September birthdays afternoon tea
Last month, we had a family afternoon tea at my folks’ home to celebrate my sister Juji and my dad’s birthdays (my brother’s birthday is also in September, but his official celebration was at the recent 62nd birthday party). Everyone brought something along for afternoon tea, and it was quite a feast!
We also made a few caramelised onion pies too. Jac usually uses shortcrust but I was really in a puff pastry mood, so she made them with puff for a change.
Juji made mini Portugese custard tarts. When I laid my eyes on these babies, I couldn’t wait to try one.
The tarts were flavoured with real vanilla – see those little black specks in the custard? The sweet custard was lovely. It was hard to stop at one or two tarts!
We brought the little pies to the party in my cake carrier. We’d warm the pies in my parents’ oven before serving.
My brother and sister-in-law made a batch of brie and leek tarts. We’d really enjoyed these at the 62nd birthday party, so they were eagerly received.
Juji also made mini sausage rolls. They looked and smelled magnificent – I LOVE sausage rolls, especially homemade ones.
My eldest sister CW made three different kinds of sandwiches – ham, hard-boiled egg, and cucumber dipped in vinegar. I’m always partial to boiled egg sandwiches and was quite greedy over those. :-P I was thrilled to see the cucumber in vinegar combo – in Famous Five book #7 Five Go Off to Camp, the Five picnic on sandwiches that include ham and lettuce, egg, sardine, and cucumber dipped in vinegar! :D Hehah!
My plate, round one (believe me, there were quite a few rounds)- an egg and bacon pie and two mini sausage rolls, one with tomato sauce.
We had a second birthday cake, mainly for Dad – a special diabetic fruit cake (or, more accurately, a diabetic-friendly fruitcake, with no added sugar – see this old post for the diabetic fruit cake recipe).
I love the banana cake – you can smell the banana, you can see the banana. It tastes so very bananary (yes, I made up the word “bananary”) – oh! It’s just so beautiful and delicious!
Little Ruby had a great time – she loves eating! When presented with a ham sandwich, she immediately pulled the sandwich apart and devoured the ham first! She’s a meatlover like her Auntie TFP (and most of her extended family, for that matter!). She got through quite a few ham sandwiches – I think they were her favourite item of the day.
And here’s Zoe! She started on solid foods recently. She enjoyed her pureed cooked pears very much. I love her rosy chubby cheeks. I can’t wait till she can join in and fully enjoy the family feasts too! :D