Tea Party

Every Little Birdie

has a Tea Party

The ladies from my Book Club
filling up their tea plates

Decisions, decisions,
scones, cookies, cakes......
I must try a little of everything!!

I'll have a few tea sandwiches

Some of this yummy pasta salad

Shall I put Blackberry Jam or Tangerine Ginger Curd on my scones????

Everyone enjoyed the

Tea party

and our book discussion

We've just finished reading

The Last Jihad

by Joel C. Rosenberg

(It's about Wall Street, Terrorists, Spy's, World politics......

an exciting read)

and now we are moving on to

Amazing Grace

by Eric Metaxas

( the life story of William Wilberforce and his

heroic campaign to end slavery)

I promised you in my last post that I

would give you the recipe for

my Orange Cranberry Scones

so here you go......

3 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grated orange zest
1/2 pound unsalted cold butter, diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Scone Wash:
1/2 cup half and half cream

Cinnamon Sugar:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 or 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.  Add the orange zest to the dry ingredients.

With a pastry blender or two knives, cut the cold butter into flour mixture until particles are the size of small peas.  Fold in the dried cranberries to the flour mixture.  Add half and half cream and the vanilla to the mixture and blend until dough forms.  Do not over mix the dough.

With floured hands, pat dough to a 1 inch thickness onto a floured board.  Note:  this dough is very sticky and some what wet, I just kept lots of flour on hand to keep things for sticking. 

You can use a biscuit cutter or form dough into a circle and cut it like pizza.  Again flour everything to keep it from sticking.  Place on greased baking sheet.

Lightly brush the top of the scones with the wash, then sprinkle with sugar mixture.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden brown.  Baking time will vary according the to size of your scones.

Best served warm with a little jam on the side.

Every Little Birdie says -

I love Tea Parties

See my May 17th post  "Books and Tea" to learn more about the Tea party

Linking up at:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/feathered-nest-friday_24.html

http://youaretalkingtoomuch.blogspot.com/2012/05/meet-me-monday-party_20.html

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2012/05/network-your-blogmay-networking-blog.html

Books and Tea

Our monthly book club is at my house

this month

We always have lunch after

our discussion

and this time it's going to be a......

Tea Party

I've been busy preparing for tomorrow's

book club tea party

Tea cups are ready

Tea Pots are ready
Don't you love my tea cozy on the right
my English grandmother made it for me!!

I'll be making four kinds of tea
English Teatime, Honey Vanilla Chamomile,
Chai, and cold Peach tea for those
who would rather have an iced drink

The tea pot on the left is a Hall
My mother, who collects Hall tea pots,
passed this treasure on to me.

Just made my creamed butter and cucumber

sandwiches, tomorrow morning I will

make my Orange Cranberry Scones

The ladies will be bringing other

"tea" dishes

I'll try to snap some pictures tomorrow

during our Tea Party

and add them to a future post

along with my recipe for

the scones

Every Little Birdie says

Would you like a little cream with that tea?????

Linking up at:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2012/05/feathered-nest-friday_24.html

and



http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/

Side Trip

My last post was about our

trip to the Big City.....Dallas

On our trip home we take

Hwy 77 out of Waco

We pass through some delightful

little towns.....

One of them is La Grange

......if you haven't visited La Grange, Texas you must!!

they have redone their cute little square

downtown and there are wonderful

shops and eateries

Definitely worth a STOP!!

.......But the town we stopped in this time

was Schulenburg which is down the

road a bit from La Grange

Schulenburg has a beautiful nursery

that we have passed many times

and I always say "I must stop there sometime"

Well this trip hubby stopped in for a little visit!!!!

Isn't it pretty

After I roamed around outside
I ventured inside to take a look around

Oh my, more beautiful things.......



Even a few vintage things.......this is right up my alley!!!

Around one corner I found
a resident cat asleep
on an old ironing board.....
a charming little touch!!

.....and yes I did find something I
couldn't live without.....

A Queen Mum Agapanthus

I'm going to plant it in my front flower bed
The blooms are gorgeous, white with a hint of blue

I'll have to do a post when it starts blooming so you can see
how pretty they are.

So glad hubby pulled over
to let me visit this delightful
place in Schulenburg!!

 Every Little Birdie says.....

Don't miss the little side trips in life
they can be wonderful adventures!!!!

Trip to the BIG CITY

Last Thursday we

left our country life

and headed north to Big D! 

Dallas, Texas

We packed a lot into our trip to the Big City

We arrived Thursday afternoon,

went over to visit Dan's mom

and took her to dinner.

Later that evening our son came to

our hotel to visit.

We sat out in the courtyard by the pool

and caught up on what's going on in his life,

very nice visit.

Next day, Dan had a business meeting.

After his meeting we went to

my daughter's and hung out

with her, my son-in-law, and

two grand kids.

Great to see them!!!

That evening Hubby took me out

to one of my favorite Dallas

Restaurants to celebrate

 our 38th wedding anniversary!!

 

But first we had to fight the Dallas traffic!!!!

Adelmo's is a tiny Italian Ristorante

in the Knox/Henderson area of Dallas.

It's one of our favorite

places to go for a special evening.

Isn't the atmosphere lovely?

Decisions, decisions.....What should we order???

