Apple Tree

 

We bought our house, the house we still live in, in December of 1978.  That's a long story but I will jump to spring. We used to have a farm market on the edge of town. It was a new (in the 1970') red building with siding and a big front porch with white pillars. They sold plants in the spring and produce all summer and small gardening and farm tools and all kinds of stuff.  My favorite shopping time was spring when they would have bundles of asparagus on the counter - freshly picked.  

I stopped out there for something and an apple tree caught my eye. It was small and I could afford it. I did not know enough to keep the tag.  I pictured a big shady tree for future children to play under and large red apples to eat in the fall. 

It was an heirloom apple tree. Not sure if it was labeled dwarf, but it never got very tall.  The apples were early apples, green and a very thin skin. They were a little too tart for me, but not my husband who would pick them for him and the kids, then the grandkids, wash them and cut into wedges. 

It was delicate. If it snowed when the tree was thinking about blossoming, we would have no blossoms. And if it would snow sometime around the blossoming, maybe we would get apples and maybe we wouldn't. 

People in the know - my parents age or older than me, would stop and ask if they could buy apples. They would say what great applesauce and pie filling they made and tell me what their family called that variety. There were a few different names. 

One lady stopped early this summer. I told her, as I tell anyone who stops, come by anytime and pick from the tree. My husband composts the ground falls.  She took 2-3 and came back a few days later for 2 or 3 more. Finally they were ripe, according to her. 

Then my husband decided to trim a branch. When he cut it, you could see rot inside. He came and got me because more trimming would dramatically alter the tree. Well, he had to keep cutting and we discovered the rot went all the way into the trunk. 

He took the whole tree down and we looked up the lifespan.  The internet says it is about 20 years so we figure our 45 years was a bonus. (Wait while I gasp that I bought that tree 45 years ago). 

This corner of the yard looks very empty. I am glad I did not let any children climb that tree this year. I don't think we will plant another apple tree, the bees were not fun in the play yard.  

I will miss the shade, too. 

Tea Party Preparations (Part 2 )

I approached the tea party like I was planning a military coup. Lists, lots of lists. Shopping, cooking, packing.

The packing station:

The Recipes: 

Thawing peas while thinly slicing English cucumbers. I place them on parchment paper, sprinkle with salt and layer over night. In the morning - dry on paper towels, top and bottom and put on crustless bread and butter.

I have not made Pea Salad in such a long time that I had to look up a recipe. This is not my mom's recipe because she added water chestnuts, but this was fabulous! I plan to make it often! 

Peas, bacon, red onion, cheese, butter and sugar. So good. And so cute in a tiny bowl. I made a sample. 

To prove my OCD craziness, here are the heart shaped cookies cooling while I check the bottoms for two dozen with perfect browning. 

The Carrot Cake Sandwiches. This is a recipe from Tea Time magazine that I have been making for years. Cream cheese, powdered sugar, grated carrots and raisin bread. 

I make them a day ahead and wrap in plastic wrap to put in the frig. Before serving I cut them into strips with my electric carving knife (that I use to take crusts off the cucumber sandwiches, too). 

Adding a thick layer of grated carrots. 

Ready to be wrapped. These are always a crowd favorite.

How is the list coming?

Baked, frosted and sugared cupcakes. I added the fruit right before serving. 

I used a new recipe for mini cheesecakes and they were a total failure. Luckily we had way too many other desserts. 

Closeup of the substitute iced tea glasses. 

Now a set of eleven. 

Perfect temperature for an outdoor tea party! This was on my way home. 

And that concludes the Summer Tea Party Series. 

Tea Party

Frankly I have so many ideas in my brain for posts, I do not know where to start. I quickly uploaded all my tea party photos to take advantage of Shutterfly's $10 book deal so I guess I will start there. 

We served a chilled strawberry soup on my collection of milk glass luncheon set tea cups with a blueberry scone on the plate. There are no pictures of these foods, lol. 

I think it was only a week ago, but I am so tired that I can't really guarantee that.  A few weeks before my oldest granddaughter had asked me if I would help her with a tea party for her friends. This is something I have waited my whole life for. I quickly sent her a suggested menu, pictures of the insides of all my china cabinets and other ideas. 

This was a submitted sample of the glassware for the Iced Strawberry Raspberry tea. Unfortunately one of the bases broke from the glass as I was packing them.  I have had them for decades and was too scared to risk serving with them. 

