How To Create An Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

I used to love afternoon tea when I worked at The Nook on the Square. The owner had learnt how to execute it just right from her training at one of the top London Hotels. From the dainty, flowery, china crockery, to the finger sandwiches that had to be precisely cut each time, the warm scones with clotted cream and jam and finally the attentive waitress service.

Whilst working there I discovered a couple of London hotels that offered alternative afternoon teas such as ‘The Gentleman’s’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘Alice In Wonderland’. The latter, especially, excited me. It was a chance to be creative and serve something just that little bit different to what everyone else is doing. It became an obsession of a dream for 2 years until I went to work at Evergreen and, as New Year dawned, I  made a date for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea – March 26^th, Mother’s Day!

So how do you plan an Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea?

First head to pinterest, where else?? Start a board and look for ideas. Search everywhere and pin your ideas. If it’s any help here’s the LINK  to mine .

Next thing I did was to order the dvd from Amazon, (the Disney version not the modern one with Johnny Depp).

 

 

 

I hadn't watched the film in years so it was lovely to familiarise myself with the characters and make lots of notes for ideas. Next job, plan the menu!

 I'm not great on the computer but I was really pleased with the way the menu came out. I designed it in the form of a scroll as that was what the white rabbit carried. I changed the wording a few times after seeing different things online.

 

 



 

Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea menu for Evergreen Art Café
on Mothers Day, March 26th, 2017

 

My next project were the ‘eat me’ and ‘drink me’ labels.

I bought coloured card from my local Hobbycraft and cut out ‘tag’ shapes. On word I chose different clip arts and printed them off, cut them out and stuck on to my labels.  

 

'Eat Me' and 'Drink Me' labels for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

I ordered these very pretty napkins from Amazon. They were from a company called Talking Tables, I can highly recommend their service.

 

As well as these cardboard cut-out teapots for table decoration. I was originally going to order one per person but ended up just having one or two per table.

After ordering those I discovered a tutorial on how to fold napkins into rabbits! I just had to do some of those for decoration as well!

You can find the tutorial through this LINK . The first one was a bit fiddly but once I mastered it they didn't take long to make at all.

Bunny Napkins for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

 

 So as the day finally arrived we had 75 people booked for the special event over 4 time periods. I worked hard the night before prepping food and very early in the morning.

The sandwiches were fiddly to make but VERY effective! For the playing cards I made 3 finger sandwiches out of each sandwich. With a cutter I cut a small heart out of the centre of each finger then swapped brown hearts into white bread and vice versa, (if that makes sense!)  

For the caterpillar I cut 4 circles out of a slice of bread and sandwiched together 2 white and 2 brown with circles of cucumber and cream cheese.

Playing card  and caterpillar sandwiches for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea.
 

For the jam tarts I used a mini muffin tin and a flower shaped cutter. I blind baked the pastry flowers first then just warmed some jam and poured in the case and left to set. I got the idea from THIS BLOG .

Mini muffin tins used for making mini jam tarts for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea.

The chocolate cupcakes were just a basic chocolate sponge recipe and I cut out an orange, fondant daisy for the top of each for a bright colour.

Chocolate cupcakes with orange, fondant flowers for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea.

 

It took about 4 hours, on a low heat, in the oven for these bright red meringues to cook. When they were ready I used a basic water icing to stick each one to the top of a marshmallow and then small icing dots all over for effect.


Mushroom meringues for Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

With all the food prepared it was time to turn our attention to laying the tables and putting out our decorations.

 

 

We got some paintings from our publishers for the walls.

 

And a signpost to lead the way!

 

 

 

Finally we displayed all the food on 3 tiered cake stands ready for our customers.

Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea



All lined up and ready to go - Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

Alice In Wonderland Afternoon Tea

 

 

 I had waited 2 years for this day. Between 12pm and 4.30pm we served 75 people. Hard, hard work putting it all together but oh what a success! Great feedback from all customers and a great sense of achievement that it went so well.

 

 Thank you for stopping by to read this post. Please feel free to leave a comment, especially if any part helped you to plan your own party!

I'm joining in with the link party at Cooking & Crafting with J & J and looking forward to seeing what other bloggers have been up to this week.

 

 

 

The End Of An Era As The Nook On The Square Closes

I don’t remember the exact date that Kate told me she had decided to close The Nook, though I do remember it was a Wednesday. We sat in the front room at the end of a normal working day and she said ‘there’s no easy way to say this but……..’

