When I was in Japan I usually ended up drinking tea four or five times a week. This was a snack like tea, with little sweets (usually with a French appearance) and savory items featuring either rice or nori (seaweed). As the weather got chillier, the drink changed from the brown barley tea (mugicha) to coffee, but the snacks stayed the same. At one of the houses I consistently had tea at, the hostess had a whole collection of tea cups, a few for each season or type of tea I think. Now, I love the slightly fussy feeling having tea gives. There is something decidedly grown up and polished about setting aside time to boil some leaves in serenity. So, when I started feeling a little bored as an Unemployed Person, it was only natural for my thoughts to go quickly from cooking something (anything!), to hosting a tea party for my sister.

Of course, this tea was nothing like the nice luncheon teas I had in Japan. Even the slightly more attainable British standard was not quite achieved. The lunch consisted of Fruit Kabobs, which were the star of the whole meal, but rather more festive than elegant; Rosemary Skewers, which were really too elegant; Chicken Salad, which was simply beautiful; and Cucumber Cream Cheese spread, which was delightfully spring like, yes, and gave us some wonderfully vivid juice as a by product, which mom later used to make bread.

The three real adventures, though, were the baked items. Because a significant portion of the guest list required everything to be gluten free, I tried to test my skills in that direction. They certainly need help. I made rosemary crackers with a GF cupcake mix, because I couldn’t find almond flour (and waited too long to buy it on-line because the house’s oven was broken and I wasn’t sure anything was going to be baked after all). I had to add three extra tablespoons of oil to get the cupcake mix to stick together. The crackers turned out so peculiar that I almost threw them out, but the eighteen year old liked them, and once properly topped by either the chicken salad or the cucumber spread they were edible. I also tried cupcakes made with (homemade) coconut flour, which resulted in the bizarrest, eggy green, muffin things I’ve ever seen (I used maple syrup instead of agave, and canola oil instead of grape seed,  but I’m pretty sure all the fault lies with my attempt to make my own coconut flour. It was moist and clumpy before I added it to the batter). The cupcakes were received with varying expressions, but enough people tried filching them before the party that I served them anyway, especially since the girls were responsible for decorating their own. Not many flavors can live up to two tablespoons of swiss meringue buttercream (via Martha Stewart, I officially prefer the regular meringue frosting. The buttercream leaves one’s mouths unpleasantly coated).

The average age of the participants was eight (the youngest three were five, four, and two), and though they enjoyed all the china and dress up, as far as my effort went, I think the Flower pots were received the best. Once they’d finished devouring the ice cream and chocolate shortbread (I decided not to experiment with GF pound cake, and I knew from experience that shortbread crumbled beautifully), they were allowed to decorate the pots and take them home. There are actually paint markers out there that make coloring pottery a joy to both the artist and the clean up crew. And, in a moment of rare frugality, I remembered I had adhesive foam flowers in varying shapes, sizes, and sparkly-ness.

All in all the tea was great fun (even though we drank smoothie). I was completely tuckered out by the end, and the two days leading up to it held an appalling amount of cooking and preparation, but I would totally do it again. I have to come up with a party for my brother first, though.

The mom’s received boxed versions of the meal

Obviously, in case you weren’t aware, we are home. Yes, we made it through Texas, down to New Mexico, and then back across to Maryland. There was almost no internet connection in New Mexico, and the three day trip back home was way draining, but never fear, I now have both a connection and energy. Naturally, since everything else is in my favor, the pictures aren’t on my computer yet; although, my dad, who was with us only in spirit, has all of them on his. When we finagle a way to get one thousand pictures to transfer painlessly, I’ll up date the travel blog.

Until then I thought I’d share a little culinary advice: Let loose!

One of my lifetime friends came over yesterday and we invented our own green curry (mostly thanks to my brother, who went out to the store and got us coconut milk, basil, tofu, and a curry kit). Inspired  by this no-recipe approach ( inspired again, that is, both of my parents cook this way too, now that I think about it), I used one of the extra tofu packets to make fried tofu. And then I made a dipping sauce out of honey, lime, and rice wine vinegar. Then I photographed it like I was mad. And ate it ALL.

The coolest thing about this event was the contraption I stumbled upon for frying: a wire mesh strainer, placed inside the pot. The strainer had a loop on it, so when the tofu was done the strainer could be quickly drawn out of the oil, the tofu dumped out, and the strainer replaced, ready for the next batch. usually I spend half my time fishing bits of broken food matter out of the oil so it wont burn, but not today. It was the easiest bit of frying I’ve ever performed, and I’m looking forward to using this method on other foods.

Quick, what cool concoction can you create?