Hellebore Tea 2012

What a fine day to have a tea party! Our annual tea with other ladies, most of whom are involved in garden clubs, was held at the Lake Wilderness Arboretum from 2 pm until 4. Our Issaquah Garden Club had two tables of 10 ladies each. One table was a lovely Christmas themed table and the ladies I had tea with decided upon a teal and light pink theme with butterfly accents. We were fortunate in that we had Amanda from Countryside Floral in Issaquah design our centerpiece. Jon had planned on joining us and his dad became very ill so he had to fly back to the midwest. Amanda stepped in and took his place. I'm happy to report that Jon's father is awake from his coma and doing better! Here are photos of some of the 30+ tables represented today. Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see more detail.

Didn't our table turn out lovely? We all contributed different elements to make it our own and provided the tea party food for us and to share with those at other tables. That is Amanda in the photo. Great job on the centerpiece, Amanda!!

This is the Christmas table by other Issaquah Garden Club members

This table was the winning table for best table design

Jessica...you look smashing as usual!

I told you I would post a picture of you in your BEAUTIFUL hat! Either one of these hats should have won the Best Hat contest, but no.

 I made coconut ice as one of my food items for the tea

Following is the recipe for this simple treat

Coconut Ice

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

2 1/2 cups desiccated coconut (NOT Baker’s…this is small flakes, drier & unsweetened and it probably won’t say “desiccated” on the label)

1 can sweetened condensed milk (you can use the low-fat stuff, it works just as well)

1 tsp vanilla extract

food colouring (traditional pink, or you can get a little crazy and change it up to your favourite colour)

1. Line base and sides of a deep 8" square dish with plastic cling wrap

2. Sift icing sugar into large bowl. Stir in coconut, condensed milk and extract.

3. Press half the mixture firmly into the base of the pan. Work colouring into the remaining mixture, kneading well to distribute food colouring; press over white layer evenly.

4. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm. Remove from tray (a fish slice helps here), peel away cling wrap, and cut into squares.

Coconut ice will keep for a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.