Radish Chive Tea Sandwiches with Sesame and Ginger

Not very long ago, I wasn't so sure I liked radishes. Luckily, my friend Bridget surprised the tea party committee with this intriguing tea sandwich recipe and everything I thought I knew about radishes vanished into thin air. Every one of us loved the slightly spicy taste of these and the general prettiness of the radish rounds decorating the top. It was a perfect addition to our tea menu this year!

Radish-Chive Tea Sandwiches with Sesame and Ginger

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Yield:  Makes 16 servings

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons minced chives, divided

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

¾ teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

¼ teaspoon Asian sesame oil

salt and pepper, to taste

3-4 radishes, thinly sliced

Mix butter, 2 tablespoons chives, sesame seeds, ginger, and oil in small bowl; season with salt and pepper.  Spread butter mixture over each bread slice.  Trim bread into desired sandwich shape, such as squares or rounds. Top with radishes, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with remaining chives. Serve sandwiches open-faced.

Recipe adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Radish-Chive-Tea-Sandwiches-with-Sesame-and-Ginger-241846

The Tea Boutique

I've just got so many fun things to tell you about the tea party this past Saturday, but well, it's gonna be a little at a time! The first thing that I want to go ahead and let you in on is an online shopping opportunity. We did great with our Tea Boutique sales, but we've still got some fun items to offer: fancy teapot jewelry and intriguing Tea Shop Mystery books and cute handmade tea cozies. And, well, two kinds of tea. Of course!

Usually we just pack everything up and sell it next year, along with some newer items, but I thought I'd try an online sale for a bit. Especially since we're still trying to meet our fundraising goal for student scholarship giving. May 31st marks the end of our fiscal year, so if you're interested in purchasing anything, just go right ahead and let me know what you want! =) And since all profits go toward FHU student scholarships, if you're interested in making an extra (tax deductible) donation, we'd be glad to help you with that, too.

We're not in the online selling business really, so send me a message at victorianteaparty@fhu.edu to ask about shipping and payment options. We'll do our best to use the most cost-effective shipping prices. And now...here's the link to the Facebook album entitled 2011 Tea Boutique. If you'll notice, I had a little fun with the merchandising. ;)

Tea Partying *This* Weekend!

It's almost time. The white tents are being delivered today. The sun is shining and the skies are blue and they are promising to still be so pretty three days from now. What a relief! Since I have multiple lists whose items I'm feverishly crossing off, I wanted to share something with you that I wrote last year. Not something from my blog coverage of the tea party. Something a little more formal that was actually printed in our local newspaper. Hope you enjoy...and hope you get excited for this Saturday! Even if you're not able to attend because maybe you live in Canada or Massachusetts or China (hello to my readers from those very places!) - please have a spot of tea and maybe some rosemary parmesan hearts (recipe below) this weekend and think of me...

Amidst thunderstorms and threats of area flooding, the eighth annual Freed-Hardeman University Associates’ Victorian Tea Party still saw success this past Saturday, May 1^st. The usual location of the Hardeman House had to be changed for the very first time to the Henderson church of Christ building, which is just across the street. Loyal guests were prepared for the change of venue. As previous guest and out-of-towner Katherine Bennett sent word, “My girls and I are coming, rain or shine!”

With tea tables set up in the lovely Commons area, the first group of guests arrived at the scene right as the electricity went out. Susan Edmonds commented afterwards that, “Everything seemed to go smoothly and the no-power thing just seemed to transport us back to Victorian times.” Luckily, enough hot tea had just been brewed to last the guests until the electricity returned halfway through the tea party.

Guests were served tea party fare on three-tiered plate stands entwined with floral greenery and each topped with a small pastel butterfly. The food served at the 2010 Victorian Tea Party included Savory Cucumber Sandwiches, Spicy Cheddar Pimento Sandwiches, White Chocolate Cherry Scones with Chocolate Cream and Cherry Butter, Chocolate Raspberry Tassies, Mini Spongecakes with Jasmine Tea Buttercream, Rosemary Parmesan Hearts, and Lemon Turnovers, which were accented with fresh strawberries and grapes.

