Holiday Tea

A few pictures of a holiday tea I did at the beginning of December for a professional women's group.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! This year was such a wonderful Thanksgiving for me and my family because my sister came all the way from England to share it with us. We all had such a great time and had much to be thankful for. We feasted on all the usual things, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc., as well as lots of wonderful desserts... pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cookies, jam tarts and mince pies, brownies, and, of course, trifle. My 3 year old granddaughter tasted no less than FIVE different desserts! She loves her desserts just like Gamma! I think she's in training to help me with my tea business :)

My sister returned to England just before all the airports closed down due to the very bad weather they are having this winter!! Thank goodness she got home safe and sound.

 WE ALL MISS YOU VERY MUCH SUE :( Can't wait until your next visit.

Sweet Things

This post has nothing to do with cakes or afternoon tea, but it does have to do with SWEET THINGS. I couldn't resist posting these Halloween photos of my precious grandchildren, a.k.a. "Cinderella" and "Woody" from Toy Story.

Adorable... I LOVE you so much Taelor and Ethan.

A Different Kind of Trifle

I have always been very staunchly traditional about my trifle, but since I was beginning to get the holiday taste buds I decided to try out a pumpkin mousse kind of a trifle, layered with ginger snaps, grated chocolate and whipped cream, for my daughter-in-law's tea this past weekend. It was very yummy and tasted very light and fluffy. Everyone loved it. My sherry trifle will always be my all time favorite, but, I really liked this pumpkin variety too.

Girls Get Together

This weekend my sweet daughter-in-law hosted a get together early holiday tea for her friends. It is so nice to see these girls having such a good time together, chatting away and enjoying afternoon tea and sweet things. They all have such very busy schedules and it was really interesting to me to watch them literally slow down and relax while taking afternoon tea, as if transported back to a simpler time.  I LOVE afternoon tea, it just rejuvenates you and simply forces you to slow down, take a breath and enjoy the moment. In these busy times we all need afternoon tea to pick us up!

My daughter-in-law even insisted on having a very traditional English Christmas Pudding as part of the menu, an acquired taste unless you're a Brit! At one time this dessert was very foreign to her but after many years now in the family she loves it as much as we do. I wasn't sure how her friends would react though but they all seemed to enjoy it!

I wasn't too swift with my camera so a lot of the food was already gone before I took photos!

A cute thing... one of my daughter-in-law's friends couldn't remember the name for a tea cosy, and referred to it as a tea "huggie".  I love it, think about all that lovely tea being hugged to keep it warm :)

Extra Large "Cupcake"

A friend asked me to bake a "very large cupcake" for her boyfriend's birthday. I had never been asked to do that before...  here are two that I baked.

She chose the larger one. I hope he enjoys it! The other one I gave to my son's friend... he LOVES cupcakes, so he was happy.

Tea at Sylvia's

Back in September my friend, Sylvia, hosted a tea. I forgot my camera that day so couldn't take any photos. I finally got these lovely photos that her husband, Kevin took. Everyone looks like they are having such a good time and Sylvia certainly went all out and dressed formally for "afternoon tea" in her beautiful prom dress! Very pretty. I certainly wish that I could fit into a prom dress!! It was so nice for me to visit with these friends too. Thank you Sylvia for hosting the tea, what a lovely day, and a very big thanks to Sylvia's husband, Kevin, for taking such great photos... maybe I'll have to hire him!

Rainy Day Tea

What a dark and rainy day today! Feels nice, reminds me of days growing up in England. I just got finished with an order of butterfly cupcakes and decided to stay home, cozy and warm. I made myself a pot of tea, relaxed and feasted on leftover cupcakes... yummy. I LIKE my job!

Day Out and More Treasures

I had a lovely day out last week with a couple of my friends. We met for an early lunch and then went antique/thrift shop shopping and I found some more treasures for my business to add to all the beautiful silverware I just got from my sister in England.

I was so thrilled to find this beautiful antique lemon fork. 

I paid a little more than I wanted to but you don't know just how long I have been looking for one, and it's perfectly what I wanted!

Came upon these lovely Limoges china pieces, teacup, saucer and two odd plates at a thrift store, can you believe it? And at a VERY good price.

I already had the matching cups and saucers at home for the two plates. What a deal!

Here's the matching cups and saucers, so now I have two more place settings.

This large platter was a great find too, only cost me $4 from another thrift store! 

I think it will be good for serving my tea sandwiches on.

Got this lovely Spode teapot from an Antique store to add to my collection.

I found I had a matching cup and saucer when I got home too! Nice.

Lastly, this lovely tile trivet was a great deal. 

Another thrift store find priced at $2 but I got 50 per cent off so it only cost me $1!! 

Got home and cleaned it up and what a little treasure.

What a wonderful day out. Good company, good shopping and great treasures to bring home! 

I can't tell you how happy I am with my new business and this new chapter in my life. I get to do all the things I love, baking and antique shopping. How fortunate am I? And on top of that, I get to see my grandchildren two or three times a week too :) Definitely NOT missing the corporate life!

New Old Things

My niece, Natalie, and her friend, Lisa, were just here on vacation from England and we all had such a great time. It was lovely to see her and do all the things we don't do all the time like Disneyland, the zoo and the beach (why is it that I never go to the beach unless someone comes to visit? It's so close and so amazing I can't imagine why I don't go more often!) dinner out, etc., etc. We all miss you already Natalie.

I was so thrilled that Natalie brought with her some beautiful silver, a gift from her "mum", my dear sister Sue. Sue had cleaned it all up for me, but I gave everything an extra polish and it all looks so beautiful! 

Dessert forks

 These little antique forks are awesome.

Love these precious tiny teaspoons

Very old preserve spoons

 Love the preserve spoons - didn't have any so these are amazing.

Scissor handle cake servers

Amazingly beautiful trifle servers!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE everything and I can't wait to use it all at my next tea. Thanks Sue!

My sister will be coming from England to spend Thanksgiving with me and my family (can't wait to see her... it's been three years since her last visit) and I already know that she will be bringing even more goodies for my tea business from her and also my sister-in-law, Mary. Not long now, I'm so excited!

Mmmmm... Tea Time!

After baking some cupcakes for a friend I had a precious and unexpected half an hour to myself with a lovely cup of tea and leftovers... yum!

Alyssa and Scott's Wedding

The big day finally arrived and after lots of baking (and not too much sleep the night before) I prepared 300 mini desserts for Alyssa and Scott's wedding.

What an adorable bride!

This picture just says it all... such a happy looking couple. Congratulations Scott and Alyssa!

Corporate Cakes

My first corporate catering event!

This was something new...  I prepared LOTS of cakes, petits fours and shortbread circles for an award event for an  Irvine business. Whew, quite a sea of cakes!

mmmmm....