High Tea

A few weeks ago I decided to actually use all the things I buy and hoard and never use. I have the most beautiful tea cup collection and some delightful bowls and glassware that never actually get used and it seems like such a shame not to create a reason to use all that gorgeousness instead of hiding it in a cupboard and so the idea of High Tea was born. I am  a tea mug and eat the biscuits from the packet kind of girl so much research was needed to ensure we did this properly. Oh google I love you so.

So on Saturday I dressed in my best girly clothes (jeans and a polar fleece vest with my fluffy white slippers ) and dragged out the tea set and all my pretty china for High Tea. Many many hours were spent baking and I bought a new table cloth for the occasion. I invited my best girlfriends and we sat down to an afternoon of gossip and sipping tea.

Peppermint slice and caramel slice

Gluten free goodies for the wheat challenged.

 I'm sure that in the  days of old they had chocolate at High Tea.

Teeny tiny one bite sandwiches- ham and mustard and fish paste (not all in the same sandwich because that would be too gross)

Scones - courtesy of Sister of Pyjamas

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

Butterfly cakes.

Our resident expert SAJ showed us how to class it up because she's actually from the land of High Tea.

Sister of Pyjamas confessing her scones are made from a box of CWA mix. Just add water.

Patty Pie (Mother of Pyjamas ) showing us the correct way to use a tea pot. 

Lamington sponge. An Aussie favourite.

Aside from the fact I traded both my lamb barrah kebab and cinnamon bun pancake recipes for the scone "recipe" (I'd like to know exactly how long she's been cheating for) and also the fact that I stuck my left boob right in one of those butterfly cakes reaching across the table in a very unclassy fashion it was a very high brow afternoon. I think this is something I need to do more often!

PS. I totally cheated. Aside from the sandwiches everything else came from Bruce the Baker. Thanks Bruce.

High Tea

I've had horrible thoughts recently that I may wind up one of those women who slipcovers her sofa in plastic for fear it will get dirty.  I already insist people don't use my sofa cushions as actual cushions. They're for looking at - not using. Duh, I don't want them all crushed.  But it's just a hop skip and a jump to a plastic sofa cover from not using the throw cushions and  I don't want to be known as the crazy sofa lady.

I recently showed off some of my china collection . I freely confess I think tea cups are way too classy for someone like me to use every day. So they sit in my kitchen dresser, looking pretty but neglected.   One day I'm going to die and all the beautiful things I've been so carefully treasuring are probably going to end up at Goodwill or in a rubbish bin somewhere. And I'm going to be looking down from heaven (see how I neatly assume that's where I'm going ?) and I'm going to be seriously annoyed with myself that I didn't use my treasures in real life. And I'm going to haunt the person who chucked them but that's beside the point.

I need to take drastic steps. My china is taking up valuable space I could be using to hoard fabric and I've decided that action is necessary.  I'm creating an excuse to use them. I've decided I need to do High Tea so I can use all my pretty things at once.

One of the things about High Tea that really rocks is cake...and scones...and petit fours and other things that are bad for you  but apparently if you eat them at high tea they have no calories. It's a fact of the universe.

So I'm planning my high tea party for the weekend of July 9th /10th and if you'd like to join me with your own high tea party you're more than welcome. I'd love to see other people's teapots and doilies and pretty tablecloths.

You all know I'm really doing this for the cake don't you?