Monday, September 24, 2012

An End-of-Summer Tea

My friends Amy and Angie and I share a love of writing, and each other. We've met semi-regularly for a couple of years now, and I'd been wanting to have them over to the house. Just in time to mark the end of summer, they and Angie's precious girls, Olivia and Isabel, came over for tea last week! From left are Olivia, Isabel, Angie and Amy.

Choosing the teawares and menu is half the fun of preparing for any tea, and I decided to use my pink Tea Room pattern glassware and mix and match some cups, saucers and plates as well. I didn't want it to be too "flowery" since summer was, after all, on the way out. This soft, faded pink palette seemed just right to me!

For the girls, I pulled out some paper teawares I found at a party supply store in Wisconsin last fall. Perfect!

The menu started with Cinnamon-Pecan Scones, served with honey butter.

For our tea sandwiches, we had Waldorf Chicken Salad on mini-croissants and Cucumber Sandwiches cut into teapot shapes. (I should mention that I followed the wonderful advice of Marilyn, who has revolutionized my tea-giving with her very sensible advice to cut out your fancy bread shapes from frozen bread the night before. No more frantic bread cutting 10 minutes before showtime!)

And here are the Harvest Apple Tea Sandwiches, consisting of Pepperidge Farm's Swirl Bread, peanut butter, and slices of Granny Smith apples.

Some of the edges are spread with peanut butter and dipped in pecans.

Last year I loved Pepperidge Farm's Pumpkin Swirl and Cranberry Swirl breads, but last week I came across Caramel Apple, the best one so far!

Here are Olivia and Isabel drinking apple juice out of their little plastic teacups. The grownups had Whittard of Chelsea's Breakfast Earl Grey and the Caramel Apple tea from Zhena's Gypsy Tea. Amy said she never thought she cared for Earl Grey before but she loved this one. Nice!

For our sweets, we had Lemon Madeleines and ...

... Peanut Butter Blondies. Pretty much everything but the scones was made in advance, so this was a real no-pressure assembly the morning of the tea.

Afterwards we went outside because Angie and Amy were interested in seeing all the bamboo I'd told them was growing near our creek. I got a kick out of watching the girls shake the giant bamboo stalks to see if any pandas would appear. Angie told me they were still talking pandas later that night! And after the girls wore themselves out watering my plants, sweet Olivia came in and just made herself right at home, which horrified her mother but thoroughly amused me. I hope the girls (the little ones and big ones) always feel this relaxed at teatime!




15 comments:

  1. Quite the lovely tea party Angela. I must remember about the frozen bread for sandwich cutouts. I emailed Pepperidge Farm and asked where I could find their bread in Ontario - they said it's here but I can't find it in any of the big grocers.
    I'm hosting a card making workshop and tea on Saturday so will be baking ahead myself this week.
    Judith

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  2. Love that last picture of the feet propped up in total bliss! Will put that bread on my list as it sounds so yummy.♥1♦

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  3. What fun and what precious memories y'all made! LOVE that priceless photo of the feet propped up!! That young lady truly took to heart the sentiment of "make yourself at home"! :)

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  4. How pretty everything was! And how yummy it all looked. That swirl bread looks extra delicious but I loved the teapot-shaped sandwiches. I need to remember that frozen bread tip, too, it's a good one! And the little girls are just adorable, I loved that last picture, too. So cute!

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  5. What a lovely tea party! Everyone looks like theyare having a great time!

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  6. I've used the frozen bread tip, too--gleaned from this blog, of course!

    At a recent tea party I gave, I also made my scone dough ahead of time, cut it into small circles (I like smaller scones with all the other food at a tea party) and froze it on cookies sheets. Then all I had to do was bake them the day of the party.

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  7. Such a lovely tea party! Your table is so pretty with your pink dishes and your menu so yummy looking. I can't find any stores here that sell Pepperridge Farms bread. I visited my nephew in Atlanta, Ga. last year and they had the Crandberry, so good!
    Nancy

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  8. What a lovely tea party, Angela! I love all your creative ideas and the food looks delicious. Those young ladies will have many fond 'tea' memories, Joanie

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  9. Oh I love your tea party, especially the peanut butter apple sandwich idea. Costco has an apple bread too that I have been thinking would be fun for a tea sandwich. I need to try this.

    Thanks also for mentioning me. I am glad you liked the tip. It makes it so much easier at the last minute. I have been know to cut them a few days before the party, they keep so well in the freezer.

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  10. Looks like a fun time was had by all.

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  11. I think a trip to the Pepperidge Farm outlet is on the horizon! Your tea party was lovely and I loved seeing your Depression Glass Tea Room dishes. Your menu makes my mouth water! How wonderful to get these little girls exposed to the pleasures of tea at a young age. Bless you for making memories!

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  12. Fantastic fun, Angela! Thank you for inviting us. It was such a treat. Looking forward to our next get together. Love the picture of Livi's feet!

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  13. Your post inspired me to find a teapot cookie cutter (95 cents at the local decorating store!) and to stock up on Pepperidge Farm bread for some fall teas. Such great inspiration!

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