Kitchen Tea a Great Success

My invitation to the party: a little envelope with the details

on the reverse and a tea bag inside

On Saturday I attended my friend’s daughter’s Kitchen Tea. This is a party held for the bride-to-be and attended by all the prospective wedding guests. (Women only)

The view from the hostess' homestead

The guest of honour, Jeanrie, was kept ignorant of the fact that a party was being organised for her; it was held at another friend’s beautiful home on a farm a short distance outside town. When she arrived to visit this friend with her mother and sister, she was welcomed by no less than twenty ladies who’d been waiting patiently for her to make an appearance!

The hostess' beautiful garden

Lady guests, young and old wait for the bride-to-be to arrive
After the initial shock and excitement of realising this was her party, Jeanrie's sister dressed her in a veil, a "bridal" tee-shirt, a voille tutu, oven gloves and slippers!
Jeanrie with a personal file of "Mom's recipes"
I always cover gifts in plain brown paper, then I glue Scriptures and edifying proverbs, which I created on the computer, onto the parcel. Locally it has become my trademark and my gift is recognised immediately!

The gifts that are given at this event are not large like wedding presents; rather they are useful items for her kitchen, hence the name of the party. She received all manner of beautiful kitchen utensils, mixing bowls, oven dishes, a glossy recipe book by a well-known South African gourmet chef, a beautiful salad server as well as a variety of dishcloths and clothes pegs, pot scourers and sponges. She is a beautician by trade, so she said her housekeeper will be pleased to have the latter items!

The beautifully laid table

Later the hostess served a delicious chicken salad and homemade bread with fruit salad to follow. Coffee, tea and cheesecake rounded off the meal. I was touched and most grateful that she made me a “meat-free” salad which was absolutely delicious. It contained the normal salad vegetables: lettuce, cucumber, green pepper, spring onion, and WHOLE cherry tomatoes, with a generous serving of chickpeas and feta cheese. This was topped with thin slivers of avocado pear.

(I enjoyed it so much that I made my own on Sunday (see below) to accompany my Mozarella, Aubergine and Tomato Stack which recipe you can find here.)

I enjoyed my salad with Mozarella, Aubergine and Tomato Stack

The party was, as usual, a wonderful opportunity for friends (now a lot older;) to get together and enjoy the romance of a younger woman’s glow before she makes her marriage commitment to her choice of partner next month.