Will You Have Some Tea at the Theatre with Me: Mom's Birthday Tea Party

*The Who

So yesterday was my mom's birthday, but I had to work so we scheduled a celebration for today. Ever since we went to London when I graduated college, my mom and I have continued to enjoy hot tea and she always talks about having an afternoon tea party. Since she still hasn't had one (even though she's collected some of the equipment), my sister and I thought this would be the perfect time.

Over the last week or so, Laurie and I have been fine tuning the details. Getting recipes, forming the list of ingredients and props we would need, creating a formal invitation. We wanted this to be as authentic as we could make it. So we did research on the traditions and how to make the menu all English-y.

We decorated with ink sketches of the places Mom and I had been in London, tea lights, and flower-ish things I yanked out of the monkey grass in the front yard. And for ambience, I turned on the very same Mozart cd I listened to after my massage to get some culture in my life. It was perfect.

The food we decided on was: store-bought creme puffs, cucumber sandwiches, scones, pumpkin bread from a Pilsbury box, strawberry soup, and grapes. (We went a little overboard with the food. But it was delish, and I'm gonna have leftovers for a week.) Laurie has been collecting tea cup and saucer sets for such an occasion as this. None of them match, but they're all shabby-chic style so they go together. And we hijacked my mom's tidbit tray, tablecloth, linens, and silver.

So we had all the necessaries. It should have been smooth sailing. Laurie and Coco got here around 10:00. We should have been set and dressed for the occasion when my mom arrived at noon, dressed for the occasion. I mean all we had to do was stir up the pumkin bread mix and pop it in the oven; mix the ingredients for the strawberry soup in the blender and pop it in the fridge; and bake the scones (a process which the recipe said took 10 min prep time and 15 min cook time). Easy breezy. Sike!

Problem no. 1: My mom is the baker in the family. A trait that did not pass to either of us. But Laurie was doing the soup, so the scones were up to me. The recipe looked quite simple. Mix, roll, cut, bake. After a few rounds with the spoon trying to "cut in" the butter, I decided I should be using a mixer. I looked around a bit to no avail before realizing problem no. 2: Grandma is also not a baker. So not only does she not have a mixer, but she doesn't have a rolling pin either.

I solved the first problem, and averted the second, by melting the butter in the microwave just as Mom walked in the door...totally decked out. She was even wearing a hat with a netted veil over her face. Yay for enthusiasm. After apologies for not being ready, I reluctantly had her help me. "You should be using a fork instead of that spoon." Told you she was the expert. I handed her the fork and let her mix in the egg and milk until she determined it sufficiently moist. Then she went to go play with the baby and I was left to knead it into a "1/2 inch round" and cut it into wedges.

As stated before, there was no rolling pin, so I flattened it out like pizza dough...and then cut it into pizza-like slices...with a pizza cutter. I know what I know, and apparently it's not very classy.

Because pizza slices look nothing like scone wedges, I rolled them up like croissants. And then squished them out, trying to shape them with my fingers. They ended up resembling Bat-Signals more than wedges, but Mom appreciated the effort.

While they were baking, Laurie and I slipped into our dresses and I finally got an opportunity to wear my mini Kentucky Derby hat I bought two months ago. And then we had Afternoon Tea.

I thought we should be talking about the latest fashions and cricket, but we knew nothing about those things so we settled for stories about ninja class and my baby niece learning sign language. Unfortunately, I only thought of using British accents when we were done. Next time, it will be a requirement!

Yes, these pictures are posed. Even more fun, I think, than actual candid shots.

"Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage." -Catherin Douzel