I've Just Had The Loveliest Day Ever! Thank You Everyone!

A beautiful and delicious party favor from Janeen!













I've just had the loveliest day ever! What a wonderful day and what delicious treats everyone made. I've never in my life had more cups of tea than I did today! I suspect I will be awake all night, but I'll just spend my time making a journal of the day. (I filled my handkerchief with a few fancy sugar cubes and fairy cakes and scones in case I get a bit peckish around 3:00am.

The wonderful treats, pictures, music poetry and delightful imagination were provided by
Lavinia Ladyslipper of the Birdbath Chronicles
Steviewren from a little birdie told me so
Poetikat of Poetikats Invisible Keepsakes
Trish from Nana's Living the Dream
Janeen of Chachaneen
Kalianne from Bygone Beauty

It was such fun visiting with everyone today. I finally made my exit a short time ago. I've decided to just put my feet up and save the dishes for the morning.


As I write my journal entry later tonight I have only to look at my tea gown to remember the details of all the wonderful things I ate: There's a bit of lemon curd on my right sleeve. On the left is a smidgen of currant jelly, on the skirt I managed to drop a little chocolate, some pink icing from that little piggy fairy cake, a bit of clotted cream, a drop or two of tea, and some raspberry jam. There's a shrimp stuck just below the knee and a bit of a grass stain from Lavinia's garden at the hem. Oh, and the wee spot on my right shoulder? Remember that cute little bird that greeted us at Stevie Wrens? Well, I shouldn't have stood directly under it.



I usually don't make such a mess of myself, but there were well over 100 people in the tiny tea cottage, and well... it's so difficult to balance a tea cup and a plate of scones and cakes and candies and well, you understand, I'm sure.



I just want to thank everyone who participated and everyone who took time to visit with all of us today. We'll have to do this again!

If you missed visiting with anyone, I'm sure they won't mind you taking a peek. Just click on their names listed in this post, or their blogs listed in "my bonnie blog list" in the right margin.



Thank you again! It was just a delightful day!

Busy Busy Busy! Especial-Tea Tomorrow!!!

Busy Sunday and Monday!





Sunday included a dinner with friends to celebrate Jason's Birthday. Alex and Heather, little Emma, and Drew joined Jason, the Mister and I for lunch at Angelino's. Pasta Mmmmm!




We had veal piccata, scallops, pasta with sweet Italian sausage and mushrooms, linguine Alfredo, and chicken Parmesan. Everything at Angelino's is delicious! Most servings are so large there is enough for dinner plus 2 take home meals!
Emma is trying to escape!

My favorite - Penne Angelino.

Emma enjoyed herself and we enjoyed time with Emma and family

Today I spent time preparing the tea table and special things to enjoy at our Especial-Tea tomorrow!

I was polishing silver, washing dishes, shopping, preparing and pressing. While I was busy, Lucy took a swim

And Layla napped half in and half out of her bed.

Tomorrow, Tuesday August 5th is the Especial-Tea. Everyone is invited. Just click on the Especial-Tea invitation. Check the comments for other participating guests and then click on their names to visit all of their blogs. It is an all day affair of surprises across time zones, so check throughout the day and evening for treats, tea tables, recipes, poems - anything and everything having to do with tea! See you there and enjoy!

Cooking With Stars

Visiting other bloggers - which I love to do - can be a bit intimidating when they are obviously wonderful and inventive cooks. I was an excellent and inventive cook when I lived in Michigan. What else are you going to do during the 73 month winter?? Other than shovel snow. And kick the ice bergs off the wheel wells of your car? Stay in the cozy kitchen and make wonderful soups and stews and meals using the tomato sauces and jams and jellies you put up during the summer, of course!

I had a wonderful vegetable garden and a lovely herb and everlastings garden. My pantry was full of tasty homemade foods including a special cranberry sauce that I made each Thanksgiving weekend to be served on Christmas Day. It sat ripening in all its glory on the shelf right next to the plum pudding I made the same weekend steeped in Grande Marnier. Well, yes, I was steeped in Grande Marneir too. Why do you think my kitchen was so cozy? I made bread, and pasta. I layered my smoker with turkey, fresh keilbasa and when the coals cooled down a bit I added a cheese for a wonderful smoked gouda. I even made my own vinegar - just to see how it would turn out. Bon Appetite magazines and cookbooks from a rather large collection were in my hands when I was not in the kitchen. I read them like good novels.

Then I moved to Florida. I cooked for a while out of habit, but then I realized that with all of the wonderful restaurants to be investigated, what was I doing in the kitchen??? I still make some excellent meals. If I feel like it. I made beautiful marmalade out of the delicious blood oranges that grow next to the lanai, but it wasn't because there was a blizzard howling outside. It was because deep down inside I love to cook.

I was asked to bring something edible to a Christmas party last year. My mind was in the usual catatonic holiday state. I had no ideas. No plan. No shopping list. I wandered through Publix trying to decide what to make, and settled on shrimp. The large cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp were on sale at a miraculous price. But what to serve with it? Cocktail sauce is soooo - well - cocktail sauce. I continued to browse, roaming the aisles like a lost soul. Then I spotted some miso sauce and my cooking mind suddenly clicked in. An idea formed, and I was on my way. I added several other ingredients to my basket along with a fresh lime and a lovely star fruit (carambola) for good measure.