I could totally understand her reasons of wanting to spend more time with her small children, I had been in a similar position about 12 years ago.

My first reaction was to rent the café from her until she explained she wanted the building turned back into a family home. Again I understood.

From that day I looked at every possibility for my future. I scoured the job sites, looked at vacant retail properties and even emailed a local, empty B&B with an offer of rent. I was offered a job in a local pub so handed in my notice and, at that point, all the staff were told and then the public.

When the news finally hit Facebook I was surprised to be approached by a local café with an offer of running their newly extended kitchen, which hadn’t, as yet, been installed! It was a good offer, actually a brilliant offer, so I accepted it.

And so begins a new chapter for me.

As of June 1^st 2016 I take on my new role as Head Chef at The Evergreen Art Café in Daventry.

More of that to come but for now I say a fond farewell to The Nook, Kate and all the staff I have worked with over the past 20 months. It has been a challenge, a great learning experience and a lovely ‘family’ to belong to.

 

Staff from The Nook On The Square, Dunchurch, Rugby

Mini Lasagne Cups

 I think spaghetti bolognaise was probably one of the first meals I learnt to cook as a child. Basic, economical and yet so tasty it still remains in my top three favourite dishes of all time.

As I grew older I learnt to use the bolognaise in other dishes, lasagne becoming another favourite meal of mine.

Over the years, in my different workplaces, I have seen lasagne to be a good seller on the menu though spaghetti bolognaise not so much so. Probably because for most it is a regular week day meal easily made at home.
So our menu at The Nook has developed a bit of an Italian theme recently and as lasagne is a good menu seller, and I love a good twist on classics, I was rather excited to come across a photo on Pinterest of Mini Lasagne Cups.
Ideal for the café menu, (and ideal to use up some filo pastry leftover from Moroccan night 😉) I put the cups on the specials board last week and yes, yet another successful meal!
Very easily made with filo pastry, basic white sauce, bolognaise, parmesan and a muffin tin.

  Cook your bolognaise first and create a white sauce. When these are both made cut your filo into 5inch squares. I used 4 squares for each cup. Brush your first pastry square with olive oil or melted butter. Turn your next sheet 90° and lay on top. Brush with oil again and repeat for the next to sheets then lift and push down into your muffin tin. Repeat this until you have as many cups that you want.

Filo Pastry Cups

The next step is to layer the ingredients as you would in a lasagne.
So I put about a dessert spoon full of white sauce in the base of each cup, followed by a spoon of bolognaise topped with some grated parmesan. Bolognaise again with white sauce on top, more parmesan and a little shake of oregano!

Prepared mini lasagne cups

Once prepared put the muffin tray in the oven on about 180° and cook for about 12-15 minutes until the filo is crispy.

Mini lasagne cups just baked from the oven

Served best with a lovely fresh side salad.
What a tasty lunch!



Mini Lasagne Cups served with salad

Mini lasagne cups served on the specials board at The Nook On The Square, Dunchurch

Linking up this week at:
Simple and Sweet Fridays
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Cooking and Crafting With J and J

An Italian Evening At The Nook On The Square

After several weeks of careful planning, purchasing and preparation, The Nook On The Square finally hosted its Italian Evening on September 5th.

Back of house was a little chaotic prior to opening the doors that evening. Kitchen panic with final last minute preparations, tables moved and laid at last minute and wines hurriedly discussed so staff knew what they were serving.

At 6.50pm our first customers were already waiting at the door!!
We opened finally at 7, our tables filled one by one and everything went quite smoothly.
The whole evening was such a success that some customers booked again for our next theme night.


Below is a selection of photos from the evening.

The back room ready to host the evenings event.

Sunflowers gave out warmth and sunshine on the bar in the corridor.



Pasta and plants for decoration

On each table we put a kilner jar filled with dry pasta and a tea light.

More decorations.

 

 

THE MENU!

 

 

Breadsticks in glass vases. 

 

 

Each table was given olive oil with balsamic, olives, breadsticks, dough balls and focaccia.

 

 

 

Caprese stack starter 

 

 

 

Meatballs, tomato sauce and parmesan on rocket starter. 

 

 

Chicken in Marsala Wine with linguine 

 

 

Mushroom & Spinach lasagne, our vegetarian main course option.

 

 

Beef Ragu with Gnocchi

 

 

 Tiramisu

 

Lemon & lime panna cotta with raspberry coulis

 



The evening was such a success that Thai Night is now happening November 7th. Hopefully it will all go as well.

