Cynthia's Black & White Tea Party

It started promptly at 2:30 pm. In the invitation, the attire read: Black/White. Not a problem; who does not have a black and white outfit. We were all impressed with her table setting and presentation of everything. We do not expect anything less when it comes to Cindy giving any party at her house. Everything matches; why shouldn't they. She's the "Martha Stewart" of the group. This was a late celebration of her birthday last month.

For hors d'oeuvres, she made cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese mixed with herbs de Provence. She also had strawberries with Devonshire cream, a Bobby Flay recipe. Both were delicious. I had 4 of the sandwiches and at least 4 of the strawberries. The drink she made was quite impressive. A recipe of Giada De Laurentiis, Lemon-Thyme Prosecco. Cindy made her own lemonade and froze it in an muffin tray, so they were slightly larger that regular ice cubes. She plopped a frozen lemonade into a glass, poured some prosecco and dropped in a sprig of thyme. It was delicious but I hardly could taste the thyme so I got some more thyme and crushed some of the leaves. The aroma and the taste was unbelievably yummy. I would definitely make this and serve it to my guests next time.

We sat down for our meal as she served us Cucumber Soup, Shrimp Rolls and a Tomato Salad. The cold cucumber soup was made with whipping cream, rice vinegar and sour cream. The shrimps were first steamed then sauteed in butter then she added a sauce made from mayonnaise, celery, lemon zest and lemon juice. The tomatoes were cooked with panko crumbs which she heated in olive oil, butter and thyme. She then made a dressing with lemon juice, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. If you think you've read about butter or whipping cream a few times, you are right. Cindy loves to cook with lots of butter and whipping cream. We all loved everything; what's there not to love?

Pre-dessert: Chouquett which is a puff pastry with grain sugar on top. This was so good, we all absolutely enjoyed it. It is like a cream puff without the cream; very light and airy. She got this at Desserts by Patrick in Redondo Beach. We also had alfajores which I brought. The main dessert was a Black and White Gelato Cake she also got at Desserts by Patrick. It looked impressive and it was good though I think the chocolate raspberry ice cream at Handel's is better. I did end up putting some of the very rich chocolate gelato inside the chouquett and that was very good. We had a dessert drink to go with the various desserts. It was an Earl Grey Tea Prosecco. She made simple syrup with earl grey tea and added prosecco to it. It was good. The verdict was half and half. Cindy and Sandi preferred this one while Sujata and I preferred the Lemon-Thyme Prosecco.

Before she opened her presents, we had to take pictures of the birthday girl with the birthday balloon which has been passed on once again from Sandi to Cindy. Sandi didn't bother to refill it with helium because Cindy's cat, China Blue is scared of the balloon so Cindy will have to let the air out and keep it for the next birthday celebrant. For party favors, Cindy gave us each a white and black (of course) bag with multiple surprises inside. It was a nice party but we did miss Amy, Mertz and Ana.