DIY Summer High Tea

DIY Summer High Tea

Tuesday June twenty-fifth, the day every single one of us has finally been released from the grasp of year end exams. And what better way to celebrate together than a five hour catch-up gossip session over high tea? Paying to experience high tea at a fancy cafe Downtown is not within our poor student budget, and making food ourselves allows us to have a wider variety of food. Our specialty is eating, and eating a lot. This is just the beginning of an awesome summer vacation, with many more get-togethers involving food to come. 

Here is the menu for the Summer High Tea. Please see the recipe posts for more photos!

Clockwise from top left corner: Fruit Jello Parfait, Earl Grey Cupcake, Salad (sans dressing), Green Tea Macaron, savoury bottom tier, Lemon bars

Fresh Salad with Orange Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

Open-faced Cucumber Sandwich with Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese

Open-faced Avocado Sandwich

Classic Club Sandwich

Black Tea-Infused Garlic Miso Chicken Salad Cone

Bell Pepper, Green Onion, and Gouda Fluffy Mini Quiche 

Mini Beef and Cheese Sandwich Roll

Apricot Gouda Scone

Baby Strawberry Whole Wheat Shortcake

Earl Grey Cupcake

Matcha Macaron with Chocolate Ganache

Lemon Bar

Fruit Jello Parfait

Love from Papaya and Coconut Crumpet and Co.

Bon Vivant Fashion Cafe

Having nothing in particular to do on this Victoria Day holiday, my best friend went to find ourselves a place to sit down and chat over lunch. She brought me to Bon Vivant Fashion Cafe inside Henderson Mall. They serve simple foods for lunch, extravagant waffles, a wide range of bubble tea, and supposedly desserts. 

Clam Chowder

For lunch, we both ordered a soup and sandwich combo, plus a cold drink. Out of the four soups available today, we both chose a small clam chowder. A small soup (8 oz.) with sandwich is about $4, plus an extra $0.50 for clam chowder or chilli. This clam chowder is not your usual white, creamy, New England version. Instead I believe it is the Manhattan version. One serving is quite a bit, despite not looking like much. Also, there are a lot of clams in this small bowl. I enjoyed it more than I prepared myself to, so I'm glad it was a worth the money.

3rd Tier: Mocha Cheesecake Squares, Coconut Muffin, and Green Tea Cream Puff

DIY Mother's Day High Tea at Coconut Crumpet's Home

As a dessertatarian, this is obviously the most exciting tier. The fact that I prepared an excess amount of each recipe didn't really bother me. That meant I would have dessert to last me a week, mwahahaha! There were a few bumps along the way during my baking of these desserts. A malfunctioning convection oven, running out of all purpose flour, burning this, burning that... Nevertheless, the guests didn't notice so let's just keep it between us, ok?

DIY High Tea for Mother's Day

DIY Mother's Day High Tea by Coconut Crumpet

To celebrate Mother's Day, as well as my mama's birthday, I prepared a high tea lunch for her and a group of close friends to enjoy. It took three or four days to prepare as one would never have enough time to cook, bake, and assemble everything in one day. With some helping hands and baking elves, this ambitious project of mine was successfully presented. Even if it was with [not purposely] mismatched dishes and a plastic tablecloth...

Sharing high tea with a group of friends is truly an experience every foodie should have, whether it be at a restaurant or hosting one yourself. It's a rare chance to dress up and act like a bunch of rich old grannies sitting at a beautifully adorned table having quality gossip time. That is the Crumpets' dream life as retirees.   

My love for high tea has grown significantly after this party. I just picked up 3 sets of tiered trays from Costco in preparation for any other opportunities for me to host another high tea. They only have 2 tiers, but hey, it was $6!

Below is the menu for that day's high tea. Recipes for select goods will be accessible through the links. The ones with no links are because there isn't really a recipe, the words you read are all the ingredients used. There just ain't much to it.
 

Open-faced Cucumber Cream Cheese Sandwich

Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Sandwich

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Bell Pepper, Mushroom, and Cheese Quiche

Shrimp and Avocado Crostini

French Onion Crab Round

Mini Bacon and Cheese Scone

Lemon Cranberry Scone

Devonshire Cream

Mocha Cheesecake Square

Coconut Muffin

Green Tea Cream Puff

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries with Toasted Almonds

Cake-Ya Bakery

Japanese Cheesecake from Cake-Ya Bakery

Port Moody is small. Very small. Nevertheless, there are gems hidden in the most random spots of the tri-cities. This Japanese bakery being one of them. Finding Japanese-owned establishments isn't very common in Vancouver. I want to say the most saturated area of these Japanese businesses are located in the heart of Downtown. Cake-Ya is part of an old building on a quiet backstreet parallel to St. John's Street in Port Moody.

This post reviews several items I've tasted from various visits. I have had a good experience with the majority of their food. There are still many more goods I have yet to try. 

Green Tea Mochi with Lotus Seed Paste

Green Tea Mochi with Lotus Seed Paste

My mother has put me on a mission to finish all the glutinous rice flour in the house. She worries that it will become spoiled. This provides the perfect opportunity to experiment with mochi. 

On my first attempt a few days ago, I made a 'nontraditional' ichigo daifuku. It is a Japanese confection that is often available in the spring and summer. In my version, I wrapped strawberries in lotus seed paste and then made a pumpkin mochi to finish it off. However, I forgot to cover the mochi as I worked which let the mochi dry out and not stick very well. Perhaps the liquid to flour ratio was a bit off due to the pumpkin I substituted. 

Since I'm locked at home for the daytime, I made a second attempt at mochi. One batch makes 6 or 9, depending on how large your filling is. This allows room for mistakes and re-dos. Usually, green tea is paired with red bean/adzuki bean paste. Try that combination before you go on a hunt for lotus seed paste as it is a bit more difficult to find.

During today's trial, I altered the cooking time and made sure I kept the mochi hot as I worked. It's a fun and simple recipe and can be done in a short period of time. Give it a try!

Green Tea Mochi with Lotus Seed Paste

Adapted from Maangchi

Yield: 9 

Ingredients

• approximately ⅔ cups of lotus seed paste
• 1 cup glutinous rice flour (aka Mochiko)
• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ¾ cup strong green tea
• Corn starch

Directions

1. Roll the lotus seed paste into 1 inch balls. You may store in the refrigerator until time to use.
2. Generously cover work surface with corn starch.
3. In a large microwave-safe bowl, mix rice flour, matcha powder, and sugar until well combined.
4. Pour the tea into the flour mixture and mix until well combined.
5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, leaving a one inch opening on one end.
6. Microwave for 2 minutes
7. Uncover and check to see if the middle is cooked. It should no longer have dry patches. If uncooked, microwave for another 30 minutes. (I did not have to microwave again)
8. Mix vigorously 100 times to create the chewiness. 
9. Quickly dump mochi dough onto prepared work surface. Cover hands in corn starch and pat the dough into a square.
10. Cut the dough into 9 pieces. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap as you work.
11. Pick up one piece of dough and shape it into a flat disk. Place one ball of filling in the middle and wrap the dough around it, pinching the ends together to seal. Shape wrapped mochi into a round ball with your hands. **Work quickly as the dough will not stick as it cools down!
12. Place finished mochi in separate paper muffin liners to keep them from sticking to eat other. (Also makes for pretty presentation if giving them away~) Store in an airtight container and eat within 2 days. Do not store in the fridge or your mochi will harden and no longer be chewy.

 Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