In like a Lion

I can’t believe that it is already the second week in March!  the winter winds have been blowing steadily from the northwest and my bones are cold and tired.  I also totally missed posting my St. David’s Day activities (March 1st).  My husband and I made welsh cakes and we celebrated by taking the kids to afternoon tea at a favorite tea house nearby.

My husband’s family firmly identifies with their Welsh heritage.  We look forward to March 1st as the beginning of the end of a long winter.  It is also the feast day of St. David, patron saint of Wales.  The national flower of Wales is the daffodil – or “Peter’s Leek” – and the dragon on their flag is steeped in Arthurian legend. Since I am a huge fan of sweets, especially cookies, I love that my husband’s cousins has passed down their welsh cake recipe to me.  I make dozens!  Enough for my husband and his parents.  They are like a griddle cake with nutmeg and currents – sweet tasting with a warm spice that screams for cold milk or hot tea.  the kids cannot get past the fact that the dried currents look a bit like little raisins (which they kinda are). The welsh cakes made a great breakfast with a cool glass of milk in a daffodil glass.  Yes, I am fine with eating cookies for breakfast!

The afternoon tea we attended was a new experience for the kids.  They expected an excessive amount of “girly” stuff.  But they admitted it wasn’t all that bad.  I did have to remind them that men drink tea, too.

It started with a spinach salad with blueberries, apples, and a poppy seed dressing.  We drank a wonderful French Caramel Crème Brulee black tea that the kids loved with milk and sugar.  They also enjoyed the brown sugar cookie with an icing swirl that capped off a meal of turkey and havarti triangles, apricot chicken salad, asparagus rolls, and sweet cream scones.

We have had a handful of significantly cold days in this early March and I am eager for the winds to die down and let the warm sun call out the spring flowers from the ground – lilies, hyacinths, crocuses, and daffodils.

The next holiday, St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and I am eager to find a cookie that goes with green beer and Irish whiskey!

Thanks for letting me share this cookie and a cuppa with you.