Sapphire & Silver Tea

A few years ago while I was reading an issue of Victoria magazine I was inspired to throw a sapphire tea for my mother's birthday. I can't even remember now what the article was about specifically, blue and white dishes? Gem stones? Blue crystal? whatever it was I decided that it would be perfect to throw her a sapphire themed tea for her 65th birthday. I even ordered more cobalt blue biot crystal to fill out the set we received as a wedding gift. But then somehow she and I never scheduled it. I brought up the idea again this summer and convinced her to do it the afternoon before she and some of her girl friends would leave on a girls' trip because her best friend, who lives in Canada, would be in town.

I set the table with a white, chrysanthemum patterned linen table cloth, Moonlight Rose china, silver, and the blue Crystal.

I had purchased a set of 6 silver glittered taper candles at some point and fortunately was able to find them where I had stashed them in time to use them in my heirloom glass candlesticks.

The white and blue flowers I bought at the grocery store and arranged myself.


Now that I am homeschool and this is technically a school day I decided to use as much ready made treats as possible.

Sapphire & Silver Tea Menu

Murchie’s Ms. Grey black tea

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Curried chicken salad on Blues Bread

Tillamook cheddar and garden tomato on white bread

Cucumber cups with dill cream and smoked salmon

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Crumpets with strawberry jam or salal and blueberry preserve

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Blueberry & oatmeal bars

Assorted La Provence macarons

Assorted JaCiva chocolate truffles

Fresh blackberries, blueberries & mangoes

I also made a signature cocktail, I wanted something blue AND with Sapphire gin, and settled on the Sapphire Alpine. I made a huge pitcher full and it was way too much. The Boomers did not drink nearly enough of that as I had hoped! I served it in martini glasses in the drawing room while I was assembling the tea sandwiches.


This tea was a lot of fun to put together and my mother, her friends, and her sister really enjoyed it which made it all worth while. I was so tired afterward though being on my feet for several hours serving and pouring out hot tea. I went to be early last night!

St. Andrew's Day

In honor of St. Andrew's Day I had a little afternoon tea party with my boys.  One of my great aunts had quite a collection of Scottish inspired linens and I ended up with them.

A couple of the luncheon size napkins, each is different but most have thistle, heather, or tartan ribbon.

I've also begun to collect some Lucky White Heather souvenirs. This small pitcher started my collection. I found it at an antique store in Eureka, California during a road trip. The footed dish I got on ebay and used as a sugar bowl.

The table square has thistles and sprigs of heather embroidered on it.

Oh how I love a cuppa tea. I just served store bought shortbread cookies with lemon curd. The boys had hot apple cider.

Mr. W read aloud from the book Wee Gilles, about a boy who learns to play the bag pipes. Our Little Helper has begun taking highland Dance classes this year. I was able to find a teacher who had another boy the same age starting at the same time. That has been immensely helpful in keeping my son motivated to participate. He does not like to be the only boy in any situation. He tells me he really enjoys it, what little boy wouldn't enjoy hoping around swords?  His teacher recommended we attend a dance competition recently, there were a few boys competing in that too. He's getting exposed to lots of Scottish heritage, mayhaps he'd be interested in learning to play bag pipes himself?

Later in the evening Mr. W had some friends over for a Scotch tasting. He did one a few years ago. I'm not a Scotch drinker myself so I have the opportunity to catch up on my Netflix movies.

He puts on a nice spread of cheeses, cured meats, pate and nuts. This year he ordered Scotch eggs to go from The Horse Brass and re heated them in the deep fryer. I made a baked brie which I filled with fig jam made from figs from our tree.

Thanksgiving

Mr. W and I have hosted Thanksgiving so many times now that we run like a well oiled machine.  Our menu doesn't change much:

• Cranberry daiquiris
• Appetizer of guest's choice
• Butternut squash soup w/ cornbread
• Barbequed turkey and gravy
• Mashed potatoes
• Corn
• Brussel's sprouts
• Gr Grandma's green beans
• Sweet potatoes
• Cranberry sauce
• Dinner rolls
• Candied nuts
• Stuffing of guest's choice
• Brandy pumpkin pie
• Pecan pie
• Apple pie
• Berry pie

In the interest of keeping people out of  the kitchen, I set up the cocktail station in the Drawing Room. My decorating theme this year was children's artwork, so hand turkeys and painted mini pumpkins abound.
 
We were having 15 for dinner, and rather than setting up an auxiliary table in the Parlor, we decided we could set up his and hers tables in the dining room so everyone could be together. This is Mr. W's table, two out of 3 little boys sat here.

 My table was longer and held all the older two generations. Wow, four generations in one room to celebrate the holiday. I have a lot for which to be thankful, in spite of all the loss.

 

 Nothing beats a boy in a bow tie.

 Mr. W, master griller.

 Continuing on a theme of meats without utensils...

This is as good of a photo as I'm going to get of a 6 yr old and nearly 3 yr old. I've got to learn to take these photos at the beginning of the party...before I give them desserts.

The return of Mah Jongg!

