A Tea Party Fit for Mom
Soo-Jeong Kang
If you've dropped the Mother's Day ball this year and forgotten to pick up a present for Mom, you're in luck, because it's not too late to invite her to a tea party in her honor. On this morning's all-new episode of The Kitchen, the co-hosts used everyday craft supplies and garden-fresh fixings to create a sweet atmosphere with the decor, and assembled a menu of can-do recipes. Read on below to see what they made and learn how they did it.
Soo-Jeong Kang
As with any party, decorations can set the scene at a Mother's Day brunch, and Katie Lee's tabletop Tea Garland is both "pretty and functional," she says. Katie uses colorful tags to differentiate among the tea bags, which she hangs from a suspended ribbon using miniature clothespins. And as for the centerpiece, look no further than a teapot, which can be used as a vase to hold Mom's special bouquet of flowers.
Soo-Jeong Kang
Sunny Anderson uses fresh flowers in her decor as well, making an Floral Chandelier. A lightweight embroidery hoop is the main structural element, to which she glues ribbon and ties the flowers. Follow her lead and opt for flowers with a mix of colors and stem lengths; this will add visual interest to the chandelier when it's hung.
Soo-Jeong Kang
When it comes to the menu, Marcela Valladolid turns her centerpiece into a fresh-fruit offering. Her Honeydew Teapot is filled with colorful melon balls for the ultimate fruit salad. To make the teapot, just hollow out a honeydew and use toothpicks to affix to it pieces of the flesh to serve as the handle and spout. For an extra-special treat for Mom, pour Champagne right atop the melon balls to guarantee a decadent finish.
Soo-Jeong Kang
Tea sandwiches are a go-to tea party pick, of course, but you don't have to resort to the usual cucumber-salmon situation. Beef up the menu with Jeff Mauro's Baked Roast Beef and Provolone "Tea" Sliders on Everything Buns, blanketed in a buttery everything-spice mixture before cooking, or opt for Marcela's more traditional Mini Club Tea Sandwiches (pictured above). She serves these open-faced beauties stacked with the classic club fixings you know and love, like deli turkey and crispy bacon.
Soo-Jeong Kang
Geoffrey Zakarian is bringing the sweets to the party, but there's no need to turn on the oven here. His Pan CAKE stars three tiers of different-sized pancakes, each set atop the one larger than itself to create a towering masterpiece ideal for breakfast or dessert. "That was so easy," GZ said of assembling this next-level flapjack stack. Sprinkle on snow-white powdered sugar for a whimsical finish.