Thursday, March 3, 2011

Time For A Tea Party Ya'll....

It was time for 
"The Royal Court of Tea Sister's"
 Valentine's Day Tea.....
We had delayed it a week past Valentine's
because of time/date conflicts with all of us.
It was held at Marsha's house this year.

We had the table set for 6...and had invitations out for
all 4 of the Royal Court members,
and for two extra invited guests.

The two guests canceled....so we invited two more at the last minute...
they couldn't come.

So we decided to just
"press onward like good Tea soldiers."
Then several hours before our gathering...our good friend Diane,
couldn't come because of issues at home
with her husband who has been so ill.
Sad, as we were about her not being there....

"We marched on."
Marsha, had made us up little
"Tea Menus"  
for each of us to pick our flavors of tea
from that we would choose to drink that day.

She's always a great hostess.....


Tricia,
urging us to
"pick our favorite teas"
 from Marsha's
"Magical Tea Hutch"
where she keeps all her special Teas.
She blends them herself!
Marsha the "Tea Baroness"
as I call her.
Saying......"Please don't take my photo!"
Too bad....it's happening my friend.
But I made it small so you wouldn't fuss to much!

Marsha pouring and Tricia supervising......

Joyce (moi) "enjoying" it all.

We served.........
"Roast beef w/a horseradish spread on a dark Pumpernickel."
Not exactly your typical tea bread but I was in a
German mood when I prepared them.

Tricia's "Cold, Crisp, Blanched, Asparagus"
Fresh, and tasty to the pallet!

And lastly,
Marsha's, WORLD CLASS Cucumber Sandwiches
(Even Lord Wedgewood himself said so...more on this later!)

This is our most favorite Tea food,
 that we must have at EVERY single Tea
we hold and we eat them nearly until we are sick,
 (from stuffing ourselves like country.... errrr, nevermind)
Because we just love them so MUCH!

I know, I know, that is not very
 Ladylike
AT all.
But we can't help ourselves!

Scones, and a special "Tea Bread" with green tea in it that Marsha made.


More scones.
I mean really, can one ever get enough of scones?
These were
"Cranberry and Lemon Scones"

I had found a new recipe (new to me) using
 WHO knew there was such a huge difference in Lemons, but these Meyer's Lemons were AMAZING!

You just wanted to eat the Lemon all by itself!
It was not tart, and was flavorful.
 I squeezed one into a glass and DRANK the juice and did not have to sweeten it at all.

Tricia being very sweet as usual. She's the sweetest one in the bunch.

Marsha, "The Lady in Red"
A Princess visiting from a Far Away Land.
Whoops...I mean Joyce.

Time for Biscuits!

I brought two types of Belgium Biscuits....say that 5 times fast.
Belgium,
is a wonderful little country,
(that I have been to for 6 hours, so I am a bit of an "expert" on all things Belgium)
 that has really great "cookies"
as we Americans call them.

And Belgium is FAMOUS for it's Chocolate.
And when you can get them both together it's even better.

Of course,
I call them
"Biscuits"
so that people will think I am European.
Sadly it doesn't work though.

Having no European accent gives me away every time.

(It's late and I am in a very sarcastic mood tonight for some reason.
Can you tell???
 I think it's called "lack of sleep.")
"Finalmente, Infine, לבסוף, Schließlich, Окончательно, Finally,"
(OMGosh..I LOVE "The Online Translator"...who doesn't? I use it all the time!)

We have Tricia's,
"Hand Dipped, Fresh Strawberries, in Chocolate!"
Fabulous....

After all of this....
we took a nap.

No!
Not really.
Don't we wish though.........

However, what we DID really do was this:
You might be shocked so hold with me.

WE did clean up the table.
We did clean up the kitchen.

Then we went to
"T.J. Maxx" for a little shopping.

Then onto
"Books a Million!"
I'm serious.
We are "always" on the hunt for new "Tea" items.

Hey,  besides, it's like this:
"Great food, Great Fun, Great Friends.......
Let's Shop!!"

And OF COURSE......
"A great time was had by all."
All three of us.

In the end...
Sometimes,
"Less is More"
you know.

Even if there had only been two of us..
it still would have been a great
Tea party!

I think sleep is very needed for me at this point.
It's never really a good thing to write really late at night.
Yawn......ZZZzzzzz
Good night for now...
Cheers!

6 comments:

Denise said...

Well SHOOT!!!!! I would have come to fill one of those chairs! Made me sad..... I need a friend.. Since stopping my life to care for Mom and Dad, most of the ladies I used to run with have moved on... I have prayed for friend..... Now I am waiting..... so you see, I could have filled one of those chairs!
hahahahha

Linda Jennings said...

A tea party is special no matter how many guests attend! And, ending the afternoon with shopping with girlfriends sounds perfect to me!

BTW, one of my favorite tea sandwiches is pn pumpernickel bread. It's under recipes on my blog.

The HopeChest said...

Hilarious my friend. I'm going to take your camera away from you or say "food only" pics, maybe one group shot allowed. Oh, well, it was a great afternoon. It always is no matter how it turns out.
p.s. Denise, where are you from. Can you come next time?

Denise said...

Hey girl...... You would love Donetta! she is a hoot.... I too laughed when I saw her comment on my new do!.. Thanks for stopping by and I am glad that you had a good laugh.......
I had to blur out the face of that woman because I stole the picture from facebook somewhere...... I would not want her to be offended by me using her picture! Anyway, yeap, I am going to get it cut! It is pool time and time for a refreshing in my life.....

Tell your friend that I accept her invitation and if ever your way I will bring the crumpets!

Jackie said...

I wish I could be a surprise guest at one of your tea parties, but I'm just too far away across the pond, can't swim that far and my magic carpet has gone on strike.

Teresa's New Life said...

Ms Princes, um I mean Joyce- Oh, I did enjoy this post, just plane fun- LOL!!! And THAT tea cupboard- how in the world did you choose!