Foodhoe’s Foraging

From the time that I was a little girl, I have loved tea parties.  I had a little teapot and a set of tiny cups and saucers that I would set out on the floor with my stuffed animals (of the snoopy variety, not the creepy taxidermy type)  arranged in a circle and I would pour pretend tea and enjoy an imaginary feast with all my good friends.  Fortunately there are a lot of other people who also share a fondness for tea parties so that I can continue to indulge this fascination in pretty high style, as documented previously here 03.09 and 10.07.  My friend Sarah invited us over for afternoon tea on a typically sunny but windy San Francisco day last month.  She had a remarkable sampler of teas from Lupicia with nine or ten different blends that we oohed and aahed over.

The best thing is that it was a tea party potluck so we all brought stuff.  I signed up to bring scones, so got up early and baked Green Tea Sesame Shortbread cookies (on the top tier), along with Fresh Blueberry Scones (the small triangular shaped ones on the bottom tier).

A closeup of my Matcha green tea black sesame shortbread cookies.  These came out very well, I liked the nutty sesame crunch, click here for the recipe.

Kathy brought a pile of fresh baked scones from Noe Valley Bakery, an old favorite of mine…

Ok, so I’m going to level with you about the scones…  I used a scone mix from Williams-Sonoma.  However, I froze the butter first then grated it, slaved away with the rolling pin, incorporating the fresh blueberries, forming it into a loaf and cutting it into triangles…

Then baked it in the oven…. so it felt like I made them.  I guess I’m just like Sandra Lee…

Anyways they came out pretty good.

I was pleased to see that someone had procured a bottle of double devonshire cream, (click here for a good explanation and a fantastic looking recipe here) and I brought a jar of lemon curd.

I like to spread the cream on first and then a good blob of jam or something on my scones.  Even better if it is double cream!

One of the Sual sisters brought a tub of mini eclairs filled with custard.

They were tiny and delicous.  I liked the chocolate covered ones best.

Marilyn made beautiful Cream Cheese Cucumber Sandwiches with fresh dill.

Cherie brought finger sandwiches filled with savory smoked salmon and roasted bell peppers

Angella made these madly addictive Panini with Chocolate and Brie, using Giada’s recipe from the Food Network.  These were on the opposite spectrum of the classic bland trimmed white bread finger sandwiches.  The textures and flavors were very welcome indeed.

It sounds like a weird and whacked out combination but it was delicious!  If you don’t like chocolate, brie or basil however, this might not be for you…  It was a really good balance between sweet and savory.

Our hostess Sarah made deviled eggs

which were very good paired with DDR’s egg salad pita pockets.

Here is an odd thing, it is a Philipino pastry called Ensaimada, and is a fluffy sweet roll with grated Parmesan cheese on top.  It was weirder than the chocolate and brie and I just am not sure how I felt about it.  Salty and pungent, considered a delicacy and treat by many.

I never can resist the Spinach Dip in a bread bowl that one of the Sual sisters brought.  This later on flew off the table in a gust of wind!  Can you believe it?  Those things are hefty.  Anyways that was the signal that it was time to take the party indoors.

Inside, where Isaac was waiting to say hello to everyone.  The last time I was here was for his baby shower!  Here he is with his mom, poised on the brink to start his life of running around.

It was a nice casual afternoon and we were all glad for the cups of hot tea to keep us warm.  I liked having a tea party potluck on picnic tables with paper cups and the wind gusting through my hair…