I ended up with a beautiful and delicious holiday wreath of shrimp studded with stars and centered with a delicious miso mayo dipping sauce. It got rave reviews. It was stunning. And delicious. And most of all easy. It's what I strive for. Easy. I had the sense to write down the recipe so it didn't end up on my list of one time wonders; Wonder how I made that?

Here is my recipe:

Cold Starry Night Shrimp with Miso-Mayo Dipping Sauce

Miso-Mayo Dipping Sauce (makes 1 cup)

3/4 cup prepared mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared Miso dressing
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice - divided
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared fresh chopped ginger (sold in tubes at fresh produce counter)

24 ounce bag frozen cooked peeled and deveined medium shrimp with tail on

1 star fruit for garnish

Prepare dipping sauce: In medium bowl, stir together mayonnaise, miso dressing, 1 tablespoon lime juice and ginger. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Thaw shrimp according to package directions. Pat dry with paper towels. On round serving tray, place shrimp in attractive layers around edge of dish with tails toward rim. Leave room at the center for small serving bowl. Drizzle shrimp with remaining tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Spoon dipping sauce into a small bowl and set in the center of the tray. Slice star fruit into 1/4 inch thick "stars." Garnish shrimp with stars saving 1 star to place at edge of dipping sauce bowl. Serve.

If carambola are not available, garnish the shrimp with slices of lime.

The Scent of Good Books

I was wondering what I should wear to the Especial-Tea, so I browsed through my cyber closet and found just the thing! Since I can be a size 8 for the party, if I'd like to, this will be just perfect. I'll be looking for shoes and a hat as well. I can wear any size shoes for the occasion, so sky's the limit! So far, we are three for tea. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Several weeks ago I ordered The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham. It is a boxed set of 2 books printed in 1953. A day or two after I placed my order, Lavinia Ladyslipper ( I love that name!) posted a picture of the same set of books as she wandered about trying to decide what to do on a rainy evening!

It is such fun to see how many of our blogger friends have similar interests. The (correct) order finally arrived yesterday from an independent dealer. They are in wonderful condition. Just a little wear on the box, as the seller advised. Although I've read many of Maugham's short stories, there are several in this set of books that I have not, and many that I have read - and will read again - several times. These are wonderful quiet evening, or rainy day books. They have that wonderful old book smell. A musty mixture of oak bookcase and city library with a hint of Earl Grey. I love the way he writes. He is often very droll. And always very English. A very traveled and observant English. You are reading along with no hint of humor and then there it is. Here is an example from a story in Volume 2 called "A Woman of Fifty":

"Laura has money, Wyman went on. "when they married she furnished the house from cellar to attic in Chicago. It's quite a show place; it's a little masterpiece of hideousness and vulgarity. I never go into the living-room without marvelling at the unerring taste with which she picked out exactly what you'd expect to find in the bridal suite of a second-class hotel in Atlantic City."

Love it.

Although my horoscope said I would run into several unusual people today, I did not. I was really counting on that so I could tell you all about them. Instead, I will leave you with my poem about weekends:

Conflict of Interests

It is difficult to write poetry
On weekends on Florida
House guests sleep soundly
In rooms scattered with sun-block and swimsuits

Their children issue forth, clear-eyed at dawn
Hungry
Not for the words I attempt to write on tranquil mornings,
But for ALPA-BITS poured into a bowl
In no particular order

My dog, until now
A puddle at my feet rises
Ready to lap up fallen vowels and consonants

Soon children are perched all about me
Eating upper case letters punctuated with sliced bananas
And sipping milk from bright plastic mugs
While unwritten verses slip away
Like hummingbirds from my garden

The fleeting dawn turns into day
Illuminating the lanai in prosaic disarray
Chairs strewn about to catch yesterday’s rays
Tabletops brimming
Pool in need of skimming
Damp towels smother the last of my musings
And turn my thoughts to the practical


Cynthia Ann Conciatu 1996

1997 Welaka Humorous Verse Award,
Florida State Poets Association

You Are Invited To An Especial-Tea Just For You!

I have an idea - it may have been done before - but I'm quite new to blog land.

I thought it would be nice if we all had tea together on Tuesday, August 5th. The plan is simple: decide what you would like to picture on your blog for the tea on August 5th. Use your imagination - It can be anything you would like to prepare, bring or do at your Especial-Tea.

You may want to take a picture of Especial-Tea things you have, a table setting, a desert, a jam or jelly, a place in your garden, birds that might visit us during tea, something you might wear, a hat, a pet you would like to bring with you, flowers, anything at all. Anything. Take a picture that expresses your Especial-Tea. Post it along with whatever you would like to say about your contribution on your post for the 5th. This is an all day event.

You may also extend this invitation to all of your readers! Everyone is invited. If a friend is not yet a blogger and would like to attend ask them to send you a picture to post on your blog for them.

If you would like to attend,

1 RSVP in comments on this post.

2 Copy the invitation and paste it in the margin of your blog.

3 Check the comments on this blog to see who will be participating

4 Visit with each other on the 5th and see what each of us has brought to the tea.

I would love to see all of you, and all of your friends, on August 5th. Please come! I think this will be lots of fun!