Ivy Tech Tea...The Tea

So, yesterday we talked about the prep for the tea.  One very long, hard day's work.  But it doesn't end there. We have a little more prep to do before the lovely celebration that is the tea.  Here is part 2!

The tea started at 2 so we had to be at the college by 11.  My SUV, with back row seats folded down flat, was packed completely full of flowery dresses, my awesome new shoes, baked and prepped cracker spoons, my tea service, and all of our table decorations.  Luckily, my brother stopped in at the farm house just as we were finishing loading so an extra pair of hands helped make the loading of all the cracker spoons go a little faster - thanks Johnny!

We got to the campus and set to work with the rest of the crew laying out all the food onto the trays for the servers.  This also included adding flowers to the trays to make them a little more fancy.

As the servers arrived at 1:30, we ladies transitioned out to our tables to finish all the set up and welcome our guests.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been lucky enough to host a table every year we've done the tea.  Mom and I share hosting duties and the table is a mix of friends and family.  The centerpieces/table decorations are always - for both of us I think - the most stressful part.  However, they were not this year.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do and after talking it over with mom, she agreed.  Our table was an explosion of bright colors and beautiful gerbera daisies - one of my absolute favorite flowers.

My china service belonged to my aunt Martha who I loved dearly.  She's been gone for many years now, but I cherish the fact that I have her beautiful china - and I look forward to the opportunity to use it every year at the tea.  The cloth napkins in bright colors were a new addition this year.  Mom folded them to make the little pocket and the pretty little silk flower tucked into it perfectly to look a bit like it was sticking out of a flower pot.

I had purchased some bright orange containers to hold the daisies.  However, I was taking a turn through Michael's and these tea cup style flower pots - which I'd had my eye on for a while - were marked down so I added them and love them as the holder for our flowers.  Overall - my favorite design of any year thus far.

One of the pleasures of the tea is just seeing all of the beautiful table designs - the one above is always one of my favorites, by our formal regional trustee chair, Becky.  Another wonderful part of the day is visiting with friends.  Since I live away from town, this is often one of the few times a year I see many of these folks so it's always a great time to catch up.  I was doing a bit too much visiting though and didn't take many pictures of folks as I have in the past.

Our server this year was a high school friend of mine - Tony.  He did a fantastic job in his first year serving.  Other servers are community leaders and college staff - such as Jeff who is shown above.    All at our table enjoyed all of the tasty treats.  Our table this year was mom, Aunt Idris, Katie (Idris's granddaughter/my cousin), Amy and her mom Catherine (friends from church), and friends Susan and Roxy. I didn't grab a photo of everyone, however one of my favorite photographers, Josh Smith, from the local newspaper photographed the event for the online photo gallery at the paper.  You can see his online album from the event here.  Our table is pictures 13 and 14 - but photo 12 is my favorite overall of the tea!

After the food was served, we had a student speaker who did a truly wonderful job talking about the opportunity that scholarship dollars provided to her.  She tied in how we were seated around the Fountain of Opportunity (which is centered in the large open area where the tables were on the first floor of the building - and is show below).

I will digress for a second here to say that the building (Johnson Hall) holds a special place in my heart as I was the facilities director for the campus during the majority of the construction of that facility.  I literally know that building from the bones out.  The job was one of the most anxiety ridden I can ever imagine, but also an amazing experience for a then 30 year old to be able to have.  The experience I got on that project from both a career and life perspective were incredible.

The fountain in the main atrium area is particularly special because it was designed by our Facilities Manager who I count as not just a colleague but a dear friend as well - manage the construction of a building with someone and you learn a lot about them.  The bricks on the fountain are engraved with names of employees who donated to the capital campaign to support the entire building project, although that doesn't come across clearly in this photo.  Thanks for allowing me to digress...back to the tea...

After the wonderful student speaker, it was time for the entertainment.  My friend Diana (who directs the Foundation for the campus, and therefore is ultimately in charge of the tea) had what I imagine was the great pleasure of introducing her daughter Annalisa, and Annalisa's colleague Melissa.  Annalisa played the viola da gama and Melissa sang for us.  Annalisa is an incredibly accomplished musician who currently teaches at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

It was a beautiful day and all the hard work was worth the enjoyment of the event.  

