Irish Potato Soup...

Last Saturday my mom and I ended up sharing a beautiful afternoon of Irish tea!

I called this a God given treat... we got to sit down to a lunch together without the distractions of life... we chatted and shared an ordinary day that felt extraordinary to me.

I am blessed!

We visited one of our favorite Irish shops for a gift for my Aunt and ended up sitting down to a cup of soup ~ a delicious sandwich... and a pot of tea!

The owner of the shop, Jane Clarke,  shared this recipe for her potato soup!

This soup was so delicious!

Actually... it is now THE BEST potato soup I ever had!

There are no real instructions however... so you kind of have to a a pretty decent cook in order to make this.

I think what I liked the best about the soup is the diced potato... when I make my soup I don't dice... I usually just chunk so the diced texture reminded me of something my grandma used to make!

Jane Clarke's Potato Soup

What you’ll need:

• Butter (to taste)

• 1 medium carrot, diced

• 1/2 medium onion, diced

• 1 stalk celery, diced

• Flour (use judgment)

• Water

• Four to five russet or red potatoes, peeled and diced

• Heavy cream (to taste)

• Salt and pepper

Dice vegetables. Melt butter in medium saucepan, add vegetables and saute. Add flour to make a roux and stir for several minutes. Add water to cover and stir again. Stir in peeled, diced potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Stir in heavy cream to taste. Total cooking time is at least 20 minutes.

Let me know if you try it!

Oh and if you are wondering... we did get a gift for my Aunt and we are taking her for her very own birthday tea party next weekend!

O Christmas Tea Pictures

I invited the ladies I love over for a tea party today in celebration of Christmas

Here are some of the pictures from the event

I asked my friend to make me  a few cookies and here is what she did for me

She blew me away!  Oh wow were they YUMMY too!!!!

I transformed the hutch into a tea cart LOL

On the top I put the glasses for the cranberry punch

The second level was the tea cups

The third level was the punch in the soup tureen :)

Along with a basket of assorted flavored teas ~ sugars and lemons

Here are the two tea pots of irish tea that I made

Here is the one three tier of goodies

Scones on top

Second level is assorted tea sandwiches

Next level is buckeyes and truffles and Susies cookies

PBJ for the little girls

Crock pot full of asparagus cream soup

My Godmother and my Mother in Law

My mom wore her hat!

She looks like Madeline :)

My Goddaughter and her sister and their Nana, My Aunt Kathy enjoy their first tea party

Notice all the bling on the girls!!!

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We all had so much fun!

There was hardly anything left at all which makes me so happy!

In addition to the tea favor 

I put everyones name in a pitcher and gave away 3 decorated Christmas Trees

My Aunt Betty, Cousin Joanne and friend Melissa won

The tree can be seen in the pic behind the little girls!

I would highly recommend hosting a tea party and will definitely plan one again possibly for the spring time

Excited ... for tea!

I have an awesome weekend before me and I am so excited!

Last night we had friends over for pizza to see our new house

My friends daughter whom I love so much said the house was COZY ~ that was from a 9 year old and that is exactly what I was going for when I set out to make our home!

Today I am preparing for my Christmas Tea which I am hosting on Monday for the women in my life that I love so much!

It is called O Christmas Tea ~ We are Irish by lineage and I love tea so this was just a perfect theme

Most of the ladies I invited are off from work on Monday ( including me ) which is a story for another day

I am trying hard to keep the tea traditional

We have a local tea place that I would have loved to take the ladies to but the cost really is prohibitive at this time for me plus I LOVE to host and I think it is more fun at home!

I  made little tea favors ~ which include the poem

On Christmas Eve at Half past three 

Pour yourself a cup of tea

I'll think of you and you think of me 

Sitting beside the Christmas tree

(this is not my poem ~ I got it years ago on a card)

I made each lady a little box with a tea bag in it and will attach the poem

I just took a tea bag and covered it in plaid scrapbook paper

Added some filler to a dollar tree box and tied it all up with a velvet ribbon

I love PLAID if you can't tell!

Here is the Menu

~Traditional Tea~
 ~Assorted Flavored Tea~
~Cranberry Punch~

~Scones~ 
clotted cream, lemon curd, black currant jam, whipped butter

~Asparagus Cream Soup~

~Tea Sandwiches~
Walnut Chicken Salad on White
RGJ’s  Tuna on Rye
Cucumber & Lemon pepper on Pumpernickel
Egg Salad on Wheat

~Assorted Desserts

I will have recipes soon...

The ladies were all told to wear their blingiest Christmas sweater LOL

I cannot wait to take a picture

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Oh and tonight we are headed to a Christmas Party... I am looking forward to it!