Late for a very important date?

When was the last time you attended a tea party? Was it with your dolls? Does the phrase “tea party” conjure up visions of Alice and the White Rabbit, or a splendid spread at an elegant hotel? Do you dream of a fancy tea at the London Ritz or maybe you have fond memories of tea at some fine establishment in years past? Do you have a past as a tea drinking dame?
Well darlings, tea parties are making a come back in London, New York - and believe it or not even in laid back Orange County, California. And why not? They can be divine. I confess, I adore tea and I always have. Perhaps it’s because I come from Boston, the land of the bean and the cod – and lots of traditions including the Boston Tea Party, where no tea was drunk. But seriously I spent lots of my youth at Montréal’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, sipping tea.

Photo by: Natalie Chiu
Tea and all of its rituals have always held a certain appeal to women because it’s so elegant and such a great way to settle in and dish. Men love tea too; it’s so romantic - and there is cake.
The Montréal Ritz still has one of the lushest teas this side of the Atlantic. In the summer, you can enjoy perfect afternoon tea in their gorgeous garden. The little sandwiches and pastries are perfection, as are the ducks paddling in the pond. There is also always the option of cold glass champagne to make it even more oh la la!
The epitome of all teas must be tea at the Ritz in London, in the fabulous Palm Court. It is one of the few things in today’s world that is actually as marvelous as you would anticipate. The beautiful Art Nouveau room, the out of this world floral arrangements, and posh service - it’s all as delish as the clotted cream on your scone. This is one tea that has always left me sighing with delight.

The Palm Court at the Ritz


A friend with taste assured me that tea the NH Grand Hotel Krasnopolsky in Amsterdam was just as divine. Tea at The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok - that fine old bastion of taste and history - is restrained and yet sumptuous.
There is a little tea shop in Toronto called the Red Box that combines a pastry shop with a tea shop. It has a decided oriental aesthetic and makes a nice change for a more relaxed tea. The King Edward Hotel in Toronto used to do a lovely tea. It was much nicer than the newer hotels in Toronto, which just don’t have the knack.
The Four Seasons Hotel and The Pierre Hotel in New York both know what tea is about and serve it with aplomb. I steer clear of teas and other trends, but that’s me. I like tradition, elegance, and a chance to relax and chat. Given a choice in New York, I’d head to The Pierre. I have always adored it. It reeks of class, style, and more soignée times.
Tea in Paris? I think not. Stick to a glass of wine in charming café, for when in Rome, well, darlings, have espresso, natch.
Have I ever had a bad tea? Not so much. There have been a few that were mediocre and a few that were disappointing in their pretension. Tea should be fabulous! Let’s face it darlings, in this day and age, it is a pure indulgence so it has to be absolutely grand or why bother? And really what is so hard to get right.
That is why tea parties are making a comeback. They are so much fun and so easy to do. Teas are the perfect way to entertain. They are easy on the budget or can be, don’t require lots of cooking. Everyone loves a tea party!
Teas are an assembly job, not a cooking marathon. You can start on Wednesday for Saturday and have a perfect low stress event. How fabulous is that? For a spring or summer tea you need sandwiches, scones, pastries, tea, and maybe lemonade and sparkling wine.
So, have I convinced you darlings? Are you ready to break out your cups and saucers - any will do - and have a tea party, Alice? Are you ready to delight your friends and be the hit of the season? To make everyone feel warm, special, and loved? Yes darling, that is why we have parties. And it is fun! So are you ready? Good – because here is all you need to know.
Photo by: Natalie Chiu
 

Trend Alert- Blooming Teas
One way to make your party special is to serve your guests a blossom in their cup or glass. “Blooming” tees are all the rage on the west coast and are popular at chic soirées. Here’s what makes them so special: Jasmine tea leaves are shaped into a ball, which you put into a transparent pot or glass. As the tea steeps, the ball unfolds into an exotic organic flower. This is a tasty and visual treat. Rari Teas offer 12 different blends for harmony, beauty, loyalty, and other lovely characteristics. The tea can be made in small inexpensive glass pots or in tall heat-resistant glasses available at most kitchen shops for a few dollars. At one of the loveliest parties I attended, they were served in cups and stemmed glasses. The glasses were not too delicate and had spoons in them to absorb heat. Hot liquid is not recommended for most glassware. It is worth getting correct and safe equipment when dealing with anything hot. So, if you try this, use heat resistant glasses.
 

