Today my whanau, Su of Zimmerbitch is hosting a virtual tea party, and since this is the first time in about two years that I have been able to see the top of my dining table, I thought I would join in.  If you would like to join in too, please check out Su’s original post.

Today, I am keeping it relatively simple and have made a chocolate thingy.  I melted some chocolate and butter together and mixed these with some chopped rice cakes, dried fruit, nuts and shredded coconut, then let it harden in the fridge.  Simple and tasty if you are suffering from pandemic hunger pangs.  However, it is very rich, so to clear the palate, I am also serving freshly brewed coffee, ginger nuts (biscuits) and Anzac biscuits.

For the trivia buffs out there, you may be interested to learn that the recipe for the iconic Arnott’s ginger nut dates back to 1906*.  However, there is not just a one-size-fits-all-Aussies ginger nut but four varieties to cater for different regional preferences in Australia.  Now why does that not surprise me?  We are so entrenched in our individualism.  Really, I’m a Canberran first and an Australian second.  😉  Just joking but you get the idea of how we cling to our regional identities and tastes.  Sound familiar?  This is not a purely Australian problem.

I have fond memories of the northern ginger nut which is dark in colour and tastes like treacle, but is light in texture, easily snapping.  However, I prefer the hard-as-rock ginger nuts that are sold in my home state.  You can break a tooth if you bite into one of these.  They hold together well and are perfect for dunking.   You can dunk them several times before they start to soften up.  So no need to fish around in your coffee for stray bits.  You can also throw them into an esky (known as an ice-cooler in other parts of the world) and put a slab of beer on top of them and they will still hold their shape.  As a child, I used to suck on them, ginger nuts not the beer, for ages.  Love ’em.  Like the pandemic, they’re built to last.

For the flower buffs, the dahlia in the vase is a variety called Araluen Fire, not to be confused with the fires that ripped through the small town of Araluen in late 2019.

Also, because you can never have enough Anzac biscuits, and as Su has included some in her post, I thought I would also serve some Anzac biscuits made by my son.  Don’t worry, folks, he practised good hand hygiene.

Anzac biscuits

Please join me, Su and her other guests for arvie tea.

Kind Regards.
Tracy

Further Info:

* https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-20/arnotts-ginger-nut-biscuits-differ-across-australia/8533136

53 thoughts on “Cuppa?”

  1. I’m drooling, Tracy, drooling for chocolate and ginger nuts (I think these are what we call snaps) and especially for some company other than my computer. Well, I do have Hubby and he’s pretty good company. And the neighbors in our cul de sac, four homes, gather most days on the common tarmac and chat with each other at 6 foot spans. Still, your tea sounds delish and I’m savoring that chocolate jumble, at least in my head.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Sharon. Glad you could come. We didn’t have any flour so I just used what I had on hand for the chockie thingy. So quick and simple to make. My kind of cooking, lol. What a terrific idea to gather with your neighbours. Do you all bring your own cuppa and a biscuit/cookie to have a street tea party?

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  3. Love that dahlia Tracy, such vibrant colours and as for the chocolate thingy I used to make those for kids birthday parties back in the 1960’s, with the help of kids of course… ☕️🧀

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  5. Moin Tracy,
    I’ll take a cup of coffee and some Anzac biscuits and ginger nuts from you (Yummy…)

    ;O)

    Your chocolate thingy also look really tasty!

    A nice idea to drink virtual coffee!

    Have a nice day!
    xxx Britta

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  6. Your tea table looks so lovely Tracy.
    I do like the look of your chocolate slice; like chocolate crackles for grown-ups? I’m a “hard-as-rock” ginger nut lover; I didn’t know that there were state variations in the recipe. The ones we buy here are hard and perfect for dunking, and that’s what I tend to bake too.
    Thank you for coming to tea and sharing all these delicious treats.

