Tea in a Neighboring Garden
It's bad enough, the way I peek at their pink bricks and the tall windows.
Now I also want to have tea in their garden.
I live just a block away but we haven't met, so I walk past their magnificent house every
day with my dog and her pretty red leash - who knows? It's spring, and Cleo is very shiny
in the light. One morning they could step outside, wave and say "my, that's a sweet dog."
Cleo blinks like a baby seal.
"You wait there," friendly brick-lady will say. "I'll just bring out some tea."
Then I will play it cool.
"Me - wow, okay! Can you wait like 45 minutes?" I start jogging backwards. "I'll go home
and bake some madeleines...be right back!"
I am a cool customer. "Can I make a centerpiece? Some daffodils?"
Isn't there always a place we'd like to be invited, but wind up invited somewhere else?
Tea in a neighboring garden is where I'd like to be.
Everyone has a happy go-to image - one you summon when you are where you'd rather not be. I have
my breezy would-be tea under the trees - two wire chairs in the grass, a plate of cookies on the table,
a kind neighbor and the first hours of spring.
Ooh, that is a thought. Time to butter those shell-shaped tins.
Madeleines do make fine introductions. Carry these and every door is open!
Madeleines
Beautiful scalloped madeleine tins are traditionally used for these French cake-like tea cookies,
but try shallow mini-muffin pans for a similar effect.
yield: 2 dozen cookies
2/3 cup superfine sugar (granulated sugar is fine)
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350º F and butter or spray 24 madeleine molds.
Beat the sugar, whole eggs, egg yolk, lemon juice, and salt in an electric mixer bowl on low speed
until well-blended. Fold in the flour until well-combined. Slowly add the melted butter to the mixture,
and stir to blend.
Spoon the batter into the molds, filling no more than 2/3 full.
Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly golden. Unmold and cool cookies on
wire racks. Sift powdered sugar lightly over cookies and serve, preferably warm.
from The Charms of Tea, Reminiscences and Recipes
are the pictures all tilty because you're taking them on the sly?
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Yeah, they're not the best - an amateur stalker can only do so much.
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So pretty. I am always doing this....gesh, someday someone is going to yell at me.
I like the tilted pics. ///\\\///
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ooohhhh I asked Santa for a madeleine tin last Christmas. I haven't umm, made them yet. Oops.
Can you do a reverse "welcome wagon" and leave a box of cookies on their doorstep and letting them know you're new to the hood?
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If you press alt 0176 (hold alt while putting in numbers 0176) you'll get the degree symbol as in 350°
Just curious, do you have a microwave? I don't recall seeing one in your beautiful kitchen.
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Thanks, Kathy!
Funny that you should ask about a microwave - we don't have one yet. We were planning to put a new one in, and it's taken forever to get the cabinet-microwave combo right - and you know what? I'll do a post about it. For the most part I don't mind living without one - but heating up leftovers is definitely a problem.
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Oh, Marilyn, I gain weight just looking at your blog. *Sigh*
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