~Macmillan Update~

Just thought I'd pop in and share with you how my Macmillan event went today...

Scones with cream and homemade jam

I loved how these buns turned out - green M&M's, green fondant daisies and icing as green as The Grinch!
(Tiny bun cases from Home Bargains 150 for 69p and cocktail sticks with printed Macmillan logos.)
Generous people helping out, donating raffle and tombola prizes and money for a very worthy cause close to many of our hearts...THANKYOU xx
 After a quick tot-up by my Mum and Jo, we have raised £190. Yay! We bet last year's total!
P.S I'm sure Anne at Marmalade and Catmint will have better photos and a write-up,  as once guests arrived I forgot about photos as I was in 'Raffle Ticket' mode!

~Getting ready for Macmillan Coffee Morning~

I'm hosting a Macmillan coffee morning on Saturday from 11 to 1pm, to raise as much money as possible for Macmillan Cancer Support and I'm hoping to top last year's total of £130.86 which I wrote about here..

The Macmillan coffee mornings have been going since 1991 and have raised over £60 million for Macmillan cancer Support since then.
Thankfully I've got today off work, so I'm organising my tombola...

Roll up, roll up for the Macmillan Tombola!! Green raffle tickets, of course!

As a Tea Drinker (of huge quantities) I have to say my event will be a Macmillan 'Yorkshire Tea' morning as I have been kindly and generously supported by the lovely people at Yorkshire Tea (Betty's & Taylor's of Harrogate).

Some of my Raffle Prizes for Macmillan

 So, lashings of Yorkshire Tea, Taylor's coffee and cakes await new friends, old friends, family and Bloggy friends on Saturday!
I will be back with photos and a write-up after Saturday, but for now I am back to baking after I've sampled the latest batch of Brownies out of the oven with a cup of Yorkshire Tea!

I hope you all enjoy supporting a coffee morning near you...Hello to my lovely colleagues who are having theirs today...SAVE ME SOME CAKE PLEASE!

~Time for Tea - March event~

So sorry for my prolonged absence - virus and problems with the PC, the screen took to switching itself off until it finally went *kaput* today.  We have no pennies to replace it sadly, it's an ancient 8 years in PC land, so OH has frugally rigged up a TV as a new display screen.
 Hope everyone is well - it will take me some time to catch up with my favourite blogs; but thankfully it's the Easter hols! Spring cleaning and sorting out cupboards and wardrobes beckons...
My tea event last weekend (24th March) went very well, 8 guests attended, 7 ladies and 1 gent, including some lovely ladies met via Twitter, Clandestine Cake Club and Blogland (you know who you are - thankyou for the lovely company!)
The menu had an Easter and Spring theme...

Welcome drinks - Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb, Orange & Ginger Cordial (Country Cordials, Hovingham)

Sandwiches - Fountain's Gold cheese with Caramelised Onion & Rhubarb Chutney (Bracken Hill Fine Foods, York)

Jo's Special Cucumber sandwiches

Savouries - Homemade spicy sausage rolls

Cakes - Lemon Layer Cake with homemade lemon curd

and passion fruit cream

Fruit scones, clotted cream & homemade red berry jam

Chocolate macaroons

Mini simnel cakes

Unlimited tea and coffee  



Mini-Simnel cakes - with 5 balls of marzipan as I couldn't fit 11 on!



Amaretti Chocolate macaroons



All that was left of the lemon layer cake decorated with crystallised primroses

 I am now having a break in my tea events until September when it will be an informal gathering for Macmillan fundraising - date to follow if you'd like to attend.
I have lots of exciting things to share over the next week, including swapping my car for a bigger engine/diesel model that - yay!- is able, and hopefully will very soon, be towing a caravan!Hurrah! Lots of vintage finds too to share, and some projects I have managed to get finished!

~Time for Tea - Feb event~

Yesterday's afternoon tea theme was Berries, Cherries and love, in honour of Valentine's Day. 6 ladies (and one baby nephew) sat down to tea at 2pm, following a welcome drink of homemade pink lemonade.

The table theme was red, with gingham and roses cloths, matching vintage china and table gifts of mini-heart candles. Have used a photo of the table setting for my new header - I used L's swanky camera and did a bit of editing with special effects. Her camera is tons better than mine!

I was ably assisted by daughter L and best friend J in the tea-making and serving of the cakey delights...

I made some mini-bunting for the cherry and almond cake.  The double choc brownies with macadamia nuts were lovely.  My favourites were the homemade jammie dodgers, which turned out really well and were yummy. I added some custard powder to the mix, which made them a lovely yellow colour.  I sieved homemade raspberry jam for the filling.

Next event is in March, with a Spring themed menu (yet to be decided on!).
Some of my guests brought me a thoughtful gift of rhubarb from the Rhubarb Festival in Wakefield, which Anne at Marmalade and Catmint posted about yesterday. A bunch of Oldroyd's rhubarb tied with green ribbon - more attractive and delicious than flowers I think!

I'll be making a crumble with it on Monday morning. Thankfully I've got a day off on Monday to catch up with domestic stuff that has accumulated over the last busy week.

~Time for Tea - Jan event~

Six ladies sat down to tea today, for a lovely afternoon where we all tried (hard) to forget about diets just for a couple of hours...
Thankyou to all who attended and of course J for her help and donning her trusty apron again! Guests included Anne from Marmalade & Catmint blog, who has taken some photos and posted on her blog too here... Thankyou for the tulips Anne, seen on my new header, and also the wine encased in a cosy garter-stitched jumper!
The table was set with a red and green theme, using some of my favourite china and linens, including this Woods ware green cup and saucer.  Thankyou to Teapigs tea for their support too - guests took some teabags home too, along with polka dot packets of veggie seeds and leftover cake.

The theme was 'Comfort Food', so I had to include my favourite nostalgic treat - Battenburg!

Also a very rich Brownie Cake...

I ended up substituting Yorkshire Fountain's Gold cheese for Swaledale, also from Yorkshire and still as tasty with the green tomato chutney.

Looking forward to February's event - time to get my thinking cap on!

~Time for Tea anyone?~

I hope you will forgive me a bit of blatant self-promotion! I'm not sure whether you've gathered I have a healthy appetite for all things bakey-cakey, vintage china, fairy lights and doilies...Maybe you've read about my 'Time for Tea' underground tearoom events before here & here and also about attending Clandestine Cake Club here.
I'm a member of http://www.supperclubfangroup.ning.com/ where you can locate all the secret supperclubs and tearooms around the UK and beyond. This is my avatar below if you have time for a look...

a thrifted teapot with a handknitted cashmerino wool tea cosy!

I would love to welcome you into my home for my 2012 events. I have tickets for 3 dates available - Saturday Jan 21st 2pm

Saturday Feb 25th 2pm

Sat 24th March 2pm

I can seat 8 at each event. You can book tickets via the supperclub website or click on the link on my homepage.

A great place to read about the growing popularity of secret dining clubs is Kerstin Rodgers' book SupperClub - Recipes and Notes from The Underground Restaurant

I did wonder whether it would be a lovely opportunity to meet up with some of you out there in blog-land; a kind of bloggers AGM perhaps?!?

You can attend as a lone diner, or in pairs or groups; all that's needed is a willingness and desire to meet and chat with fellow afternoon tea guests, and of course, a love of CAKE!