We finally decided -
Soft shell crab sauteed w/ mushrooms and spinach for starters.....
Next, we both chose Osso Bucco w/ Risotto Rice for our entree
and a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon
......we finished with yummy cups of cappuccino

A heavenly meal!!!!!!

Saturday morning we drove through Dallas to Rockwall

where my mom lives and took her out for Brunch.

My sister and her hubby were able to join us and we

had a lovely time.

So glad we got to see both our moms on this

Mother's Day Weekend.

But after seeing our family,

taking care of a little business on Dan's part,

and a romantic meal at one of

our favorite Dallas restaurants

it was time to head home!!



Good Bye "Big City"

Good Bye City TRAFFIC!!!!!!

Time to head SOUTH

We don't relax till we are

through Waco and out of the traffic

...but once we are on Highway 77

it's smooth sailing

HELLO
to open roads.....

.......Open fields

 



<><><><><><>

<>                                    

                      ..... Open Sky's

 Time to soak in the beauty,
enjoy the peace and quiet,

 We are headed HOME!


Oh, and BTW,
My husband was sweet enough to make a stop
in one of the small towns we pass through and let
me shop a little........

But that's going to be in a future post!

Every Little Birdie says -

Don't forget to stop by again soon!!!
You wouldn't want to miss it.

Disclaimer:  Most pictures were taken out the car window
going 70 miles per hour.......Hubby doesn't slow
down for photo ops.









Party on the Porch

NCH Farm Weekend

Victoria, Texas

For those in blogland let me explain -
"Farm Night" is an annual get together

for a great group of women

that have worked together

throughout their careers

Farm Night started many years

ago on Pat's Farm and continued through

the years......

Many of us are now retired and scattered

around the country but we still gather once a year for "Farm Night"

"Farm Night" has grown to "Farm Weekend"

We've met in New Orleans at Amy's, Arkansas at Lori's

New Braunfels at Janie's, Weatherford at Judy's

......and this year 

Victoria at Marsha's

The girls arrived Friday afternoon......

 

Everyone got their beverage of choice
in their Blue Solo Cups and headed
to the porch

But it was a little warm

and yes, the humidity was

a little high so we

headed out to what

we like to call the

"red neck patio"
someday it's going to be our cooking pavilion
but for now it's a slab of concrete





OK, this is better.....
a cool coastal breeze, birds singing, trees lightly swaying

While my guests were

relaxing I headed in

to prepare some

yummy appetizers

and they continued to.....

enjoy the laid back

country life

We continued to party outside
until dark and beyond......

It was the weekend of the Super Moon!!
 the moon was extra close to the earth
and it was so bright and beautiful

But we finally decided to move
 to the screened porch to play games!!
(Playing games on Farm Night is a big tradition.....
just having fun, nothing too serious.....
well maybe there was one person that
was a little competitive.)

We started with Mexican Train
a domino game

Some one who had never

played domino's before

was a run away train!!!!!!!!

then we moved on to Taboo

When our brains got too tired to play any longer

we all headed off to bed

The next day we decided to take

a trip over to Goliad

for some shopping and

sightseeing

Goliad has a beautiful courthouse

surrounded by a darling square

filled with cute shops and great places to eat

Pat and Janie in front of the SoHo Shop

A group shot in front of "the hanging tree"

Janie and Marsha resting while the
other girls finish their shopping

We stopped for lunch at
"The Hanging Tree" Restaurant

We shopped a little more

then headed back to

Victoria

Before long it was time
for happy hour
on the porch

We were all having a great time
until Janie saw this 

outside the screened porch!!!!!

I grabbed the Daisy BB Gun

gave it to Pat, our veteran hunter,

and we hesitantly moved outside

First shot and the snake took
off climbing up a tree

We were all there giving Pat support!

We moved into teamwork

that snake was going down!!!!!!!!!

Sherryl gave it a shot!

It became apparent the BB gun wasn't

doing the job, so I retrieved hubby's 22 pistol!

Finally Victory!!!!!

Pat shot him and he fell out of the tree!!

But wait, he was still moving.......

I retrieved more supplies

and our hero Pat finished the job

while Janie stood ready to help

if needed.

We've done a lot of wacky things
over the years on Farm Night
but never anything that got
our heart pumping like this!!!!!!

Oh my, time to return to the porch
and our wine time.

After some delish BBQ, a cookie or two,
or maybe a lemon bar we
continued to tell our stories and wind
down a bit.  It had been an exciting night!!

The next morning the men returned
from their fishing trip (Janie's hubby and mine)
They joined us for brunch

and then Dan & Janie

gave us a little porch concert

Janie is our singer and songwriter,

and we all enjoyed her songs.

It was a lovely finish to a
great "Farm Weekend"

We had hubby take one
final group shot before
they headed North!!

Yes, Pixie was one of the girls
and she fit right in and had
a great time with the ladies

Thank you "Farm girls" for
a wonderful weekend
and lot's of great memories

Before they left, the girls surprised
me with a gift they secretly bought
on our shopping trip to Goliad......

I just love my little sign
I'll be hanging it over the back
screened door on the porch.

Dian, Judy, Lori, Amy, Karen, Deb, Traci
you were all missed very much....
but don't worry we drank your share
of the wine so nothing went to waste!!

Every Little Birdie says-

There is no treasure better than
GIRL FRIENDS!!!!!!