 The two teas chosen for this year were Madame Butterfly Jasmine, which is “simply the best green tea with a heavenly jasmine fragrance,” according to Debbie McLaughlin, co-chair of this year’s tea party. The steering committee’s overwhelming response to this tea inspired the serendipitous butterfly theme for this year’s tea party. McLaughlin describes the second tea, Norfolk Blend, as a “robust black tea blend perfect for a morning wake-up call or a lovely afternoon tea party.” A refreshing lemonade was also served.

The smallest guests were still able to giddily enjoy dressing up in princess costumes, provided by Becky Welch. Ashley Hardin made sure that the little ladies had an appropriate place to have their picture taken by setting up a small wicker table and chairs and hanging a fanciful canopy above it. Beribboned butterfly wands, prepared by Rhonda Thompson, and paper doll design were also popular areas for the little girls.

“We are making precious memories,” noted Dwina Willis, who always attends the tea party with her daughter, Becky, and granddaughter, Laura Beth. These precious memories were recorded this year by FHU’s Jud Davis, who will soon be uploading the portrait and candid pictures to http://photos.fhu.edu for purchase.

The adult guests appreciated learning a new needlework at Laurel Sewell and Sasha Gott’s candlewicking venue, which is a form of white-on-white embroidery. Committee member Karen Walker had been the mastermind behind this venue but could not attend the tea party due to recent back surgery. Another beautiful venue was set up by Margaret Payne and featured various tea accoutrements for the purpose of showing guests the proper way to prepare and serve hot tea. Also at this venue was an ingenious lamp constructed of a teapot topped with teacups and saucers, a show of the appreciation of tea culture. Adapted from Country Living magazine, Laurel Sewell’s creation inspired others to make their own at home; her instructions were included in the souvenir program.

Guests browsed the offerings of the Tea Boutique and many took home colorful teapots, handmade fabric tea cozies, dainty teapot bead jewelry, packaged food items, and various other tea accoutrements to continue their own tea party at home. One guest reported later that, after a tornado siren woke her up early Sunday morning, she was not able to go back to sleep. Instead, she enjoyed reliving the events of that day’s tea party, complete with some of the delicious rosemary parmesan hearts, in the middle of the night.

Besides a change in venue, this year held another first in that a Silent Auction was set up to offer the ladies the chance to bid on an excellent gift basket, thanks to Valeria Pitoni. The gift basket contained various handmade products from Stillwaters Farm and a gift certificate for a one-night stay at The Cottage at Stillwaters Farm, located here in Chester County.

“This day would not have been possible without the help of many, many people,” says Kristen Hicks, co-chair of this year’s tea party. “We had a great steering committee, lots of volunteers donating ingredients and making all of the wonderful food at ‘cooking parties’ leading up to the day of the tea party. There were so many hard-working Associates moving tables and chairs, washing dishes, decorating, and cleaning up. Husbands and fathers were involved and we appreciate them so very much, too. We had some volunteer students from FHU also who helped set up, serve, and clean up. I can’t even imagine having this event without all of these volunteers. We just couldn’t do it.”

Sponsors for this event were Chester County Bank, Dr. Larry Bloomingburg, FHU Bible Bookstore/University Store, Mary Kay (Susan Edmonds), The Peoples Bank, Lookin’ Good/A-1 Realty, Hester Publications, No Xcuse Fitness, Stillwaters Farm, Bramblett Group, Shackelford Funeral Directors (Casey Chapel), Happy Kids Consignment Shoppe, Radio Shack, and Patricia Jones, Republican Nominee for Chester County Mayor.

Hicks added, “Our corporate sponsors and individual patrons are an integral part of our success every year, too. All of our profits go toward FHU student scholarships and we are blessed that so many people have the same vision as we do.”

