Hey There!

I mentioned in last week’s post that I’d be making scones for my company’s UniTea party. I thought I’d take today to share some of the behind-the-scenes pictures with you!

Some of my favorite work ladies were the masterminds behind the event, and I was so honored to have been asked to help.

It was a nice excuse to reuse the tea things from our wedding. Between myself and two other ladies, we had enough teacups and saucers for the entire corporate building!

One of the ladies happens to be a talented floral arranger, and she let me try my hand at helping arrange flowers into teapots for the centerpieces. (This is not a strong suit of mine which is why I firmly said no real flowers at my wedding.)

She was so sweet about it and just quietly went along after fixing up my sad little centerpieces. After the tea, we moved the centerpieces to the lobby and some friends’ desks to brighten the place up. I’m still enjoying the one on my desk!

One of the fellows at work homebrews beer and brought in his large brew kettle and  propane tank to heat our water, and the ladies procured from some unknown source 3 carafes to hold the hot water.

All of the ladies baked homemade scones using JG’s Amazing Scone Recipe with different variations. There were apple cinnamon, caramel apple, white chocolate, white chocolate & orange cranberry, blackberry walnut, and my plain scones served with a mock Devonshire Cream.

We also made a variation of a traditional cucumber tea sandwich by piping cream cheese onto a cracker and topped it with cucumber and dill. There was fresh fruit, biscotti, petite palmiers, and an assortment of teas.

We had two dedicated times slots, one at 2 and the other at 3 for our large wave of tea party goers, but individuals could also drop by throughout the hour for shorter 15 min. time slots as well. We set the food out in waves, and it went really smoothly for how many people we were serving!

It made me smile to see how reluctant people were to let us take and wash their teacups for them. Several people refused altogether and insisted on cleaning their own cup!

To help people mix and mingle, we had origami set out on the tables so people could chat and help each other. It was such a fun event! I didn’t stop moving from 12 when we began setting up until my shift was over at 5. The food was delicious, and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out and serving with some of my favorite people while I met others within our organization. I’m thinking there’s talk about this being an annual occurrence, and considering how much I love a proper cup of tea and how much time we spend at work, I hope it is!

What are your favorite work mixers you’ve attended? Let me know in the comments!

Hey There!

Remember my amazing woodland tea-themed wedding reception? Well, I’m so excited to get to use some of my tea things again this Thursday!

We’re having a tea party at work to celebrate moving into our new building. It’s been super exciting to move all of our separate corporate locations into one amazing space, and we’re having a Uni-tea party!

While helping out with this party, one of the girls gifted me with her scone recipe so we can bulk-batch some scrummy scones for everyone to enjoy.

I’ve made over 100 scones for this event and sampled quiiiite a few.

Guys, this is the best scone I’ve ever had. I gave one to The Fellow, and he tried to so hard to be loyal and say he liked other scones I’ve made, but he couldn’t hide how much he loved them. He finally admitted, “You make good scones, and they’ve tasted similar, but they’ve never had this texture.”

The best part about this recipe? She said I can share it with you!

Now, the recipe she gave does involve additional items like white chocolate and a lemon glaze. However, for this round, I opted for just plain scones since I’m also providing a Devonshire cream.

I’m going to start you out with the plain version just like I made. We’ll get crazy with it in a later post.

Without further ado – JG’s Amazing Scones!

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JG's Amazing Scones

Ingredients

• 2 C Flour
• 1/3 C Sugar + a little extra for glazing
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 C Butter
• 3/4 C Heavy Whipping Cream + a little extra for glazing

Instructions

1. Heat Oven to 385 degrees.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Rub in butter and vanilla until it resembles crumbs.
4. Add Heavy Whipping cream and form into a ball.
5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface.
6. Pat out lightly into a flattened disc. Cut out scones using a biscuit cutter.
7. Brush extra heavy whipping cream over top of scones and then sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake for 9-11 min. or until corners turn golden.

Notes

Alternate Directions: Form dough into a rough log and slice or cut into triangles.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes

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https://moonshineinateacup.com/2018/06/20/100-scones/

Extra tip:

You can scrunch back together the leftover pieces from cutting out your scones and cut additional ones, but these won’t raise as high.

Let me know if you try this and whom you share them with!

Hey There!

