Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

When spring arrives, so does my desire to host a tea party. Alas, when the day arrived, it was chilly and rainy. Such is spring in New England. Nevertheless, the tea and companionship were warm.

As usually I had a dozen guests and made three kinds each of sandwiches, scones, and sweets, plus tea.

Tea
Since I have four tea pots, there were four teas. A black tea my sister brought back from Hong Kong, The Earl in Grey, blooming green, and an herbal spice blend from my sister-not-in-law.

I have a large collection of tea cups, many of which were gifts from friends, but not enough for a unique cup for everyone, so I added in from our heirloom china sets. The identical cups had Halloween-themed wine charms on the handles, so the guests could easily identify their tea.

Sandwiches
As always, I made cucumber sandwiches. Ava was good enough to give me some dill from her garden to sprinkle on the cucumber slices. Then tomato sandwiches with chives from my garden. I wanted to put these on wheat bread, but the supermarket only had thin-sliced white. The thinness of the bread is really what makes it a tea sandwich. For the last type, I made egg salad. I decided home-made mayo wasn’t the best use of my time, but I did jazz it up with lemon juice and mustard powder. I had wanted to put watercress on the sandwiches, but again, my local supermarket failed me, so I used arugula.
Do note the ridiculous fancy sandwich server!

Scones
I had only planned to make two kinds of scones, but as the RSVPs rolled in, I decided on a third. As always, I made Marian Walke’s excellent currant scones. Not only are they delicious, but many of my guests have fond memories of her baked goods.

The New York Times recently published a recipe for scones that were considered by some to be the ultimate, so of course I had to try them. The recipe made six, so I cut them into quarters. Given the size, the “regular” ones must be huge. Despite my loyalty to Marian, I’ve got to admit that they were pretty darn good. Also, you make them up the night before, stash them in the fridge, which improves the dough, and bake them the next day, which was rather convenient.

And the final kind were drop scones, which are more like pancakes. The recipe came from HRM Queen Elizabeth II – how could I resist! They really should be served hot off the skillet, but I couldn’t be both hostess and cook. Fortunately, they’re not bad at room temperature with butter and jam. I had a fun time translating the recipe from 1950s British measurements to modern American. Perhaps I’ll share my reconstruction here.

Accompaniments
Speaking of butter and jam, I served blood orange marmalade (right) and peach preserves (left), both made by me. And I just want to brag that the butter dish was also made by me.

Sweets
I planned to make madeleines again. Once you get the trick of making them, they’re easy, pretty, and so delicious. I was quite pleased to see the bumps on the back. All credit to my mother who started me down this path by sending the special pans needed.

More ambitiously, I decided to try macarons. Earlier in the month I took a class on making macarons and they came out remarkably well for a first timer. But, you see, I had the instructor looking over my shoulder. For my first solo attempt, they were a bit more maca-wrong. I think I over-mixed the macaronage just one stroke too many. Instead of dainty bite-sized disks, they spread into freeform blobs. Still tasted good! And they had feet! Not satisfied with one experiment, I also made a raspberry-white chocolate ganache that never really set up. Fortunately, the raspberry buttercream (flavored with ground freeze-dried raspberries) was delicious.

Lastly, I pulled out The NecroMunchicon and summoned The Gateau and the Key Lime. This is an icebox cake of chocolate cookies layered with key lime cream and then covered in dark chocolate. It was delicious. It was also huge — I should have made a half recipe, but now I have a big piece in my freezer for later.

And several of my guests brought treats as well! Rae made deviled eggs, served on a vintage glass egg plate, Dr. Becky baked shortbread topped with cherry jam, Devastasia brought a variety of candies, Devora contributed fresh fruit, Betty made mocha mousse with a tahini-chocolate sauce, and Ava made a peaches and cream jello mold.

Ava has been playing around with fancy gelatin molds for a while now and they’ve been beautiful and delicious. This one was, well, delicious. It unmolded perfectly, but after a few minutes on the table the peach layer began to devolve into primordial ooze and slither away like an eldritch horror. I’ve never seen anything like it. Clearly, more experimentation is needed.

I was so very pleased with how it all turned out and I think I managed to at least spend a little time with all my guests. The BeauTease lingered after all other had left and helped with the clean up, as is their wont.

I do hope I can find some time in the fall for another party, so I can bring out all my creepy cake pans and autumn flavors.

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