Rosemary Parmesan Hearts

Makes approx. 11 dozen small hearts

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2 c. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

¾ c. (1 ½ sticks) salted butter

¾ c. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (not powdered)

2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour and baking powder together and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the Parmesan, rosemary, and egg yolks. Continue working the dough until it forms a ball. This can all be done in a food processor.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8” thick and cut out with a small heart cookie cutter. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting out hearts until the dough has all been used. Place the hearts onto baking stones, if possible, or baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack and store in airtight container.

Tea Party Menu

That little tea party fundraiser I've been working on is THREE WEEKS from now...well, from this past Saturday really. So, less than three weeks. Time to truly freak out! There is still so much To Do. Which is why I haven't been here much at all lately. But I wanted to stop in and tell you about our upcoming menu because it is going to be Really Delicious. And I'll probably share some recipes with you afterwards...so stay tuned. =)

Victorian Tea Party Menu

May 7, 2011

Minted Butter Cucumber Sandwiches

Dilled Chicken Salad in Pastry Puffs

Radish Sesame Ginger Tea Sandwiches

Blueberry Almond Scones with Blackberry Butter and Orange Cream

Lemon Pistachio Puffs

Chocolate Caramel Mini Cupcakes

White Chocolate Lime Cookies

Fresh Fruit

Tea Selection:

Rhubarb Cream

Blue Sapphire

Doesn't all of that sound just marvelous?? I'm telling you, our committee tested some wonderful food this year and we couldn't serve all of it at once, so, fortunately, we've got some waiting in the wings for later tea parties. I love when that happens. =)

We also have some wonderful activities planned...I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone's paper roses and embroidery projects! The little girls will also have a lovely time making paper dolls and playing dress-up. And of course, I predict that everyone will ooh and aahhh over our fun merchandise in the Tea Boutique. =) Adorable handmade tea cozies, colorful teapots, sweet miniature tea sets, beautiful crystal teapot jewelry, intriguing Teashop Mystery novels...I've already been shopping...I'll admit it. ;)

Live near us in Henderson, Tennessee, and want to tea party with us? You can bring your daughters, your mother, your sisters, your friends! It's often a multi-generational event for many families, but if you only have sons or your mom lives far away, call up your sweet friends and make it a perfect Girls' Day. To dream about what your tea party experience might be like this year, go to the tea party page on the FHU website and take a look at our pictures!

Questions? Email me at victorianteaparty@fhu.edu and I can help you with tickets. Prices are as follows: ADVANCE Adult tickets are $15.00 and Children's tickets are $8.00. Tickets purchased AT THE DOOR are $18.00 for Adults and $10.00 for Children. The tea party is FREE for children ages 2 and under.

Talk to me. Are you coming to the tea party? Have you come every single year? What's your favorite part? What food item sounds the most intriguing to you this year? Comment away! =)

Tea Party Season!

My newest teacup find at HomeGoods in Chattanooga. 

Love that place!

And look at the detail on the inside of the cup. Cute, no?

Just as I suspected, my recent influx of posts has slowed considerably in the last couple of weeks. It's because of several things...traveling, work, sickness (Tonsilitis, anyone? How about a sinus infection, too? And maybe strep, for good measure?) but mainly...mainly, it's because of tea party season.

And no, I don't mean "tea party" in relation to any political agendas. I mean an actual tea party. I've been making plans for this year's tea party along with my lovely committee and things are going swimmingly. We've been sampling teas and deciding on tea sandwiches and gathering sponsors and patrons, because this tea party is a fundraiser for a university we hold near and dear to our hearts. Our next meeting promises a scone-tasting, which we are all looking forward to. YES, please.

