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A Very English Affair

Friday 29 April 2011


Good afternoon you lovely lot.

Whether you watched the Royal Wedding, ignored it and just said thank you for the extra Bank Holiday, or were a poor schmuck who was stuck in work, I hope you had a jolly nice day.

I'm firmly in the first camp. Nailing my colours firmly to the mast here: I am a staunch Royalist. I love tradition. I love pomp and ceremony, history and duty. I love frocks and hats. I love happiness. So what's not to love about a Royal Wedding? But if that's not your cup of tea then fair enough. Isn't this part of being a civilised and hopefully intelligent grown-up? You shouldn't feel the need to try and mock other people's thoughts and opinions in order to affirm your own sense of superiority and to be perfectly honest, I am more than a little fed up of the way some people have been reacting this week when they asked me if I was excited about the wedding and I replied yes.

Bah, mini moan over. I shall leave the fashion commentary to others but I must just say that I loved her dress. So elegant and so beautiful. I'm very pleased she went for sleeves too.

So what went on the Odd Socks household? We put on pretty frocks of course, quaffed Kir Royales during the ceremony and then had a mini tea party. I spent last night preparing for it like some kind of demented (and less boobalicious) Nigella. Apron on, hair up and I was ready to bake the night away.



This morning I started off with a very English breakfast of crumpets, plus lots of coffee. I thought the mug (my favourite) was kinda appropriate.



The tea party later in the day consisted of:


Tea, obviously. Pfft, who needs a matching tea set?

Well, we had to have some sort of nod to healthy/savoury stuff, even if my preference runs entirely to the sweet stuff. Chip sticks, homemade pizza slices, beef & tomato, cucumber and ham & tomato sandwiches, grated carrot and sultana, mixed baby salad leaves and some watercress. I even made my own bread!


Apple and blackberry crumbles, mini Party Rings, treacle tarts, fruit scones (damn you gluten-free flour, why do you make stupidly flat scones?!) and Victoria sponges. I feel like a veritable domestic goddess. The only thing I didn't make is the Party Rings. Even the raspberry jam in the Victoria sponges is my own work.


Full of alcohol, tea and cake, I then took myself out to the back garden to bask in the sunshine for an hour or two. What a lovely day it's been.

34 comments:

  1. Haha I truly love this post! Your baking looks fantastic & party rings are my absolute favourites...brilliant selection of mugs too! :)

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  2. I seriously love this post - it's definitely my favourite Royal Wedding related post so far!

    Wish I could've come round yours - I just watched the wedding in my pjs & have done nothing since. Would've been nice to have got into the spirit of things a bit more, which by the looks of the last photo, is what you've done :) Love it!

    www.heart-shaped-bruise.blogspot.com

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  3. I want to comment on so much here! You look lovely in your frock and I covet your stamp mug very much! Your tea party looks brilliant - get you with your own bread, and PARTY RINGS! Haven't seen those in years!

    I'm not a Royalist but I have been looking forward to the wedding - I like Will and Kate as people. Wasn't mad on her dress though - considering everyone's going on about what a style icon she is I thought she played it very safe - I was hoping she might wear something a bit more slinky, like her sis. Poor William should have kept his hat on though shouldn't he?!

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  4. What a spread! I was one of those poor schmucks stuck in work. I managed to see them going to a nd from the Abbey but missed most of the actual service, but now I'm home and hope the timer on my DVD worked so that I can sit in peace and watch it. x

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  5. P.S. Her dress was lovely, but her sister's was gorgeous.

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  6. I'll be honest, I didn't think I was bothered about the wedding, until yesterday. Then I realised I was really excited. I watched the tv coverage all morning and cried my way through the ceremony. It was amazing. Sadly no picnic for me, I heated a can of ratatouille. Desperately jealous of your delicious looking meal. Wish I'd had the same idea.
    Marvellous post. Love your hat and mug. x
    http://cgdn.blogspot.com

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  7. Looks like a great day and I have to say you look gorgeous in your baking outfit - eat your heart out Nigella!
    I was the same as Sophie but I wasn't interested until I started watching this morning. The hymns and music had me crying like nobody's business (in a good way). I then spent the next hour or so playing Jerusalum and every other hymn and patriotic song on you tube and singing at the top of my voice!

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  8. What a fabby tea party!! I really wanted to be involved in something like this but I ended up sitting by myself lol..

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  9. Wow, loving the look of your tea party. I wouldn't say I was excited for the wedding, but happy to go along with it. And in danger of sounding sappy- it's nice to see 2 people who getting married, because it reminds me that there are people out there who love each other and are nice to each other. If The Guy could see me typing this, he'd be callingaDr kind of worried.

    Glad you enjoyed.

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  10. If someone near me had been hosting a tea party I would have been there, watching!

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  11. I'm on your side too - altho I was a bit less dignified and rolled out of bed at 8 and watched the whole thing without even brushing my hair! She was truly gorgeous tho, and her sister was almost as pretty too! :)

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  12. thanks Alex, my skirt is one I bought from eBay originally by Primark x

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  13. What a great time you had. I was the one soo looking forward to it in our household. We went o Warwick Castle and it was fab.

    The atmosphere was amazing. I liked her dress and think she looked stunning.

    X x

    Ps love the hat!

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  14. Great post, your English Affair looked very nice.

