(thank you, hannah baggs, for the pictures.)
i worked in a tea room for over three years, and this apparently has qualified me to host an english high tea. now, in my experience, most people upon hearing of "high tea" think of meager fare consisting of a few continental breakfast pastries accompanied by overbrewed earl gray (palatable only with great quantities of cream and sugar).
this is not how i was taught to serve tea.
the high tea i serve is a full, 4-course meal. it is accompanied by locally blended loose leaf teas, precisely brewed for full, not bitter, flavor.
first served was the soup course ... except that fifteen minutes before our tea guests arrived, i broke a glass measuring cup into the pot of sweet potato ginger soup as i was pureeing it and had to make a new pot of soup. so we served the tea sandwich course.
no one seemed upset by the delay ... as long as there was plenty of tea!
fyi, 14 teenagers go through a lot of tea!
our tea sandwich course included a few tea room recipes, and a few of our own invention ...cucumber sandwiches
3 pepper cream cheese on rye sandwiches
egg salad sandwiches
sausage tartlettes
dilmah ceylon tea
the aforementioned out-of-order soup course ...
delicous sweet potato soup (sans broken glass)
cheddar cornmeal biscuits
jasmine green tea (at least, i think that's what we served ... it was over 2 months ago ...)
everyone's favorite: the dessert course ...
swedish toscas (courtesy of my generous mother)
cranberry scones with jam and mock devonshire cream
pumpkin bread (thanks, tessa!)
rose's tea room special blend tea
... i think i'm forgetting something ...
and the chocolate course, of course!
chocolate tea pots (a mousse-like concoction of black tea and dark chocolate)
chocolate crepes
lemon rose tea
i might have forgotten how much work it takes to serve a high tea, but i remembered really quickly!
joel was in charge of desserts.
i was in charge of most other food, presentation, and tea.
lizzie was in charge of filling water and helping out. (great job, lizzie!)
ethan was in charge of helping joel make crepes and survive the tidal waves of girliness.
he did his best, but i think joel was just too far gone ... ;)
thanks, ladies (and ethan), for a lovely time! can't wait for the next one!
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