To read, in full, the account of last year's tea party:

The Tea Party Report - Part 1: The Food

The Tea Party Report - Part 2: The Fun

The Tea Party Report - Part 3: The Flood - or - A Change in Plans

This year's tea party will be held on Saturday, May 7th and if you're anywhere near our area (Henderson, TN) I hope you can attend! To learn more about this event and see pictures from tea parties past, go to http://www.fhu.edu/associates/teaparty.aspx

A word about sponsorships: if you own a business that could benefit from advertising at a ladies' event which expects about 250 guests, please contact us at victorianteaparty@fhu.edu. You can access the forms and sponsor information on the tea party page on the FHU website. One more exciting thing! Even if you don't live around here but have an appropriate online business that would love to reach our many guests, we have created a special $50.00 rate just for you! Check out the form for more information.

A word about patronships: if you would like to support the tea party (and in turn, FHU student scholarships) as an individual, this opportunity is perfect for you. It's even possible to dedicate your patronship in honor of memory of a special relative or friend. Last year I dedicated my patronship to my dear, sweet grandmother who would have loooved this tea party so much. She would have tied her apron on and gotten right to work with cooking!

One last thing...find us on Facebook and let us know you're coming!

A Relaxing Tea Party

Remember when I talked about tea parties quite a lot? It was back in the month of May and I had been absorbed with this particular tea party...there are quite a few posts about it. Well, I want to tell you about a different tea party. This tea party took place several weeks after the BIG one. And it was completely different.

Our tea party steering committee worked hard during our tea party, so we went in search of a tea party where we could sit down and relax. Have you ever heard of Halls, TN? Maybe not, even if you're from Tennessee...it's a teeny-tiny place. Much smaller than Henderson, whose population is 6,600 or maybe a little more. Probably about 37 people lives in Halls and I'm only slightly exaggerating. But! There's a pretty cool place that exists in Halls...Charlene's Colony of Shoppes. It has a tea room (The Just Divine Tea Room - partly made from on old church building. Get it?) and an antique shop and clothing shops and an enormous and very fabulous home decor store. And it's truly out in the middle of nowhere. It's awesome. There's always lots of people there...it's a destination, meaning that a ton of people drive aways to get there...and just to go there.

Six of us on the committee were able to go on the field trip that day and we had a most excellent time. I think the drive was about an hour and a half, so we had plenty of time to talk and catch up on either side of our tea party/shopping time.

That's Sasha (left) and Laurel (right). Sasha and I walk and talk together most weekday mornings and we gather on Wednesday evenings with our husbands after church to watch Psych. I got them hooked. (If you've never watched it, check it out. But only if you like to laugh.) Sasha is very good at crafty stuff, as are all of these ladies, in fact...now that I think about it! She especially likes to make jewelry and is learning to sew. 

Laurel is a former First Lady of Freed-Hardeman. She and her husband still stay extremely busy with traveling and raising money for the school. They also have a lovely fig tree in their backyard and when she learned that I had never before tasted a fresh fig, she took it upon herself to bring me a bowl full when they became ripe a few weeks ago. She also invited Sasha and me to harvest some more figs from their tree, which we gratefully did. And now I'm addicted to figs! They're brilliant! (They may get a separate blog post later.) Laurel is also very witty and smart and I'm looking forward to her speaking at our church ladies' day in October.

Ah, yes, and this is when Laurel accidentally put the teapot lid on her cup instead of back atop the teapot. And she reenacted it, a little sheepishly, and let me take a picture. She's a good sport. =)

That's Margaret sitting beside me. She loves the color yellow and books and kittens and fun rainboots and she teaches English at FHU. Very quippy, that Margaret. =)

That's Rhonda - she speaks Spanish (teaches it at FHU, in fact), does a lot of Latin American mission work, and is a creative and hard-working Bible class teacher for the kids at our congregation. She has three adorable blond-headed grandsons under the age of 6 and they love her lots. She's a good one!

This is the Queen Bee - Debbie. She's the starter of our tea party and runs the show every year. Equal parts CPA and crafter, which is pretty amazing in and of itself! We love our Debbie. Her husband is John, who teaches English at FHU - and they have two smart and entertaining sons.

