Cuppa tea and a biscuit

Momentous occasion today, Rosie had her first cup of tea. It was very milky and very sweet and full of mushy cookie by the end but a nice little milestone for a half English girl. I remember Mamaw Black would make me a cup of sweet, milky coffee when I was little, probably about Rosie's age. She and Dad would sit with their cups of coffee and I would dissolve Saltine crackers in mine and then fish them out with a spoon and eat them.

Mamaw Black has been on my mind this week. Tomorrow is International Day at Toby's school and the parents all make food representing their backgrounds. It's a very multi-cultural school and there is always lots of lovely food. I've been trying to decide what to make and going through my cookbooks. When I got married Aunt Jean put together a cookbook for me with copies of handwritten family recipes from Mamaw Black and my Aunt Jackie, both of whom died when I was little.

I decided to make Mamaw's buttermilk pie and Aunt Jackie's banana split pie. I made the buttermilk pie this afternoon and just the smell of it almost made me cry. I can't remember the last time I ate buttermilk pie but I'm looking forward to having some tomorrow. The funny thing is that buttermilk is a bit exotic here. No one drinks it. It's only used in a very few recipes so it's sold in little cup measures. I couldn't find it in the milk section but finally located it with the speciality creams. I'm also making Mom's Key lime pie, some BBQ chicken wings and some tiny pastrami on rye sandwiches. That should do it.

And speaking of Aunt Jean, she would be very pleased to see that Rosie's first cup of tea came in a Blue Willow tea cup. Rosie and I had our cups of tea and I told her the Blue Willow story so her first cup of tea was very English but with some Texan family history thrown in too.