Tea of the week: an Inauguration tea party

Yesterday I hosted an afternoon Inauguration tea party. It was lots of fun - I loved being quizmaster of an Obama quiz - but we left it too late to take many photos.

In the end I didn't worry too much about having an American theme, or basing the menu on Obama's favourite foods, and just was grateful that friends offered to bring food so I didn't have to make it all. My friend Bridget made homemade bagels with smoked salmon (there are none in the photographs as they were all scoffed in no time.)

I made this Rocky Road, from Nigella's Christmas Rocky Road recipe - they were delicious but very rich - it should be cut into very small pieces.

I took Polaroid photos of the guests and stuck them on the door, so they could remember each other's names.


I borrowed two cake stands, inspired by Rachel's obsession with cake stands.

Another friend, Stephanie, made a delicious chocolate cake, and Malini made some very popular carrot muffins with cream cheese icing.

A special thank you goes to Jon and Emma, who came round to my flat in the morning for an hour and a half to help me tidy up and get things ready. They went home to get changed, and when they came back, Emma told me off for having found the time to tie ribbon round some books (a last-minute touch) after they had slaved all morning! Somehow I thought I would get everything ready in time, but I don't know how I would have done it without them.

I have had this piece of ribbon for years, waiting for something special to do with it. It is from the department store Brown Thomas in Dublin, and has a quote from James Joyce on it.

Are you planning to do anything special for Inauguration Day? Another friend of mine is going to a party on Tuesday where they are eating chilli (maybe even Obama's own recipe) and watching the tv coverage, but that will work in the UK because of the time difference.