She used to be in plays in college. I'm not sure you can tell. ;) Hee hee.

The special of the day at the Just Divine Tea Room was a Tuna Nicoise Salad (pronounced ni'swaz - and there's supposed to be a little French marking somewhere in there, but I do not know how to make that happen). It was very different and very delicious! I've had a nicoise salad before, a few times in my life in fact - but it had been awhile, so I was due another. (Especially since I cannot make tuna anything at home...Jeremy would run far, far away. Since he jokes about everything, sometimes it's hard to know when he's kidding or not...he had told me about his hate for tuna, but when we were first married, I kinda thought he was exaggerating for comedic effect. So I made a salad one time with tuna in it...he was a good sport by barely choking some of it down before he completely gave up. Bless his heart. We then had a serious conversation about tuna and I've never served it to him since. And I promised I never would. The end.)

Is this salad not beautiful? Very pretty. And the dijon vinaigrette was excellent.

And I'm kinda giving you the recipe right here, just by looking at the picture: a bed of spinach topped with hard-boiled egg wedges, sliced black olives, diced red onion, chopped red bell pepper, tuna and capers. And they're kinda hiding in the back, but there's green beans and chopped boiled potatoes there, too. Cover it all with a lovely dijon vinaigrette and you're set. Pretty healthy!

We all went and shopped for awhile and then went back for dessert at the tea room before we left that afternoon. Rhonda and I shared a chocolate cobbler. Sigh! It was a good day with good friends.

The Tea Party Report - Part 3: The Floods - or - A Change in Plans

On the eighth year of this annual tea party we encountered our first BIG issue. (Well, the biggest issue we'd had so far anyway - the previous year, there was a pretty big problem with receiving the wrong tea...Vanilla Green instead of Vanilla Chai. And by the time we'd realized it, there was not enough time to have the company send the right one. So, there was lots of scurrying around to purchase loose black tea to mix with the green - and finding candied ginger and other spices from Ada's in Bethel Springs - and several of us reenacted the scene from "Macbeth" as we stirred a humongous bowl full of tea and spices. "Double, double, toil and trouble..." We all knew it was a memory in the making. And the custom-blended tea was a hit. We sold out!)

Yes, every year there's something or another that throws a kink in the plans...but this year's problem was even bigger. It involved something we had no control over...The Weather.

Now, I absolutely love living in Tennessee. Except for during tornado season. Bleah. Thumbs down!

We knew there were storms on the horizon for Tea Party Weekend and, as a committee, we were telling everyone we knew to pray for sunshine. And I prayed for sunshine continuously myself. Every once in awhile, though, I'd remember that scripture in Romans (8:28 to be exact): "For we know that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." So, several times I prayed with that specifically in mind, asking for a good result - even if it still did storm.

Here's what we were afraid of: instead of holding the Victorian Tea Party at the lovely Hardeman House, as is the perfect place for it...if it stormed too badly, we would have to move the whole event across to the street to the Henderson church of Christ building. The Activity Center, to be more precise, which has plenty of room but which = GYM. And which wouldn't have the same ambience. AND there's the whole fact that we'd have to MOVE everything. At the last minute. It wasn't a pleasant thought. Plus, if it were stormy, would our guests still come?? Would it be a whole lot of headache (and backaches - and heartaches for that matter) for nothing? We were anxious and worried, but tried not to be. All of us had spent hours upon HOURS readying every last detail for the day. I liken it to planning a huge wedding and reception. Seriously. It's literally that many details.

