Saturday, May 13, 2017

The Tea Party!!

I can't say it was the best timing, 3 days before we fly out for a trade show, a million things still left to be done but it just had to happen on this day. To celebrate Mother's Day, my daughters, my friends, my students. It was a day to celebrate. I needed a soul day, a day to just do something that brings me pure joy no matter the timing.



I sewed up to the last minute and then began the clean up process and shopping. Jenn helped me decide where the tables would be, where the tea pots would be, the flowers etc. It was a fun, crazy time together picking recipes and scrambling. But as soon as we began it seemed to be here. We had sent or weather order straight to heaven and God obliged with the most beautiful day, 75 degrees. The wind was calm and the guests started to arrive. First to arrive are the close friends and family who always help with any last minute things and seem to help me pull it all together.


The doorbell continues to ring, more people now mingling around and we find our way to the well thought out tables where the party begins. The tables are full of food, flowers and tea cups. I made sure the Rose Petal Tea was hot and the Rose Petal Jam was on warm biscuits. We all start to share some of our Mothers Day memories!


After we were full and relaxing in the shade I passed out watercolor paper, water brushes and assorted art supplies to encourage everyone to create something. Some had their own sketchbooks, some had sewing, knitting and thats how the last few hours were spent. Chatting and creating beautiful things in my garden.



It was just what I needed, a dose of friends and family there celebrating our Moms! It was a gift to them as much as to myself. I hope all of you have an amazing Mother's Day and that you take the time to make a mom feel special!


Tuesday, May 02, 2017

It's Time for Tea and a Party with Rose Petal Jam!

I am having my Mother's Day Tea Party for friends, students, fellow artists etc. It is a wonderful time to just enjoy my garden with friends and sketch and paint while we all visit. I just happened to be reading the book "The Zoo Keepers Wife" and she mentions in the book about living in Poland and loving Rose Petal Jam. I was intrigued as I always love to make jam but have never even heard of using Roses!! I guess in Europe this is nothing new and much loved. These homespun activities are rarer and rarer here in the states since we are all so busy but I still love to do them. I have an old spirit, I am a homespun homebody, and I can't help it.
 
So that peeked my interest and I started Googling Rose Petal Jam. Subsequently, this year,  I am making Rose Petal Jam for my Tea Party!! Everything seemed to come together for us to work on the jam. We had just ended a long tour and needed some R&R. Jennifer and I needed a day together, enjoying the outdoors whether painting, gardening or just hanging out always invigorates us. Her and I made this together and we had a blast!! I thought I would share our adventure with you and the recipes we used, yes we used several and changed them a bit.


Jennifer helped me collect the most fragrant roses!
Randy made us a bouquet to enjoy while we worked.



We selected roses by fragrance and by color, then we
washed and sorted. The jam will be the color of your
roses.
Here is our pinks and we also had reds. Then at the end we
made a mixed batch with all the left overs.
 
I then had Jennifer sort through the petals to assure that there were
no bad petals etc. This is her doing her choosen roses, Judy Garland.
This is how her roses looked when they were put into jars.
After she was finished sorting and cleaning we measured out our roses and Jenn bruised the petals with sugar to bring out more of their fragrance.
I then started to cook them
                                                                 
 Once they were done cooking I filled the jars and then inverted them to sterilize the tops. The jars had been sterilized earlier and were just waiting for the boiling mixture.


This was Chloe, sunbathing as we cooked our Rose mixture! Everyone was enjoying the sunshine. Randy was busy working in the yard, pruning roses and mowing the lawn!
 
 
 
We tried several recipes that I found on the internet for Rose Petal Jam. We changed up each batch to see which one we liked the best, which one set up the best etc. Depending on how long you cook each batch you will determine the thickness of the jam. I don't think we followed any of the recipes to the letter, we are like that, rebel canners. It is very sweet but so fragrant! Jennifer's jam was our first batch, we cooked it the least and it is the loosest but it is a golden, fragrant syrup that will be perfect for ice cream, cheese cake and pancakes! 


The next batches ranged from pink to red and since we experimented with pectin and cooking time the pink jam is far more set up than the others. It was a fun way to try several recipes. I loved the sun coming through the jars, they looked like jewels.




At the end of the day we had lots of beautiful jars of Rose Petal Jam to serve at my Tea Party and give as Mother's Day Gifts. Below are links to several recipes I found. I hope you try one.

So far we have tried it on toast and now last night for dessert we put it over our ice cream. I opened a Red Rose Petal Jam and it looked beautiful over the vanilla bean ice cream. I will be sure to serve this at my Tea Party in May with scones! Happy Jammin!


Here is the first one we tried, they used wild roses! Make sure your roses are pesticide free!! I even included a Martha Stewart Recipe for Rose Petal Jelly. We prefer the petals in the jam! Enjoy


Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see our other adventures. Life is short, make every minute count!

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