When I was at university I used to often miss those big weekend meals where the entire family would wolf down a heavy lunch and laze around the rest of the day. It was almost like a tradition. Late lunch, conversation, a nap, tea and biscuits; that’s how the day would go. Unfortunately when you are a student away from home those big meals are hard to come by. If you were able to open a bag of frozen veggies and mix it into your two minute indomie noodles, that would be special enough.
But what is really great about the weekends is everyone coming together. The amazing feeling you get surrounded by people and their stories and while insults and fights do occur, these are the days that are most memorable. Lately I’ve been feeling like the week drags on forever with no inspiration. So I decided that it was time to change things up a bit. Take a break from the dinners and have a nice cozy tea party with friends. Escape the loneliness for a little while.
Why tea? Well If I were completely honest, I like the little plates of food; the decadent and the savoury, crockery adorned in floral motifs, lace table cloths, the little cubes of sugar, the ribbons and the hats! If I could make all my guests dress up to suit the theme of my dinners and teas, I really would! However for right now I’ll just resort to people actually wanting to come eat my food over them finding my little shindigs troublesome.
The menu!
- White chocolate and cherry macarons
- Orange glazed cookies
- Raisin stuffed cookies
- “Purple sparkle” cake pops
- Shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce
- Pickle and salami canapés
- Mint and cucumber tea sandwiches
- A fruit platter of honeydew melon, plum, grapes and strawberries dipped in chocolate
- Ceylon tea (eh what else would I serve in my household)
- Lemongrass ice tea
It was exciting making smaller quantities of various kinds of food. Time consuming? yes, but a lot of fun! I tried my best to have a combination of simple things as well as complicated on the menu. There were those that I had made before, orange glazed cookies, cake pops etc.. as well as those that were first timers; macarons, spring rolls etc...
Macarons became a bit of a dilemma but I managed to scrape through. You can read about it here! I had never used wonton/ spring roll sheets before and I blew a big sigh of relief to find out how easy they were to use, especially when I was cramming for time. Everything eventually did fall into place, definitely a better success than my previous dinner when I had a bit of an accident cutting into my finger...boooo....
I even managed to find time to design some name cards. And of course in my books everything needs ribbons! Check out the next couple of entries for more on the menu!