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  15. Best blog post of the day goes to you Alex! I wasn't too bothered about the wedding to begin with but while watching the ceremony today I was so pleased for them both, loved her dress and was happy to see some lovely looking royal horses too. I love your mug set and congratulations to you for your fab baking skills too! xxx

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  16. I'm with you on the amount of moaning and complaining some people have put into the royal wedding. I throughly loved everything about it and was even up at 9am especially to watch it....that's a big deal as I am a big fan of lying in at every opportunity when off work :)

    Your afternoon tea spread looks fantastic!!

    x

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  17. I am SERIOUSLY impressed with the baking skills, Alex!

    And the hat.

    And the tea-stuff. I love your Queen mug :-D

    It was a lovely day and I was sad that there wasn't anything official going on here. Prince Charles being the Duke of Rothesay and all that. But we had a good time!

    Some people have been quite rude about the whole day. Sure, it cost an arm and a leg to put on and televise, but what the fuck. Cheaper than bailing out the banks and a lot more fun.

    Ali x

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  18. Aww, you had a very similar day to mine! I'm SO with you on the whole Republican Vs Royalist nonsense. As everyone who reads my blog knows, I love the Royals but would never bitch about anyone who didn't. Unfortunately my family are Rebublicans and very vocal about it. Thankfully they pushed off on holiday to avoid the whole shebang, and I was able to dress up, bake my heart out and toast the lovely couple to my heart's content.

    xxx Maddie

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  19. Loving your spread too! It is so cool to see how everyone got involved! Like your hat and mug too! I'm a secret royalist too...ah what the hell I'm a royalist! I think they're great for our heritage and economy and something to be proud of...xxx

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  20. I'm very impressed with the standard of your buffet, Alex, and your hat is definately worthy of a Royal. xxx

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  21. oh my your afternoon tea looks so good. you sound like a brilliant baker! love the mug too - my best friend has the same one xx

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  22. Looks like a brilliant day! We were working but everything stopped for the wedding around 10.30am and we were all glued to the big screen in the boardroom. We had sarnies, cup cakes and lots of Pimms. It was fab - such a lovely wedding. The minor royals being ferried around in prison type vans was hilarious though! xx

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  23. The food spread looks awesome!

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  24. I'm so jealous! I actually forgot about the wedding, me and my mam went to the park to teach my niece to ride her bike without stabilisers, it's cute how proud she was of herself after she'd managed it! I wasn't bothered about the wedding in the run-up, but I looked at pictures later in the evening, and I just watched a few videos, and I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't watch it live. I'm not really interested in the monarchy, but actually it was all rather sweet.

    My views on the whole thing: I loved Kate's dress, didn't like Pippa's very much, and thought that Tara P-T's hat looked like a vagina. The car they left Buckingham Palace in was cute, and I loved the bridesmaid who covered her ears when they were standing on the balcony. Also cute were the few asides that have been reported, like Prince William joking that it was supposed to be a small family affair.

    P.S. I love your teapot!

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  25. EEEK! I love that pic of you in your pinny,you look hotter than Nigella!O YES!
    Love the Queenie stamp mug!!
    I wish I'd been there enjoying afternoon tea and the wedding with you! I just watched it this afternoon,and thoroughly enjoyed it!
    Love! xxx

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  26. I'm not a fan of the royal wedding. To be honest, I think just as many people moaned telling others to stop complaining about the wedding, or don't watch tv if you don't want to see it..but come on, it was EVERYWHERE. Tv, radio, magazines, internet, fashion blogs..everywhere. Impossible to avoid. I'm Irish and the Royal Wedding has nothing to do with me so I really don't see why media outside of the UK were so interested in it. Tbh I probably wouldn't care even if I was from the UK. Anyways cute photographs, your tea party looks fun! xo

    http://www.pearlslaceandruffles.com

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  27. Kate definitely look absolutely stunning! Haha, I love your mug -- and the food looks delicious!

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  28. You look fab :) l think its lovely that everyone went to so much effort watching it on Tele in hats with a fea party - only in Britain! x

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  29. Dearest Alex, I'm deeply impressed with your baking skills! The food looks fabulous.

    I was very excited about the wedding too. I agree, I'm glad she went for sleeves and the dress got lovelier and lovelier the more you looked at it. Amazing details.

    I still haven't ordered that mug. I absolutely love it. I must get one! Hope you're enjoying the time off xx

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  30. Hurray for tea parties!! Loving that postage stamp mug, I'm kind of a lot jealous about it. Oh to have had to wear. I did wear a skirt, which is kind of the equivalent of wearing a ball dress for me.

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  31. Ahhh boo I just uploaded a comment and then lost my interent connection .. umm it went something along the lines of this:

    Wow your baking looks faboulous - well done you :D And you have made me want to eat chipsticks - haven't had them in years .. nom nom ...

    Glad you enjoyed the day - I did too .. have just posted on my blog about it!

    Ps, Loving the hat!

    Sal xXx

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  32. I slipped into a dress put flowers in my hair and sipped tea unjtil the whole thing was over, then my OH and I went for a walk on the beach. Perfect.
    Love your hat and your QoFE mug!

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  33. Hi Alex, just catching up with your blog, it's been ages! Lovely to see you in the apron! But really I wanted to say hooray for your chipsticks. No one seems to know about them any more and I spend ages trying explain my fave crisps to people "they're about the size of matchsticks..."

    xx

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