Afternoon Tea debut for the ________* Pad

Posted by Lou. The time is 4.00pm here in London UK.



My new apartment is one that cries out for afternoon teas and cocktails, right?



I mean, can't you just imagine two gals like me and Bel lazing about sitting on that sofa getting drunk on boooooze sophisticated cocktails and talking about seeeeexxx intelligent subjects whilst eating junk delicate miniature food??

Wait, here is my artist's impression of me and Bel being fabulous in my apartment [using only crusty free paint software so please DON'T JUDGE ME]:

As the one in colour actually looks a little like Bel I'm going to
take one
for the team
and agree to live in black-and-white.


So I had my first ever self-hosted Afternoon Tea Party. It went well. So well, in fact, that an attendee - over the age of 40 and British, so someone who has been around the block a few times in terms of scone-eating - announced that I had made the best scone she had ever had in her entire life. I wonder whether I should get this printed onto a certificate and stick it up on my kitchen wall? (I used this recipe, fyi.)

I of course forgot to take a pic of the final product,
but you can see their uncooked round goodness in the background of this pxt.


The sandwiches were quite stressful for me as a sandwich connoisseur I most certainly am not - but I erred on the side of caution and just used a lot of butter. In the end it was: roasted red peppers and cream cheese; chicken, cream cheese, and cranberry; ham; cucumber. Surprisingly the ham were most popular - lots of butter works you guys!

Advantage of having very little furniture (both in terms of quantity and size)
is that a tea-towel works nicely as a table-cloth.


I am currently in possession of some Real Kiwi Australian jaffas, so made jaffa cupcakes with a jaffa perched on the top of each. They consisted of a basic chocolate cupcake with orange zest mixed in, and then a very citrus orange-cream icing (butter, icing sugar, orange juice, orange zest). I'm going to confess that I didn't like them that much (perhaps because the chocolate cupcake just used cocoa and not Actual Chocolate), but everyone else earnestly declared their satisfaction (though they're hardly going to throw them in my face, are they?).

There was almost a disasterous faux pas when I realised I only had 5 tea-bags in the flat (!), but with a bit of recycling they managed to last the afternoon tea and all was happy in the end.

So come round to the _________* Pad for Afternoon Tea sometime!


*Please come up with a name for my apartment! Bachelorette Pad isn't Facebook-friendly (my brother would be aaaaall over that) and The Cupcake Pad doesn't quite work... any suggestions? (It doesn't have to involve the work "Pad", fyi.)

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10 thoughts on “Afternoon Tea debut for the ________* Pad”

  1. That is a banging tea towel! Nice innovation. And I looooove the artist's impression!! :D Photoshop used for good, not evil! yaaaay!

    *scurries off to ponder a name*

  2. What about "The Maxi Pad"? .....Reality Bites reference. And potentially too, ahem, feminine for your brother to go near.

  3. I'm for Highclere Castle (nods in B's direction) and also agreed, the one in colour DOES look like B... My only disgruntlement is that I'M not there also drinking fantastic cocktails. Mind you, after M's efforts at B's birthday and my headache the next day that's probably a good thing. I'm a piker you guys, a PIKER!
    Shoot me.
    MWAHxxx
    PS - 22 degrees here in Syd today, it's meant to be WINTER goddam it. When can I wear my f**king tights?

  4. While I am trying to think of a name, I will mention that I noticed that in your list of 'tags', Frankenstein is right about GertrudeStein, which is tickling me rather pink.

    'The Louft"?

  5. Hmm I like the Louft but might scare and confuse the wider public?

    On the Jane Austen front, good idea. I would name it after the house she lived in when she was a Spinster, aged 29 - except that was on Gay St so "#9 Gay Street" might sound totally unrelated to Austen!

    Perhaps "The Rectory" ? (her own living environment and of course a type of house constantly mentioned throughout her novels) Though in Britain that would actually create the expectation that I did actually live in a church conversion.

    On a related thought stream, I often describe the windows as Dickensian, so perhaps a Dickens property is the better option??

    Ooooh oooh what is the name of Miss Havisham's house? (Great Expectations is the only Dickens I have read, and Havisham has the brilliant connotations to do with spinsterhood etc)...... oh darn, it's called Satis House, which just doesn't do it for me. How about Havisham House though?


    And Vidya - it's rainy and colder than that in London! Argh! People are wearing tights and it's still summer...

  6. Havisham House! Love it!

    What is Great Expectations like as a book? I tried to read... um... can't even remember - some Dickens, and couldn't get through it!