Tea Party

Dear Constant Reader,

Every once in a while I get the itch to bake a lot, pull out the good china, silver, and linens, and invite a bunch of my friends over. Thus I throw a tea party.

Tea table

The most important part of preparations is the menu. I like to serve a traditional spread with sandwiches, scones, and sweets. I want to make sure there is a variety of flavors and that they’re somewhat seasonal. Also, I have guests with dietary restrictions, so I want to accommodate them. I always make sure everything is vegetarian and if I have a vegan guest, that there’s at least one plant-based option per food category. And I want to limit the number of things that have to be prepared at the last minute.

I had a dozen guests coming for this party, so I decided on three items in each category. 

Sandwiches
I always make cucumber sandwiches on white bread, so I needed two more types. I decided on tomato sandwiches with parsley from my garden on wheat bread. As long as I was picking herbs, the cucumbers got minced chives and I sprinkled the plate with chive blossoms. We had some lovely dates in the pantry, a gift from Scratch’s sister, and I turned them into date-nut bread, which became sandwiches, filled with cream cheese. And I love the chance to use the silver sandwich server.

Sandwiches

Scones
One of the constants on my tea table is scones from Marian Walke’s excellent recipe. Sometimes I change up the fruit, but this time I went with classic currant. I wanted something savory as well. In the past I’ve made sun-dried tomato and parmesan scones or goat cheese and basil. I decided on Cheesy Biscuits from Breaking Cat News. Lastly, this was a great opportunity to try Insani-Tea Biscuits from The NecroMunchicon. I even got some of their Earl in Grey tea. One of the neat things about these three recipes is that one calls for cold butter, one for softened butter, and one for melted butter. I was going to ask my guests to compare, but completely forgot.

Currant scones          Cheesy biscuits          Insani-Tea Biscuits         

Sweets
I knew I was going to make madeleines, since I have the pans and I have a great recipe for chocolate mini-cupcakes, but I was stumped for the third. Christine McConnell had a recipe for plant-based strawberry-lemonade bars, which sounded good, but one of my guests has a strawberry allergy. As I tried to figure out how to make them just lemon, I realized that none of my guests were vegan and I could just find another lemon bar recipe. The one I used, from the NY Times, was a keeper. Dr. Becky brought baked old-fashioned donut cakes and Devastasia brought two kinds of biscotti.

Madeleines          Chocolate cupcakes          Lemon bars         

Preserves
I always serve homemade preserves. This time there was peach jam and blood orange marmalade that I made in season and I also made raspberry conserve, which was an alternative to sugar for the tea. The recipe is from Mamushka, a Ukrainian cookbook. Of course there was also butter for the scones.

Raspberry convserve

Tea
The kinds of tea I serve is limited by the number of teapots I own (four, but alas, only two tea cozies). This party had a classic English Breakfast, The Earl in Grey, a green blooming tea (in a glass tea pot so you can see how pretty), and a saffron chai that Betty brought back from India.

The party was lovely, bringing together friends from various circles. I was mostly circulating and keeping an eye on the platters and tea pots, but I did get a chance to relax and enjoy too.

KathrynPhoto by Devastasia, Mrs. Maisel dress by me, necklace by Laurel Witting Designs, Kathryn slingbacks by Christine McConnell for American Duchess

I’ll probably host another one in the fall, so I can use all my Halloween cake pans and the like.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 30 July 2025 at 10:01 am  Leave a Comment  
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Review: Honey Cup Cafe & Tearoom

Dear Constant Reader,

signOn Sunday I had the pleasure of being one of the first customers at the new Honey Cup Cafe and Tearoom in Manchester, NH. The Honey Cup is run by Mara, a B.A.B.E. student and burlesque performer a few years back. You know how much I love tea, so I’ve been eagerly following her updates about the project. It was so exciting to be invited to her soft opening!

Manchester is about an hour from Boston, but on a Sunday morning, the drive was easy and the autumn scenery was lovely, even on the highway. We entered through the cozy cafe and were seated in the much larger tearoom. The decor is very elegant: black walls, gold accents, and lots of floral motifs. We chose one of the low tables with a couch and armchairs, but there are standard height tables too.tea room interior

The menu has a variety of breakfast, lunch, and small bite items without being overwhelming. It being brunch time, Scratch ordered the potato waffle with milk oolong tea and pigs in blankets to share and Marek had a frittata with white velvet tea. Despite being tempted by some of my favorite dishes like clam chowder, overnight oats, and macaroni and cheese, I ordered the afternoon tea service with peach black tea. I just had to.

honey jarAll of the china was mismatched, but harmonious, floral patterns. The tea came in individual pots, with the tea already brewed, no leaves to deal with. Mine was delightful. I take my tea black, so I didn’t add any of the wee jar of honey (local, our server said), but Marek said it was delicious.