On Saturday morning, everything was ready to be set up, but we didn't know where to set it up. Debbie and I were back and forth on the phone, watching the weather and looking outside at the stormy skies. I was at the home ec. building on FHU's campus with several other ladies who were helping make the last-minute frostings for two of our food items...Jeremy had already been calling from work to tell us to be careful and get in a safe place because the sirens kept going off (he, perhaps, should have been a meteorologist - he checks all the real radar stuff, not just weather.com). Debbie and some volunteers were already at the Hardeman House, where we'd gone ahead and rented the big white tents and tables and chairs in hopes that the storm would pass up by, as it sometimes does. But finally we realized that it wasn't going to pass us by. So, even though we'd had the presence of mind to rent the sides to the tents, too (Debbie's good idea) in case of regular (not crazy) rain, we had to finally say, "Let's move it." It stung a little to know we were going to have to eat the costs of the tent this year, but it was also a relief. We knew what we had to do and we had to get started fast. And immediately.

Now, pay attention. Here's where things started falling into place. We got over to the church building and we had plenty of extra helpers because, get this, lots of able-bodied people were waiting in the church basement...because of said storms. Bonus! So we had volunteers that hadn't even signed up. And we didn't have to move the tables and chairs over...because there were plenty already there. Double bonus.

Also, we were dreading the whole lack of ambience because who wants to have a tea party in a gym? Not this girl. But my mother, who always has good ideas regarding ambience, suggested setting up the tea tables in the handsome Commons area, which is where many baby and bridal showers are now held. Because that's where we'd had our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. It was perfect - check!

We set up the little girls' dress-up venue in a large classroom right off of the Commons.

And we set up the rest of the venues in the Fellowship Hall on the other side of the Commons. The kitchen was right there and everything...and several long-time tea party kitchen workers noted that they had more room to spread out this year. Good to know.

As our first guests (yea, guests!) arrived, the electricity went out. Seriously. It was like clockwork. But since the tea tables were in the Commons area, each end of the room was flanked in ceiling-to-floor windows, so it let in any available light. Which admittedly wasn't an incredible amount because it was pretty dark outside, but it was something. If we'd only known, we'd have had some candles ready, but now we know if we ever have a "next time." =) The ladies who ate first "ate by Exit light" instead.

Enough hot tea had just been brewed to last for quite awhile, so we celebrated each time more ladies arrived and laughed about this year's tea party conditions, one of which later told us that it helped transport us back to Victorian times. =) Thanks for the smile, Susan. We still served about 125 guests, which was truly amazing to me. It was about half of the guests we'd had last year at 250, which was our largest group yet, but it was perfect. Yes, we would have been happy with even more, but we were so relieved that half of the people still came. Sweet Mrs. Jean Marilyn said, "Only us silly ladies would be out in this!" There were some people who still would have come if they only could have, but areas of Tennessee had some serious flooding that weekend and there were sinkholes and closed roads and all that. It's not been pretty.

Almost halfway through the tea party, I caught wind of an impending problem...we'd almost run out of hot tea. And unless the electricity came back on, we had no way to heat more water. Someone notified Dr. Shull, an FHU teacher who also leads a Boy Scout troup, and he came up, in his yellow rain jacket and toting his camp stove, to save the day. Of course, about the time he got it started up...the electricity came back on. Of course. But we appreciated the gesture so much, nevertheless!

So we did get to finish up the tea party being able to see exactly what we were eating, and the little girls were able to see much better to color their butterfly wands and design their paperdolls. We got so very many nice compliments about the event and I was grateful for each one who helped and who attended. It really did all "work together for good." We might not often see such immediate results of things working together like that. Often we find out months (or even years) down the road that things really did work out the way they should have.

I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to watch the good things unfold that very day. Perhaps the best thing about it is that now we know how to do it and when and where things should be set up...you know, the answers to all of those important questions. And that takes away our fear of the unknown. Which gives me peace of mind. And that's such a relief to me, because I'm supposed to be the chair of next year's tea party because Debbie will be...in Europe for the semester! Yikes! (I'm not sure I can allow that to happen, but she tells me it's a done deal.)