Fearless Entertaining Schedule
Wednesday-Make Menu and shop for a few ingredients after work
Thursday- Bake Square and or Cup Cakes and tidy up while baking (store baking in tins)
Friday Night- Shop for sandwich ingredients.
Saturday – Prepare fillings prepare fillings for sandwiches, tidy, set table. Buy and arrange flowers
Sunday Morning – Make Sandwiches, arrange baking trays, pop in scones, fill teas trays, make lemon aid, ice wine. Enjoy!
This might seem like a lot to do, I know. But you can do it in about in 2-3 hours each day and still have a life. This is not something you do every week or even every month. If you make lists of every menu item and ingredient and tick it off, you will get it all done and stay sane.
Try to get a friend to help pick up things for you. If you forget things it can save a lot of time if you don’t have to keep running out. Also buy ready made, if you are busy at work or not fast in the kitchen. This is a party, not a cooking contest. Buy pastries, cookies, and scones. You can even get really nice little tea sandwiches from caterers that are not too pricey.
Do not make your tea into a buffet with take-out meats and salads. Get lovely delicate things. Tea food is easy.
 

Tea Food 101
Tea Sandwiches
What makes a tea sandwich? Well darlings, they are small, dainty, filled, and either crustless, rolled, or in a roll. Some very ordinary things with a few special additions make tasty tea sandwiches. For example any of the fillings below on good bread, with the crusts off and cut in to triangles is pretty darn good:
· Egg salad. You might add some fresh dill or chopped gherkin.
· Cucumber. Thinly sliced, unpeeled English cucumber with chive cream cheese. Salt and drain the cucumber slice before making the sandwiches, pat dry. A classic.
· Smoked Salmon. Open-faced on brown bread with cream cheese and dill. Another classic.
· Chicken Salad. You might add some blanched almonds and chopped green grapes.
 
Not so classic but very fabulous:
Spicy Cashew Chicken Salad Rolls
To chicken salad add 1 or 2 tbsp (to taste) mild curry powder and 1 or 2 tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro. Also add ¼ cup each of finely diced Vidalia onion and celery. Before making sandwich add, 1 cup of good salted cashews. Stuff into small individual baguettes or finger rolls. Cut in half. Savory! If the little rolls are not available use a fresh baguette and cut into small slices.
Tip: I always use BBQ chicken from a good shop to make my chicken salad. It has the best tastes and takes a minute!
 
An Old Favourite:
Smoked Salmon Pinwheel
Spread whipped cream cheese on a roti or tortilla (pita is too hard to work with). Top with chopped fresh dill, chopped capers, and sliced smoked salmon. Roll the bread tightly into a cylinder and repeat. Wrap all the cylinders in cling wrap until you are ready to serve. To serve slice with sharp, serrated knife into 1½ inch slices. Retro chic. Quantity note: normally 1 standard pkg. of tortilla will work with 1 container of whipped cream cheese and one 8 oz. smoked salmon, but I spread the cheese thinly.
 
Tip :Try to buy your fish from a specialty purveyor, or at least taste the supermarket brand ahead of time – some are too mushy.
 
Lemons tart and sweet make a perfect tea party
Photo by: Natalie Chiu
 
A Little Lavender Lemonade?
This is pretty and sweet, and goes great with iced tea. Be sure to use organic lavender!
2 cups of fresh lemon juice. Squeeze it. This will take about 5-6 lemons, but get at least 12 for a tea party.
2 cups of sugar or just use 1 ½ cups if you like it tart – and I do!
Heat the lemon juice and the sugar together with 1 quart or liter of water until the sugar dissolves. If you want lavender lemonade, steep a small bunch of lavender in a teabag, ball, or cheese cloth in the warm syrup for 5 minutes. Remove. Split your syrup into two pitchers, add about 1½ liters/ quarts of water to each and chill.
Garnish tall glasses of this refreshing beverage over ice with thin slices of lemon or lavender. Do not spike your lemonade this tea party! Please! But at other parties this works really well with vodka!
Photo By: Natalie Chiu
 
For ice tea make a nice pot of strong orange pekoe - plain old tea. I use Twinings English or Irish Breakfast Tea or Lipton Yellow Label. Use the kind you like, and let it cool. Be sure it is strong, but not stewed, so don’t forget it. Pour over ice. Offer lemon and a pitcher of sugar syrup (just water and sugar dissolved) or sugar and Splenda. Yes, Splenda, as girls will be girls.
 
Tip: Sugar syrup, also called simple syrup, is used by bartenders and can often be bought wherever you buy mixers.
 
Tip: Hot tea is important at a tea party. You will want two pots made with cold water brought to a rolling boil, and steeped till the tea is amber, about 3-5 minutes. Be sure to warm your pot. Use about 4-5 bags per pot or - if the tea is loose - about the same amount of spoonfuls. Twinings and Fortnum & Mason sell lovely tea. Earl Grey or Darjeeling will please most people. You are not a tea shop. Use one or two nice teas and call it a day.
Remember to offer milk and lemon slices - not wedges. Tea is easy.
 
