Happy National Hot Tea Month

Just yesterday, I discovered that January is National Hot Tea Month in the United States. Any excuse for a celebration will do (DH is away in Austin at an archeology conference, and I decided that Blaze and I should have some fun, too ).



Last night, Blaze used some of the wax left over from the ice candles we made last month to make a candle out of a thrift store teacup.





We are already thinking ahead to Valentine's Day, because the teacup candle is going to be his Valentine gift for Nika, but today the candle was the centerpiece for our tea party.



Our Tea Party Menu

Regular deviled eggs

Deviled eggs with smoked salmon

Watercress sandwiches

Rumaki

Baby carrots

Cream puffs with sliced strawberries

Sweetened green tea with lemon




I have read in a couple different places recently, that deviled eggs are back in style, so here is my very easy recipe:



Deviled Eggs

7 hard boiled eggs

3 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

a dash of freshly ground black pepper

paprika for dusting


Remove the shell from hard boiled eggs and slice the eggs in-half lengthwise. Remove the yolks into a small mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper to the yolks. Mash and stir the york mixture with a fork until smooth ( I found the immersion blender attachment for our hand-mixer does this really well, too). One pair of egg halve is really there just so there is a generous amount of yolk filling. At this point you may eat those two yourself, feed them to a child or pet who is whining about being hungry, or save them for another recipe. There is enough filling for 12 egg halves, which can be filled using a pastry bag or a teaspoon. For classic deviled eggs, sprinkle each egg with paprika after it is filled.

Variation:
I filled half of the eggs in the classic style and then for the other half I added some chopped chives to the filling, placed a small amount of filling in each half egg, added a small piece of smoked salmon, and more filling on top. Then I garnish them with chives.

Serving the deviled eggs on a bed of lettuce not only makes a pretty presentation, it keeps them from slipping around on the plate.



A little tea time reading from an 1881 copy of St. Nicholas Magazine:













I'm not sure, but tea may be the beverage with the most songs written about it: