Thyme for a Tuesday Tea Post

I planned tea on the back porch today but it is so wet out there and breezy that I would need a rain suit. So, back to the dining room.

Lets use the Polish Pottery since it is already on the cart. This little two cup pot is a favorite. Just enough for an afternoon repast. I have been enjoying the

complex Fauchon tea in the afternoons, makes it seem like a party! Oui?

 These sweet cups are named "Bubble Mugs" because the bowl is rounded, perfect to warm the hands!

In the same pattern as the bubble mug, the honey and creamer set are just right for the event.

Condiment jar #1 hold tea bags. (good old Lipton actually)

This little lidded jug holds specialty teas, fruit flavored infusions.

Jug #2 holds the sweetener packets.

Entree' is a simple Orzo salad with an Olive Oil/Lemon dressing. Finely chopped red onion, cucumber, red pepper, olive and Feta make it colorful. *recipes for the salad and the cake will be on Kitchen Chronicles soon.

Cake for the event is a Pistacchio/Chocolate cake. Shaped like a large flower, this cake was baked in a Nordic Ware pan in my new little oven. It turned out just right.

•  I don't bake much anymore. When I do and it turns out right I am thrilled. 
• The secret to using the Nordic Ware pans with all their cuts and angles is butter. Good old very soft butter. I read this on a cooking site some time ago but had not tried it. It works. Applied with a little sandwich baggie on my hand I liberally painted the entire inside of the pan with good old Kerry Gold Butter.
• A quick word about this convection oven. I hate heating up the big ovens in warm weather. It just seems very wasteful. I have tried a few smaller convection ovens in years past. The Cuisinart was good but the crumb tray was in the back. That meant sliding it out from its nook to clean it was almost every use. It was too small. Then I bought that sparkly new Kitchen Aid. The big negatives with that one is the racks are ridiculously flimsy and anything more than a piece of toast required juggling, hoping the rack didn't tip and subsequently getting burnt. Speaking of toast, it needed three knobs to adjust for function, temperature and time. Good grief, its toast! It was too fiddly. Then the Breville Smart Oven Air Pro (or something like that) Mama Mia, I am in love. I have tried at least half of its pre-set functions and they have performed perfectly
• . It even has an Air Fry and a Slow Cook function in addition to the usual and a Pizza setting.  I have made cakes in these small ovens in the past and they tend to dry out and get burnt. I made a slight adjustment to reduce the temperature 15 degrees and it was just right. I know, I know, another oven???? Husband said the same thing but listen to me, I cook three meals a day for two households if she wants a new oven, trust me, she gets a new oven!