Last weekend The Fellow and I went to the home of some friends for board games and dessert. The Fellow just got a 3D Printer  (I can barely wrap my head around the fact that they exist, let alone that there’s one in our back room. It’s like something straight out of Star Trek.), and he printed a 3-D board for one of our favorite board games. The husband of this couple is very tech-savvy, so The Fellow was excited to share his new toy hobby with someone who would appreciate it.

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While the guys were discussing the printer, “L” and I were discussing her newest tech addition – a smart kettle. Yupp. An electronic tea kettle that is hooked to an app on your phone.

She loves it, and I have to admit, as much as I’m not a tech-obsessed person, it was pretty cool to not have to get up from the table to turn the kettle on.

They walked me through the app a bit, and it can be preset to come on at a certain time – like for your morning cuppa. You can control the temperature of the water for a more precisely prepared cup of tea. (Teas have recommended water temperatures and steep times, not that I pay attention to them.) It also shows how much water is in the pot.

Basically, the only thing you can’t do from the app is fill and pour, but with driverless cars a real thing today I’m sure filling and pouring aren’t too far off.

When I went to college, the one thing I asked the student guides was if I could have an I have an electric tea kettle in the dorm. The answer was yes. (I probably should’ve asked something better like, “Why do most kids in my major have a 6-year graduation rate?” But hey, priorities.)

I got this little kettle, and it lasted me all through college. We just replaced it last year with the same model. It hasn’t given me a bit of trouble and since I’ve never bothered using the proper tea temps, I think my tea tastes just fine. Maybe when it’s time to replace this kettle, I’ll upgrade to a smart kettle. Maybe. What do you think? Technology for our tea – yes or no?

I remember reading an Animaniacs book over and over when I was a kid. They went to London and ended up melting and then restoring Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum. When they set out on their adventure, they said they wanted to have tea and crumpets (whatever they are) with the queen.

Does anyone else remember these guys?

For some reason I think of that book fairly often. This is most likely because I drink copious amounts of tea.

I actually have had a crumpet, but I’m still not quite sure what they are. My brother is friends with the only British country boy in West by God Virginia, and he gave my parents a package of crumpets which they saved for me. The crumpets were similar to English muffins though thicker and fluffier … I wonder if English muffins are called English muffins because of their similarity to crumpets … I mean, a crumpet is a muffin from England, right?… maybe … To Google! The difference seems to be in the dough and the baking, but they’re basically the same. Either way you split it, the crumpet wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m sorry for the puns … I really am. (I should go on the record here and say they spent a little time in the fridge so that may have had something to do with it.) The crumpets just seemed flavorless and soggy.

While we’re on the subject of childhood books and tea parties, I had a mini flashback this weekend. Two girls with whom I was friends as a child reconnected with me via Facebook, and we all went out to tea! We opted to dress up, and they joked that I would go all out (I have a flair for the dramatic at times.), so I did.

Fortunately, the timing for this was perfect as all of the thrift stores still had Easter things out. I went to Goodwill and grabbed a grey straw hat with pink trim and bow. I wish I had taken pictures of the hat before and during as it turned into a neat project.

The hat originally had wire under the edge ribbon so you could bend the brim. After washing the hat, I ripped the ribbon off as I was going to trim the hat in purple. Re-trimming the edge didn’t look polished enough for my taste so I opted instead for a clean edge. To achieve this I seam-ripped apart the outer ring of the hat making it a few rows smaller. (Straw hats function like a coil. They get larger each time they circle outward.)

Once the edge was trimmed, I had a clean slate with which to work. I found a small spool of tulle at Wal-Mart for about $1.50, and I bought 5 bunches of flowers from the Dollar Tree: pansies, daises, some draping purple flower that may not actually be real, and two different-sized roses and I went to town. Seriously, I use so much hot glue …

The newly trimmed hat turned out so posh. I wish I could wear hats in my day-to-day life. The problem with hats is that you have to take them off indoors, as no one knows hat etiquette in today’s world of wash-and-go hair and baseball caps, and hat hair is not attractive.

I love drinking tea, and we had so much fun! We think the last time all three of us were together was very nearly ten years ago. We sat, reminisced, drank several pots of tea, and munched on tiny finger sandwiches and scones. (I need to find a good scone recipe. If you have one, let me know!)

There is something enchanting about murmuring conversations while delicate music plays in the background with the soft clink of china that is simply magical. We sat at our table just chatting and lost track of time.

We had such a good time! I can’t wait until we get together again.

( I love this print!)