Afternoon Tea - Sit, Chat, and Eat, Eat, Eat

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

I have a great fondness for afternoon tea. (Even better than that is high tea, but I usually end up skipping that and going straight for dinner.) I love the little sandwiches, I enjoy the hot tea with pretty sugars, cream, or lemon and honey, and I really, really enjoy my scones with thick clotted cream. It’s tasty and decadent, and not diet friendly in the least. I like it that way.

Have you ever held an afternoon tea party at home? If you’d like to try, and I do recommend that everyone try an afternoon tea at some point, I’ve got a few tips on ingredients.

Bread
Certainly, you can buy any bread you like and cut off the crusts, slice the sandwiches into triangles or mini rectangles, and you’ve got a great tea sandwich. But I found some great cocktail bread loaves from Whole Foods Market. Rubschlager Cocktail Breads come in several flavors (I bought the rye, pumpernickel, and sourdough), and they’re about 2 inches wide. They’re already tiny, so no extra trimming, they’re sliced very thin, and they’re adorable! They make perfect mini sandwiches! I love cute food!

Cream, Jam, and Chocolate for Scones
Staying with the great “mini” theme for my tea, I went to Cost Plus World Market. This is one of my favorite stores for food items. I picked up a few packages of my favorite digestive biscuits, McVities Original flavor. They are a great addition to tea, as they are very good plain, and also go well with chocolate or cheese. I also bought three different flavors of Sticky Fingers Bakeries scone mix. These are great scone mixes. All you add is water, mix it up and bake. The scones come out with an almost crisp outside with a very tender inside. I got the Original, Black Currant, and Cocoa-Chocolate Chip flavors, but there are lots of flavors to choose from. I also recommend the Pumpkin Cranberry for a rich flavor with a bit of sweet tartness.

However, the best items I bought here were the 1 oz. mini jams and chocolate spreads I got in the 99 cent bins. If you don’t want to get a huge jar of jam, which you may or may not use after tea time, these little jars are perfect. (And oh so cute!) I bought lemon curd, black currant jam, chocolate spread, and honey for the tea – all in little 1 oz. jars. They even carry clotted cream in these jar sizes, but unfortunately when I went they were out.

Savouries
For the savouries, I like quick and easy. Head to Costco for some frozen spanakopita, quiche, or other puff pastry items. There are several to choose from. You get a lot of food for your bucks, so there’s plenty for your guests. Or stop at Trader Joe’s. In the freezer aisle, they also have spanakopita, quiche, and puff pastries, although in smaller quantities.

Desserts
For the sweet tooth, I still head to Costco and Trader Joe’s. Costco has a great big tub of cream puffs. Take some out about half an hour before serving, place them on a platter or in a nice bowl, and let them soften up. Trader Joe’s has all kinds of cakes, tortes, and decadent desserts in the freezer aisle. Pick up an opera cake or a chocolate torte, let it thaw on a platter, and slice it into individual servings. Presto! Instant dessert!

Tea is a wonderful way to pamper yourself and others, to sit back with friends and family and eat and talk, eat and talk, eat and talk…. If you don’t have the cycles to whip up your own tea, I will be reviewing a few tea houses in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. Remember: Tea has lots of great health benefits, and good company is good for the soul. So, grab a friend and go have a cup!

"Come and share a pot of tea,
My home is warm and my friendship's free."
~Emilie Barnes