Plates

<< PREVIOUS SECTION  < PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE > NEXT SECTION >>

Small salad sized plates are used for eating the foods served at Afternoon Tea. Tea sandwiches, scones and sweets are small in size and are eaten as three separate courses, so large dinner sized plates are unnecessary. Even though they are convenient and often quite attractive, please do not use paper plates for Afternoon Tea, as they detract from the dignity of the occasion. Usually guests use the same plate throughout the tea gathering, but the hostess should keep a few clean plates handy in case a guest’s plate gets too messy. If, for example, a guest still has a pile of uneaten guacamole on his plate when he is ready to have some Tres Leches cake for dessert, the hostess can simply whisk his plate away and bring him a clean one. She will certainly not ask her guest why he did not eat the delicious guacamole she spent so much time preparing.