High Tea

About two and a half years ago a friend introduced me to high tea and I've been hooked ever since. Unfortunately I only had the chance to go with her a couple of times because she graduated university and then moved back home to LA. However since then I have gone many times with other friends as well as my mother.

A while back I came up with the idea that I wanted to organize a high tea at my house for all of the female members of the family. After much talk and planning the event finally took place this past Saturday. No one in my family, apart from my mom, had actually been to high tea before so I had to explain the concept to them and also instruct everyone on what to make. The idea was that everyone would be responsible for one dish, apart from me because I planned several things to make (overachiever that I am). The morning of the high tea I drove to everyone's houses and picked up their items then arranged them at my house before they came over in the afternoon.

Our menu was quite extensive and I'm so proud of how it turned out. We had:

• Croissants with egg salad
• Zucchini and tomato tartlets
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Salmon and cucumber crostini
• Cucumber roll ups 
• Ham and cheese roll ups
• Cheese and chive biscuits
• Cranberry and orange scones
• Chocolate almond florentines
• Brownies with cream cheese filling
• Macarons with raspberry and vanilla buttercream
• Chocolate macarons with espresso buttercream

The food was accompanied by three varieties of tea: mango, amaretto, and green tea. Everyone, from my grandma to our little five-month old cousin, enjoyed the gathering and thanked my mom and me for hosting the event. Of course we had leftovers in the end so I packed some up for everyone to take home to the male members of each household. I'm happy I was able to introduce the rest of my family to high tea, though I think next time we will go out so that they can experience the real thing.