 
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Tea Lingo
So darling, do you fancy high tea at the Ritz? No you don’t!
“High Tea” does not happen at the Ritz, I assure you. “Afternoon Tea” does and it is very posh at that, with three courses. The expression “High Tea” sounds posh, especially on this side of the pond. But darling, it means supper or meat tea. It’s meal eaten at 5 o’clock with tea, not the fou fou fare we are after! But if you’ve been misinformed, do not feel badly. People who should know better - hoteliers, advertisers, and the like - have been spreading this for years, and driving me mad! After all, one does not go around correcting nice people socially. Quelle horreur! So now that I have set the record straight, you know what you want and to how to ask for it: “Afternoon tea, please.
Perfect afternoon tea in the Ritz Garden, an idyllic fantasy. Go for it. Be a princess!


A full afternoon tea - which could well negate your supper - has three divine courses: savoury, cream, and pastries or sweets.
I am sure you have figured that “savoury” is all about the tasty little sandwich morsels. The cream course is when you get a lovely scone (pronounced like on) with pots of jam and clotted or Devonshire cream. This is very thick, cooked cream. It’s wicked. You can find recipes to make it, but no one I know has ever objected to fresh whipped cream or crème fraiche, great jam, and berries.
Now a freshly baked scone of your own that is a beautiful thing. I’ll give you my recipe, but darlings - freshly bought is nice too.
 
My Favourite Scone
4½ cups flour, sifted with 2 tsp. baking powder and ½tsp baking soda and 1 tsp. salt
Add in ¼ cup sugar and the grated rind of one lemon
½ lb. or 225 grams very cold butter, cut into little cubes.
Work the butter quickly with your finger tips into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. It’s like making a pie crust. You could pulse it in a food processor, but I don’t recommend it. Just rub the butter and flour between you finger and drop it. You may add an optional ½ cup or so of dried cranberries or cherries at this point.
 
Add:
11/2 cups. or 300 ml. cream
Mix lightly to hold together and form a 1¼ -1½ inch thick round wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat evenly. Cut into 2 inch rounds or other shape. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake at 375f -190 C (preheated ) for 12-14 minutes , until very lightly brown. Very flakey and buttery. Do not over handle the dough. This is very delish, but best fresh. It’s also a fuss, so don’t do it if you’re stressed!
The final course is pastry. Here, let yourself go wild. Anything sweet cut small will do. Bake cupcakes in mini-pans and ice with butter-sugar icing. Homemade is good. Cut any square you or mother can bake and then cut into tiny pieces will be perfection. Buy or bake tiny cookies. Anything in a dainty portion will be fab!
Petits Fours are perfect little jewels you can eat. From the time of Marie Antoinette, they have been decadence on a plate. Too good not to want! It’s easy to be a dessert diva - most cities have bakeries that make petit fours and other little confections – or you can order them on the net!


Remember, you have weeks to plan to scout out your baked goods and supplies. If budget is an issue: co-host your party with a friend, shop for staples over several weeks, and be creative in sourcing. Try Chinatown and ethnic markets for fresh ingredients, as well nice, reasonable baked goods. Splash out on a few things from fancy gourmet shops. Mix it up. Trust me, people enjoy the variety.
Buy beautiful napkins for your party. Paper napkins are fine if you must, but a use cloth for your table. There are lots of colourful and inexpensive ones available everywhere. If you are young and starting out maybe borrow one from your mother or an older friend. They’ll love to help.
So ask your Mom for a tablecloth, for a recipe, or for some help. This is a great project for all types of Moms. But if you have a Mom who may be is a little more of a homey Mom - not such a career Mom - this might be right up her alley, Sally. How about a Grandmother you are fond of but, have little in common with these days? And, even corporate Moms can get a kick out of this type of thing. Moms, you’d be surprised how many teen and college daughters will spark to the idea of a la ti da tea.
And darlings, if your Mom is a not supportive, I am so sorry. Look around. There is probably some older woman - an Aunt or friend of the family - dying to take an interest in you. Life brings us what we need, if we are open to it. Eventually.


Photo by: Natalie Chiu
This is also a great time to invite that single interesting older women or cute younger person at work. This is the perfect opportunity to spread your net and your love. It’s just tea, pour it on.
So there we are darlings, another week gone. Dolce Dolce will be back to normal next week. I hope you liked my invitation to have a Tea Party. It’s a fun trend, so have fun with it. Why not? It’s all about making life a little sweeter – and what could be sweeter than a tea party?
 
Gracey Hitchcock
Editor
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