Ladies and gents, if you turn your attention this way, you will see Pages of Starlight's newest feature (cough cough* only original feature so far): Afternoon Tea!
Each month, tentatively slated for the third Wednesday of the month, I, you're host, will talk briefly about a book I'm either reading or have recently finished - one that I probably won't review - and pair it with the perfect afternoon tea and accompaniment. This will include talk about the tea itself, as well as a recipe (most months, anyway) for the food that is being eaten. This will mostly be sweets, perhaps a few light snacks as well.
Afternoon tea is a traditional repast, usually served between four and six pm as a sort of 'stopgap' for the afternoon doldrums that set in between lunch and dinner. While afternoon tea was popular with the upper-class, High Tea - served between five and seven pm - was usually the actual dinner of the working class
Afternoon tea was usually a social time, with people dropping in on friends, neighbors and acquaintances and snacking and chatting with the hostess. While there were usually more women at afternoon tea, it was not uncommon for the man of the house to be present. Of course, sometimes other men would visit as well, but it seems safe to say that women usually outnumbered men at these events. (Lest if my - admittedly fuzzy - historical knowledge is anything to go by.)
The proper order to eat the treats offered was traditionally: the savories (which were usually more food and less sweets, such as bite-sized sandwiches) then the scones (which I love and are slightly similar to American biscuits) and, finally, the sweets (often cakes and tarts, which are like miniature pies). Now, as I'm only a one person blog - and making all that on even a monthly basis would make me gain weight instead of loosing it like I'm supposed to be, I will unfortunately be choosing only one snack to make with each tea.
So, there you go, a quick and not so short overview of my new feature. I hope to see you again on Wednesday to share my first afternoon tea with.
