A Tea Party fir for an Indian Queen!

Well, that's something new. Last year, Brian filmed our first not-quite Royal Tea Party. For it to be considered Royal, we would have had to be drinking champagne. Not that I would have objected, but....

In the olden days (like 20 years ago), Brian and I had a saying: if we do something twice, then it's a tradition. I guess we've become more efficient at things because nowadays we only need to do something once for it to be tradition. And that's how it is with the Tea Party episode, the Sequel.

As Brian keeps me around for my fabulous imagination, he wanted to know what sorts of foods we could serve this year. Last year it was very traditional, what with scones, clotted cream, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches (no crust, cut into quarters) as well as many other treats, along with steeped English breakfast tea.

Well, in my blog, I suggested that anybody could make a Tea Party, even if their roots were anything but English. So I took my own suggestion and thought up an Indian Tea Party. Starting with chai (which I drank for the first time made with milk), there were still home-made scones (blueberry-cranberry) served with both orange marmalade and raspberry preserves. But everything else had an Indian flavour: shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with mayo and curry powder and served on warm garlic naan; store-bought frozen appetizers (onion bhajis, vegetable samosas and pakoras with a tamarind dipping sauce); an unknown spicy chutney that could have been mango (that I used with both the samosas and naan); two varieties of fresh mango chunks. It's just as well that I was ravenous when I showed up, because I was certainly stuffed afterwards.

Last year, Brian had told me to wear a hat without telling me the reason for it. He expected me to wear a hat this year as well. But I thought I'd surprise him with something a little more intriguing. I wanted to wear a satin scarf draped over my hair (hey, it also meant I didn't have to fix my hair). But what to wear it with? I wanted to wear my two-piece leopard print outfit. Uh ... just one problem: as I'd slept in it, it was still in my dirty laundry bag. ::sighs:: So, instead I wore my long rayon jumper. Besides, it's not as if anybody would be able to see it as I sat behind the kitchen counter.

I played with my scarf by first tying the ends together. Then I placed it over my hair and twisted the ends loosely under my chin before pinning them near my left ear. For the pin, I'd used a citrine brooch that I haven't worn for nearly 4 years. Yes, it had taken that long for the bad vibes to dissipate as it had been a gift from M. I still felt ... weird, but was happy that I was able to rehabilitate it. I wore my fancy citrine drop earring in the right ear that I'd bought to match.

After dinner, Brian saw me downstairs around 7:35. I was expecting a minivan to pick me up, but was surprised to see the big bus pull up. I had a delightful ride home with the driver and he did some impressive manoeuvres in my driveway. And I was thrilled to be in my lobby at 7:55. Yay again.

As you know, I was in just too much of a carbohydrate stupor last night to post. But that was yesterday. I'm all back to normal today ... well, as normal as it gets for me. Now all I have to do is think up what different cuisine we should tackle for next year's Tea Party: Chinese, Japanese, or ... who knows. I'm sure it'll be a surprise – even to moi!

A Tea Party fir for an Indian Queen!

Well, that's something new. Last year, Brian filmed our first not-quite Royal Tea Party. For it to be considered Royal, we would have had to be drinking champagne. Not that I would have objected, but....

In the olden days (like 20 years ago), Brian and I had a saying: if we do something twice, then it's a tradition. I guess we've become more efficient at things because nowadays we only need to do something once for it to be tradition. And that's how it is with the Tea Party episode, the Sequel.

As Brian keeps me around for my fabulous imagination, he wanted to know what sorts of foods we could serve this year. Last year it was very traditional, what with scones, clotted cream, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches (no crust, cut into quarters) as well as many other treats, along with steeped English breakfast tea.

Well, in my blog, I suggested that anybody could make a Tea Party, even if their roots were anything but English. So I took my own suggestion and thought up an Indian Tea Party. Starting with chai (which I drank for the first time made with milk), there were still home-made scones (blueberry-cranberry) served with both orange marmalade and raspberry preserves. But everything else had an Indian flavour: shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with mayo and curry powder and served on warm garlic naan; store-bought frozen appetizers (onion bhajis, vegetable samosas and pakoras with a tamarind dipping sauce); an unknown spicy chutney that could have been mango (that I used with both the samosas and naan); two varieties of fresh mango chunks. It's just as well that I was ravenous when I showed up, because I was certainly stuffed afterwards.

Last year, Brian had told me to wear a hat without telling me the reason for it. He expected me to wear a hat this year as well. But I thought I'd surprise him with something a little more intriguing. I wanted to wear a satin scarf draped over my hair (hey, it also meant I didn't have to fix my hair). But what to wear it with? I wanted to wear my two-piece leopard print outfit. Uh ... just one problem: as I'd slept in it, it was still in my dirty laundry bag. ::sighs:: So, instead I wore my long rayon jumper. Besides, it's not as if anybody would be able to see it as I sat behind the kitchen counter.

I played with my scarf by first tying the ends together. Then I placed it over my hair and twisted the ends loosely under my chin before pinning them near my left ear. For the pin, I'd used a citrine brooch that I haven't worn for nearly 4 years. Yes, it had taken that long for the bad vibes to dissipate as it had been a gift from M. I still felt ... weird, but was happy that I was able to rehabilitate it. I wore my fancy citrine drop earring in the right ear that I'd bought to match.

After dinner, Brian saw me downstairs around 7:35. I was expecting a minivan to pick me up, but was surprised to see the big bus pull up. I had a delightful ride home with the driver and he did some impressive manoeuvres in my driveway. And I was thrilled to be in my lobby at 7:55. Yay again.

As you know, I was in just too much of a carbohydrate stupor last night to post. But that was yesterday. I'm all back to normal today ... well, as normal as it gets for me. Now all I have to do is think up what different cuisine we should tackle for next year's Tea Party: Chinese, Japanese, or ... who knows. I'm sure it'll be a surprise – even to moi!