Ivy Tech Tea...the Prep

Cheryl (standing on the left) and mom finishing tray layout on Saturday morning before the event

Welcome to part 1 of 2.  I'm going to scatter some photos from the tea into this post as I didn't take any photos really of the prep work on the morning of the day before and that's what the first half of this post is about.

This past weekend we celebrated the 7th Annual Scholarship Tea at the Ivy Tech Richmond campus.  This is my "home" campus and where I spent my first nine years with the College.  The Scholarship Tea is an annual fundraiser, and I look forward to it every year.  For us, it has become a truly family event.  The original idea was, if I remember correctly, suggested by my Aunt Idris who retired from the College.  I've hosted a table every year (with mom's help in all but the first year as she couldn't attend that year).  Mom has been on the committee to organize and prepare the menu and all the food for the last three years and dad has served for the last two years.  Isn't he adorable in his bow tie?

As I mentioned, mom is a part of the committee for the tea - the group of ladies who selects the menu and prepares all of the food.  Mom mentioned after last year's tea that she wasn't sure she wanted to do it again this year, as it's a lot of work and she wasn't sure she'd feel up to it.  I said I would try to help out more this year and encouraged her to go ahead and say yes again.

Even though she missed a meeting while she was in Florida this year, she stayed on the committee.  As time got closer to the tea, I told her I'd come over the day before and help with all the food prep with the committee.  She has always - and we did again this year - made her contribution to the event on her own at home. (Much more on that in the second half of this post.) However, many of the items are very intricate and time consuming and take a lot of time to put together so...as the flier for the folding and prep of the mailing for the church newsletter always says...many hands make light work.  Those are done by the committee and friends on the day before.

Fruit shooters, cheesecake bites, and cookies on a serving tray on Saturday.

For the group stuff, we gathered in the kitchen at our church on Friday morning around 8:30.  Mom and another lady on the committee, Pat, are extremely at home in this kitchen as they cook there for different events regularly, so it was a nice place for the group to do this work for the tea.  

It's a large and roomy place so everyone staked out a little spot to start on their first task - most of which were individual at the beginning of the day (mine was rolling bread slices with a rolling pin for egg salad sandwiches).  As people finished one thing they moved on to another spot to help out in another way.  By the end of the day we were all standing around one table assembling the most delicate little cucumber sandwiches (which didn't turn out in any of the photos I took, but were delicious).  It was a load of work and I was pretty tired by the end of that part of the day (around 1:30)...but mom and I still had our contribution to make once we got back to the farm.

Fruit tarts and key lime truffles await serving on Saturday.

After we got home and rested a bit, mom and I set to assembling our contribution....cracker spoons.  What, you ask, are cracker spoons?  Well, they were inspired by this photo and the recipe in the April 2012 Southern Living magazine.

We first tried the spoons in March, when mom first got the magazine.  You might be able to see in the picture that there is a little arrow pointing to the cracker spoons.  It says you can get the cookie cutter for $2 at Crate and Barrel.  Since our first try was within days of getting the magazine and we hadn't had time to check for the cookie cutters yet, I just cut around a spoon with a knife, which worked well and actually creates the cutest look in my opinion.  However, we needed to make 160 of these little guys in just one or two nights...a cookie cutter would be best for mass production we decided.

So, back in March, my assignment was to find the cookie cutters.  Once back in the "big city", I checked my local C & B for the cookie cutters - no dice.  I was in Chicago a week later and tried the one on the Magnificent Mile - still no joy (and, let's be truthful, if the three - or is it four? - story CB on the Mag Mile doesn't have it - CB doesn't carry it - but I persevered).  [Mom did score the cute white tasting spoons also shown in the article as a gift from me on that trip.]  I checked the CB web site.  I emailed them and emailed Southern Living.  Nothing - not even a response (both get major, major "fails" in the customer service category as a result.).  Yet, undaunted in the pursuit of cookie cutters, I finally just resorted to the trusty google search and found this great online shop - aptly named - The Cookie Cutter Shop  - and had the 4" spoon cutters and a few other happy surprises shipped off to mom.  

So, back to Friday afternoon...we needed to make at least 160 of the little spoons.  How long could that possible take with two cookie cutters?