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    1. Thank you, Su. Just goes to show that I should clean up more often. This was fun. Thank you for inviting me.
      Ginger must be the flavour of the month! I hope you get some flour soon. We got some a couple of weeks ago, so we’ve been eating far too many cakes. 🙂

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      1. Genius!! I mentioned to Brian last time I might make chocolate crackles but my recipe for the grown up ones uses puffed millet which I couldn’t get. I never thought to use rice cakes! Forehead slap 😐

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  7. It took a second read through for me to clarify ginger nuts weren’t actually a natural variety of nut! (The first time I missed the paragraph about Arnott’s and was literally picturing dipping a raw nut in tea!) I like ginger flavored things so I think I’d like ginger nuts. 🙂

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    1. Heehee. I’m sure you would like ginger nuts. They are just right when you need something small to eat with your coffee. Plus, because they are so hard, you can eat them when doing art and craft because they won’t crumble and make a mess on your papers. 🙂

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  10. This looks wonderful, Tracy. Ginger and chocolate–how divinely decadent! And the flower on the table–and lemons. Oh, so very pretty–I need to take it all in first, before I sit down to visit.

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  11. I have to be in the mood for ginger nuts. I’m a digestives girl- either with cheese, or for dunking… speedily 🙂 🙂 Are Anzacs crunchy too? I feel like I’ve never lived, not to have had an Anzac biscuit 😦

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    1. Thanks for dropping by, Jo. Anzacs can be crunchy or chewy depending on how they’re cooked for. They’re quite sweet so we don’t have them too often. I have a lot of “Women’s Weekly” Cookbooks, including a basics cookbook, which is one my son consults regularly, so he probably probably got the recipe from there. Anzac biscuits do have a long history though so they never go out of fashion.

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  15. Yum yum, Tracy!! I’ll have some from each please, and a big cup of your excellent coffee! And kudos to your for clearing your dining table – I try this every couple of months but as soon as I turn my back it looks just as before! 😂 Last time was for Christmas. 😉 So funny to hear about the regional differences when it comes to cookies, makes me wonder if we have the same here, so I can’t think of any, at least not when it comes to cookies. There are a lot of differences of course when cooking, in the north of Germany they like to add prunes and other sweet fruits when they cook meat! Something I’ve never heard of from Berlin cuisine. Not having to search for fallen off bits of ginger nuts in your coffee sounds perfect – I’ll take one of those rocky hard ones. 😉

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    1. I totally expect regional differences when it comes to home cooking, Sarah, but when it is mass-produced like the Arnott’s gingernut, it comes as quite a surprise. I’ve saved a bit of everything for you.
      Your photos are so clear of background busy-ness, Sarah. I can’t believe that you were engage in artful subterfuge to present such clear photos devoid of background mess! 🙂

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      1. Hehe! I’ll let you into a little secret: I used the top of my washing machine for the presentation and photo shoot! 😉 The kitchen table remains a mess and is currently blocked from view by clay, my sewing machine, basil seeds growing… well, you get the drift. 😉

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      1. It’s all about stretching and using up what we have in the pantry, fridge & freezer these days, so I hear you!

        I made a fruit crumble yesterday basically to use up all the old fruit I had lying around (read: no one wanted to eat them) 🙂

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  17. Finally getting around to all the other tea offerings (may I have tea rather than coffee) and yours look and sound delicious. Being American, I’m a bit lost with some of them and what on earth is a “slab of beer?” Our beer is liquid, so I can’t imagine what a slab would be. 🙂

    I’m offering tea and chocolate croissants (pain au chocolat), so feel free to bring your coffee if you’d like. 🙂

    janet

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    1. Hello Janet. Thanks for dropping by and making me laugh. Wikipedia tells me that “a carton of nine litres of beer in stubbies (i.e. 24 bottles) or cans became known as a “slab” because compared to the more cube-like shape of the traditional cartons, they were flatter, and hence, like slabs.” Hope that helps with the Aussie vernacular. 🙂
      I’m sure I’ve got tea in the pantry, but maybe only teabags as I mostly drink coffee. Also, I think I’ve run out of milk! I know this is shameful given that you work(ed) in a tea shop! See I’ve checked your blog. I actually do love tea but it makes me a little ill if I drink too much on an empty stomach, but since you have chocolate croissants, I’m sure that won’t be a problem, lol.
      Regards.
      Tracy.

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      1. Thanks for getting me up to speed with the slab of beer. 🙂 That really had me wondering.

        Feel free to drink coffee and I don’t use milk in my tea at all, so it wouldn’t be a problem. Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment. G’day. 🙂

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