The Fifth Annual Jane Austen Fancy Dress Tea Party was held about a month ago. As usual it consisted of good friends, good conversation and lots of food. In fact I think I broke my record for food provided to a known number of people.


I also, somehow, only really took pictures of the food. In the course of the whole party I took two very bad (and I won't be posting them) pictures of my guests. We did get Rob to take a group shot of us but since I know a few of the ladies attending would rather they weren't all over the internet I won't be posting that either (it's for the scrapbook).


There were six of us at the party this year and everyone looked beautiful. Pink and white seemed to be our theme. Not only did we have lots of pretty dresses, we also had some pretty fantastic hair-dos (not me - I was still putting food together when the others were arriving); curls and ribbons and everything - so cute!


Here's the menu for this year:

Murchie's Afternoon Blend Tea
Pink Lemonade (very popular - it was a hot day)

Cucumber Sandwiches
Ribbon Sandwiches (I use dark rye bread and pink salmon cream cheese)
SouleMama's Ambrosia Salad (adjusted to Canadian canned goods sizes)
Cucumber, Radish, & Mango Salad (Martha Stewart Living, May 2010)
Devilled Eggs (plain and Dill and Caper)

Almond Macaroons (I didn't bother with the filling.)
Cherry-Almond Tea Cakes
Thimble Cookies (The All New Purity Cookbook)
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Ohio Lemon Pie (The Joy of Cooking)

Wow ... even looking at that list now I feel stuffed. I took a lot of leftover goodies into work on Monday for my office mates to finish off.


Most of the recipes are tried and true but two were new to me this year. The first was the Cherry-Almond Tea Cakes. The recipe is in a cookbook I got for Christmas and I've been waiting ever since for cherries to be in season so I could make these pretty little cakes. They look so special and taste really good. I nearly messed them up completely when I was baking. Somehow I forgot to add the flour. I was trying to set the cherries into the batter in the muffin tins and thinking it seemed runnier than I was expecting when I finally realized what had happened. I scraped all the batter back into the bowl, stirred in the flour and they came out fine (and the cherries didn't fall over).


The second all new recipe seems to be just about foolproof. Ohio Lemon Pie is on the same page as Key Lime Pie in my copy of The Joy of Cooking. I've looked at it whenever I've made Key Lime Pie and thought it sounded interesting. I was thinking of making Lemon Meringue Pie for the party but when I read through the recipe it sounded a little too easy to mess up when I was on a schedule. Ohio Lemon Pie involves slicing lemons (the recipes I've found online seem to leave the peel on but the Joy of Cooking version has you cut it off) and letting them sit in sugar over night; the next day you add eggs, pour the lot into a pastry shell and shove it in the oven.


The pie wasn't as tart as I was hoping but it was easy and came out beautifully. It was really good well chilled and especially with a dollop of sweet whipped cream on the side. Next time I make it I might try cutting down the sugar or adding another lemon or using one of the online recipes that leaves the peel on the lemons (the pith is bitter and might balance the sugar better). I like the look of this one from the Smitten Kitchen.

This year's Jane Austen Party was just as fun as usual. Four lovely ladies came to have tea with me - two of them who now live out of town - and we had a wonderful time eating goodies and chattering about anything that came to mind. My sister Jane came over early to help me make all the little sandwiches and Rob took Abby for an extra long walk to keep things calm while everyone arrived.






Everyone felt that Barm Brack should have a cuter name to go with the rest of the food. Suggestions included Barm Bracky and Yesterday's Tea Bread. The latter comes from the way the recipe starts off with leftover tea (you soak the dried fruit in it overnight). It tastes a lot like Christmas cake but without the cherries or brandy.


We had lots of food leftover but fortunately everyone was happy to take some goodies home and Rob and I ended up with a manageable quantity of cookies and cake to get through this week.


It was so nice to sit and chat with everyone.


Jane and Liette had places to be in the evening but Samera and Renee agreed to join me for a walk around the trail. We had lots of fun taking pictures of each other and the things we saw as we walked.

... Or two.

I’ve added some new pictures to my photos page. All the pictures are from a couple of tea parties we had over the summer. We made all the dresses and I did my best to make sure each one would be a little different. It was a lot of fun to see everyone all dressed up at the parties. A few people even did up their hair in Recency-ish styles. After tea we walked down the street to a little park so we could take some nice pictures.


... some people were a little more shy than others about being seen outside in costume.


I am very proud of my spencer with its little skirt. It’s based on the one on the cover of Persuasion. I had to work out the pattern myself and it took a few tries before I had both the math and the style complimenting the rest of the jacket. I still haven’t attached any fastenings or trim but my broach worked well to hold the jacket closed.