How to host a tea party in someone else's house....

Remember a while back when I catered the desserts for the Art Auction that

my former high school (where I was employed) was doing a fundraiser to create scholarships for needy students???? Well, I also donated a tea party for eight people.  The winning bidder (who is the gal in the hat at the end of the table in the foreground) then contacted me and set up a date that she wanted.  I then sent her a menu to choose from, which included 3 different sandwiches, 4 desserts and 2 tea varieties.

She chose:

• roast beef with herbed goat cheese
• savory cream puffs filled with curried egg salad
• traditional cucumber and cream cheese

For her desserts, she chose:

Madagascar vanilla merinques dipped in dark chocolate

Lemon madeleines with lemon zest frosting

Lemon tarts with fresh blackberries

Traditional Cream Puffs with Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

Her teas were:

Susan Branch's favorite....earl grey with lavender and rose petals  (which was a HUGE hit)

and Boulder Blues....a green tea with rhubarb and strawberries (made in Colorado)

I arrived about 2 hours before the event and brought the linens, dishes and serving pieces, made the sandwiches, boiled the water for tea and got everything ready....when the guests arrived, they chatted a bit and everything was on the table for them to enjoy....

I'd make sure teacups were filled with piping hot fresh tea, but basically stayed in the kitchen and tidied things up so that I'd be ready to clean up as soon as her event was over...

I think that she and her guests were pleased and I received lots of wonderful comments, which, of course, made me feel awesome.....One of the guests was a teacher I used to work with, so there was a hug and a few personal exchanges there, too....which is so nice....I miss that community of colleagues so much!

So, come along and see the party!

I did say the auction was for EIGHT, right?  Well, one call decided to bring her 16 year old daughter along, so we had NINE instead.  Thankfully, I brought extra of everything, including the dishes!

For this event, I used my Desert Rose pattern....I have LOTS of vintage teacups and saucers, but not enough that match for this many.....but Desert Rose is now considered vintage, too!! (first came out in the 50's)

the plates on my tiers are removable, so guests were able to pass around the goodies

sandwiches went so quickly!

I even brought along my silver teapot...

the owner of the home provided water and water glasses for anyone who wanted some

Here are the cream puffs on the bottom, lemon madelienes, and vanilla meringues on top.  On the plate was another dessert which I forgot to mention....MY GENOISE....I created mini genoise cakes with my fresh berry compote and freshly whipped cream.....it was a hit!

Look closely and you can see the little teapot place card holders I brought, too....

The conversation was continuous...I think everyone had a great time...of course, the hostess is charming....I don't know her personally at all, but what a sweet gal!!

Back in the kitchen, the 'son' had some dessert with me and their kitty licked whipped cream off of the plate.  I was enthralled with this kitty as she (Natasha) looks JUST like our cat who recently passed.  I almost slipped her into my cooler and took her home!

some guests brought the hostess little gifts, which are on the table here

I took this photo from her kitchen window....so you could see all the snow here

and in another direction.....just beautiful, but NOT fun to drive in!

After I do something like this, I always ask myself: "What did I learn?"
Here's what I learned:
1.  I love to bake. PERIOD.  And since I learned I'm gluten intolerant, I haven't done as much.  I baked most of Friday and all of Saturday morning prior to this event.....the kitchen smelled glorious and I was in HOVEN....that's heaven in an oven!
2.  I love to do good things for others.  It made me feel good to donate to this cause....to give back to a school that brought me so much joy and love
3.  I need to continue to follow my passion....there is NO WAY I can make any money doing this....with all the time and money spent on this one event, I would have to charge $1,000 to make a living....considering my time, ingredients, cost of running oven, transportatio to and from, etc.....I need to have place where people come to me.  This is not cost effective
4.  I love to serve others and fuss.....so if YOU want to sit down and have a cup of tea with me, we'd better go out; otherwise, I can't sit down long enough for a conversation; I'll be wanting to get up and get you something.
5.  I love to bake.  Did I already say that??

I would have LOVED to have you all there.......but thankyou for peeking in!!! xo