Tea Party Success!

Yahoo! Event #2 of 3 for this month is done! And it went great!
When people came in they helped themselves to pre-plated black bean and corn salsa with blue corn tortilla chips (which, by the way, was fantastic! I didn't expect to like it!) and some of the proscuitto wrapped apples. Then after chatting and waiting for everyone else to arrive we went to the table for tea, scones and more food. The Cream of Earl Grey tea was a really big hit. The cupcakes my sister made were amazing too. They were supposed to be lavender-honey poppy seed but you know what's really hard to find? Lavender honey. Fortunately I had bought a jar of raspberry flavoured honey in Kimberley on my honeymoon two years back and it finally came in handy. So we substituted the sour cream in the recipe for whipping cream and used the raspberry honey and they were light and mild and not too cakey. I really liked them. The watermelon cubes with feta and mint went over really well and they didn't even need a balsamic reduction to be great. Oh yah, and the sherbet is almost all gone. Even though we stuffed all of the guests the whole afternoon, nearly all of them wanted the sherbet at the end of the party. I nearly forgot about the tea cup favours but fortunately remembered before anyone left.
It was really fun! I was kinda stressed at about 1:00 when I still needed to change and make most of the food since it was a last-minute prep kinda menu, but we got everything cleaned up and plated before the party started so it worked great! I am however quite full of tea. We went through probably a dozen pots of tea between 9 women over 2 hours. Crazy, eh? I guess it's a good thing I didn't serve mimosas!
Matt got the bench seat built today so tomorrow we're painting it and then cleaning up all the reno tools and materials. Then each day this week I'm devoting to cleaning one area. First the basement, then the living room, then the backyard, then the bedrooms and bathroom and finally the kitchen. I have to leave the kitchen for last because of the amount of use it gets throughout the week. Although, this week won't be so bad in it. Besides making food for the baby dedication, Monday is our anniversary so we're having a quick dinner out before our bible study, then Tuesday is Gabe's birthday so we'll be over at my parents' house. Wednesday I have a meeting so we'll be having a quick dinner. Thursday and Friday aren't full yet but we might have one of Matt's friends over on the Thursday and whenever that happens I usually clean the kitchen the morning of and then clean it back up right after dinner while the men have their dessert and coffee (yep, that's how I roll). The menu is still pretty simple for Saturday - the grocery list even simpler. There are very few things I need to pick up besides produce and baguettes and that's the way I want to keep it. I can make a few things in advance - like the honey mustard sauce that is crucial to making the mini #5's. I do have to figure out decor for each room of the house which may be a task since I hadn't been planning on changing it until June but it will be a fun task at least! Ah yes, and I have to remember to buy a cake for Gabe. I almost feel like I'm cheating by buying an ice cream cake, but really they are so good! I particularly love the gel icing they use at Dairy Queen on their cakes. But maybe it's the cheating feeling that makes me want to make more food. And also since people are arriving at 2:00 and due to scheduling hiccups the service isn't starting until 3:00 and we didn't want to break cake out until after, so it's best to have food out for people.
I am being kind to myself in one major aspect - paper plates, plastic cups and limited serving trays. When Matt and I first got married he could never understand why I would cook the food in one dish and then put it in another one to bring it to the table, even on nights when it was just us. I've tried to lick that habit, especially on nights when he has to do the dishes, but this Saturday I'll be really good about it. Besides, I don't want to make a mess in the house I'll have worked all week on to get clean!
Well, Matt's playing Guitar Hero, Gabe's been asleep pretty much since we got home (he only had one nap today!) and I am going to go have a hot, relaxing bath. And read some Pride and Prejudice!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)