I set the tea table up on the veranda where it would have nice views out over our garden ...Last week we had some clients from Japan come out to the farm. They are bean buyers, and after a tour of the farm they came back up to the farmhouse for afternoon tea. I was going to serve the tea on a table out under the fig tree, but the grass/lawn in that area is still dry and brown after our cold Winter season, so I opted to serve it on the veranda instead.
I thought I’d take a photo of the view they had from the tea table, for you to see. I served them Tanzanian tea and freshly brewed coffee accompanied by something sweet (Gingerbread) and something savoury (Cheese Puffs) – look out for the recipes for both of these on the blog soon !
They really enjoyed it, commented on the beautiful views out over the garden and beyond and remarked how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful spot !
When we have visitors I usually put Zonde and Dibble in a back area of the garden as they can get quite boisterous (jumping up on couches, licking people etc) This is the only time in their lives that they are ever ‘locked away’ from us, & they simply hate it ! They whine, bark and howl (Dibble) and try to jump up through the burglar bars across the windows at the back of the house (Dibble again) one of which is a window to the guest bathroom (so I always have to remind people when I show them to the toilet – “Just ignore the dogs howling through the bathroom window & sticking their heads through the burglar bars !”)
The amusing incident of the afternoon was when everyone was sitting drinking their tea & coffee (I moved the food onto a low coffee table where they were now all sitting, so that they could easily help themselves) and my daughter came along onto the veranda with 2 village strays in tow (Josie and Mbwenya), walked up to the coffee table, helped herself to a couple of slices of the Gingerbread and promptly fed them to the dogs ! (The guests all politely smiled and acted as if nothing had happened !)
Of course all the dogs usually get a little treat when we are eating out on the veranda, and how was a 3 ½ year child old to know that these were, infact, business clients and feeding their refreshments to stray dogs was not really the ‘done’ thing ?! I thought it was all quite funny and my husband asked her nicely to please take the dogs back into the garden, and off they trailed behind her, hoping for another slice of the Gingerbread !
When our guests left, they presented me with a beautiful piece of 100% silk cloth as a thank you, which was very kind of them. (Obviously the dogs weren’t as badly behaved as I’d thought !)
I thought I’d take a photo of the view they had from the tea table, for you to see. I served them Tanzanian tea and freshly brewed coffee accompanied by something sweet (Gingerbread) and something savoury (Cheese Puffs) – look out for the recipes for both of these on the blog soon !
They really enjoyed it, commented on the beautiful views out over the garden and beyond and remarked how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful spot !
When we have visitors I usually put Zonde and Dibble in a back area of the garden as they can get quite boisterous (jumping up on couches, licking people etc) This is the only time in their lives that they are ever ‘locked away’ from us, & they simply hate it ! They whine, bark and howl (Dibble) and try to jump up through the burglar bars across the windows at the back of the house (Dibble again) one of which is a window to the guest bathroom (so I always have to remind people when I show them to the toilet – “Just ignore the dogs howling through the bathroom window & sticking their heads through the burglar bars !”)
The amusing incident of the afternoon was when everyone was sitting drinking their tea & coffee (I moved the food onto a low coffee table where they were now all sitting, so that they could easily help themselves) and my daughter came along onto the veranda with 2 village strays in tow (Josie and Mbwenya), walked up to the coffee table, helped herself to a couple of slices of the Gingerbread and promptly fed them to the dogs ! (The guests all politely smiled and acted as if nothing had happened !)
Of course all the dogs usually get a little treat when we are eating out on the veranda, and how was a 3 ½ year child old to know that these were, infact, business clients and feeding their refreshments to stray dogs was not really the ‘done’ thing ?! I thought it was all quite funny and my husband asked her nicely to please take the dogs back into the garden, and off they trailed behind her, hoping for another slice of the Gingerbread !
When our guests left, they presented me with a beautiful piece of 100% silk cloth as a thank you, which was very kind of them. (Obviously the dogs weren’t as badly behaved as I’d thought !)