These pictures prove that her mother (my oldest daughter) is as crazy as I am. I guess I will just add the photos and do commentary in comments, lol. 

In the cupboard under one of my four china cabinets was this unopened box of "Guest" glasses. I used these instead, but there was one casualty. The guest was mortified but I showed her the $1.99 price tag on the box, what I paid for them at a flea market.

I chose 4 teas for the menu, two hot and two iced. The hot teas were two Harney and Sons black teas,  Paris and Chocolate Mint. The iced teas were Lipton's Strawberry Raspberry and Harney and Sons Pear and Ginger.  I used some paper spout drip guards on the tea pots and wrote the flavor; the carafe's had little hanging tags identifying their flavors. 

The pink Hall Pottery tea pot came from the tippy top cupboard at my church and was going to be put in a rummage sale.  I made a small donation prior to the sale and brought it home with me. Sugar cubes were a big hit. 

We served the sandwiches and salads (and desserts) buffet style. 

Chicken Salad on Croissants. 

Ham and Swiss on Hawaiian Rolls with Bacon Jam. 

On the right, Cucumber on Bread and Butter and upper right, Carrot Cake Sandwiches (recipe tomorrow's post). 

Salads included Pea Salad, Tiny Seashell Macaroni Salad, Italian Pasta Salad and Fruit Salad in heart shaped foil tins. (She saw those in my box of stuff and wanted to use them). 

I baked Strawberry Cupcakes, decorated with strawberries and Lemon Cupcakes decorated with lemon slices. 

I baked and decorated the heart shaped cookies with gold sugar. The kind people at Aldi provided the macaroons.  And on the top right it turns out we do have a photo of the scones! 

They tempted me and said they were picking up Petit Fours but got a box of assorted tea pastries at whatever store they have in the big city.  

I think I forgot to mention that they live almost 2 hours away. I had to get up at 5 am to leave by 6 am to get to their house to plug in my coffee urn of water and finish preparing all the food for the 11 am party. 

Too pretty to eat! These lovely cupcakes with fondant tea pots were made by a friend of hers - a high school student!  I got a preview and brought individual cupcake boxes if they would like to take them home to admire! Aren't they gorgeous!!!

The guests (and a peek at the pink soup). Everyone was so polite and lovely and had such good manners. 

We overheard some of the guests saying the party was the summer event of the year! I am so happy for my granddaughter who was so nervous. 

She even had a selfie station (she is on the left) for photo opportunities. There are no photos of gramma.  

I am going to try to schedule the prep photos for tomorrow!  I had such a good time.  I love cooking and I love all my dishes and glass and tea cup collections. 

I want to mention my daughter went to Meijers and bought all the flowers in bouquets that she took apart. She created all those AMAZING centerpieces! And she was the one who ordered the tables, chairs and tablecloths.  
 

Still Here

 Busy. Very Busy.  Lots to share when I get time. 

This morning I got up extra early so Mr Merry and I could go explore our county fair for 1 cent each on senior citizen day.  We entered the grounds around 7:30 so we could see the sites and leave. 

The fairboard used 600,000 of Biden Bucks from the state and a family donated about 100,000 and got naming rights to build a new barn which displaced the rabbits and chickens. We wanted to see what a 700,000 barn looks like and what they did with the rabbits and chickens. The barn is unimpressive and the rabbits and chickens,  which used to be in well preserved little barns with active superintendents and 4H workers taking pride in their care, are now in the goat barn. 

Mr Merry had agreed to buy me a breakfast sandwich from the grange.  We were blown away by food prices at the booths. $16 for chicken tenders and fries, $10 for fancy hot dogs. I could not have afforded to feed my family of five children anywhere at the fair.  Entry fee is $10 per person so it would have been $60 just to enter (Mr Merry worked weekends).  

We made it home by 8:30 and I am off to the charity office for the day.  Last Monday we had a record number of applications and our board meeting ran very long.  I am hoping this week might have less clients.  We did receive a bequest in a will so that money will help carry us for a while. 

Last night my dear husband picked a bucket of tomatoes, a bucket of green peppers, and zucchini and eggplant.  I made another pot of salsa, an eggplant casserole and cucumber salad from one of the 10 cucumbers he picked (no more pickles!).  This was after hosting five grandchildren for an overnight.

Eggplant Casserole