It's tea Party Time! Memories From My Annual Sister's Tea Party

On March 31st I had my annual Sister’s Tea party. This has been a special tradition that my sister started on my birthday several years ago and since then I kind of took it over and made it an annual celebration of the women in my family and a few close friends; whom all happen to have their Birthday’s right around the same time. This year, I did things a little different. My sister Amy cannot have dairy, so instead of doing some things with and some without. I decided to make as much of it dairy free as I could; which happened to be most of it.

The Menu Included:

Curry Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Mint Cucumber sandwiches

Crab and Egg Salad Sandwiches

Blueberry and Black Tea scones

Lace Cookies

Madeline’s

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Lemon Icing

Brazil Nut Melts

Some of these are my own recipes, and some are old and new favorite recipes from my cookbook collection.

At first I was afraid it might be a big hassle to do the recipes dairy (mainly milk based) free. However, I went to the natural foods section in my grocery store and stocked up on Vegan butter, rice milk, vegannaise and Toffutti “cream cheese”. I simply substituted any butter, milk or mayo for the latter. Luckily my sister can have eggs, though there are several egg substitutes out there too. And I can honestly say I am not a fan of rice milk or vegan cream cheese by themselves, but in baking and cooking I couldn’t even tell.

I will gradually post the recipes over the next week or two, but here are a some pictures of the event as well.

The great thing about tea parties is you can do them for any special occasion such as baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays, or just as a fun way to share some time with friends and family. For me it means something special. I is something my sister and I can share and it just means some special time with those I care most for. Whether you have tea alone to relax, which I also do quite frequently, at a tea parlor or a special get together, I hope you come to enjoy it (if you don’t already) as much as I do.
Happy Eating!!

Your Foodie Friend,
Rachel :)