A North American Family Reunion Tea

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Family reunions are an institution in North American life, partly because we are so mobile as a culture and few of us still live in the same neighborhood as our relatives. Rose and Kathleen’s family has expanded from our original home base in Joplin, Missouri, to beautiful and far-flung locations all over the country. Various cousins have hosted our family reunions from Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, to Boseman Montana, to San Antonio, Texas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California, and back to Branson, Missouri. In each of those places, we have enjoyed good company and good local food.

Summer is the time for a family reunion. The children are all out of school, the adults can schedule their vacations, and no one has to deal with snow and ice that could interfere with travel plans and create difficulties for the elders. Our August Family Reunion Tea focuses on the delicious and familiar warm weather foods of summer. You might want to serve this tea as a buffet in the central gathering area you will be using, whether a conference room in a hotel, a park, or a cousin’s living room or back yard. We have selected foods that can survive a few hours without refrigeration.

You will want to keep things casual. Your Afternoon Tea Buffet can serve as an informal place to rest and visit in between more strenuous group activities such as sight seeing, hiking, water sports, sing alongs, or whatever it is that your family does when you get together. Attempting to over-organize a Family Reunion Tea can be a bit like herding cats, so we suggest that you relax some of the traditional guidelines of Afternoon Tea and offer your buffet as simply a place to relax and enjoy quiet visits in small groups.

However, do make the effort to create a beautiful and meaningful environment within the limitations of your meeting space. Include fresh flower arrangements and good linens and try to avoid paper plates and napkins if at all possible. Do not even think about Styrofoam cups! Use cream pitchers and sugar bowls, not packages of non-dairy creamer. Assign someone (perhaps yourself) to keep the buffet table clean and orderly and refill any empty platters or containers. Decorate the space with some nicely framed family photos, especially old ones, and pictures from previous reunions. Do not hesitate to add to our very basic menu foods that are especially popular in your family.

The Myth of a Thousand Pies

Grandma told me the story
And Mother told me too.
How many times in childhood did I hear
About Great-grandpa and the pumpkin pie?
Sometimes it was a long tale,
And sometimes short.
What triggered it?
Talk of pies, probably--
Blackberry cobblers in August on a picnic table in the park
Custard pie with fresh cream in spring
Apple pie in autumn when the Ozarks turned to glory
And pumpkin at harvest time too
Round and golden brown like the moon.
“Your Great-grandpa Nicholas Roberts
Used to eat a whole pumpkin pie at lunchtime.
Great-grandma would carry it out to the field in a dinner basket,
And he’d fold it over like a sandwich
Right there in the hay
And eat it standing up.”

Sometimes the standing up part seemed significant;
At other times it was the fact
That he folded the pie in two.
But eating a whole pie was always the marvel.

I’ve seen a photograph of him
Standing in the yard of the wooden house in Arkansas
That he built himself.
There he was in his high starched collar
And his droopy moustache,
Upright like a ramrod, tall and slim.
Yes, slim, this man who ate a whole pie,
And not at a single sitting, either,
Since he didn’t sit down.

This pie prowess—and according to the narrators
It happened more than once,
Maybe all the time, depending on who was telling the story--
This prodigious pie devouring
Happened a hundred years ago
In a hay field that isn’t there anymore.
And the hero of this myth is buried now
In a country cemetery in Missouri
With white stones
All around the edges of his grave.

I never saw him,
But every time I eat a polite bite of pie
In some skinny California bistro
His voice drawls in an echo
Over a hundred years of fields and stones--
“Eat it all, Honey,
Stand up tall and eat it all!”

Menu

Beverages:
Iced Tea with Mint Sprigs
Coffee
Decaffeinated Coffee
Lemonade Iced Tea for a Crowd
Sparkling Water
Hot Tea (Arrange a decorative bowl with a variety of interesting black, green and herbal tea bags. See the Index for suggestions.)

Savories:
Cheese Platter with Red and Green Seedless Grapes, Raspberries, Sesame Crackers, French Bread, Honey and Toasted Almonds
Corn and Red Pepper Frittata
Spinach Dip
Cream Scones with Blackberries
Spiced Apple Gelatin
Relish Tray with Dill Pickles, Bread and Butter Pickles, Sweet Gherkins, Cherry Tomatoes, Black Olives, Green Olives Stuffed with Pimientos, Blanched Broccoli and Cauliflower Flowerets and Spinach Dip
Sandwiches:
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches on White Pullman Bread
Peanut Butter and Apple Sandwiches on Raisin English Muffins
Ham and Cheese Sandwiches on both White and Brown Bread

Breads and Scones:
Cream Scones with Blackberry Variation, Blackberry Jam, Orange Marmalade and Butter
Strawberry and Watermelon Cube Kabobs

Sweets:
Spiced Apple Gelatin (Serve this elegant delicacy on a beautiful pedestal and place it near the cheese platter.)
Triple Espresso Cake with Chocolate Icing
Peach and Raspberry Cobbler
Lemon Chess Pie
Cherry Pie
Rice Krispy Bars
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes Included:

