Vintage tea in the garden

We first met three years ago. I thought it would be a good idea to invite a few blog friends from Rotterdam, and one friend from a bit further away, to a tea party in my garden. Since then we have met every summer. Some of us have even become good friends.  It's amazing what a blog can do. It brings so much joy and widens your horizons!

While our allotment complex had an end of season fair, we had our traditional tea in the garden :-). One of my best friends helped me out baking.

We made macrons, savoury muffins, cupcakes, two sort of scones, a raspberry pie, wraps, lemon bars, chocolate fudge cake and granny square cookies. Riet made a delicious banana bread. The sweet peas, which are still blooming abundantly, and my vintage china, looked really pretty in combination with the cakes and sweet delights on the table

Dear Riet, Ingrid, Saskia, Fleur, Ilse, Anita, Lia and Jolanda. Thank you for making the tea party into such a success!

It was my intention to organise a tea party for 'new friends' this year, but I simply could not find the time. So, you never know.......perhaps we will meet in the garden the next gardening season :-) I am already looking forward to meet some of you!

I thought you might like the recipe for the Raspberry pie on the photographs. It's really tasty! Not too sweet and full of flavour.

 

Raspberry pie

For the base (round 22cm cake tin, with a loose bottom):
- 3 tablespoons of ground almonds
- 100 gr plain flower
- 1 tablespoon of plain white sugar
- 50 gr butter
- 2 tablespoons of water

For the bavarois filling:
- 400 gr raspberries
- 3 1/2 gelatine leaves
- 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 175 ml whipped cream/double cream (slagroom)
- 3-4 tablespoons of plain white sugar
- a pinch of salt

Grease the cake tin. Mix the flower with the almonds and the sugar. You can do this in a Kitchen aid or by hand. Add the butter and mix until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Gently add the water. The mixture has to form a dough. If necessary, add some extra water. Knead the dough into a ball, wrap it in clingfoil and put it in the fridge for about half an hour.

Roll out the dough, until you get a thin layer. Cut out a circle, larger than your cake tin and gently press into the tin. It should be just enough for the above mentioned tin. You have to bake it blind for about 20 minutes at 190 degrees Celcius.

For the bavarois filling, purée the raspberries. Dissolve the gelatine leaves one by one in cold water . When the gelatine leaves are flexible, get them out of the water and put them in a small pan together with the lemon juice. Warm on the stove, until the gelatine is fully dissolved. Add the raspberry purée. When the purée has cooled down a bit, put it in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes.

In the mean time mix the whipped/double cream with a pinch of salt and sugar. Gently fold the whipped/double cream through the raspberry puree. The bavarois filling is finished. What is left, is to add the bavarois filling to the pie base. The pie is ready to put into the fridge now. I leave it there for about two more hours, so that it becomes stiff. After that it's ready to serve!

Bon appetit!

Happy weekend!

Love,

Madelief x

Crochet cushion

Hi everyone,

There I so much I would like to show you. Last week was a busy one. In between work and home, my mother and I spent two sun filled days in Maastricht, her place of birth. We visited family and enjoyed the sunshine, terraces and beautiful shops. The rest of my spare time was spent with a crochet needle in my hand and my nose in baking books.

I had my last tea in the garden yesterday.  I will show you some photo's soon, but I thought it would be too much to show them now, my last post being a tea party and the one before a lunch :-).

In this post a cushion cover I finished today. I used the same colours as in the covers I recently made. This was the last one for the living room. Perhaps I will make another one for my craft room with a granny square flower in the middle. Just found a gorgeous pattern on Etsy.....will be conintued....

The pastel bowls, floral cups and teapot are recent vintage finds.

A Happy week!

Love,

Madelief x

Thank you for your sweet comments on my last few posts. It's always a joy to read them! A big kiss to you!

Tea party

Last Saturday a low pressure area caused heavy rain in Rotterdam. With a garden tea party the next day, I was really happy when a dear friend kindly offered to have the party at her home. It would have been a muddy affair otherwise! The party was a great success. I love to entertain at home or in my garden, but now and then it's such a treat to just sit down and enjoy.

I packed two crates of vintage tableware and home made treats, arriving early to lay the table and finish the sandwiches and fruit tartlets. My friend, who enjoys baking just as much as I do, made whoopie pies, macrons, lemon cheesecakes and savoury bites. I made scones, chocolate fudge cake, sandwiches and fruit tartlets. It was all absolutely delicious.

If you are interested in one of the recipes, please let me know. I will tell you where it came from. 

The photo's of the flowers where taken in my friends garden. I should have taken more to show you, but alas.....


Wishing you a lovely evening!

Madelief x 

Country diary

Do you know remember the book 'The country diary of an Edwardian lady'? I read it as a teenager. It's a posthumous publication (1977) of the seasonal notes and drawings by teacher and Artist Edith Holden  (1871 - 1920).

She made the drawings and notes in 1906, on her walks through the British countryside. I recently found it on a flea market, hidden in a stack of old garden and cookery books. Such a lovely find. It brought back lots of happy childhood memories.

While I am sitting behind my laptop, with the book lying open on the table, a musty smell wafts by. Despite the smell, the book is still in a good condition. Now and then I pick it up, have a look at the beautiful illustrations and read Edith's observations on flora and fauna.

In this post some photo's of observations I captured on camera during the preparation of a garden lunch ;-). They are not as pretty as the drawings Edith made, but I hope they will do :-). The lady and gentlemen wearing a straw hat are my parents, helping me out in the garden.

Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

Love,

Madelief x