The recipe is simple.  Although we tried it between March and last Friday with multiple "real" pie dough recipes, both mom and I agreed the best taste results from a good 'ole Pillsbury refrigerator pie crust.  It's what the recipe calls for, but what kind of chefs would we be if we didn't try all the possibilities?

Mom and I each had one roll going at a time - working together to fill a single cookie sheet.  We cut individual cookies out - using the dough as "conservatively" as possible.  

They don't puff up or spread much at all so you can fit a lot of them on a cookie sheet (we averaged about 30 depending on the size of the sheet).  After they are on the cookie sheet, press down on the "bowl" part of the spoon with your thumb to form a little indentation.

I should insert here, that there are very, very few places in the world where I willingly give up control and for the most part just do what I'm told.  Giving up driving responsibilities to my sister and/or to Gayle comes up as one place and cooking with my mother is the other.  She is the chef.  I am her assistant.  That said, we had this ongoing debate in every practice batch about orienting the spoons in the same direction (she wanted to...as she felt it made the pressing of the thumb part go faster...I didn't really think it mattered).  Obviously, on this batch, I didn't follow orders.  We also discussed...granted we were a bit slap happy at this point...the merits of the thumb pressing part altogether.  But, we decided we'd done it on every single test batch...why question it now.  

And...I digressed...back to the spoons.

Brush each spoon lightly with an egg white that's been beaten with just a bit of water.

Sprinkle lightly with seasoned salt (we used a California Blend Garlic Salt which is mom's go to seasoning for just about everything).  In test batches I've used all kinds of different seasoning salts - I've not found one I didn't like yet.  Just go lightly.

Place in a 400 degree oven for 8 - 11 minutes.  NOTE: The recipe says 9 - 11.  We found that by the time the oven had been on for a while, baking in mass like we were, 8 to 8 1/2 minutes was usually enough.  Trust me on this...after you've been cooking for nearly eight solid hours, you do NOT want to "over brown" two whole pans of these little guys rendering them completely useless for serving at the tea the following day.

After they come out of the oven, remove them to a rack (or just onto some paper towels) to cool.

We got all the spoons baked by the time we were ready to eat dinner that evening.  However, the daunting task of topping all of them with the Creamy Pimiento Cheese spread and tiny pieces of chives was looming over our heads for after dinner.  

We had both done this task individually and I had even experimented in the two batches I'd done as tests leading up to the event with some other topping options (tapenade, bruschetta, shrimp salad, etc.).  However, both mom and I had been doing small batches and had just done this step of placing the dollop of topping by hand with a spoon.  Now faced with little rows of more than 160 spoons, doing that part of the job by hand wasn't going to cut it.

I had brought to her house a pastry bag and several pastry tips.  The one large star shaped tip we thought would work was too small and just using the coupler on the pastry bag without a tip was too large (anyone see goldilocks coming a the end of this paragraph?).  I had, fortunately, brought home a cheap little set of plastic pastry tips in a few different shapes.  I set dad on the task of cutting off all but the base and just a bit of the tip of one of those to create a really wide, plain round tip.  And, he did a GREAT job because that tip was just right.  The job I had thought would take hours took less than 20 minutes.  

Mom and I nearly through the pieces of chive I'd cut before we started all this earlier in the day into the air and just let the chives fall where they may in confetti-like abandon.  We didn't though and did take another 10 minutes or so and individually dropped a few little, tiny pieces of chive onto each spoon.  

We packed them up and loaded them in the auxiliary fridge in the garage (the original fridge that was in the house when I moved into it back in '98 - and it was old then - and it just keeps ticking along...they just don't make things like they used to!) to head off to the tea on Saturday.  My tweet/facebook post to top off the day...

We both unwound with a glass of wine.  My sister Susie stopped by (who always has to work during the tea...no fun!).  She enjoyed the left over cheese spread and some of those overly browned crackers ... nothing to waste in the Monroe household.

In my next post I'll share a bit more about the tea event itself.

I am

Photo of Lindsay, lit by the sunset this past weekend.