Bloody Mary King Prawn Salad

As a child growing up in the 70s it was a rare treat to eat out in a restaurant. When I was lucky enough to have that treat from my parents the only thing I would ever order would be a prawn cocktail starter followed by scampi, chips and peas.
Prawn cocktail is now described as such an iconic food from the 70s. Ask anyone for a description and the information you would receive would include a glass dish for serving, shredded lettuce topped with prawns bound in the classic marie rose sauce, made basically from mixing mayonnaise and ketchup, a wedge of lemon and a dusting of paprika. Classic!
Classic, retro or 70s, however you describe it you cannot deny it still remains as popular as ever, although modern times have moved the basic style on and added twists to it.


The Iconic 70s dish Prawn Cocktail

 

 

This weeks salad at The Nook On The Square demonstrates one of these twists. True it's not a starter but a light main meal but we begin the process the same with a lettuce base. Covering the lettuce is a mixture of onion, gherkins, olives, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, celery and avocado. Amongst all this dotted around are some sauce covered King Prawns and a lovely big wedge of lemon.

A twist on the classic prawn cocktail  - Bloody Mary King Prawn Salad at The Nook On The Square

 

 

As for the twist on the Marie Rose sauce, well, mix mayonnaise, ketchup, squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and a shot of Vodka and there you have Bloody Marie Rose Sauce. We served it in a shot glass to

a. look like a drink &

b. reflect the iconic starter by using a glass for service!

  

Bloody Mary King Prawn Salad at The Nook On The Square

 

 

 

Linking up with:

Tasty Tuesdays 

 

 



Chocolate & Strawberry Trifle

Known as a timeless, and traditional, English dessert Trifle is made from thick custard, fruit, sponge (often soaked in sherry), jelly and whipped cream. All ingredients are usually arranged in layers.

I can remember a previous employer screaming at me that I hadn't made trifle properly when I worked for him but I always like to put my own twist on English foods when I cook so, this week at The Nook On The Square, I've made my own version with chocolate and strawberries.
Gorgeous results and I love to serve desserts in our vintage china cups and saucers.
I've made these before at a previous establishment and they flew out so I'm hoping for the same reaction at The Nook this week.
Recipe can be found Here

Chocolate & Strawberry Trifle
 

Linking up with :
Tasty Tuesdays
Foodie Friday And Everything Else

National Sandwich Week 2015 - May 10th - 16th

This week is National Sandwich Week so I investigated a little into where the humble sandwich originated from.
The story is that John Montague, the Fourth Earl Of Sandwich, was such an enthusiastic gambler that he didn't like leaving the gambling table whilst playing. So, instead of breaking for dinner, he asked that someone bring him some meat between a couple of slices of bread. Later on, others would do the same saying something like "I'll have what Sandwich is having" and, eventually, people would just ask for a "Sandwich"

Nowadays the humble sandwich has become big business in the catering industry and fillings and bread types have become far more  adventurous than in the days of The Fourth Earl Of Sandwich!!

At The Nook On The Square , because our daily lunch menu changes each week, I am always changing our sandwich fillings to keep things interesting for the customer and, also, because it keeps me on my toes always looking for new ideas.
Below is just a small selection of what we have produced the past year.

Our take on the New York Reuben -  home cooked beef pastrami, sauerkraut, pickles and Russian dressing all served on toasted sourdough.    

The Nook Reuben
National Sandwich Week

The breakfast ciabatta with old English sausage, best back bacon, chestnut mushrooms and roasted tomatoes. 

The breakfast Ciabatta
National Sandwich Week

Grilled halloumi and roasted veg on red onion focaccia.



Grilled Halloumi & Roasted Vegetables on Red Onion Focaccia
National Sandwich Week
 

Always popular - mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Mozzarella, tomato and basil focaccia
National Sandwich Week

Our own home cooked ham with rocket and tomato on red onion focaccia.

Home cooked ham , rocket and tomato on focaccia
National Sandwich Week

Our Mexican BLT ciabatta - bacon, lettuce, tomato and guacamole.
  

Mexican BLT
National Sandwich Week
 

And this weeks special - goats cheese, basil and roasted balsamic strawberries.

Goats cheese, Basil and Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
National Sandwich Week

So what's your favourite filling?

Linking up this week with:
Tasty Tuesday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else