My mom and I had a regular Mah Jongg group that met monthly back before and when I was pregnant with Our Little Helper. After he was born it became more and more challenging to meet up, especially since we were meeting on a week night. We decided to put together a new group last fall, but a broken leg by one of the ladies created more delays in scheduling until she conceded that her recovery wouldn't really allow her to play with us. I asked a married friend of mine who I seldom get to see since so that we could have a regular date if you will.
I learned to play Mah Jongg the Wright Patterson way, but my mom's friend prefers Chinese rules so that is what we are going to do with this group. This makes it a little bit easier since it is essentially gin rummy with tiles instead of cards. The big difference is that they keep score which me and Mrs. F have never done.
I thought it would be nice to set up the card table in the Parlor. I used a vintage chinosiere table cloth that was my great aunt's; I really ought to have ironed it first. This Mah Jongg set Mr. W brought me back as a souvenir from a business trip to Malaysia several years ago.
 
He happened to go on a business trip to Japan all last week and brought back a case of these seasonal KitKat. The chocolate is mixed with green tea powder and they have the flavoring of cherries. They taste so much better than they sound. I wish he had brought several more cases!
 
We met mid afternoon and I served Chinese chicken salad and pot stickers. After yesterday's trip to the Chinese Gardens we seem to be having quite the Chinese New Year celebration, but I hadn't even realized the timing when we set this date for Mah Jongg!
I'm so glad to be regularly playing  Mah Jongg again,!

Sacred Heart of Jesus

This is my second year of making snacks for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since I decided last year's rice krispy treat was too much sweets, this year I used watermelon for the main heart.  I was planning on using raisins for the thorns, but I couldn't find any in the pantry so I used chopped chocolate morsels again.  The flames on top are strawberries.
In theory I love this idea, but it is way to early for watermelon and as you can see these were pink and didn't taste very good.

I also  bought some heart shaped crackers and covered them with some port wine cheese spread. Mr. W said he wasn't used to having that cheese outside of Christmastime, hahaha.

 My sister in law and her husband were in town for the weekend so I set the table with this crocheted tablecloth that their aunt made.
 
We also had our first Sunday dinner at the dining room table in our new dining room. (It's amazing how shifting over to the next table can make such a difference. We used the Moonlight Rose china and blue glass wine glasses, they complement the Colonial style leaded glass windows much more than the wallpaper I had in our other dining room. And we dined on Cooper River Salmon, our second time within 4 days.  You have to take advantage when it is in season for such a short time!

Tulip Luncheon (saying goodbye)

Since this was a our second to the last lunch we'd have in the Laburnum Bungalow I decided to pay homage to the tulip motif in the kitchen. We are moving right when all my spring bulbs are blooming so I'm a little sad to miss all my flowers. The tulips are all up now so I picked a nice bouquet of red ones. (With this rain we are having the petals may not last until next Wednesday when the new owners take occupancy, so why not enjoy them indoors?)
I thought for sure I had a vintage tulip table cloth, but it turns out I have several with red roses instead. What I do have is the retro tulip tea towels which I use as cafe curtains. So instead I used this sweet little runner we received as a wedding gift. My Little Helper was very into setting the table and wanted to make sure that it was "very beautiful." He is so darling and sweet!
I have been packing up the kitchen cabinets today (Holy Smokes we have SO MUCH STUFF!!!) but kept out my Red Domino dishes. This little collection started out with the milk jug which I found down in the basement of an antique store in the Cotswolds. I love red and white for kitchens and I love the lines of the pitcher. Once I returned home and started searching ebay I discovered this Stylecraft set is quite collectible so I began accumulating it from international sellers.
We had a simple little lunch of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, bananas, and milk. The milk is in my tulip patterned Swanky Swig glasses. I just think these are darling. I can only ever find them for $9 in antique stores, which is pretty expensive for such tiny little things, but they go so well with my other vintage finds that I can't pass them up when I happen to come across one.
This morning we walked for the last time to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast. It was raining when we headed out so the boys got to splash around in their rain coats. MLH had a ham, egg, and cheese biscuit and I had my favorite, the Reggie which is a fried chicken, bacon, cheese, and gravy sandwich on a biscuit. I think it will be a good thing that we will no longer live in such easy walking distance from Pine State. Although I'm not sure how I'll survive my next (hopefully) pregnancy without St. Cupcake and Pine State so close.
In moving news, we closed on the sale of the Laburnum Bungalow yesterday. Mr. W is a little sad that he is no longer landed gentry and is a renter at 40. Nevermind that he isn't 40 yet and he'll be a property owner again tomorrow. Who says men aren't dramatic too?
I'm nervous and excited. I think we may just pull this off, but were running low on boxes and the kitchenware eats up boxes fast. Plus Mr. W has had 2 late night conference calls this week and another one tonight. Guess who gets to pick up the packing slack?
Yesterday I did a walk through at the new house with the realtor just to make sure that the sellers stuff is finally out, and blessedly everything is including the giant pile of bricks and cheapo plumbing fixtures in the garage. I also got to use my broken Spanish with the cleaning ladies that were there. They thought my poquito espanol was pretty good. So much so that we arranged for them to come and clean the bungalow next week. Thank goodness the word limpiar came back to me from over 15 yrs ago of high school Spanish. I should figure out the word for sweeping too, because that was one I couldn't remember and felt like a fool pantomiming.