Here's to hoping that next year's tea party is as wonderful as this year's turned out to be, if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise. ;)

The Tea Party Report - Part 2: The Fun

All Photos by Jud Davis

We've covered the food. Now we should talk about the fun that was had during the tea party. I cannot lie...I was witness to much giddiness in the little girls' dress-up room! There were princess dresses galore...and fairy wands and sweet little shoes that were still too big for some of the tiniest girls. I sooo wish I had video to prove this, but my 2-year-old friend Ava aptly demonstrated the term "frolicking" in her baby blue Cinderella dress. She was singing and flinging her arms wide...and just enjoying being a girl. It was incredibly cute and sweet and adorable. Seriously, you've got to trust me on this. =)

This is Ava...she has become such a funny little, sweet little girl. Imagine the frolicking. Smiling yet? ;)

This is her sister, Ella - and their mama, Ashley.

All three of these girls make me laugh very hard. I love being around them...and their daddy/husband, Ethan. He's pretty amusing, too. Ashley and Ethan have been trying to train Ella and Ava to call us "Miss Kristen" and "Mr. Jeremy." Sometimes it comes out right and sometimes it comes out "Mr. Kristen" and "Miss Jermy." (Yes, the extra "e" is often missing in Jeremy's name.) We're around them so often that Ella couldn't understand why they had to use these extra titles for us...

"But why, Mommy?"
"Because they're not actually in our family."
"But why? Why aren't they in our family?"

Some things are hard to understand, Ella. This is the beginning of many things that don't make sense. ;)

This is another of mine and Jeremy's favorite little friends, Tessa.

She's the niece of my cousin Adam's fiancee' Tosha, on the right. My aunt Becky is on the left. These three had a big time at the tea party. =) Tessa loved dressing up, too, and seeing what all else she could get into...like making the butterfly wands, which were precious, and making paperdolls, which are always popular. At some point I was handed Tessa's paperdoll, which I promptly held against me while I was talking to someone or another...not even realizing that it was a newly glued design...and then belatedly realizing that I had glue and silver sequins now attached to the top of my dress. It was just beautiful. Really impressively bedazzled.

Here are some little ladies designing their paperdolls and butterfly wands...

And here are some more pictures that fall into the "Fun" category...pink canopies definitely fall into the "Fun" category, don't you think?

Notice the pretty butterfly wands...

Learning to candlewick, a form of white-on-white embroidery...

If it weren't the teacup for a nose, I'd say that this is definitely our preacher, Daniel, and his wife Heather's little girl, Haven. But with the strategically placed teacup, one can never tell for sure...

I can tell you with great certainty that it is delightfully fun to simply sit and relax a tea table...

And mingle with other ladies...friends old and new. That reminds me of a little song we used to sing in Scouts..."Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold." 

Hmmm...hokey but true. Is it the hokier it is, the truer it is? If so, that song is very, very true...

Love these pictures! By the way, any of these pictures (candids or portraits) can be purchased by guests at this website: http://photos.fhu.edu/Associates/2009-10. You can buy different sizes and everything!

Thanks to Jud Davis, for capturing the essence of our tea party! By the way, that's Jud's little girl Cecily on the left in that last picture. She's a sweetie, as is her friend, Anna, on the right. =)

More to come - Part III: The Floods, or - A Change in Plans; 

Part IV: The Tea Boutique;

and Part V: The Pictures

The Tea Party Report - Part I: The Food

Yes, yes, it's been over a week and I am JUST NOW blogging about the tea party. You just don't realize how much wrapping up there is to do after the tea party's over, I'll tell you that. But it's still been fun stuff and yes, indeedy, the wrapping-up part is still going on, and now I'm back in town after a nice weekend away in Chattanooga with Jeremy's fam. And NOW, I've got pictures! =) And I must blog. I've already realized just how long one blog post could be, so it will be broken up into several sections. This is Part One and it will deal with...

The FOOD.

Photo by Jud Davis

It was delightful. And delectable. And any other "d" words that mean the same thing - oh, like delicious. Yes, delicious. How did I forget that one??

We'll start with the Savory Cucumber sandwiches, for a tea party is not a tea party without them. We've tried various recipes for cucumber sandwiches, (all being quite delicious, delectable, and delightful to my palate) but I do think that this recipe was one of the most positive experiences, comment-wise, that we've  ever, um...experienced.

