Thursday Teatime!!

Today, we celebrated Joyce's birthday with a special tea! With Willy Wonka the Musical successfully behind me, I was in a celebratory mood. I finally got around to trying out the dark chocolate madeleine recipe from one of my new cookbooks.

Madeleine pans prepared almost as instructed, brushed with butter and dusted with cocoa(my experiment)

dark chocolate is melted with butter

whole eggs are beaten with sugar till pale and foamy

chocolate mixture is stirred in to finish the batter

Always a good sign when the recipe makes the stated specified amount.

 

 

success!!, and boy they are delicious!!

Next up , some scones. I decided to try something different and made cherry scones instead of the usual currants. I received some wonderful Dried Michigan pie cherries for Christmas from Kathy.

 

 

 

 

Tea is not complete without some savory foods. I decided to make turkey & watercress sandwiches and also made a wonderful shrimp salad with the wild shrimp from Publix.

peeled , deveined and tossed with olive oil, just the perfect song for a sing a long

 

 

dressing for shrimp

For the 2nd savory snack, Cajun turkey and watercress!

 For the tea service, I selected the more sparkly dish patterns since it was such a gloomy day.

Our tea selection for the afternoon

madeleines are finished with a quick dusting of confectioners sugar

 

 

 

After tea, we took a quick stroll in the garden to see what was blooming. The sun came out briefly and is was nice.

 

 

 

 

Thalia Daffodils

It has been a cold and wet spring so far, which is good for plants but I am eagerly awaiting warmer days ahead. Joyce shared a few tomato plants she started with us yesterday. I will spend the next few days "hardening off" the plants and plan to plant them in 2 or 3 weeks. We also received an invitation to a wedding in Charleston S.C. and I have till April 18th to decide weather to go or not.. decisions, decisions......