Ode to a tea towel

We love tea towels at Pomegranate. They always make a great hostess/couples gift, especially when you pair one with some of our gourmet savory jams or fabulous French salts. That's the kind of gift everyone loves: something you can use and savor.

A little background: tea towels are essentially dish towels. They got their name from the English tradition of serving tea (and accoutrements) on a nice tray, lined with a tea towel to keep spills from hurting the tray. And it looks nicer. These days, you can do so much with them. Some ideas:

• Use as a nice guest towel in the bathroom. Layer over a terry hand towel, or just use it by itself. They just get nicer after washing (some might need a little ironing).

• Lay one out on your buffet, table, or counter/bar area, and use it to define a serving area. You could line up all your glassware, or plates and flatware, or set up appetizers atop.

• Use as an oversized napkin for those special BBQ dinners. I have to use one as a bib, usually.

• Group them for an informal café curtain. Run a rod through the tops for an instant window covering or shelving curtain (like inside the knee space of a little vanity, or in front of your handbag collection to keep the dust off).

• Dish towel. Just hang it, use it, appreciate it. They add color and texture to your kitchen. By the way, the French have specific uses for each kind of towel, and a traditional household would have a three-hook rack for their towels, with a hook for cotton (for dishes), linen (glassware), and terry or waffle (hands). Don't mix 'em up chez grandmère!

Some ideas for wrapping:

• Fold and lay one across a gift basket and pile up the rest of your goodies on top. Just wrap ribbon over it all and leave it natural.

• Use it as wrapping itself: just center your other gifts inside and gather it up. Wrap a beautiful wide ribbon around it all, or do as one of our customers did the other day: slip a napkin ring down to the neck and let the top edges flop over (very clever). A nice green way to wrap.

• If you're adding some nice serving spoons, tongs, etc., lay those down the middle lengthwise, and wrap the tea towel around them like a Tootsie Roll. Just roll up, and tie nice ribbon at each end. It's very festive and cute.

We sold out so quickly on some of our newest tea towels; reorders just arrived. "Keep Calm" and the bee are white cotton with black embroidery (very inexpensive!), and our jacquard Twiggy Bird in gray is made in Belgium of a nice, substantial cotton. Bad photo, but the gray background goes so nicely with granite and slate. Plenty in stock now; come see us, or give us a jingle at 541.383.3713.