WELCOME TO A FRIENDSHIP TEA AND A FRIEND'S TEA
What better way to celebrate the hot, lazy days of summer than with a FRIENDSHIP TEA?

Having good friends in for tea is a treat (for them and you!) any time of the year. I invited 5 special friends for a 10:30 summer morning tea. It was too hot to be outside on the porch, so we stayed in the cool dining room. I asked each lady to bring a new and creative idea to share. (Gifts of any sort were not permitted!) We shared ideas for hours – one gal brought a bag full of ‘ideas’ – everything from creative tea and craft web sites to little tags to tuck in a thank you note. Needless to say, we were still talking and sharing at 3:00 p.m.

For favors I made a high-heeled shoe out of printed card stock, glued a sassy flower on the toe and put a bag of loose tea in each one.  They were tricky to make, but looked cute when they were done.

I’ve found lots of new flavored loose tea this year – Earl Grey Creme, Blend 1776, Hooghly Hollar, Earl Grey Raspberry, Arctic Fire Black Tea, Read My Lips, White Chocolate Mousse and Blue Lady Tea, so we had a breakfast tea, a lunch tea and a dessert tea!

The menu included Crumpets with Roasted Red Pepper Jam, Raspeberry Curd and Apple Pie Jam.  Then we had a Chartreuse Fruit Cup that included honeydew, sliced kiwi, halved green grapes in a lime juice/oil dressing.  The tea plate had Pea Pods stuffed with Salmon Cream Cheese, Zucchini Roll-ups with Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese & Pecans, Waldorf Celery Boats, Mini Spinach Cheese and Ham Cups, Jumbo Shells Filled with Chicken, Grapes and Pecans and a perky watermelon butterfly in the center.  Dessert was a Molded French Cream and Cream Waffle Cookies.

It was a wonderful day of sharing, laughing and making memories...

A Friendship Tea

Pick out a couple of yummy recipes, some of your favorite tea (use some of the wonderful flavored tea bags, too), a few fresh flowers from the garden for a centerpiece and a handful of friends. What could be easier?

We started the tea on the back porch with English Breakfast Tea, Orange Tea Bread with Honey Butter and Melon Gazpacho Chilled Soup. Knowing it was too hot to spend too much time outside, I planned the rest of the tea inside at the dining room table. For a finale, we enjoyed a delicious molded French Creme dessert with fresh raspberries.

I also printed a menu so everyone could see what they were eating, and then provided a recipe -- one per lady -- of one of the tea items. While we were on the back porch we played a Tea-Time Trivia game. These were tea questions I printed on fancy paper and had at each place setting.

Following are pictures and recipes that I used. I also had favors for each friend. I found little tea strainers on sale months ago (saved them just for this special day), added a few butter mints and a couple of silk flowers and ribbon bow and voila! a lovely gift to take home.

More recipes below on this page:

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MELON GAZPACHO SOUP

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

 1 tsp. oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cantaloupe, seeded & cubed
1/2 tsp. raspberry vinegar or lemon juice pinch of salt
1/2 honeydew
hot sauce, to taste

Cook onion and garlic in oil, covered for 6-7 minutes, until soft, but not browned. Put cantaloupe and cooked onion and garlic in blender and puree until smooth. Add the vinegar or lemon juice and salt and process to combine.

Chill for about 30 minutes or until mixture is cold. Cut honeydew into cubes or use a melon baller to make about 4 pieces per serving. Divide the soup among 4 dishes -- I used clear stemmed glasses and top with melon balls. Garnish with a small edible flower or piece of chive.
GOLDENROD TEA SANDWICHES
Cheese Filling
1/4 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 lb. American cheese, grated
1 dash cayenne pepper
2-3 tbls. sweet pickle juice
2 tbls. mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until blended. Mixture should be slightly lumpy. Refrigerate.

Apricot Filling
1/4 c. apricot preserves
8 oz. cream cheese

Mix together until smooth. Can use a blender or food processor, if desired.

To made sandwiches: Take 2 pieces of white bread and spread one with apricot filling and one with cheese filling. Place a slice of whole wheat bread between the two fillings (you now have 3 layers of bread). Trim the crust and slice into 3 rectangle sandwiches. Pictured with favor)
SANDWICH HORNS WITH TARRAGON
& HORSERADISH EGG SALAD
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4 slices of thin brown bread
6 hard-boiled eggs
3 tbls. mayonnaise
3 tbls. cottage or ricotta cheese
1 tbls. horseradish
1/2 tbls. tarragon, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt

Chop the eggs very fine. Stir in rest of ingredients and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour. Remove the crust from the bread and cut off one corner of each slice, rounding it slightly. Spread with some of the egg mixture. With the rounded corner toward you, lift the sides and fold one over the other. This should stick together. If not, secure it with a toothpick. Chill for about 20 minutes -- covered so bread doesn't dry out. (Sandwich on left side -- with tiny daisy)
ZUCCHINI ROLL-UPS
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1 medium zucchini
1 container of Garden Vegetable Cream cheese
1 tbls. grated carrot
1/3 c. pecans, finely chopped

Heat oven to 350. Lightly oil baking sheet. Trim ends of zucchini and slice lengthwise into 1/8-inch thick strips, discarding first and last strips (which have the most outside peel. You should get about 7 strips from a zucchini. Arrange strips in single layer on baking sheet, season to taste with salt and bake 5 minutes to slightly soften zucchini. Cool.

Mix pecans, grated carrot and cream cheese together until well blended. To assemble, spoon some filling down center of each zucchini strip and roll up length- wise. Stand rolls up to show spiral filling. Makes about 7 per zucchini. (Picture, center)
CHICKEN BOMBAY SANDWICH ON TOASTED RAISIN BREAD
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1 c. chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1/4 c. bacon, cooked and minced
1/3 c. white cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 c. mayonnaise
3/4 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric
salt, to taste
raisin bread

Combine all ingredients except bread. If not enough add more to suit. Toast raisin bread. Place chicken spread evenly on bread slices and cut in half or fourths to serve. (Picture--right side)
LIME MELTAWAY COOKIES
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3/4 c. butter, soft
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbls. vanilla
2 limes, zested
2 tbls. lime juice
1 3/4 c + 2 tbls. flour
2 tbls. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

Cream together, butter, powered sugar and lime juice and zest. Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed ingredients. Mix thoroughly -- will form a stiff dough. Form into logs about the diameter of a half dollar and chill. Heat oven to 350. Slice cookies and bake 10 minutes. Cool and roll in powdered sugar.