April Fool's Day Afternoon Tea

The colorful tables set the scene for a unique afternoon tea adventure in celebration of April Fool's Day. Each guest had a copy of the menu tucked underneath the napkin. Although the menu included everything that was to be served, it was not in any particular order. The saucers were placed atop the teacups to quietly announce the topsy turvy and somewhat whimsical nature of this tea.

If you take a closer look at the Tea Selections for the day, you might notice that some of the tea names have been scrambled just for fun. Once everyone had their pot of tea, the first course was served. Typically, we begin with a salad. For this tea, we served veggies, but not in salad form. In the little cup was a Hummus, Carrot and Cucumber Tower topped with a cherry tomato. The mini pepper was filled with spinach dip, and a sprig of dill was added to look like a carrot.

The plate of assorted sandwiches and savories included a Carrot Cheddar sandwich cut to resemble a carrot. There was a savory garlicky spread on the bread and broccoli lined the upper edge. A Cheesy Thumbprint cookie with hot pepper jelly surprised a lot of people with the spicy nature of the cookie. A warm Pimiento Cheese tart was extra cheesy. The petite Meatloaf topped with parmesan mashed potatoes was all vegetarian. Wrapped in the Hobo Bundle was a combination of craisins, pecans, and jalapeno bits served warm. The Deviled Egg was made using mashed sweet potato and topped with chives.

Served out of order, we served desserts next. The plated included a Spaghetti and Meatball cupcake. The meatball was a whopper dipped in raspberry jam to create the spaghetti sauce. There was a miniature Racoonburger served with French Fries (pound cake). The racoon burger was my nephew's idea. When we were brainstorming the menu, he felt we should include something with racoon. It's actually a peppermint patty between Nilla wafers with ketchup and mustard icing, and green coconut lettuce. And lastly, the large Brownie completed the plate.

Before our final course, we went to each table and offered lollipops. Many of our guests requested a specific flavor, cherry and chocolate the most popular, only to discover their pop was actually chocolate covered broccoli. Some were adventurous to try it, others said, 'nope'. It did elicit a round of laughter throughout the tearoom.

And lastly, we served a large Traditional English Cream Scone and a much smaller Cream Scone, alongside our mock Sweet Cream, raspberry preserves and fresh fruit.

The crew dressed down for the day. Angelica wore her PA Tea Festival tee shirt and embroidered sneakers with colorful socks. Claudette was in mix and match colorful top and Christmas pants. She had mismatched shoes and mixed-up earrings. Gail wore bunny ears and a festive apron. Nancy had on a casual TEA shirt. Susanna was behind the camera. We had fun. And judging by the chatter and laughter in the tearoom, our guests enjoyed the foray into our first ever April Fool's Day afternoon tea.