• I am thankful for the end of a workday that actually felt productive.  Some days, it just feels like work. Today, it felt slightly productive. (And I'll gladly take slightly right now)
• I am fortunate to have friends who share a meal after work for a little girls' night fun and relaxation.  Thanks ladies - great burgers + great company = great evening.
• I am amazed that my beautiful Lindsay takes as much joy in chasing a butterfly she noticed on the side of a tree as she does in chasing her tennis ball.  So happy I got to see that moment this evening.





Taking a quick break between ball catching a butterfly chasing tonight.



• I am happy Fluffy still enjoys running through the house with pure excitement.  I don't know what she's chasing or thinking when she does it, but it's so much fun to hear and see.  She regretfully declined any photo taking tonight.  Some days she loves the camera and other days she expresses her extreme displeasure at having it pointed anywhere near her direction...in the way that only Fluffy can express such displeasure.
• I am enjoying my little patio garden and this amazing weather.





• I am lucky to be surrounded by creative friends online and off who take beautiful photos.  Deb's black and whites are gorgeous in this post and I'm so incredibly excited for Diana who is going to have her own show soon!
• I am inspired to get creative.  The fact I posted tonight shows that - and Ali Edwards post by the same title inspired it (along with Lindsay chasing that butterfly...I knew I had to capture that memory somehow and this felt right).  I feel some paint in my future this weekend.  Whether it will go on paper or on a wall...completely up in the air.
• I am glad I took the time tonight to get my photos posted and updated in Lightroom and Flickr.  Several big things I need to get recorded here over the next few days that are captured in that photo set.
• I am loving this talk by Scott Hanselman.  It's titled, "It's Not What You Read; It's What You Ignore".  Already listened to it twice.  Lots of good things in here.  It doesn't hurt that it is a true geek fest too.
• I am anticipating a relaxing chat with Gayle over dinner tomorrow night while I visit Muncie.  I am guessing we might talk about upcoming cruises and chances to spot Pluto on the beach.  (Thanks G - that photo is now on my bulletin board and puts a smile on my face just thinking about upcoming trips!)
• I am looking forward to a restful but productive long weekend.  I hope to get a few more projects off my Moving without Moving list underway and done this weekend.  It's interesting that that list isn't creating any "psychic weight" for me.  It's big and massive, but I just chip away at it a little tiny bit at a time.  This post at Young House Love shared a similar perspective...and I loved how in this post, also this week, they talked about making the house "their" house...not just anyone's house.
• I am grateful to the men and women who protect and serve our country in the armed forces and as public and civil servants.  They and their families deserve nothing but our complete honor and respect at all times.

Miller College Grad Event

My best friend, Gayle, works with a group of honors students at our alma mater - Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana.  As it 'tis the season for commencement, the first group of students graduating from their honors program had a special celebration this past Friday night.  Gayle asked me and one of the undergraduate students to handle photography for the event, as university photographers were booked solid with the numerous events happening around campus.

I've come to know many of these kids over the four years they've been at Ball State so I was very happy to take part in the event with them.  A few of them have joined us for dinner at my place when they've been in Indy having fun or on internships, and I've gotten to play a bit of a mentoring role to one and done airport taxi duty for them a couple of times for study abroad.

It's amazing to think of what this group has accomplished in four short years.  Numerous study abroad trips, high profile internships, completion of a thesis, and a cumulative GPA of 3.67.  None to shabby.  My best memory from the evening...we had planned to have the kids line of for the group shot right at the conclusion of the program.  As they lined up, we tried to adjust to make sure you could see everyone.  Nicole (the other photographer) and I, grabbed our shots and started to dismiss the kids to change out of their caps and gowns for a shot in their "street clothes" when I got a loud "no, no, no wait!" from the huge assemblage of parents behind us who wanted to grab the same shot.  It was, to say the least, just a little scary.  Sort of like graduation paparazzi.

The event was a lot of fun, but leaves me even more nervous for the upcoming wedding I'm helping my friend Diana photograph.  I've done one other wedding - my aunts several years ago when I literally had no idea what I was doing with a camera.  Now, I feel as though I know about 10% of what I need to know to handle events like these - and I still struggle with basics of good composition and getting folks situated right in posed shots (as you can see from a couple of the blocked faces above).  No matter though - as any time I get to spend time with my camera is time well spent.