Making Cucumber Sandwiches for Devonshire Tea

In my last post I wrote about this afternoon's Service of Choral Evensong. The music will be glorious, and if you're in the Rochester area, I hope you'll come. Evensong will be followed by a traditional English High Tea, or Devonshire Tea. Devonshire Tea is more like a meal than a snack, and almost always includes cucumber sandwiches. I just finished making several trays.











Traditional English cucumber sandwiches are made by placing cucumber slices between two pieces of buttered bread. In New Zealand they are made a little differently. A butter and cream cheese spread is used instead of plain butter, and various spices are mixed into the cucumber. Garlic, dill, Italian seasoning, curry, pepper - there are many variants of New Zealand cucumber sandwiches. Here is the recipe I used:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
2 cucumbers, unpeeled & thinly sliced (or 1 long seedless English cucumber)
1 Loaf white hearty sandwich bread

Remove crust from bread with a sharp knife and cut into shapes: triangles, rectangles or squares.
Place cream cheese, butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper and dill in a small bowl; stir to combine, or use an electric mixer. Spread lightly on all bread slices, top one slice with cucumbers and another bread slice.
Cover with foil or plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Choral Evensong

In 2001 and again in 2005, I had the privilege of singing in Great Britain with the Chancel Choir of Third Presbyterian Church. In 2001 we served as choir-in-residence at Rochester Cathedral in Kent, England. When we returned to England in 2005 we served as choir-in-residence at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It was an awesome experience to make music in these beautiful and historic places of worship. We sang daily evensong in cathedrals where these services have been sung for a millennium.

This Sunday afternoon, the Chancel Choir will share this experience with the community, when we sing a Service of Choral Evensong at 4:00 p.m. The service music will include Richard Shephard’s Preces and Responses, O Taste and See by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G, and Faire is the Heaven by William H. Harris. The service of Evensong will be followed by a traditional English tea, featuring cucumber sandwiches, scones, cookies and, of course, real English tea.

It’s an ecumenical and cultural event, open to the public. If you’ve never experienced evensong, I highly recommend coming to Third Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon. The church is located on East Avenue at Meigs Street in Rochester, and here is a link to a map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=East+Avenue+at+Meigs+Street,+Rochester,+NY&ie=UTF8&ll=43.155465,-77.590749&spn=0.00706,0.013819&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A

I hope to see you there!

Garden Update

Day One

Week Four

It’s been about a month and the garden is coming along. The tomatoes and peppers survived the mid-May cold snap, and the organic stink bomb spray is keeping the bunnies and the deer away. I’ve added cilantro and another basil plant, and I’m starting to see tiny yellow flowers on the tomato plants.

Another new addition to the garden is the bird feeder. The cats absolutely LOVE sitting in the window and watching the cardinals, goldfinches and other songbirds eating the seeds and berries. It’s pleasant to relax in the garden with a glass of wine or a camera after work.

Stay tuned for more garden updates.