I am currently planning a baby shower for a dear friend.
Any time I have any event coming up, be it holiday, having guests over for a meal, a party, etc. I always have about a bajillion more ideas than I can actually use. And they're all good ideas. And they swirl around inside my head and keep me from sleeping and will literally drive me crazy if I don't get them out.
So I make lists. I have a notebook that I carry around that I write in. It is full of total randomness. Mostly lists for different things. Present ideas for upcoming birthdays. Menus. Things I need to do. Whatever.
Lists are how I keep my sanity and how I organize my thoughts and how I plan things.
I don't know how anyone functions without them!
Below is my menu ideas list for the upcoming baby shower. I am taking inspiration from English Garden Parties. Anyway, look at that sucker! Can you imagine having all that waltzing around in your head along with a bunch of other similar ideas on varying topics?
Fortunately, once I write it all down it doesn't stay stuck in my head anymore.
Now I just gotta figure out what out of this list of over a hundred items what I'm actually going to make and serve! That's much easier said than done.
Tea or Garden Party Menu ideas
Ø Food
o
Savory
§ Mini
Tarts
·
Mushroom
·
Tomato
·
Leek & Bacon
§ Mini
Quiche
·
Lorraine
·
Asparagus
·
Spinach
§ Biscuits
·
Cheese Straws
·
Rosemary Shortbread
·
Lemon and Thyme Shortbread
·
Fig and Bleu Cheese Thumbprints
·
Olive and Parmesan Sables
§ Canapes
·
Devilled eggs
·
Crab puffs
·
Gougeres
·
Chicken salad in Lettuce Cups
·
Salmon Mousse on Cucumber Slices
·
Shrimp salad in filo cups
·
BLT Skewer with Sourdough Crouton
·
Ham and Swiss Puff Pastry Spirals
·
Roast beef in Shredded Potato Cup with
Horseradish Cream
§ Tea
Sandwiches
·
Open Face
o
Smoked Salmon and Herbed Cream Cheese on
Pumpernickel Rounds
o
Duck/Chicken Liver Mousse with Apple
& Bacon on Black Pepper & Tarragon Crostini
o
Pear & Walnut Topped Bleu Cheese
Spread on Crostini Drizzled With Honey
o
Radish and Rocket
o
Proscuitto, Apple, and Brie with Arugula
·
Closed
o
Coronation Chicken Salad
o
Chicken Salad with Pecans & Grapes
on Raisin Bread
o
Tuna Salad
o
Devilled Ham Salad
o
Club
o
Prawn and Mayo
o
Seafood Salad
o
Salmon Mousse
o
Egg and Mayo
o
Pimento Cheese
o
Apple, Cheddar, and Onion Chutney
o
Walnut & Pineapple Cream Cheese on
Brown Bread
o
Cranberry Pecan Cream Cheese
o
Cucumber & Cress with Cream Cheese
o
Roasted Veggie Cream Cheese
o
Sweet
§ Cupcakes/Mini
cakes
·
Double Vanilla
·
Vanilla-Strawberry
·
Double Chocolate
·
Chocolate-Raspberry
·
Lemon-Blackberry
·
Lemon-Blueberry
·
Almond-Apricot
·
Almond-Pistachio
§ Full
Cakes
·
Madeira
·
Battenberg
·
Victoria Sponge with strawberries and
whipped cream
·
Apple cake
·
Honey cake
·
Pound cake
o
Vanilla bean
o
Lemon/Lemon-poppyseed
o
Chocolate
·
Fruit cake
·
Kugelhopf
·
Princesstårta
·
Chocolate
Swiss roll
·
Jam
Roly Poly
·
Crumb
Cake
·
Plum
Cake
§ Mini
Tarts
·
Chocolate
·
Lemon
·
Fruit w/ pastry cream
§ Mini
Cheesecakes
·
Strawberry
·
Blueberry
·
Cherry
·
Blackberry
·
Chocolate
§ Brownie
Bites
·
Peanut butter
·
Espresso/Mocha
·
Turtle
·
Fudge
·
Mint/Crème de Menthe
·
Raspberry/Chambord
·
Cream Cheese
·
German Chocolate
·
Almond/Amaretto
·
Irish Cream
·
Orange/Cointrea
·
Cookies ‘n Cream
§ Mini
Pastries
·
Trifle
·
Pavlova
·
Cream Puffs
·
Eclairs
o
Vanilla pastry cream filled with
chocolate icing
o
Chocolate mousse filled with caramel
icing
o
Espresso mousse filled with coffee icing
·
Petit fours
·
Mascarpone Whipped Cream filled Strawberries
·
Millefeuilles
·
Napoleons
§ Tea
bread
·
Date and walnut
·
Apricot
·
Citrus
·
Gingerbread
·
Seed cake
§ Madelines
·
Vanilla
·
Lemon
·
Orange
·
Almond
§ Cookies
·
Gingersnaps
·
Lemon sandwich
·
Lemon bars
·
Decorated sugar cookies
·
Decorated Hungarian honey cookies
·
Shortbread
·
Russian tea cakes
·
Linzers
·
Thumbprints
·
Amoretti
·
Vanilla crescents
·
Pecan tassies
·
Macarons
o
Coconut
o
Almond
o
Pistachio
§ Buns/Rolls
·
Scones with clotted cream, strawberry
jam, lemon curd
·
Crumpets with butter, strawberry jam,
orange marmalade
·
Brioche with butter and jam
·
Croissants with butter, jam, marmalade
·
English tea cakes with butter
·
Cherry-Apricot-Pistachio rolls
·
Hot cross buns
·
Chelsea buns
·
Cinnamon Rolls
·
Semlor
o
Almond
o
Ligonberry
o
Cloudberry
·
Swedish Tea Ring
·
Pulla
·
St.
Lucia Buns
Ø Drinks
o
Tea
o
Lemonade/Sparkling Lemonade
o
Iced water with Sliced Cucumber/Lemon
o
White Sangria
