Aussies are very big on having their “cuppa” too. Have a good week darling!
Your intro reminded me of a funny russian song about dough that I was just listening to
Cool giveaway with the tea!
Dear ! Love your teas look wonderful!!:) ah dear I didn’t make anything yet for Christmas and Im exausted here is the end of the school too:) thanks by the giveaway look absolutely nice:) gloria
Homemade stuff is certainly better, but only if its made better than those mass produced goodies baked by professionals:) I guess its not easy to beat professionals
I’d like to suggest a steamy bubble bath with a cup of tea to be sipped as you soak. Works everytime for me. Have a great day. Blessings…Mary
That first paragraph soiunds just like me 90% of the time when I’m baking. Not unusual to find dough, dried batter or frosting in places they do not belong! That said, love the photo of Stan from South Park representing the Fairy Hobmother! I too received a visit and was gifted with an Amazon gift card..so I’m not here for that. Just here to say – great post as always, my dearest HH
xo
What a lovely giveaway! I discovered Kusmi tea in Paris a few years back and brought some back to the US. Love the design of their boxes too!
The tea looks just wonderful… I am new to your blog, hooked in when looking for a doughball recipe – I am now addicted to those delicious little treats… not tried them with nutella yet.
I am not sure if that tea will calm me down watching South Park version of fairies…LOL…
but I don’t mind wishing for a immersion blender …..hopefully Fairy Hobmother can grant me my wish. Then I will be quite sure that the tea will not calm me down
thanks.