Tea Party!!!

Today Jan & Tom are hosting a blog tea party! Hello to all of our tea party guests!

I love tea parties! I always have ever since I was a little girl, and my mom would pulled out the fancy cups and saucers for the very first time and taught my sister and I to drink with dainty little sips while holding our pinkies in the air! My mom had a beautiful collection of tea cups, and every so often my dad would add to it, or she would pick one up at a vacation destination. Both of my grandmothers and both great-grandmothers that I can remember meeting also had their own collections of the beautiful china cups and saucers.

The cup at the top of this post belonged to my great-grandmother Hilderbrand. (She was my father's mother's mother.) After she passed away each of the granddaughters and great-granddaughters got to select a cup from her vast collection. I drank my tea out of that cup this morning to get myself into the tea party spirit.

Please forgive my poor photography skills, but this beautiful little cup belonged to my grandmother on my father's side. She was a very dear lady, and she used to watch my sisters and I often while my parents were away. She even lived with our family a couple of different times throughout my growing up years. She was very good at making you feel special. After I got my driver's license I would drive over to her apartment after school and she would have a sweet little spread all set up for us to enjoy together. She passed away a month before I graduated from high school, and had set aside a teacup for each of her granddaughters to be given to us on the occasion of our weddings. When we were opening presents the morning after our wedding, I was surprised to find a small square box with one of Grandma's handmade cards attached. On the card, my dad had written an explanation of the gift which was this beautiful teacup and one of grandma's lace hankerchiefs. Both are displayed on our corner shelf in the kitchen.

Grandma Faulkner

My favorite treats that she used to make are called "Buttons & Bow Knots"

(This recipe card was included in a book of family recipes that my parents gave to us for our wedding :) )

Just a quick little explanation of this recipe. First, the dough will be very, very sticky, so I use a TON of flour when I'm rolling them out. And second, you cut it with a donut cutter, so you get a ring and a "donut hole." Bake the holes as is - these are the "buttons" - and twist the rings so they look like a figure eight - "bowknots." Also, be very liberal with the melted butter and sugar when you're coating them! (The best part is the absolute lack of any nutritional value whatsoever!) I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of what these little beauties look like, but they're fabulous! If you try them, let me know what you think!

Be sure to visit Jan & Tom's Place to check out all of the other tea parties going on in blogland today!

Thanks for reading!