Sunday's bridal tea menu

When my friend LeeAnne, shown here, asked me to be a part of this bridal tea on Sunday, I was quite happy. Even when I can't participate, I always, always feel left out if there's a tea somewhere and I wasn't invited to be a part of it. So if you live in another state, be sure to send me an invite to your tea and just know that I probably won't be able to attend. Ha! (After looking at this photo, I realized that later, before the guests arrived, someone straightened the little embellishment thingie on top of the stand at left, which had obviously come unscrewed a bit. Bless them.)

I absolutely love the folks in my Sunday school class. If there is a need anywhere in the church, they know to hit us up, and honestly, you have to be on your toes to make a donation because someone in this class will beat you to it! So while sometimes I've fretted over whether there would be enough food at a "group tea" that I wasn't in charge of (can you say control freak?), that never crossed my mind with this group. For one thing, our beloved Marla, who has done some professional catering, was supplying the tea sandwiches, so I knew they would be good and plentiful. Here are some of her cucumber sandwiches (perfectly thin and wonderfully crunchy) and pimiento cheese sandwiches (which I forgot to try!).

These Hawaiian rolls were used for the chicken salad sandwiches, and in the middle were the salmon sandwiches on wheat bread, both absolutely delicious.

Thanks to our friend Linda, there were also two types of cute mini quiches (spinach and cheese, I believe), shown here with more of the tea sandwiches.

And the sweets were plentiful as well. Alas, I did not get a good photo (and more importantly, a bite!) of LeeAnne's famous lemon pound cake, hiding at back here. LeeAnne is the official pound cake baker in the class, and everyone always raves over her cakes. I distinctly remember trying to get a close-up of the cake, but then I got called away to do something else at the tea, and that was that. (Anyone who has ever hosted a tea can relate. Between all the cooking and decorating, it's amazing that we get ANY photos!)

As I mentioned Monday, the gorgeous sugar cookies commissioned by my friend Deborah were the stars of the tea table. I really *must* learn to make these. Several of us commented that while such pretty cookies aren't usually that tasty, these were delicious. The cookie itself was soft and sweet, and even the icing was good and soft enough that it didn't taste like that tough fondant icing I've nearly chipped a tooth on before. These were wonderful in every way!

My contribution was the mini scones (from the Agatha Christie newsletter here) and Brown Sugar Shortbread (recipe here), this time spiced up with a teaspoon of pulverized Earl Grey with Lavender and Roses tea. Several people asked me for the shortbread recipe. Ironically enough, I had just gotten through sending the recipe for the Pumpkin Spice version of these shortbread cookies to my publisher to include at the end of Rubies and Revenge, which is coming out soon. I'm glad to know that this recipe is still so well received! I also got a great compliment from a new SS classmate who told me that these scones (baked just before teatime) changed her mind about scones. The only one she'd ever had before was one of those massive, triangular, hard-as-a-rock scones from a certain chain-store bakery. This soft and fluffy scone, served with raspberry jam and whipped cream, was nothing like that, she said, and now she's a fan. Cheers to English scones!

And last but not least, I served three teas but got photos of only two teapots, the ones with Charleston Tea Plantation's Peach Tea (a hit) and Harney's Venetian Tiramisu tea (an even bigger hit). I didn't have a free second to make the Palais des Thés green citrus tea until toward the end of the event, but it got good reviews as well. Next time I help with tea for 30-plus women, though, I will have more pots of loose leaf tea ready to go ahead of time because these ladies kept me hopping next to my electric tea kettle. We had a fabulous time, and now I can't wait for the next tea!