Happy May!

May flowers, or pink hawthorn
blossoms.  Wikipedia image.

As I went out one May morning,
One May morning betim,
I met a maid from home had strayed,
Just as the sun did shine

What makes you rise so soon, my dear,
Your journey to pursue?
Your pretty little feet they tread so sweet,
Strike off the morning dew.

I'm going to feed my Father's flock,
His young and tender lambs,
That over hills and over dales
Lie waiting for their dams. 

May Queen and her court, British Columbia,
Canada, ca. 1887.  Wikipedia image.

O stay! O stay! you handsome maid,
And rest a moment here,
For there is none but you alone
That I do love so dear.

How gloriously the sun doth shine,
How pleasant is the air;
I'd rather rest on a true love's breast
Than any other where.

For I am thine and thou art rnine;
No man shall uncomfort thee.
We'll join our hands in wedded bands
And a-married we will be.
--"Searching for Lambs", traditional.

Titanic Survivors' Reunion Picnic and Commemoration

"Wild Blue Yonder" rose

We had a lovely time at the Rose Garden on Saturday.  A small group of us gathered at a shady picnic table and enjoyed a menu inspired by the "Last Dinner on the Titanic" menu, as well as some recipes from Mrs. Rorer's cookbook from 1912.  Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the table or the food, but you can imagine from the menu:

Ginger Ale and Tea Punch
Iced Black Tea

Cucumber, Mint and Cream Cheese Sandwiches

view of the Rose Garden

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Creole Sandwiches (cream cheese, cheddar, tomato, and sweet pepper)
Stone-ground Wheat Crackers (standing in for the Cabin Biscuits from the Titanic menu)

Fresh Strawberries
Fresh Cherries
Coconut Cake
Coconut Lemon Sandwich Cookies

I wore my partially-restored antique lingerie blouse, with my walking skirt made from Sense & Sensibility's Beatrix Potter pattern.  It actually has a higher waistline, more in line with 1912 fashions, but because of the drape of the blouse, and the fact that my ribbon belt slid down to my natural waist, you can't tell from the photos.  I'll have to put it on again and take better photos of the line of the skirt.

"Europeana" roses

My friend Sara also wore a vintage dress; she actually took a vintage nightgown, made a slip out of vintage fabric to wear underneath, and wore it as a summer day dress with a vintage hat and parasol!  When I get the photos from the other ladies who were present, I'll post them.

It was extra fun because Saturday was Senior Prom for the local high schools, and there were a bunch of young ladies and gentlemen in evening dress, taking photos in the garden!  

"Oh, Fair to See", by Christina Rossetti

Fruit tree in bloom.  FreeFoto.com

Oh! Fair To See 

Oh, fair to see 

Bloom-laden cherry tree, 

Arrayed in sunny white: 

An April day’s delight, 

Oh, fair to see! 

Oh, fair to see 

Fruit-laden cherry tree, 

With balls of shining red 

Decking a leafy head, 

Oh, fair to see! 

-- by Christina Rossetti 

An April Day.

 An April Day
When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
‘T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
The coming-on of storms.

From the earth’s loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter’s cold,
The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song
Comes quick from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills
The silver woods with light, the green slope throws
Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,
And wide the upland glows.

And, when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o’er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide,
Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,
And the fair trees look over, side by side,
And see themselves below.

Sweet April! – Many a thought
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,
Life’s golden fruit is shed.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Spring teas in the San Jose area.

Me making the tea in the kitchen!
Photo: Joanne Santner

Well, I started getting over my bad cold (still not completely better, though!) just in time for last weekend's 4th annual Cat Rescue Tea to benefit 13th Street Cats.  All the tea was donated by Satori Tea Bar in San Pedro Square and Peet's Coffee & Tea downtown San Jose and at Santana Row.  We served around 150 people over two days with a completely homemade afternoon tea menu in a lovely Victorian mansion in downtown San Jose's Hensley Historic District!  I'm so tired and my feet are sore, but it was worth it!  This was our first time using a larger venue -- our original venue is also a lovely Victorian house but we can only seat 35 at a time in the house, whereas this house sat 60 at a time -- and yet we sold out every seat in advance and had a waiting list!  Didn't think that would happen right away when we almost doubled our space!  We're already planning for next year, so keep your eyes on this blog for the notice when tickets go on sale (sometime in January or February of 2013) ...

May Day and spring traditions in the Victorian era.

Primroses.  Photo: Nikolay Dimitrov.

