Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea

A few days after Thanksgiving, since I had plenty of Turkey Liver Pate and baguettes leftover, I invited the girls over for a tea party. But really, it was just an excuse to use my new tea cups, two-tiered tray, and deviled egg plate.

The week before Thanksgiving, I needed to clean up my kitchen. Usually when friends come over, I make them move the piles on my dining table to the corner. We eat. Then piles go back on the table. I needed a better storage solution.

The area beneath the console table in my dining room was a catch-all for recycling cans, small appliances, and brown paper bags. It was cluttered and unsightly. Also, I had no place to store extra plates, pots, etc.


I picked up this TV cabinet when someone threw it out on the curb. I had hoped it would fit in the space between my fridge and door, but it was several inches too long. I swapped it for the console table. It was a little low, so I propped it up on some bricks from the backyard. And there, it nicely stored my pitchers, vases, clay cookware, cast iron cookware, plates, and tea cups.


Finally! I could unwrap these pretty bowls and glasses I had taken from my mom's cupboards during a trip to Portland this past summer. So pretty, aren't they? She picked them up from a thrift store. The tray I bought at Goodwill during my trip home for $4.99. Mom thought I spent too much, but I thought the tray matched the delicate glassware perfectly. I wanted to store them somewhere since I couldn't just put them out to collect dust.


These Provence plates were from a recent trip to Goodwill down here. A little pricey at $1.99 each, but I couldn't resist the photo of the Frenchman in a beret, carrying French bread.


These tea cups were from the Salvation Army. They were sooo cheap! There was a special buy 1, get 1 free sale on glassware and ceramics. The two tea cups in the back and the blue one were packaged together and only cost $1.18, plus I got another of those tea cups for free. All I remembered was that the cashier told me I was entitled to more so I picked out more. All the plates were from previous thrift store trips, but they matched enough in color for me to have mismatched tea cup sets. So I just went with the mismatched theme and had mismatched plates and tea pots for our party too.

Besides the gravy boat, I also bought four dipping saucers, a mini blue tapered glass, and the next two items. All for less than $9.


The two-tiered tray that sparked the tea party. It was just missing a screw on the bottom to hold it all together, but I easily found a replacement in my tool drawer. This tray and...


...this deviled egg plate were $3.48 for both. Awesome deal, huh? I looove the deviled egg plate.


Gave me an excuse to make my Triple-Deviled Eggs with Black Pepper, Paprika, and Sriracha.


The two-tiered tray held Cucumber Sandwiches, Turkey and Cranberry Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, and pate and Vietnamese Pickle sandwiches.


The cucumber sandwiches are a must for our tea parties. Luckily the younger '88 still remembered how to make cucumber sandwiches like I taught her the last time.


The turkey and cranberry grilled cheese sandwiches were made with a $3 sandwich maker that I managed to snag at Target at 6 a.m. *Yawn.* I wasn't up early enough to get the $20 DVD player that I wanted though.


Simple baguette sandwiches with the turkey liver pate and Do Chua (Vietnamese Pickled Stuff ie. Carrots and Daikon).


And more Turkey Liver Pate spread on baguettes for those who didn't like pickles.


Look how prettily the girls arranged the food on the plates.


I made enough for two ramekins of pate. FYI: the ramekins came with lids and are from Trader Joe's, two chocolate souffles for $4.99.


Lil' sis' Pumpkin Marbled Cheesecake.


Finally, after all the arranging, it was time to eat and drink. I made a pot of English breakfast tea and gunpowder green tea. The middle '87 insisted that we must all stick out our pinky when sipping tea. :P


And there you have it, afternoon tea with Thanksgiving leftovers.


When lil' sis told her friend we had a tea party, he said he thought only children had tea parties.

Little children have imaginary tea parties, the middle '87 said. We have real tea parties. :)

When lil' sis' other friends saw these pictures, they wanted to be invited to our next tea party too.

Oh? You like tea parties? I asked.

"We're gay. Of course, we like tea parties!"

Bwahaha!

Other tea parties:
Afternoon Tea in the Garden with Portland from Glendora and Angel Face Roses
Would You Care for a Spot of Tea?

*****
1 year ago today, Japanese fusion imagawa-yaki at Fulfilled - (Beverly Hills) (Closed).
2 years ago today, tagged!