Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 1

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 2

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 3

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 4

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 5

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 6

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...

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 7

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 8

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 9

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 10

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 11

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 12

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 13

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 14

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 15

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.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 16

Lil' sis' Pumpkin Marbled Cheesecake.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 17

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 18

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

Thanksgiving Leftovers Afternoon Tea 19

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!

10 comments:

  1. What a perfect tea party! I am jealous of your collection, especially the dainty looking tea cups :)

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  2. Wow, such great deals all around. And such a nice tea party! I think I would like the leftovers tea party more than the actual turkey dinner. ;)

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  3. Wow, I love the setup, the tea party is fit for royalty, suited for a king and queen. love it love it.

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  4. Sweet little tea party to enjoy the left over tidbits and enjoy your pretty tea things. Don't you feel like there is never enough decent storage in a home??

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  5. So many great finds! I love that deviled egg plate!

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  6. So many great finds and cool dishes! I remember those gold rimmed plates/cups from your lemongrass tea post!

    I got my set of free ramekins from Vanille in San Marino when I bought some creme brulee. :)

    Great photos as usual. I am liking the focus of the items in the photos.

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  7. hi wc - so cute! i used to collect tea cups/saucers at thrift stores...they are languishing in my cupboard unfortunately. time for a tea party now!!!!

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  8. yeah rite, u just wanted to re-do ur deviled egg pics! buahahahha! ;)

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  9. Wiffy,
    They were all thrift store finds. I bet you can find some pretty cool stuff if you look.

    TS,
    I definitely liked the tea party more. Less work than cooking Thanksgiving dinner!

    David,
    Next time my cousins insisted we bring out the tablecloths!

    Nikki,
    In my case though, my home really is tiny. There just isn't enough storage for anything.

    WeeMo,
    Tres cute!

    Lisa,
    I do too! I had to buy it, even though I already own two others!

    ETE,
    Ummm, I'm not sure you were supposed to take home the creme brulee ramekins from a restaurant...

    Canine Cologne,
    You should! How could you let all those tea cups sit in the cupboards?

    Van,
    Haha. That was one reason. But the filling still wouldn't play nice for me.

    ReplyDelete

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