My order came on the traditional three-tiered server of savories, scones, and sweets, garnished with flowers, with dishes of butter, strawberry jam, and lemon curd. There was more than enough for me to share bits with my companions.

Afternoon Tea Service

First tier: Cucumber sandwich (a classic!), smoked salmon sandwich, chicken salad on a croissant, and a deviled egg. The sandwiches were on thicker bread than usual for tea sandwiches, but it was so good and didn’t overwhelm the fillings. I even liked the deviled egg, and you all know how I feel about eggs. My favorite was the chicken salad; the croissant was ridiculously flaky. I didn’t share that one at all.

There was a choice of three flavors of scone, one of which gluten-free. I picked the white chocolate-raspberry and they were SO GOOD. I have very high standards when it comes to scones and these met them. I particularly liked that the white chocolate was in chips rather than melted into the dough, in made for a more pronounced white chocolate flavor, with complimented the raspberries.

Lastly the sweets. We all agreed the madeleine was quite good (but not as good as mine) with a perfect bump on the back. The lemon macaron and chocolate petit four were each a perfect bite (and I did not share).

table settingOther positives, even though the tea room was full, it wasn’t particularly noisy; I had no trouble hearing my companions. The prices were perfectly reasonable. In fact, I think the afternoon tea was a pretty good deal. Although we didn’t indulge, there’s a small drinks menu with a couple of kinds of wine, cocktails, and bubbles.

The only thing I would knock points off for is the service, but I’m not going to, because this was their shakedown cruise. There was a little confusion about who was serving which table and a bit of unevenness as to when things arrived at the table. However, I’m confident that things will smooth out. That’s the whole point of a soft opening.

I appreciated the notes on the back of the tea menu defining the kinds of teas, like cream tea (with clotted cream) and royal tea (with sparkling wine), for those who might not be as well versed in such things. I was especially happy to see the explanation of the difference between afternoon tea and high tea — it makes me crazy when they are confused.

They’re open to the public now and I encourage you to go! I’m so happy for Mara for making this lovely oasis a reality and wish her all the best!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 7 November 2024 at 5:21 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Mystery Madeleines

Dear Constant Reader,

When I wrote about our recent tea party, I mentioned that I had always wanted to try baking madeleines, but had never bought the pans. For those unfamiliar, madeleines are delicate little cakes shaped like sea shells, for which one needs a special pan. A well-made madeleine is tender, lightly browned around the edges, with a distinctive bump on the back.

I was certainly surprised when a package arrived on The Manor’s doorstep containing a pair of madeleine pans!
Madeleine pan
Although there was no note, I soon figured out that they had come from my doting mother (she’s the only person who uses my middle initial when addressing mail). Still, I enjoyed the mystery for a few moments.

As I was visiting her in a very short time, I decided the correct thing to do would be to bring her the fruits of my baking. After looking at a number of recipes, I went with the one in NYTimes Cooking, with gluten-free flour and a few flavoring modifications (lemon zest instead of orange, some vanilla, and a tiny splash of almond extract).

I over-filled the pans, so I didn’t get perfect shells,
Madeleines cooling
but look at those lovely bumps!
Madeleines in pan
They were so delicious! And really not hard to make, if you work with some precision, as is so often the case with baking.
Front and back

I will definitely be baking these again. And I found some savory madeleine recipes as well that sound wonderful. I guess I shall host a tea party soon.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 30 September 2024 at 3:26 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Tea Time

Dear Constant Reader,

You know how much I love tea, especially afternoon tea. My friends know it too. For the winter gift-giving holidays Betty gave me a gift certificate for a tea party at Jolie Tea in Salem and I decided to invite the troupe. We finally went last month. It was so delightful!

I love an occasion to dress up, and while my own tea parties afford an opportunity, as the hostess in my own home, it’s improper to wear a hat. I was thrilled to pull out my Millenary Investment for the second time this year and a pair of beaded vintage gloves, although I only wore them briefly (one should not eat or drink while wearing gloves).

