Annual Tea Party

Each summer I host a small tea party gathering a handful of ladies….and this year summer crept by and I finally snuck in a date on the first day of fall. I’ve shared recipes in this post and this post but we continue to discover new recipes and ways of hosting. In fact I think it’s safe to say that this year was a lazy one as we relied to store bought goodies for the most part – Nadege Macrons, Pusateri sandwiches, Rocky Road Chocolates… . Nonetheless, lots of fun, girly catch up and fun was had!

We had so much fun that I forgot to get a group picture with our hats on!

New menu items from my end included incorporating figs into my dishes.

Figs stuffed with Peppermint Kahlua Mascarpone – Super simple and delicious! Get the mascarpone to room temperature and stir in some Kahlua and sprinkle a little salt. Get a pipping bag and fill a split a ripe fig. Voila! For added flair, dip the figs in melted chocolate. I left a few unstuffed ones with just the chocolate dip and sprinkled with sea salt (not as big a hit as the stuffed ones!).

Fig cornbread – This was a success which surprised me. I got the recipe from here and had my figs sink to the bottom so I placed a few more slices on the top after baking.

Asparagus sandwiches – bite sized sandwiches which went down easily. Plain bread without crusts, spread with with cream cheese and rolled with two stalks of asparagus. Slice them up to tiny bites and they’ll disappear.

Bubbly – This year instead of cocktails we enjoyed some bubbly and white wine. Peller Estate’s Ice Cuvée Rosé was a fave, not just because of the lovely hue but the perfect blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Great celebratory sparkling! The Bottega Prosecco is a regular in our circle as are the Ruffino range.

Usual tea party rules apply, gather an intimate group, pull out some of your best china and just have fun! We had two little munchkins running around and bubbly to help us through it all.