Get a tiered stand and do it at home!
Photo courtesy Russian Tea Room.

How about a tea party?

Every day in New York City, children arrive, dressed in their best, at the famed Russian Tea Room for afternoon tea. The tea, served from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m, is a special occasion providing a peek into a world of elegance.

The tiered tea tray is filled with kid-friendly treats: PB&J on a blini (you can serve yours on bread with the crusts cut off), pig-in-a-blanket and a selection of grilled cheese sandwiches and tea sandwiches: BLT, cucumber with chive cream cheese, tuna salad and egg salad.

The second course, the pastry tray, includes chocolate mousse with mixed berries, a red velvet cupcake, a traditional warm scone and fresh apple slices with creamy caramel.

And there’s tea, of course. The six decaffeinated tea choices are chamomile, ginger tea, green tea, mint verbena, raspberry hibiscus and rooibos chai.

Another treat: chocolate tea—teas made with real chocolate, yet are virtually calorie-free. Find a delicious sampler at The Nibble Gourmet Market.

Don’t like tea? Have some hot chocolate with whipped cream.

With a porcelain tea pot and a tiered serving dish, you can recreate the experience in your dining room (here’s another tea stand in white).

You’ll find other uses for the tiered stand: from breakfast (use it to present croissants, danishes, muffins, scones and toast) to desserts. For lunch, make a few different types of sandwiches, cut them in diagonal halves or quarters and serve them on the stand.

You can adapt the Russian Tea Room menu, add your favorite tartlets and even make the sandwiches a bit more special—like the classic watercress and sweet butter or cream cheese and smoked salmon.

For more inspiration, treat yourself to a book on tea parties.
 
Learn everything about tea in our Gourmet Tea Section.
  

Send a box of cakes. Burnt caramel-filled chocolates decorated with cakes, that is.

For years, San Francisco chocolatier Michael Recchiuti has featured the work of local artists on his acclaimed chocolate-covered burnt caramels (the caramel has a smokier flavor than conventional gourmet caramels).

This special edition of caramels is even guilt-free: For each box sold, $2 is donated to Creativity Explored, a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell their art. How can you not want to help out?

The gift box of caramels—eight pieces, 3.5 ounces—is $21.00. Buy the chocolates online at Recchiuti.com. If you miss the special edition period, the burnt caramel chocolates without the art are available year-round (they’re one of Recchiuti’s most popular confections).

Want something other than chocolate?

Check out The Nibble Gourmet Market: THE NIBBLE Editors’ favorite gift foods and personal treats, conveniently organized in one location.

We don’t recommend everything: Just the best!

Use different spices to add excitement to
your favorite dishes, like these Cinnamon-
Jerk Pork Chops. Photo and recipe
courtesy McCormick.com.

These recipes are popular for a reason: They’re tasty and easy to make. Take pork chops, for example. You can quickly season them with salt, pepper and maybe some garlic or onion salt, then broil and serve.

Or, you could make them more special with a mix of seasonings that includes allspice, chipotle, cinnamon, grated lime peel and thyme: the delicious recipe in the photo above.

Low In Calories, High In Antioxidants

In addition to flavor, there are two important reasons to season your food with spices instead of fat-laden sauces, grated cheese, salt and other less-good-for-you options:

1. Low Calories. Herbs and spices have a negligible amount of calories. An entire teaspoon of most spices and herbs contains fewer than 10 calories. An entire cup of fresh parsley has 22 calories.

2. High Antioxidants. Herbs and spices also add an antioxidant bonus to your recipes. We hasten to add that it’s a small bonus, since the amount of herb or spice consumed is rather small. But the benefit builds up with frequent use.

See the seven highest-antioxidant spices and the highest-antioxidant foods overall.

If you’re planning a party, how much wine do you need? Wine quantities will vary depending on the type of party you’re having.

Gary Sitton, winemaker at California’s Clos du Bois winery, offers these general rules of thumb:

A standard bottle of wine (750ml, or 25.3 ounces) provides five five-ounce glasses of wine.

 
Now that you’ve got a handle on the wine, here’s how to calculate the amount of hors d’oeuvre.*

*In French, the singular and plural word forms are the same: hors d’oeuvre.
  

It’s easy to whip up a batch of scrumptious homemade potato chips in a mere five minutes. All you need are:

 
Include The Kids
This is a fun activity to do with kids, so they won’t grow up thinking that their favorite snacks only come in packages from the supermarket. It’s also a special treat for a weekend family dinner and for TV snacking (not to mention beer and cocktails).

While some children are not old enough to learn how to slice or fry the potatoes, anyone older than four years of age can learn how to clean potatoes, pat the slices dry before cooking and flip them as they drain on paper towels. When the kids know there will be warm potato chips at the end of the activity, cooking becomes an exciting adventure they want to participate in.

Seasoning The Chips
This video recipe uses a special seasoning of paprika, onion powder, salt and sugar. Personally, we’d omit the sugar (if you must, use only a pinch): There’s no need to add more refined sugar to anyone’s diet. We also prefer sea salt, which is unrefined or minimally refined salt. It contains trace minerals that have been removed from refined salts (see our Salt Glossary).

Feel free to add your own favorite seasonings to the mix—cayenne, chipotle, garlic or parsley—or season the chips simply with salt.

Serve your delicious homemade chips with a dipping bowl of top-quality ketchup. See our review of the best ketchup brands, which includes the history of ketchup! Another tip: warm the ketchup in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds, or however long it takes to get to “very warm” in your microwave.
Consider Them A Reward
Homemade chips may become so popular in your household that you’ll be able to use them as a reward for tasks well done.

*If you purchase a mandoline, look for one with adjustable thicknesses and a nonskid base. The Progressive model also has underside grooves to keep it stable on top of a bowl.

Want more ideas?
See our recipe for homemade potato chips on TheNibble.com.