IMG_5221Jolie Tea is charming without being twee. Our table was set with floral china, but it wasn’t fussy, and there were mugs rather than tea cups and saucers. Paige, our server, wearing snazzy skeleton earrings, dropped by to introduce herself, offer advice about the tea menu, and bring us goblets of iced crème brûlée rooibos. She also checked in about allergies and other food issues.

The tea menu was quite extensive, with black, oolong, green, white, pu-ehr, and herbal. Many of them had amusing or intriguing names, especially the herbal ones. If memory serves, both Ava and Devastasia got Pixie Dust (a blend of flowers and fruit). I had darjeeling because I’m classic that way.

IMG_5222The treats arrived on a traditional three-tier server: tiny sandwiches on the bottom, small cakes in the middle, and sweets on top. Devastasia had asked not to be served one of the sandwiches, so they had brought her a little dish of fresh berries instead. I meant to take a picture of each set of offerings on my plate, but only managed one (see below). I was too busy enjoying everything.

All the tea sandwiches were delicious, and each one had a little touch that elevated it (something to remember when I plan my next party). I think my favorite was the smoked salmon on a cheddar gougere (gougeres are like savory cream puff shells).

IMG_5225Then we turned to the baked goods on the next tier: scones and madeleines. Instead of raisin or currant, the scones were lemon, topped with a thick, sweet, but tart glaze? icing? something in between, with a sprinkle of rose petal powder. Although I had a token dab of wild strawberry jam, they just didn’t need it. I was reminded how good a simple madeleine can be. They’re something I’ve wanted to try baking, but haven’t sprung for the pans (an essential part of the cake).

The last bites were macarons. I tried the Earl Grey first. I don’t really like the tea, but Paige had assured us they tasted more like Froot Loops than bergamot. She was correct, but I was not won over. The raspberry ones were more to my liking and a perfect flavor to end on.

The tea, the food, and the atmosphere were wonderful, but the company was the best part. I really enjoy hanging out with these ladies and gent. We have a good time at rehearsals and shows, but it was really nice to spend time together when we weren’t working.

As you can see from this picture, much fun was had.
IMG_5224

Would you be interested in more tea content? I’ve got recipes, etiquette tidbits, tea facts, &c.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 12 September 2024 at 3:08 pm  Leave a Comment  
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In the Kitchen: Tomato-Parmesan Scones

Dear Constant Reader,

On Saturday I threw a little tea party at The Manor. It had been a while since my last one, but I hadn’t been feeling up to an elaborate to-do. I hadn’t been in a good place recently and I was badly missing my friends. So, I sent an invitation to a “low-key tea party”, promising only tea, scones and jam, and maybe cake.

And then something exciting happened (more on that later) which got me feeling motivated again. While I still didn’t make any tea sandwiches, I ended up baking two kinds of scones and two types of cake. And, it being October, I had a spooky theme going with the cakes and serving ware. I served…

Coffin brownies filled with Nutella and raspberries, served on a spirit board tray. I used the recipe for Supernatural Brownies from the NY Times and they were, in fact, scary good!

Spice cake tombstones, served on a skull cake stand.

Scones with currants and dried sour cherries (from our tree) from my favorite scone recipe. The heap of scones obscures the charming Victorian skeleton decoration on the bowl.

And these scones were accompanied by sour cherry jam and blood orange marmalade (both homemade) and butter. Please note the skull spoons and skeleton knife (the blade says “poison”).

Also, I made these savory scones as an experiment and I was very happy with the results. The recipe comes from Tea Fit for a Queen: Recipes & Drinks for Afternoon Tea and I’ve converted it from metric. I think the recipe could easily be doubled (and you want to).

Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan Scones
8 oz. self-rising flour (or about 1 1/4 cup flour, heaping 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt)
1 3/4 oz. unsalted butter (3 Tablespoons plus a little)
1 1/2 oz. grated Parmesan
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 oz. chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (I use a Silpat).

Sift flour into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the Parmesan, thyme leaves, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Pour in the milk. Gently stir until the dough just comes together. Knead lightly until the dough is smooth.

Pat dough into a round about an inch thick. Cut out scones. I got about 16 2″ round scones, but you could make them bigger. Bake about 10-15 minutes until barely browned.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 21 October 2019 at 3:02 pm  Comments (2)  
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Other Pasttimes

Dear Constant Reader,

Besides making costumes, I also indulge in embroidery and other handwork. When I have time. Which, sadly, is not as often as I’d like. I have a big basket of unfinished projects, and every now and then I buckle down and complete one, as I did last night.

