This Saturday’s descent down the family staircase felt like a passage out of an Elizabeth Gaskell novel meets Audrey Hepburn film. After all, I wore a Victorian-style off-the-shoulder dress trimmed in black lace, the low-scalloped neckline the right cut to show off my mother’s gold coin necklace.
I grinned ear to golden-ornamented ear with red-rosy lips and pulled back my hair in a low bun, Hepburn style. With the exception of house slippers—one stay-at-home adornment I wouldn’t shirk in favor of my fancier threads, I had brought myself out of the pandemic-induced funk of the previous week, a fashionable phoenix rising from the ashes. Despite all entertainment, fashion and sporting events dropping like flies from my calendar, I was dressed for a special occasion indeed—a DIY, afternoon tea at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My mother is like the gold-rimmed floral china we dressed the dining table with: beautiful, precious and rare. She has the ability to make food into works of art: case in point, the finger sandwiches in our afternoon tea spread. When I asked my family if we could host a tea party in our home, we went all out. Believe it or not, we managed to pull off an afternoon tea in the caliber of a London tea salon (I’m not biased) not only in the comfort of our own home but with cutlery and ingredients we already had!
Here’s how we did it (and how you can too. I highly recommend trying this for Easter or Mother’s Day!):
Menu:
Finger Sandwiches
Chicken Salad Crostini:
-Dried cranberries
-Mayonnaise
-Sliced almonds for added crunch
-Canned shredded chicken
-Thinly sliced French baguette
-Garnish with fresh dill
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
-Philadelphia Cream Cheese
-Butter
-Thinly sliced cucumber
-Fresh mint leaves
-Orowheat’s buttermilk white toast with crusts cut off
Cheese Crostinis
-Homemade cheese made out of yogurt
-Philadelphia cream cheese
-Dill
-Chopped celery
Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches:
-Hard boiled egg
-Paprika
-Mayonnaise
-Orowheat’s buttermilk white toast with crusts cut off
-Garnish with fresh dill
The Tea:
-Loose leaf “Wedding” and “Jubilee” black tea blends from Fortnum and Mason
-Coffee Mate French vanilla creamer
The Sweets:
-Madeleine Cookies
-Apricot Jam
-room temperature butter
Once we assembled all the table trimmings, we joined a Zoom call with our extended family and enjoyed their company for two hours. Granted, there is nothing like in person get togethers, but hearing each other’s voices, seeing comforting faces and show-and-telling our goodies to one another did boost our spirits in the midst of social distancing.
Shout out to the healthcare workers, grocery workers and factory workers. Personally I must pay tribute to two unsung heroes: my parents. My father is an executive in the healthcare field and goes into work every day. My mother has been keeping the house in order and all of us fed. My brief leave from LA is made better with a family like mine!
Keeping it Krischic,
Kristin Vartan
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Keeping it Krischic 