On Thursday 29th September the Fifth Floor hosted “Afternoon Tea @ Three” extending an invite to our friends (aka fierce rivals) on the Fourth Floor.
As it turned out we’re a secretly competitive bunch here on the 5th Floor and in true creative spirit we set out to be afternoon tea entrepreneurs by opting to make as much as we possibly could ourselves, rather than unwrapping some ready-made stuff from ASDA down the road.
After a quick skills recce, we allocated roles: bakers, sandwich makers, booze buyers and a resident bossy boots.
Despite a house move at the weekend John at 632Design – whose bag designs are to die for – said he’d join the ranks of bakers to whip up a Guinness and Chocolate cake.
This instantly set the barometer pretty high.
Beth at BOBO1325 – who has recently been in the glossy magazines for her intrepid wallpaper designs – promised bacon and blue cheese scones –that’s right bacon and blue cheese – along with a vegetarian option of sundried tomatoes and basil. Martyn at Candoo Creative joined the ranks of baker with his lemon drizzle cake and role as artistic director of sandwich platters. Photos of baking disasters circulated on the internet as the sandwich maker got merry on red wine with her feet up and publicly laughed at the one burnt disaster (no names mentioned).
Grizzly Bear bought the essential booze stock and International Arts Manager’s Maria tried her best not to micro-manage with her demands for allotment grown melons from Comma Press editor, Jim, and a soundtrack by Martyn, who joined Maria to create this slick sandwich menu:
Smoked salmon and cream cheese with cracked black pepper and fresh dill
Locally sourced egg mayonnaise with watercress, garden-grown chives and smoked paprika
Turkey and stuffing
Ham, tomato and mustard mayo
Beef and tomato
Tuna mayonnaise
Cheese with a greek yoghurt and garden-grown chives dressing
All served on a rustic wooden Harrods platter accompanied by some vintage plates, plastic champagne flutes, and a massive green origami swan.
Carving knife in hand, we were set to go.
Of course, being a bunch of business folk and creatives we had a secondary agenda: we’d been invited down to lunch on the Fourth Floor over summer and impressed by the delicacies on offer we intended to wipe the floor with them.
We’re happy to say we succeeded. John’s cake was divine. Beth’s scones were from another world. Martyn’s lemon drizzle cake was a naughty sweet treat with the tea. Alex at Grizzly Bear was the perfect barman, using his special powers to stretch two bottles of bubbles around 20 people (who said artists drink too much?). We were slumped on the sofas in a cakey-coma by five.
The Fourth Floor readily accepted defeat – and offered to upstage us at Christmas.
We’ll see.
