Tea for Two...Or Five

Hello there! My name is Melissa and I'm from MelissaDell.com here contributing while Mrs. Bre is enjoying her amazingly awesome honeymoon! On my site, I blog a bit of everything - including my pregnancy journey (due in October!). Oh, maybe I should put up a photo of me...

That's me 21 weeks pregnant, I'm 29 weeks now (today!!) but this post isn't about babies, or morning sickness, or back pain. No, it's about Tea!!

It all started a few years ago when two of my girlfriends and I went to tea in Pasadena, CA and we had such an amazing time. And we kept promising we'd go back. But we didn't. And then babies started popping up everywhere! And so instead of finding babysitters and dropping some mad cash at the tea house, we decided to start doing them in the comfort of our own home (well, Nicole's home).

It's so much more fun, there's a lot more tea variety and yummy things to eat. We just had one a few weeks ago and we had 3 little ones in attendance (3 1/2 if you count mine). Here's some photos first, then I'll get to chatting about the tea we enjoyed and the recipes of some of the items...

Cucumber sandwiches, cake pops, cookies, s'mores on a stick (those are on the backside of the tray)

Spinach-strawberry-cheese-walnut salad, fresh fruit, fluffy cream cheese dip

french bread-brie-fig jam, spinach-strawberry-cheese-walnut salad

Table for 5!

(left) Katie with daughter Lexi {7 months} and Natalie with daughter Olivia {2 months}

(left) Lexi {7 months} with playmate Bode {9 months}

(l-r) Nicole with son Bode {9 months}, Natalie with daughter Olivia {2 months}, Katie with daughter Lexi {7 months}, Jennifer with Nicole's pug Boss {2 1/2 years}, Me with Baby A {27 weeks}

Now for some recipes!!!

Cucumber Sandwiches {recipe from here} - the Best Cucumber Sandwiches recipe

• 1 loaf makes what you see - I use 4 slices of cucumber on each sandwich and trim off all the crusts


• super tasty. the vinegar soak is a must!

Open-faced Brie-Fig sandwiches

• french baquette - cut in diagonal sections about 3/4" thick.


• tube shaped Brie - slice


• fig jam - bought this from TJ Maxx. They always have very different jam options!

Spinach, Strawberry, Walnut, & Goat Cheese Salad {recipe from here}

• used spinach instead of organic mix

Fresh Fruit with Fluffy Cream Cheese Dip {recipe from here}

Chocolate covered S'mores {on a stick!}

• melt chocolate to be used for dipping {need a bunch!}


• assemble s'more and heat in microwave for 15 seconds


• dip/pour melted chocolate over warmed smore and insert stick


• let cool. Don't be stingy on the melted chocolate!

Teas used:

All the teas we enjoyed were purchased from Teavana. Going there can be quite overwhelming (and expensive!) because you'll want a few varieties of tea, plus all the fun contraptions (kettle, thermometer, tea cups, to go systems). They also have AWESOME rock sugar - it's not as sweet as granulated sugar, and a lot more fun to look at. Here's the varieties we had:

• white peach tea


• blueberry tea


• black tea


• Mata Vana tea

So grab your girlfriends and plan an afternoon! But be sure to block out about 5 hours. You never know where the conversation will take you! And if you'd like to follow my crazy adventures, be sure to bookmark my blog, MelissaDell.com and follow me on twitter - @melissa_dell!!