Saturday Afternoon Tea with Frakah

Scones!

As you may or may not know, my sister and I are a little obsessed with afternoon tea. Not that fussy, frilly old lady tea with lots of floral patterns and doilies. Our tea is more of a come-as-you-are tea. Our tea tends to involve foods created out of whatever we have on hand. In short, our tea rocks.

Tea Time

My sister, Frakah, and I have been doing afternoon tea for several years now. It's not a regular thing (yet), but it's something we really enjoy doing when we can. I'm not even sure how it all began. Perhaps it was when my brother got married and I threw my SIL-to-be a bridal shower tea. I catered the whole thing with mini scones, mini cupcakes, and four types of mini tea sandwiches (curried chicken salad, cucumber, smoked salmon, and caprese). I discovered that preparing tea foods is a lot of fun and allows for much creativity. It is really fun to think up new tea sandwiches and fun desserts to pair with tea.

Lately, my sister and I have been tossing this idea around for our own tea house/bake shop. We both love to bake and love tea and we also have a bizarre sense of humor. Why not have a tea shop that involves all of those things? So we got together on Saturday to discuss our ideas over tea.

Charlotte

My contributions to the tea were buttermilk scones, wasabi cucumber sandwiches, and a strawberry charlotte I picked up at La Petite Provence. I found the scone recipe on foodgawker, and the sandwich I came up with myself. You see, last Monday I went to the Crystal Ballroom to see the Bellydance Superstars, and before the show my mom and I had dinner in the pub below. I ordered a delicious ahi tuna sandwich with wasabi mayo. I've known for awhile that I really love the tuna-wasabi combo, but I thought, why not use wasabi mayo in other sandwiches. Hence, wasabi cucumber tea sandwiches.

Frakah's contributions to the tea were some lemon-ginger straws, lemon curd, and some savory saucer scones. I'd forgotten how much I love lemon curd and it paired nicely with the giant scones I made. The straws were tasty, but looked nothing like the picture in the recipe.

Frakah and I enjoyed our feast, of course, and we were stuffed to the brim by the end (as we usually are). Afternoon tea is always a good time- the food is good and it's nice to have company.

Samwiches

Wasabi Cucumber Sandwich

2 slices white bread
1 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp wasabi paste
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint
9 thick cucumber slices

Spread the cream cheese on one slice of bread. Combine the mayo and wasabi and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread wasabi-mayo mixture onto other slice of bread. Sprinkle chopped mint over the cream cheese. Arrange the cucumber slices, slightly overlapping, on the cream cheese slice of bread. Top with the other slice of bread. Cut into squares. Enjoy!

Frozen scones!

For the scone recipe, follow this link. Note, you are given the option to cut the disks into quarters or eights. I chose quarters and wound up with some huge-ass scones, even though they looked small when I cut them Do not be deceived! They will grow and become very puffy!