Tuesday Cuppa Tea, QEII Coronation Teacup, Diamond Jubilee Fare

Any royal watchers out there? As a Brit and 1st Gen Yank from a Brit family, we are. Unabashedly so. Today's Diamond Jubilee festivities saw me up with BBC streaming video at 5am Pacific. I even made a few tweets during the broadcast...which I don't usually do. 


But first to my meme Tuesday Cuppa Tea!

No surprises here...I have chosen a Shelley, China coronation cup and saucer from Queen Elizabeth's coronation 60 years ago. I guess I chose this one because Shelley is a favorite and this is one of my favorite coronation photos, taken by Lord Snowdon...Anthony Armstrong-Jones who was married to Princess Margaret. An accomplished photographer.


On to the Diamond Jubilee festivities today!

It was the Big Lunch all over the UK followed by the Thames Pageant...in the rain. Light at first devolving into a downpour.

Queen Elizabeth stood for 2 hours in the cold and rain and didn't take advantage of the chairs...thrones really...provided on her barge The Spirit Of Chartwell. I thought...how many 86 year olds...and Philip is 90...would do that. I don't think it's something I'd ever be able to do!

photos from the Guardian Online

There were Diamond Jubilee celebrations around the country, with huge street parties organized. We wanted to do our bit, so it was Coronation Chicken salad for lunch:

Coronation Chicken

Ingredients

·         6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

·         1/3 cup raisins...golden are preferable but any kind will do

·         1 (1 pound) large mango, peeled, thinly sliced

·         2/3 cup mayonnaise

·         1 teaspoon mild curry powder

·         1 tablespoon mango chutney...I like Major Grey's Mango Chutney

·         1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

·         1 pinch salt and pepper

·         3/4 cup toasted cashews

Directions

1.     In a large pot, cook chicken in lightly salted boiling water for 20 minutes. Drain, cool, and cut into 1/2-inch strips.

2.     In a large bowl, stir together chicken strips, raisins, and half of the mango.

3.     In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, curry powder, chutney, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, then toss gently with chicken mixture. Stir in half the nuts. Transfer to a platter, and garnish with remaining mango strips and cashews.

This is a favorite family recipe that I mess around with a lot...using snipped dried apricots instead of the raisins, changing nuts, adding coconut, using papaya instead of mango...you know what I mean. It is always delicious and easy. Works well with a rotisserie chicken as well.

I actually decided to do that for lunch after reading what The Savoy in London was serving for a special Diamond Jubilee Afternoo0n Tea this week:

Under the port cochere outside the Savoy today, they had musicians and corgis to welcome guests to the tea.  The menu was:

Featuring Coronation Chicken sandwiches to commemorate Her Majesty The Queen's Coronation in June 1953 and themed pastries including a diamond chocolate mousse cake. Tea will also include a glass of Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne to toast the Diamond Queen.

From 49 pounds per person (!)

And for dinner...you can see a trend here...we had Britain's national dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. No, I'm not kidding!!! It really is!

This is a really complicated dish: 

saute onions & garlic in a little olive oil in a large pan while you are cooking a potato and cauliflower florets cut in bite size pieces in water for 10 minutes. Add to the onion.

Add 1 cup of frozen peas, 1-2 cups of cut up cooked chicken and a jar of Patak's Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce (found it at Costco...couldn't believe it! MUCH easier than the way I used to make it!) LOL!

Serve over rice that has been cooked with some coconut in the water and garnish with parsley or cilantro...depending on how hot you like it....raisins, more coconut if desired and chopped cashews if wanted.

So...off to watch some more royal related programs and eat some cantaloup, papaya and blueberries for dessert.

Remember, we still have Diamond Jubilee mugs at Antiques And Teacups and are having a 15% off sale through the 7th. Code Diamond. For more info on the Shelley coronation teacup...click on the photos.

Tomorrow the Diamond Jubilee presents a massive concert on a stage erected around the Victoria memorial outside Buckingham Palace and the Queen will light the Royal beacon. Tuesday, on the unprecedented second bank holiday, there is a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral and a carriage ride back to the Palace with a balcony appearance and massive RAF flyover. Let's hope the weather is better, as today's Royal Navy fly over was canceled due to bad weather.

Here is the linky and the last of the other blogs I'll be joining. 

Common Ground ~ http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com

Monday Marketplace

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday 

Ruth  ~ http://timewasantiquesfamily.blogspot.com

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Angela  http://teawithfriends.blogspot.com/

Tea With Friends

Miss Kathy ~ http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Celia ~ http://attitudeivlife.blogspot.com/  Afternoon Tea

Wanda Lee ~ http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

 Tuesday Teatime 

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday

My linky disappeared!!!! Trying again....