4th & last stop for KD's birthday crawl - Dessert & tea at my house

After our foray into Little Italy for coffee in the rain, we headed back to my house...

where this was awaiting us...

Two bridal shower tea parties

This past summer, I attended not one, but TWO bridal showers for former students. The theme for both showers was "tea party"...

Both girls graduated in the year 2000, the same year that TC was born. It's hard to believe that 14 years have gone by so quickly and now these young ladies whom I knew as teenagers are now young adults and ready to tie the knot...

"Make a cup of tea and put a record on..."

Earlier this week, I took out TC and friend (KD's daughter) for her belated birthday where we went for a girl's day out for tea at Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe...

I don't know about you, but when I hear the word tea, I think of these lyrics from The Cure's "Love Cats":

"We should have each other to tea, huh...
We should have each other with cream..."

OMG, you can tell that Robert Smith is totally lip syncing and in such a blase manner as well! Can you believe this performance is nearly 30 years old? Yikes! He must be in his early 50's now.

Anyhow, it had been more than a year since we were last here for tea...

Coronation Chicken

One recipe that I forgot to post earlier was one that was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953...

(cue the music, "Hail Brittania")

I first had my first taste of Coronation Chicken at Shakespeare's Corner Tea Shoppe during tea with my daughter and the neighbor girls...

KD's Birthday Tea Party...

At last, the big reveal...

Diamond sugar crystals from Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy. I dug up an old green floral silk placemat set I hadn't used in years (Pier 1). We had to use our red Christmas tablecloth as well. I thought it looked festive. You can also see the HP Sauce bottle (we tried that with the sausage rolls) and the Branston Pickle (before I moved it to the other room).The beautiful assorted platter of baklava in the middle was from King of Nablus Sweets. Man, D and I had a fun time that night gathering all of the sweets. The lovely tea set is courtesy of TORC...

Guess who got the cup with the flowers inside?

Tea Party preview food - The condiments and accompaniments

During the winter break, TC and I had fun scouring the local British food shops for the KD's upcoming tea party birthday. Although we didn't use this tea (seen below), I bought it for future us. It smelled so good!

I don't really like traditional tasting tea, but if it's fruity, I will drink it! This wasn't all there was either...

Tea Party preview food - Deviled Eggs

Behold, my first attempt at making deviled eggs.

These were one of the appetizers served for KD's birthday tea party a few weeks ago. They look pretty good!

Making these were made so much simpler with pre-boiled eggs from Costco (2 dozen for $3.49).

I looked up a bunch of different recipes and while they were pretty much the same, I noted a few variations and added my own twist. I didn't use up the whole two dozen eggs either. I kind of eyeballed the ingredients...

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients
18 boiled eggs
mayo
sweet pickle relish
Colman's mustard (it's a British brand and it has a kick to it)
salt
pepper
smoked paprika
chives

Directions:
Cut the eggs in half, lengthwise
Pop out the yolks
Put all the yolks in a bowl
Add the mayo - I started with 1/4 cup and then added more as needed
Add a few teaspoons of mustard
Add salt and pepper to taste
Add a few squirts (haha) of the sweet pickle relish
Mash the yolks in the bowl with a fork

Here's where I had help.

D was over early for the party to help set up and arrange the food. While I was a whirling dervish in the kitchen preparing a few other appetizers, D was "involuntarily recruited"  to spoon the yolk filling into the halved egg whites, which she did with panache and painstaking attention to detail. The filling was then topped with a pink of smoked Spanish paprika and a sprinkle of handsnipped chives. So, I have her to thank for the lovely presentation and execution of the deviled eggs.

I hope to make this again!