Kid's Tea Party- Kids help Host.

We had a few friends over on Friday for a tea party.  My 4 year old has been wanting to have some friends from school over to play and have tea with.  So, we did.  I learned that it was a great opportunity for her to learn how to host, and how to prepare for guests.  She cleaned up the house and got lots of things ready for them.  I allowed her the to opportunity to decide how to prepare, and organize things.  Giving this opportunity to make decisions and do things her way gave her the chance to feel in charge and happy to do things for her friends.  This is not in preparation for being little miss hostess, but I do hope that it will give her the confidence to make decisions and to feel valid in being able to contribute to the family and more importantly, herself.  I didn't set out for this to be the outcome, but in the process it did.

She washed and set up all the cups for tea.

She decided how to cut and set up all the tomatoes and cucumbers. 

The little one also wanted to contribute by helping, but we didn't server these. We saved them for our home snack.

I attempted strawberry goat cheese spread (chevre) with honey.  Unfortunately, I used too many strawberries so had to add in some cream cheese. 

We had a spread of apricot scones, almond jam toasts, cut strawberries (which she cut up), veggies, quiche lorraine, and apple strudel muffins which her friend and her brother made. 

She also loves pouring tea for her sister. 

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Jarring Jams

Have you ever wanted to make jams?  Well I have.  I remember when I was a child my mom made strawberry jam out of tiny berries that grew in my aunt's back yard.  We ate it with vanilla ice cream at tea time.  There's something about making things at home that are painstaking and time consuming that somehow end up being rewarding- in the long run.  Memories, that's what it all ends up being about.  Memories from childhood and the memories we create with our families.  My goal for this spring season was strawberry jam.  Luckily they come cheap this time of year just 30 minutes north from here.  Paying $5 for 4 pints I knew this was going to be the day I finally did it.

I had promised my daughter she could help, but she was more excited that her friend was coming over that she ended up not taking part in this other than for licking the spoon at the end.

Part of the entire process was the set up that took the most time.  I was determined to can (or jar) them.  I had wanted to do this with our tomatoes last year, but was just too scared of the method.  I knew I had to have both going on at the same time since you have to go from hot to hot.  So, with all my large pots bubbling and boiling I got started.  The aroma in the house on a cool evening was heavenly!

 I hope that I was successful in the canning part of this project.  They seemed to have sealed so maybe this will give me the guts to try it out with the rest of the glorious summer fruits and heirloom tomato harvest in a few months!

After finishing all of it and making dinner for us all last night.  Around 10 p.m I realized tomorrow was Teacher Appreciation Day at school and I had promised my daughter I would make scones.  So, adding one more thing to the day's cooking list I made chocolate chip scones.  As a reward to myself, I had to eat at least one :)