Hello, dear friends!
How is life in your neck of the woods? Are you looking forward to a respite from this unrelenting heat? I know that I am, lol...
It just so happened that just last week, we saw a slight decrease in temperatures, just in time for afternoon tea week, which commences every year during the second full week in August. This year, it lands on August 7 through August 13. I absolutely adore taking tea and am an avid collector of pretties!
Today I am sharing how I set up a lovely teatime al fresco just in time for this very lovely occasion.
I wanted a setting with cool tones, so I opted to combine pretty blues and minty greens.
An elegant fluted cup with delicate gilt sits atop a dainty saucer and pretty plate in coordinating colors.
A demitasse spoon, cocktail fork, and spreader in gold make for ample accoutrement.
An iridescent pot used for café plays perfectly with a stout pot in floral for tea. Guests have an option for either.
At each setting, a petite teapot favor contains a teabag for each guest.
An arrangement of simple flowers; white roses, white chrysanthemums, and pale bluish plumbago.
The roses and mums came from the local grocer, and the plumbago, from my garden.
On to the main attraction, the yummies!! Afternoon tea typically has three courses: the scone, the savory, and the sweet. I opted only for two, a savory and a sweet course for my simple setting. I used a few clever tricks in preparation to save time.
The Savories:
For my afternoon tea, I opted to have finger sandwiches as well as open-faced sandwiches, which were close to canapés, save for the omittance of the garnish on the top of each. I prepared an egg salad, a Waldorf chicken salad, and open-faced cucumber and salmon sandwiches.
Egg salad:
I hard-boiled two eggs, and added mayonnaise, enough to make a creamy mixture.
This was placed on bread with the crusts removed.
A thinly sliced Roma tomato
was laid atop the egg salad,
and finally, a sprinkle of lemon pepper.
There are so many options for these dainty treats, but I decided to cut them into length-wise strips and small squares.
Waldorf Chicken salad:
To make this salad, I used approximately 3/4 of one granny smith apple, sliced,
and finely chopped.
Two thin stalks of celery, cut lengthwise,
and finely chopped.
Next, I added walnuts,
finely chopped,
and finally, both red and green grapes right off of my vines. The grapes that grow in my garden are relatively small in comparison to those that you find at the grocer, so there was no need to halve them. 
I combined all of these ingredients together along with mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste, and a dash of lemon juice. Waldorf is one of my favorites! So delicious!
For the Waldorf salad sandwiches and the open-face "canapés," I used my handy biscuit cutter to cut bread into rounds.
For these sandwiches, I prefer a heartier bread, and I used Dave's Killer Bread.
The base for the two remaining sandwiches, which were both open-face sandwiches (no tops), was the same.
I combined softened cream cheese,
fresh dill and chives,
rinsed,
and finely chopped,
seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.
Spread onto each round,
Then I topped them with either halved
and thinly sliced cucumber,
or salmon.
The sweets:
Petite-fours
For 'cheater' petits fours, I used premade pound cake from Entenmann's. 
I cut the pound cake into fours.
I melted vanilla flavored candy melts using a pot and double-boiler insert.
I added a bit of food coloring to some of the candy to make a pretty mint color as well. If you try this process, be sure to add a little bit of shortening to the candy melts for a better flowing consistency; use sparingly, and do not add so much that it will affect the flavor. Using a slotted candy spoon, I drizzled the melted candy over each piece of cake, and placed it on wax paper to cool. I then placed the colored melted candy into a ziplock bag and cut the corner off; I drizzled a zig-zag design onto each little cake. I repeated the process in the reverse so I ended up with one white cake with mint accents and one mint blue-green cake with white accents for each guest. On each mint-colored cake, I dotted a bit of cookie icing. I placed these in the fridge to set prior to serving.
Strawberry shortcakes
For cheater strawberry shortcakes, I also used premade pound cake.
First, I took the pound cake,
and cut it into two thin halves.
I cut these halves into rounds using my biscuit cutter.
Next, I spread a layer of whipped cream.
Next, I laid thin slices of strawberries.
I capped each shortcake,
dolloped each top with whipped cream,
and added a quarter strawberry slice as garnish.
Complete setting.
Do you celebrate afternoon tea week, and what goodies do you enjoy?
Until we meet again,
--Y
From my collection:
White saucers, Haviland France Limoges Ranson and Marsielle Collections
Gold flatware, Wallace Silvermiths Antique Baroque Collection
White Cake stand, Ralph Lauren Pavilion Collection
Glass Cake stand, Bed, Bath, and Beyond Our Table Collection
Iridescent Teapot, Agyiuns, Amazon
Floral Teapot, Delton Blue Romance Collection
Fluted cup, Dicunoy, Amazon
Teapot favors, My Wedding Favors
Blue canister used as vase, Le Creuset
