As most of you know, today is the Queen's official 90th birthday (although her actual birthday was in April). I know that many street parties have been organised for today and although I'm far from home, I wanted an excuse to get my bunting out again.
The easy part of this plan was hanging the bunting and finding a cloth for the table. I don't have my china tea set, as it is still boxed and inaccessible, but I do have a couple of nice china plates. The baking took a while, but it was nice to be in the kitchen and making something, as the past few weeks have been too hot for such activity. I made a swiss roll and put far too much cream in it, so it was difficult to cut, but tasted delicious with an Austrian rhubarb and raspberry jam. I also made Empire biscuits and traditional finger sandwiches (with the crusts cut off).
It didn't quite turn out to be the leisurely afternoon tea that I had envisaged, as the European Cup is on and a certain person didn't want to miss the action, though he did compliment me on the tasty sandwiches and had a second helping of swiss roll. The Empire biscuits went down a treat with a cup of tea later in the afternoon.
VERY FUN, Marie!! And such a prettily decorated celebration. :) I've always wondered why, though the Queen's real birthday is in April, the office celebrating is in June... Finer days in June make for better street parties maybe?! Good luck while European championships are in play.... ;) Happy Days ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, yes the celebrations of the Queen's official birthday have traditionally been in June in the hope that the weather would be fine for the Trooping of the Colour, which was on Saturday. It actually rained in London during the street party on The Mall, but the clouds cleared in time for the Queen's appearance. Marie x
ReplyDeleteI saw Lucy Worsley the historian being interviewed on TV and she said that there had been an official birthday in June since the first (or it could have been second) of the Georges in the 18th century as he thought it was better to have the celebrations in the summer. This year though I think it was finer in April than June. I'm glad you enjoyed your tea party as well as the football:)
ReplyDeleteHi Rosie, that is interesting. I knew why the official celebrations were in the summer, but not the long history associated with this. Marie x
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