Ta da!
Trapunto tea cozy
A trapunto tea cozy!

A what?, you ask. Trapunto is an Italian quilting technique that involves extra stuffing in the design elements to get a dimensional effect. It’s very time consuming. This is the front, which was hand-quilted and stuffed. The back is a simpler version of this design, which was machine-quilted and has no trapunto work (it was never going to be finished if I had to do two sides by hand).

A tea cozy, for those poor unfortunate souls who have never been to a proper tea, is like a winter coat for your tea pot to keep the contents nice and warm. This is a traditional style of cozy that sits over the pot, like an over-sized hat.

cozyTo the right you can see a different style of cozy, which was knitted by my doting mother. One can pour the tea without taking the cozy off. Sometimes it’s known as a “bachelor’s cozy”, presumably because men are too busy or lazy to remove a cozy or that’s a woman’s job or some other Victorian nonsense.

One project down! Many more in progress. However, The Expo and other events loom close and I fear my embroidery time has come to an end for now.

M2

Published in: on 4 January 2017 at 1:18 pm  Leave a Comment  
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In the Kitchen: Walnut Tea Cake

Dear Constant Reader,

For the last several years at The Expo I’ve been hosting a tea party on Sunday afternoon. I love it, except for the fact that the hotel has to do the catering. I decided it was time to throw a party at Stately Babydoll Manor where I could make all the goodies.


And so I did. We had:
4 kinds of tea: peach oolong, green, rooibos, and blooming
served with sugar cubes and molded flavored sugars (thanks, RuffleCon!), milk (regular or cashew), lemon.
3 sandwiches: pear-blue cheese-walnut, classic cucumber, tomato with basil
2 breads: vegan English muffins, sour cherry scones
served with sour cherry jam and butter
3 pastries: walnut tea cake, lemon cookies with fondant & piped icing, vegan chocolate mini-cupcakes with chocolate glaze

When I posted a picture of the walnut cake on Facebook, I was asked how it was, but I baked it Thursday and I didn’t taste it until Saturday. The answer, quite good. It’s a little plain, but moist, nutty, and just a little sweet. Goes very nicely with a cup of tea (and I assume coffee, but I never touch the stuff).

The recipe came from Ida Allen Bailey’s book Luscious Luncheons and Tasty Teas which was probably published sometime between 1920 and 1930. Mrs. Bailey was a prolific cookbook author and sort of the Martha Stewart of her day. The book is one of four gorgeous volumes* that were designed to hang, calendar style, on the wall. There are menus for each week of the year with a corresponding recipe or two.

Here’s the recipe for those who asked:

Nut Tea Cake
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I toasted them)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Cream butter & sugar, work in nuts, salt, egg, add milk. Sift together flour and baking powder, beat and transfer to medium-sized oiled dripping pan (I used a 9×9 glass baking pan). Sift 1/3 cup sugar mixed with cinnamon over. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

M2
*Delicious Dinners, Satisfying Salads, and Dainty Desserts. I’m on a quest for the two I don’t own.

Published in: on 13 June 2016 at 2:40 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Expo 2016: Parties

Dear Constant Reader,

After the Main Event each year, The Expo holds a party at the hotel pool with music from The Waveriders. It’s a lot of fun, but very, very loud, between the music and the pool house acoustics. This year there was also a quieter option — the Game Room, overseen by the Game Warden, Scarlett Letter, with most of the games supplied by the invaluable Heather C.

I started out at the Pool Party, where it is traditional for the BeauTease to go-go to the surf music until late. You can’t really tell in this selfie, but I’m wearing 3 different leopard prints (scarf, bathing suit, and sarong). After a while of nibbling on cheese and watching my B.A.B.E. instructors frolic in the water, I realized I was completely exhausted. There would be no twisting the night away for me.

I dropped in on the Game Room which was indeed much quieter than the pool despite the rollicking game of Cards Against Humanity. It appeared that our copy of “Take It Off”, a vintage board game about a burlesque club (yes, really), was still in the storage room, ah well. No one seemed to miss it. I’ll write something up about it another time. It’s a hoot. But I was in bed long before either party shut down.

