The perfect tea party menu

Saturday! Saturday!

It’s a happy chant for a happy day. Mom and I are in Boston having some fun in the gorgeous sunshine before I have to be a grown up and do work and it’s been a good, stomach-satisfying trip so far. More on that to come in a few days when we’ve eaten, and then eaten some more.

I’m lucky because I have a relationship with Mom that is similar in a lot of ways to the Gilmore Girls, different in that she was not 16 when I was born, but similar because we sort of have a language of our own and that rarely has she ever had to pull the mom card. And even when she did, I was usually too stubborn to listen. You know, kids.

We took our first trip together to NYC for my high school graduation, and then had a long hiatus until our 30/60 European trip in 2013. As my other go-to suitcase sisters have been distracted by jobs and boys, she’s become my go-to, “hey, Mom, want to go?” And here we are in Boston.

A few weeks ago, you may recall that I went home to help her host a spring tea. It was fun, a reason to meet some of the friends I’d heard so much about, and a chance to cook for loads of people, a trait that must be genetic because we both do it with compulsion, neither of us as often as we’d like.

For weeks before we hashed the menu, blending elements of a traditional fancy pants tea with our own family twists. So here we have today an instructional; much like Tuesdays How-To Cinco de Mayo Potluck, here we have a How-To Tea Party, complete with homemade clotted cream, scones, mini-sandwiches and multiple cakes from which to choose to meet all your cake needs. It’s the perfect menu for spring, for Mother’s Day, for Sunday or just because you want to buy and wear a fascinator and need a reason.

As if you really need a reason.

This also doubles as this month’s Screen Cuisine, so pop in Mary Poppins or tuck in for a Downton Abbey marathon. Because a tea party is indeed a marathon, not a sprint.

To start things off properly:

Pre-tea cocktails

mimosas | vanilla plum moscato | palomas

The traditionals:

cream scones | clotted cream | jam

Mini-sandwiches, because we are ladies:

smoked salmon on white with a cream cheese dill spread | egg salad on croissants | chicken salad on croissants | ham and cheese | traditional cucumber

Mini-quiches, because we are fancy

Cakes, because we are human:

mandalas torte | Victoria sponge | Viennese honey cake | walnut torte | pound cake

Cookies, just because:

rugelach | lemon cookies | butter cookies

A selection of teas (especially my fave)

As we look straight into Mother’s Day and try our best to pick out the perfect gift, I’m happy to announce the winner of the Carol’s Cookie giveaway is Manda. Thank you all for entering, and I hope you’ll go out and give Carol’s Cookies a try!

Written after a lot of walking, some lobster and some beer.