Rose and Kathleen have both had the pleasure of spending copious amounts of quality time with the elders in our family, many of whom lived well into their nineties. It was from them that we learned the joys of afternoon tea. Elders have lived long enough to appreciate the classics, and our Afternoon Tea with the Elders features tea party standards that have stood the test of time. If the elders in your family are from “the old country” or a special region of the United States, or Canada, we encourage you to substitute items from our various multi-cultural and regional menus.
All of the foods on our menu can easily be packed up and transported to your elderly friend’s home or residence. You can adjust the number of food items depending on whether the party will include only one guest or several. The sweets can be made the day before, although there is nothing like chocolate chip cookies that are still warm from the oven. Be sure to bring fresh flowers along in a container that you intend to leave behind. You might also check with your friend’s family or caregiver to see if your dog or cat would be welcome. Dogs especially are very popular at senior care homes. If you do not have any elderly family members living nearby, we hope that you will contact the closest senior center, residential care home or church and arrange to share a little tea party with the “old folks” or someone who is living alone. It is never too late to make friends with an elder; it will be a precious gift to yourself and to your new companion. |
Quake
In the earthquake, a precious plate was shattered, The only token of a grandmother, dead for decades. A subtle hand had painted the rim gold, And old roses, opened like a woman’s generous palm, Covered the center on a ground paler Than the opal blue of a Victorian summer sky. In the long rumbling moments before sunset, When the quake rocked and rattled each timber, The dogs cowered in the camellia garden Stark with terror, and even the oaks groaned. The plate, an icon Sacred to the world of women, Crashed against the glass meant to protect it, Ended an era of elegance, A time when beauty animated every breath. 
But in the garden, a spider web,
Huge, patterned like a doily of old lace, Still spanned the space across the walkway Between the porch and the oldest oak. |
Menu
Beverages:
English Breakfast Tea
Hot Coffee
Orange-Cranberry Juice
Savories:
Peanut Butter and Apple or Grape Jelly Sandwiches on White Bread
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Whole Grain Bread
Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Brioche
Breads and Scones:
Cream Scones with Butter, Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberries
Sweets:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Lemon Pound Cake with Additional Strawberries and Chocolate Sauce
Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Beverages:
English Breakfast Tea
Hot Coffee
Orange-Cranberry Juice
Savories:
Peanut Butter and Apple or Grape Jelly Sandwiches on White Bread
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Whole Grain Bread
Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Brioche
Breads and Scones:
Cream Scones with Butter, Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberries
Sweets:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Lemon Pound Cake with Additional Strawberries and Chocolate Sauce
Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Recipes Included:
Chicken Salad Sandwiches Chicken Salad Sandwiches, a perennial favorite, are featured on our Autumn Tea and Tea for Our Elders Menus. You can make life easy for yourself by buying a smoked or roasted chicken at a deli or grocery store, cooling it in the refrigerator and assembling the other ingredients when you are ready to make the sandwiches. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches We think Cheddar is the best choice for this timeless favorite. We recommend brown or seeded Twelve-Grain bread. This is the classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich we enjoyed as children with tomato soup. Some people like to add sliced tomatoes to this sandwich as a reminder of happy childhood memories. The addition of tomatoes will make a great sandwich, but the tomatoes may get a little drippy during the grilling process. This sandwich, with or without tomatoes, is on the menu of our Tea for Our Elders, who will certainly remember good times with Grilled Cheese. Peanut Butter and Apple or Grape Jelly Sandwiches Peanut Butter Sandwiches are a childhood favorite that almost everyone still loves as a grownup. Our Afternoon Tea for Children menu, our Ozark Farm Harvest Tea, and our Hawaiian Tea all feature Peanut Butter Sandwiches in some form. Cream Scones Our recipe for old fashioned Cream Scones will make lovely English style Scones with lightly browned bottoms and tops and soft, fluffy centers, ready to be layered with butter, whipped cream, and sliced, fresh strawberries. Your guests will appreciate this little journey down memory lane. Pumpkin Cheesecake This spicy cheesecake is a perfect autumn dessert but will be appreciated at any time of the year, as it contains canned pumpkin puree, which is so much easier to use than fresh pumpkins. Your guests will love the creamy texture, and you can bake this cake a day or two before the gathering, as cheesecake keeps well in the refrigerator and can be served chilled or at room temperature. If the top of your cheesecake cracks, use the old trick that we use and dollop some whipped cream on top just before serving. Lemon Pound Cake with Strawberries and Chocolate Sauce Pound Cake is especially appropriate at Afternoon Tea, as its elegant rich flavor and texture pair perfectly with a nice hot cup of tea. Pound Cake is also flexible in all four seasons, as it can be served with strawberries in the summer, fresh cherries as soon as they are ripe in June, warm dried fruit compote in the winter, or chocolate sauce any time. As we have learned, Pound Cake is also the foundational element in Trifle, and it is lovely toasted and buttered for breakfast. If you have any Lemon Pound Cake left over after your Tea with the Elders, you might want to wrap it up and leave it with your guests. It will not go to waste. Chocolate Sauce Serve this simple warm chocolate sauce with the Lemon Pound Cake and fresh strawberries. Use the best quality chocolate you can find, as this sauce only has three ingredients, and quality really does count when it comes to chocolate. You will find that this versatile sauce will come in handy in serving all sorts of other desserts. You can make the sauce up to a week before you plan to use it. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and rewarm in the microwave when you need it. It is beautiful presented in a small cut crystal pitcher with a silver ladle. Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce The name of this timeless treat reveals its British origin, as it is really a cake, not a pudding. In England, the term “pudding” is often applied generically to a wide variety of desserts, whereas in America, a pudding is always a soft, liquid-based mixture served in a bowl. Rose found the recipe for this gloriously over the top caramel covered date cake years ago in Gourmet magazine and has been baking it for all sorts of special occasions for the past twenty years. This recipe, adapted from an article on travel in Australia, uses very odd measurements, as you will see. Rose has used other recipes for Sticky Date Pudding that include less quirky measurements, but none of them were as good as this one. The cake itself is very easy to make as you can just measure all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and push the button. The luscious warm caramel sauce is poured over the baked cake, creating a “sticky” effect that is irresistible. You will need to use an oven-proof platter for the cake, as the recipe recommends warming the caramel covered cake in the oven just before serving. You will also have extra caramel sauce, which you can warm up and serve in a gravy boat or pitcher so your guests can pour even more over their cake. Any left over caramel sauce will be divine on vanilla ice cream for hot caramel sundaes. Note: Rose has transported both the Sticky Date Pudding, on its platter, lightly wrapped in plastic wrap, and the Caramel Sauce. She places them in a sturdy box lined with a thick towel behind the seat of her car. She keeps the sauce in a large glass jar with a tightly fitting lid and wraps the pitcher in which the sauce will be served in another towel. When she is bringing food to someone else’s home for Afternoon Tea, she tries not to make a large “footprint” in another person’s kitchen. Chocolate Chip Cookies Your guests at A Tea for Our Elders have probably eaten Chocolate Chip Cookies all their lives. They may even know these American classics as Toll House Cookies, as they were invented in 1938 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. While Chocolate Chip Cookies are easy to make, you must use eggs at room temperature and very soft butter when mixing the dough to ensure the perfect texture, lightly crispy on the bottom with soft and chewy centers. |
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