Corn and Red Pepper Frittata
A frittata is a perfect buffet dish for brunch or any other time. It is a simple combination of eggs and cheese with an infinite possibility of added vegetables, meats, herbs or seasonings. The ingredients can be mixed the night before, and the frittata can be baked just before it is served. Fortunately, it remains very tasty after it has come to room temperature, and it can sit on the buffet table for several hours, but it is more likely to be devoured by your appreciative guests. Our corn and red pepper frittata reflects the summer theme of this family reunion afternoon tea. We are suggesting the easy version, which includes frozen corn and roasted red peppers from a jar. If you want to be a purist, and have the time, you can cut the kernels off four ears of freshly shucked corn and roast, peel and dice two red peppers to add to the egg and cheese mixture. Also, we recommend adding a little fresh basil, but feel free to let your imagination guide you in adding any freshly chopped summer herbs that strike your fancy. Both cheeses can also be purchased in eight-ounce packages, pre-grated. This will save you time, but you can also grate the cheeses yourself if you prefer.

Spinach Dip
Somehow, we never get tired of Spinach Dip, a favorite party snack from the 1970s. There is something extra festive about a hollowed-out loaf of fresh sourdough bread, filled with savory Spinach Dip and served with raw vegetables, chips or even cubes of the bread that was removed from the loaf. Here we offer an adaptation of the retro-recipe from the packaged soup manufacturer, Knorr.

Cream Scones with Blackberries
Wedge shaped with lightly browned sides and tops, cream scones and English tea are traditional partners. Serve with a plump mound of butter and some marmalade, lemon curd or jam. Fresh berries can be added to this recipe to create Blackberry, Blueberry or Raspberry Scones. See the variation below.

Spiced Apple Gelatin
This magical dessert was created by Laurie Colwin, who wrote occasional articles for Gourmet  back in the golden age of that now defunct but never to be forgotten “magazine of good living.” This recipe appeared in the 278-page November 1992 issue as part of a Thanksgiving menu. Laurie suggested that this wonderful apple gelatin could be served with the turkey as a substitute for cranberry sauce. Rose has made this beautiful, sparkling molded dessert every holiday season since, but it is delightful in every season of the year.

Triple Espresso Cake with Chocolate Icing
Rose makes this cake every time she needs to bring a special dessert to a potluck. People always rave about it, which is a little embarrassing because it is nothing but a box cake with a few extra flourishes. Nevertheless, Rose loves it herself and will never stop baking it. This cake is called a Triple Espresso Cake because it contains brewed espresso in the cake batter, in the espresso glaze that is poured over the hot cake, and in the chocolate icing.

Peach and Raspberry Cobbler
Peach cobbler is the very essence of summer. We all have memories of Grandma’s special combination of flaky pastry, oozing with the sweet juices of fresh ripe peaches. Most of the grandmothers of the past knew how to make a peach cobbler without a recipe. As a result, many of us never really learned how to create the ethereal wonder that Grandma threw together with such apparent ease. We hope that this simple recipe will at least approximate your childhood memories. And to create new memories, we have added fresh raspberries to this cobbler, to celebrate the fact that these two fabulous summer fruits are ripe in the markets at the same time.

Lemon Chess Pie
This Lemon Chess Pie is plain, simple and homely looking but astonishingly delicious. It has been a staple of Southern baking since back in the days when people actually knew what a “chess” pie was. Our research leads us to believe that a chess pie is a sweet baked custard that does not require refrigeration and indeed was developed long before the refrigerator was invented. Why this wonderful dessert is called “chess” pie is another question. Some people think it is “Jest pie.”

Cherry Pie
Cherry Pie is one of America’s iconic summer desserts, and if made with fresh cherries and topped with a lattice crust, it is divine. If fresh cherries are available, use them, preferably dark burgundy colored Bings. It will take a little extra time to pit the cherries, but this is not a difficult task, even if you do not own a cherry pitter. Rose just puts on disposable gloves to avoid staining her hands and uses a small paring knife to cut the pits out of the cherries. If you cannot find fresh cherries, use a 1-pound bag of frozen cherries, thawed. Please do not use canned cherry pie filling, as it is an unfortunate concoction of thickener and red food coloring, not something you want to feed your family as you celebrate your reunion

Rice Krispy Bars
Is there anyone who has never enjoyed these addictive little treats? Most of us were introduced to these simple yet mysterious wonders in childhood when we were astounded to discover that Rice Krispies, which were so crunchy in the box, and marshmallows, which were so soft and puffy, could become a completely different creation when magically combined by our mothers into these chewy, sticky little marvels. Since children will certainly be present at this family reunion, we need to make sure that none of them miss out on one of childhood’s most memorable eating experiences. The grownups will also relish this trip down memory lane.

Snickerdoodles
These simple but elegant butter cookies are great for a large gathering because everyone likes them and they can be made the night before with no difficulty. Your goal is to create fairly small cookies that are golden brown on the bottom and soft and chewy in the middle. You can do it, and your family members will thank you for it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Everyone loves Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are heavenly when they are still warm from the oven, but your family members will still enjoy them if you need to bake them a day early. To create the perfect texture, light and crispy on the bottom and chewy and soft in the middle, prepare the dough with very soft butter and eggs at room temperature. Also, we think Chocolate Chip Cookies should be fairly small to create this ideal texture and to allow our brother (and uncle) John to eat more cookies with minimal guilt.

A north american Family Reunion Tea