The Victorian era is famous for its nostalgia and love of sentimental customs. Many Victorian traditions have roots going back hundreds of years, often including veiled references to Medieval Celtic folklore and pagan deities.  In the Victorian era, May Day, or May 1, was the middle of spring, and was marked with a fair, parade, dances, and lots of floral decorations.  The traditional celebrations often began with “bringing in the May”, which involved getting up very early in the morning on May Day, and going into the country to pick flowers to decorate the town with, as well as make preparations for the parade and other festivities.  Women were also said to bathe their faces with dew from the grass and flowers on May morning, to preserve their beauty. 

Cowslips.  Photo: Nickolay Dimitrov.

Stewed Peas: proof that the Victorians ate their vegetables (at least during the spring and summer)!

This is from Godey's Lady's Book of 1860, the May issue or thereabouts. I love peas, and I happen to have some in the freezer, so I may be making this sometime soon!

Stewed Peas.

Take very young, tender green peas, and put into a stew-pan, with sufficient fresh butter to keep them from burning, but no water; season them with a little black pepper and a very little salt; set them over a moderate fire, and stir them about till the butter is well mixed through them; let them simmer till quite soft and slightly broken, taking off the lid occasionally, and give them a stir up from the bottom; if you find them becoming too dry, add some more butter; when done, drain off what superfluous butter may be about the peas, and send them to table hot. They will be found excellent. To the taste of many persons, they will be improved by a lump or two of loaf sugar put in with the butter, and also by a few sprigs of mint, to be removed before the peas go to table. Lima beans may be stewed in butter, as above; also, asparagus tops cut off from the white stalk.

Not that I need that much butter in my diet, though!

Another Victorian-inspired recipe: rose petal jam tarts.

Rose petal jam tarts with vanilla gelato!
Sometimes it is fun to include unusual treats on your tea table. If you like to have garden party teas or tea picnics at public or private gardens, why not try including some floral ingredients in putting together your menu?

Rose petal jam can be purchased at specialty stores like Middle Eastern groceries, Whole Foods, and sometimes Trader Joe’s. It can be spread on cream scones, melted and drizzled on pound cake or fresh fruit, or incorporated into wonderful sweets like the tarts in the following recipe.


Rose Jam Tartlets with Cream Topping

1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée or pie crust
1 cup rose petal jam
1 egg
1 tbl orange zest
for topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup mascarpone
2-3 tbl sugar
1 tsp each orange flower water and rose water
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare the crust and fit it into mini-muffin cups or tartlette pans.
2. Stir together jam, egg, and orange zest and fill tartlettes. Bake 10-15 minutes, until set. Let cool thoroughly on a rack.
3. Meanwhile, use an electric mixer to beat together cream and mascarpone until they hold stiff peaks. Beat in the sugar, flower water, and two tablespoons of the pistachios. Before serving, dollop cream over tartlettes. Sprinkle the remaining two tablespoons pistachios over the top of the tartlettes.
-- from Desert Candy blog post "Morning of Roses"

The South Bay Ladies’ Tea Guild recently enjoyed a variation of the above recipe at their May meeting. The San Jose variation used frozen pie crust instead of homemade pate brisée, and lightened the rose petal jam with a bit of strawberry jam and farmer’s market fresh cherries. The recipe’s mascarpone cream toping with pistachios was replaced by purchased clotted cream, but vanilla gelato can also be used. This made a sweet, floral and fruity dessert, perfect for a spring or summer tea party!

Recipe from March 1860: A dish of spinach on toast.

Often, the recipes I find in my vintage and antique cookery books seem heavy and unpalatable, especially without a wood fireplace to roast and bake in! The following recipe, however, sounds as tasty made with modern appliances as with 19th century ones, and I may well try to make it one of these days! It is from the March 1860 issue of Godey's Lady's Book:

A Spring Dish. -- Upon a toasted bread place a layer of well-boiled spinach about an inch thick; upon this place at equal distances poached eggs. This forms a pretty, light, and nourishing dish; but be careful that the yellow of the egg is not broken, or the appearance will be lost, and the eggs not worth eating.

I think this would make a good breakfast or lunch dish for this time of year. It's nice to see in the spring and summer issues of ladies' magazines, many fruit and vegetable recipes; it is a myth that the Victorians only ate bland, heavy food! They ate what was available in season, and many people are in agreement with this idea, although we have so many more fruits and vegetables available year-round, both fresh and frozen or canned. Frozen spinach would work well for this recipe, I think!