On Sunday afternoon I hosted a little tea party, with help from my hostesses, Corinne and Chelsea. I was so excited because the tea this year was provided by Jacqueline Hyde, which I just adore. I was delighted to addict a few more people with the pleasures of Bad Things (peach oolong) tea. And I got to wear my Stephanie Buscema mermaid dress with *two* crinolines. So fluffy! There are pictures out there somewhere…

As usual the food was terrific. The set-up, not so much. The staff brought in all the food when they were supposed to, but there was no sign of our tea equipment (hot water urns and tea pots). What we need to get started first is the tea! After they finally (with much prodding from me) brought in the hot water urns, I asked about the tea pots and was told that it wasn’t part of the order. Oh yes, it was. It’s been the same basic order for years now. Grrr.

At this point we were mere minutes from doors and there was already a line outside. I *hate* starting anything late, but how can we have a tea party without tea? Finally we got our pots and quickly got the tea started before opening the doors to the genteelly ravaging hoards. As I mentioned, the food was terrific — finger sandwiches, little muffins, and tiny cakes. I think the chef has fun with this event. It’s lovely to just relax for an hour or so before the final show and then strike.

And then it was time for the Sunday Showcases!

M2

Published in: on 8 March 2016 at 1:03 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Expo 2014: Tea Party

Dear Constant Reader,

One of the many things I do at The Expo is host an afternoon tea party. It’s a nice way to relax on Sunday afternoon after all the craziness of the weekend and recharge before the Sunday night shows. We have a variety of teas, finger sandwiches, scones, and little pastries. The food is provided by the hotel, of course, but we bring in the tea from generous sponsors.

Brigitte Bisoux is my co-hostess and in charge of finding said generous sponsors. This year MEM Tea Imports provided us with half a dozen different kinds of tea for the party and many little samples for the attendee goodie bags.

Our new sponsor was Runa: Clean Energy, which make a tea-like beverage from guayusa (it’s like mate). Not only did they provide us with 3 different flavors of teabags, they gave us cases & cases of their bottled beverage. The strike crew was very happy to have the boost later that night…

In fact Runa was so generous with the bottles, that we had quite a few left over. We’re selling them at B.A.B.E. and all the money will go to make next year’s tea party even better!

One of the things I wanted for this year’s party was decorations on the tables and Mimi Mischief was happy to make cute centerpieces with a Valentine’s theme.

Since both of my hostesses from last year desperately wanted to take Perle Noire’s class just before the party, I sought someone to help me set up the party. Blaze, The Red Rose of Texas, answered the call, tea apron at the ready. She was invaluable at getting the tea prepared and especially in keeping the pots refilled.

And here’s the whole staff, product placements in hand.

Just a few fashion notes: Brigitte is wearing yet another of her ridiculous hats and a vintage, reversible apron from my collection. Blaze is wearing a vintage hat, dress, and tea apron. I’m wearing a fascinator by Cristal Blu and an apron of my own creation. And no make-up — I was tired at this point and it really shows. Mimi is displaying one of her centerpieces.

M2

Published in: on 3 March 2014 at 9:57 am  Leave a Comment  
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Expo: Tea Party

Dear Constant Reader,

On Sunday afternoon, after the conference is over, but before the evening’s show, I host a little tea party. This year my co-hostesses were Brigitte Bisoux and Mimi Mischief. I don’t think we took any photos which is a shame because we were freaking adorable with our full skirts and aprons. I made the aprons Brigitte & I wore out of fabric with a tiny print of wee teacups and they tied with pink satin sashes, but Mimi, a costuming student, wore one of her own creations.

The party was sponsored by Jacqueline Hyde Emporium, who provided all the tea and made it possible for us to have yummy little sandwiches, scones, and tiny cakes. Jacqueline herself had a family emergency and couldn’t attend, which made me so sad, as I’m sure people would have been snapping up tea from her right & left.

We served:

  • Royal Muse– Jasmine green tea
  • Nervous Beats — Coconut black tea (this was was incredibly popular. Not just coconut *flavored*; there were shreds of coconut in with the tea leaves.)
  • Bad Things — Peach oolong (my personal favorite)
  • Lust ‘N Love — Passion fruit and orange black tea
  • Strip Tea — Rooibos

    • It’s a nice way to relax and socialize after the intensity of the weekend and to get ready to enjoy The Newcomer’s Showcase.

    M2

    Published in: on 24 April 2013 at 11:21 am  Leave a Comment  
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