Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tea Party with Garden Bounty

 I recently shared an evening with a colleague, and we had tea.  It was my first British-style tea in the new place.  Fun!  I was eager to use some of the garden's bounty.  

My friend brought these gorgeous hydrangeas from her own garden.  Thank you!  I will let them dry and enjoy them through the winter.


 To start, we ate these little golden tomatoes (from the garden) as appetizers.  They are very sweet.  The larger, round yellow items are lemon cucumbers (garden), to be featured in a moment.
 I used rosemary from the garden, along with dried tomatoes that I had soaked in olive oil, to make a goat cheese spread.  I topped the lemon cucumbers with this blend and then garnished it with a leaf of garden basil.  Yumm.  I will definitely use this recipe again.

I served the savory course with a tart citrus herbal tisane.  It was evening and we wanted to avoid the caffeine.

I also made an egg salad, and meant to add a spicy cress (from the garden), but forgot that part, and so we had the cress as a post-party palate cleanser.  ;-) 

Then we had scones, jam and cream, and finished with chocolate, pears (local) and cheese.  With these courses, I served a rooibos blended with herbs.

It was a great evening, and I'm reminded how much I enjoy these small tea parties for two or three. They are easy to plan, prepare and enjoy.

6 comments:

Amy said...

wish I was there

Teresa's New Life said...

Wow, I'll bet your mouths were jumping for joy with the explosion of different flavors. Sounds soooo good. Thanks for sharing.

Angela McRae said...

This sounds divine! The garden goodies look just amazing, too. And I've never heard of lemon cucumbers so I must go check that out!

Beate said...

That's sounds lovely. Thanks for sharing, have to try copying the goat chesse stread . . . .

Marilyn Miller said...

I think these teas are the very best. Love that you were able to use so much from the garden.

parTea lady said...

Your British-style tea looks wonderful. The tablescape was pretty and the food looked delicious. I love that you used homegrown veggies and herbs for your menu.