Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherry Macaroons

For those of you looking for something new for tea, go on over to http://annaandblue.blogspot.com/ .  On Wed., April 18 she has a recipe for Cherry Blossom Macaroons.  They look wonderful and I am going to make them when I have time.

That got me thinking about other sweet confections:  When I was still in college, my friend Ruth and I were in Paris.  Not too wealthy, as you might imagine.  There was a small cafe near our pensione and we felt so proud of ourselves to order "sandwich jambon et peche melba"  from our very patient waiter,  Monsieur Moustache.  Jambon is ham.  It was all we felt sure enough of pronouncing well.  The peach melba was delicious - how can you go wrong with peaches, raspberry sauce, whipped cream and I think, ice cream - it was a long time ago. 

Peach melba and a Swiss dessert of meringues, ice cream and raspberry sauce would make lovely desserts for tea.  They have the advantage of advance preparation and minimal put-together time.  Another I have made is cream puffs filled with slightly sweetened whipped cream, with some chocolate liqueur folded in, along with halved or quartered green grapes.  Make sure the grapes are not too tart, and that the cream is pretty stiff.  Don't be afraid of making cream puffs, they really are very easy.  The sweetening and amount of liqueur is a matter of taste.  Less tends to be better, however.  From there, you could do strawberries, blueberries, cherries, currants, all manner of summer fruit, with or without a liqueur addition.

I'm sure you've all heard of Pavlova.  It is layers of very crisp meringues that have vinegar and something I can't remember at the moment added so they can be held up to 5-6 hours,  held together by whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruits.  It is very easy to make and your guests feel very special, because it is so rich and utterly gorgeous, even if you haven't a lot of decorating talent, like me.

If I were serving these, I would go with a nice peachy Oolong or perhaps a fruit flavored green tea, depending on whether you want to contrast or play up the fruit tastes.  The strawberry tea from Lupicia I recently reviewed would be a definite consideration.

Gosh, now I've made myself hungry.  Maybe I'll make some meringues.....

This quiet space is the courtyard of a monastery.  It would be lovely to have tea here, listening to the doves, the angelus bells, the singing of the monks.