Tea Party

My tea party Saturday went fantastic. It was wonderful to have all my friends get together and chat and have a good time.

My friend Christie is starting a new business. Tea Parties! Doesn't that sound like a fun job? She has hooked up with this company called Tealightful Treasures. It is kind of like Tupperware only with tea. They sell all kinds of tea and scone mixes. They have some tea sets you can buy as well as other fun girlie type stuff.

Now I am not a foo foo type girl but I do enjoy dressing up and hanging with the gals. Yes I wore a dress and did my hair and make up. It was so much fun.

Even though BH said I could have the cleaners come I decided I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to dust and wash all the crystal and stuff. I never did get around to the ceiling fan and globes but I will before T-day.

Even though scones and tea would be provided I decided to make some sandwiches. You gotta have tea sandwiches. Really, you do. So I set about gathering recipes.

Here's what I made.

Cucumber Sandwiches.

Must have for any tea party. I love cucumber sandwiches.












Cream cheese and jam. This jam is the habranero plum jam that I made this summer. It has a little kick to it if you eat enough of it. Otherwise it is just plain yummy.










Tuna.

I didn't plan to have tuna. I thought that tuna might be a little 'fragrant' for a tea party. What I wanted to make was this new recipe for chicken salad. It had almonds and dill and sounded so wonderful. I didn't have any canned chicken in the house so I went last minute shopping for the tea and picked up a can of chicken. Except when I opened up the chicken I realized that either the chicken was very bad or I had bought tuna. I did. Now I would understand if I had picked up Chicken of the Sea, seeing the word chicken and all. No. It was Bumble Bee. Seeing as how it was late and I was already in my jammies, I decided that it was going to be fine to serve tuna after all.


And cookies!

These are ginger snaps that I cut into fall shapes using these adorable mini cutters that I bought several years ago and never got around to using.
Beautiful and delish.

I love ginger snaps. I think I ate most of them.





This is Christie's oldest daughter Chloe. She is a wonderful young lady with excellent manners and a sweet disposition. I love her dearly.

And the back of Miss Shelly's head. Nice blouse though. She always dresses so feminine and pretty.









Our younges tea guest.



BH's granddaughter came and was delightful.












The front of Miss Shelly. She is a little pixie. Tiny and adorable. We have known each other for longer than we can remember.












BH's Daughter in law Kim and her mother Clair.














Miss Shelly and Miss Christie.

I had a lot of guests but once things got rolling I forgot to take pics.









What these girls did was amazing. They came in with a couple of large tubs and went to work setting up the displays.
They brought this beautiful tea set with demitasse tea cups. Little tiny cups. So cute. You thought that you could finish it off in a sip. You got maybe 2/3 sips. Perfect for trying the different teas. We had two kinds. They served Warm Heart and Spice is Nice Chai. I was allowed to pick these ahead of time.




They arranged all the food and got the hot water for tea going. While Shelly was preparing the tea Christie gave the presentation. Then we went into the kitchen where we were given a cooking demonstration on one of the scones. I chose Cranberry Orange and Lemon Poppy. The Cranberry Orange was prepared ahead of time and Christie made the Lemon Poppy in minutes. It was so easy. We used applesauce as the wet ingredient. No eggs or cream. They were so moist and wonderful. While we waited for the scones to cook we were served tea and got to try the two teas and had sandwiches.

I usually go to a tea party once a year. My dear friend Gwen has a huge, huge fall tea. She sends out invitaions. They last 2 days. She has crazy lots of people that come. I look forward to the two sisters. I can never remember their names. They are Red Hat ladies and then some. They wear authentic Victorian attire right down to the unmentionables (which they do mention and show!). Her friend Corina sells tea and tea accessories. Craft items are sold, seeding plants, quilts, homemade things. Everyone looks forward to Gwens teas. Last year and this year her life has gotten so busy that she is not doing the teas. She won't say forever, but for now she just can't manage it.

I miss them.

I would really like to do another tea. Maybe in the spring. Sounds like fun huh?

Now it is time for me to clean my gun. We go shootin tomorrow. Whoo-hoo.

In other news:

Tom again. Seriously!

He and Moe had to stay inside. With all the people I was afraid someone would leave a gate open. He tipped his box over three times. The second time I secured the box with something heavy. Not heavy enough apparently. I was sipping some tea when Tom comes cruising into the kitchen. I decided to put the bugger out.

After everyone was gone he was clamouring to get back in. He will scratch at the door like a dog, only slower, until you let him in.

So I did.

Then he makes a whole nuther ruckus to get out again. We put both Tom and Moe out and they were happy as clams.