St. Joseph's Day

Like all things I have been doing during this moving process, I decided to have a low key feast of St. Joseph's meal. I didn't want it to be a big production so I decided to just use the entry table as our St. Joseph's Altar.  Since we are still in Lent I used a vintage lavender tablecloth with butterfly crochet-work.  An amethyst glass vase we received as a wedding gift held a bountiful bouquet of Lenten roses. The hellebores are finally yielding so many blooms that I can cut a lot and still have a lot of color in the garden, just in time for me to move away. So I decided to give myself a big bouquet this year! 
My nice St. Joseph statue is packed away somewhere, so I took this opportunity to dig up the one we buried in the back yard to encourage a sale on our house. Good thing I kept him wrapped up in a plastic bag! My Little Helper helped me put together the altar and we talked about what the different items symbolize.  (I of course had to reference the Virtual St. Joseph's Altar.)

 I didn't have all the items this year; I always forget about the fish.  MLH is very particular about how to arrange things, he wants everything it be "beautiful" but our opinions differ on what constitutes a beautifully composed tablescape, so I took some pictures of my way and then let him rearrange everything around the perimeter as he preferred.

Wine, bread, fresh fruit, fava beans, candles.

This year I was able to find fava beans!  I have lamented so much the past few years.  Bob's Red Mill now offers the dried variety and I found them at Fred Meyer's even!  How easy was that!?
In keeping with a simple meal I only made the St. Joseph's Day soup from the Italian Holiday Cookbook.  This soup is so good, especially for a vegan meal.

Baby Boy is getting pretty good at feeding himself with a spoon, although he still only wants to eat store bought baby purees.

A couple days later the boys and I walked over to the old Mt. St. Joseph's nursing home to leave some flowers for St. Joseph. It was rainy so I thought the snowsuit would be the warmest thing for Baby Boy who seems to have a constant runny nose.

That big white St. Joseph statue sure is tall!

Snug!

I let Baby Boy walk a bit on the way home.  This photo cracks me up because he looks like a little jawa or ewok with that walking stick. Or maybe I watch too much Star Wars.

Because I wanted to honor St. Joseph as much as possible now that we have a contract to sell our house, I also did this pipe cleaner craft with MLH.  On each flower I asked him who he wanted to pray for and he gave me a good list of people.  I should do more of these crafts.  Hopefully I'll be more motivated after we move into the new house.

St. Patrick's Day

With St. Patrick's Day falling on a Saturday, one would assume I would be doing something big. Not really. One of my Christmas gifts from Mr. W was tickets to see Wicked. And it turned out it was coming to town on St. Patrick's Day.
That's okay though, instead I had a little tea party with my boys instead. In an effort to empty our pantry before the move I've been picking recipes based on what's available. So I decided upon brownies from scratch. I've never made them from scratch before, but I have lots of cocoa powder so it seemed like a good idea.
I did make them nearly vegan, I substituted in margarine and almond milk. I would have used my current egg substitute of 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tbsp water = 1 egg, but I've been doing that so often I've run out of cornstarch!

The night before My Little Helper had his very first sleepover. He has been asking for months, but we just haven't gotten it coordinated or the invitee's parents haven't felt their child was ready yet. When I suggested it to Ms. Mc though she felt that N would love it. My Little Helper was so excited!
He does need to work on his hosting skills though. Things like letting your guest have first pick of which color cup he wants. Serving your guest first. Not doing a puzzle if your guest wants to do something else instead. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us.
The boys were so excited to sleep in sleeping bags that they got changed in to their jams almost immediately after dinner. They did the teeth brushing routine together. It was so cute! I decided that since they would probably stay up talking and playing, it seemed to early for bed, that I ought to have them sleep in the office so Baby Boy wouldn't be kept up late too. They chose the little dormer corner. Ah! I knew that children would love this little corner and had plans of making it a little reading areas with cushions and pillows if we had stayed here and this became one of the boys' room.OLH kept coming downstairs to get more toys. At some point I heard such shrieking coming from upstairs that I decided to go up to investigate. It occurred to me that I only hear my son making noise. Poor N, he was hiding under the covers while being shrieked at. MLH wanted him to listen to his story so that's why he kept raising his voice. Eventually I got him settled down and they both fell asleep.
The next morning Mr. W made bacon and pancakes for breakfast. I picked some daffodils from the garden which N really liked. I told them a little bit about St. Patrick using the shamrock to teach the people of Ireland about God having three forms. I used the Royal Tara teacup with shamrocks on it as my visual aid and tried to be as brief as possible. The boys stayed in their jams all day and continued to play in their sleeping bags.After N went home MLH and I finished the brownies by making mint frosting for them in honor of St. Patrick. I let him spread the frosting out. He also wanted to add sprinkles. So pleased with himself. I set the table with a cloth my mom brought me as a souvenir from Quebec; the green and white gingham seems cheery for St. Patrick. I didn't time tea exactly right though because Baby Boy was already down for his nap. The three of us did have a nice treat together.