Sunday 11 May 2008

I had a dream...I found Petit Fours..but it was only a dream! Hark! The "Mother - Daughter High Tea" was a success without the Petit Fours!

My church had this amazing Mother -Daughter High Tea yesterday in honour of Mother's Day! I was asked to be one of the table hostesses. As a table hostess, one of our responsibilities was to set the table, using personal china or church china, place cards, etc., if we so desired. In my previous blog post, you knew I enlisted the help of a "transplanted -southern -belle -bloggy- friend -of -mine" at Hokey Pokey Life. She came up with this GREAT idea for place cards using "Petit Fours." (You can read about that story here.) Well...the GREAT "Petit Four ADVENTURE" ensued. Do you think I could find Petit Fours anywhere in Durham Region, population approx. 500,000? Do you think I could find Petit Fours anywhere in Toronto - the community next to me, population approx. 1, 500,000? Canada is part of the Commonwealth. We bow to the Queen. I bet she has full access to Petit Fours! So, here my dear Hokey Pokey friend can find Petit Fours in the great country of America, yet we here in the great province of Ontario, where the first British settlers settled, in the great country of Canada, are without! What was I to do? I put my creative juices into action, using one part Hokey Pokey's idea, one part my idea and one part Isabella's Chocolate Cafe's idea! The photo above shows the end result! A purse( or handbag as it is called in the UK!) filled with two homemade chocolate truffles, displaying the place card with the verse, "...Do not forsake your mother's teaching. [It] will be a garland to grace your head..." (Proverbs 1:8,9) written on it and tied neatly together with pink polka -dotted ribbon! I am very pleased with the end result! Wouldn't you agree?!! Thank you Kimberley ( Hokey Pokey) for your great ideas! I did find out that the owner of Isabella's could have ordered Petit Fours for me from his wholesaler but I was a day late! Thankfully, a wonderful time was had by all at the Mother-Daughter High Tea. It was a LOVELY day. I am grateful my mother was able to join me in this celebration! Here is my table:
I set the table as a tribute to my mom and her mother! It turned out to be sort of "shabby chic," which I loved! The china plates, teapot, cream and sugar hailed from Ireland. They are "Donegal Parian China", a gift from our Irish friends. ( I only had 6 plates so mom and I used china plates from Scotland!) The tea cups came from my mom. Fifty-one years ago, when she got married, it was customary to have "tea cup showers." As a little girl, I always LOVED my mom's tea cup collection, so I was thrilled she allowed me to use them yesterday! The daffodil cutlery came from my mom's trousseau as well! I decorated the centre of the table with one of my pinafores, one of my grandma's lace bibs and a baby photo of my mom. ( I like to be symbolic!) The wee vase is "Belleek Parian China," coming from Northern Ireland as well! The flower in the vase was stolen - oops, I mean "borrowed" from a flower arrangement in the senior's building where my parents live!! lol! Shhh....don't tell anyone!!

Here is my beautiful mom! Doesn't she look great for 71 years old!!!
The program.... The platters of food....one layer had sandwiches, one layer had squares and one layer had scones! Delicious! The platters on my table are actually from my great aunt's trousseau! There is debate on the etiquette of what to eat first at afternoon tea, but apparently the Queen loves to eat the squares first then work herself down to the sandwiches! So, our table decided to follow the Queen's example!! Here is my mom and I with another guest from my table.
Here are the lovely ladies from my table! We had a wonderful time together and they LOVED my place cards! I was blessed to be able to share the afternoon with my mom. I even made her cry when she watched the video the daughters made to honour our moms! It was a special day!
( to view the rest of my pictures from the tea, you can check out my web album at: www.picasaweb.google.com/swile67.)




5 comments:

Runner Girl said...

Yeahhhhh, Karyne! Your place cards turned out beautiful! And your table! I can't get over the collection of china and tea cups and their history! I'm glad things turned out so well, and I hope you were blessed by the event. I love the first picture of your table...did you hang from the chandelier to capture that shot? Now I'm off to go see all of your other pictures!

Runner Girl said...

p.s. And you know I love those pink polka dot ribbons! Perfect choice!

Anonymous said...

Hey Karyne! How awesome it must have been to do this! Your table looks great. Just fyi, it's Beleek, not Beleck. I have some coming to me when my grama dies... When I was growing up she made sure to teach me about everything in her china cupboard. Unfortunately she hardly used any of it!

Janina

swilek said...

Janina...thanks for showing me the typo...I know it is spelled Belleek but didn't see my typo error!!! Yes, it is lovely and how exciting you have some coming to you...my cousins live 15 minutes from the town of Belleek so I have been to the factory to see how it's made-lovely! You would have definitely loved the tea party!!!

Kimberley...thanks...no hanging from chandeliers necessary!!! great ribbon, eh...found it at walmart of all places!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Karyne, I am glad you had a good time at the tea! Thank you so much for being a wonderful hostess - your table was beautiful! Really enjoyed looking at all of your pictures and reading your blog!

Also wanted you to know that I found a small plate left after the tea that I think MAY be yours (cream with a little basket weave pattern with flowers on opposite sides). And there were 2 silver spoons as well... I have put them in Rick's office for safe keeping. Let me know if they belong to you or if you may know to whom they do belong...

Talk to you soon! Lyn