Photo by Jud Davis

You can see the cucumber sandwiches in the bottom right corner of the picture. (This was taken in the staging area before the plates were taken to their homes on our pretty three-tiered plate stands.) Also on those sandwich plates are the next item...

The Spicy Cheddar Pimento sandwiches, which we also got many nice compliments about. A little cayenne pepper makes all the difference. And they were very cute, what with the filling dolloped on triangles of party rye bread.

The Scones, with a capital "S." Sadly, there may not be a picture of them! Oh, no! =( Sad. This year we served White Chocolate Cherry Scones with Chocolate Cream and Cherry Butter for the spreads. Sigh! The tartness of the dried cherries perfectly contrasted with the creamy sweetness of the white chocolate chips. Big, BIG hit.

Chocolate Raspberry Tassies. Rich, brownie-esque cups filled with chocolately, raspberry goodness. And decorated with a fancy topping of chocolate buttercream. What??! I know. I know.

Photo by Jud Davis

Playing off the chocolate flavors were the Mini Spongecakes with Jasmine Tea Buttercream. This was a combination of two different recipes. I had found the Jasmine Tea Buttercream recipe in a recent Tea Time magazine (note: if you love tea or tea time, the arrival of this magazine in your mailbox every other month is so, SO happy) but it topped a vanilla cupcake. Now...please don't get me wrong, that sounds quite marvelous. But it made, like, 10 cupcakes. Oh, my. And the crazy thing is, the icing made sooo much more than for that amount of cupcakes. I know they really piled it on, but anyway...

Photo by Jud Davis

The mini spongecakes were adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe. Her actual recipe I took it from was for a Strawberry Shortcake Cake, which I have made and it was completely wonderful. I had also been making just the spongecake part into cupcakes for Valentine's Day and what have you and just loved the taste and texture. So...the little cakes found their way onto the menu for our tea party - and they were mighty perfect with the jasmine tea buttercream, which was dyed pink, by the way. =)

One of the items that I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns were the Rosemary Parmesan Hearts. Oh. The crunchiness, the light rosemary flavor...I will be making these myself someday soon. That's a promise. See, it's so deliciously distracting that you forget that someone is trying to photograph you...

Photo by Jud Davis

Our lemon turnovers were very popular, too. A tad time intensive to prepare, as turnovers usually are - but quite, quite fabulous-tasting, as turnovers usually are.

Photo by Jud Davis

And I already told you all about the chosen teas in the last post. All of this goodness was punctuated with offerings of fresh fruit...yummy strawberries and grapes. I am not going to lie. It was FABULOUS. We had many, many compliments on the food. And guests, as always, got to take home their souvenir programs which held the secrets of the tea party fare...in other words, the recipes. =)

If you are interested in snagging a program, let me know. I can probably make it happen. ;)

I will leave you with two recipes. Let me know if you desire more!

Savory Cucumber Sandwiches
Makes about 32 bite-sized sandwiches

1 large cucumber, cleaned and deseeded, but not peeled
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 small (or 2 large) green onions, chopped, including most of the green part
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
white sandwich bread

Shred the cucumber and allow to drain until most of the liquid is gone. Mix the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth and spreadable. Stir in the chopped onions and add the celery salt and garlic powder. Add drained cucumber and stir. Spread between slices of white sandwich bread and trim crusts off. Cut each sandwich into quarters.

aaand....


Rosemary Parmesan Hearts
Makes approximately 11 dozen small hearts

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (not powdered)
2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour and baking powder together and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the Parmesan, rosemary, and egg yolks. Continue working the dough until it forms a ball. This can all be done in the food processor.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out with a small heart cookie cutter. Reroll remaining dough and continue cutting out hearts until the dough has all been used. Place the hearts onto baking stones, if possible, or baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks and store in airtight container.