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On Saturday my husband finished our backyard patio of pavers beside the carport where I have my rockers, and it looks awesome! So today, for the first time since March, I was able to invite someone over for tea! I texted my next door neighbor and asked if she would like some socially distanced tea and cake and she said she would take me up on the tea!

I told her to go through the side garden, through the gates, and meet me out back. We have a big glass table and I set our chairs sufficiently far apart and brought out the tea stuff. When she heard it was a French Grandmother’s Lemon Yogurt Cake, she changed her mind about not having cake.

This neighbor has only had tea with me once or twice so I felt a lot of pressure for the tea to perform. I offered milk and sugar but she said that the tea we had before didn’t need any sugar even though she usually adds it, so she just wanted milk.

I had steeped three teaspoons in a stump pot and resteeped, adding both steeps to my big tetsubin to carry outside. The first steep went a little over so I was nervous that it would be bitter, but it wasn’t. It was awesome, and went wonderfully with the cake.

The black tea base was nice and strong to pair with the sweet cake, the orange warmed and softened by vanilla was beautifully sunny and the fresh citrus flavor was nice with the sharper lemon of the cake. (There is lemon zest in the cake and a lemon and sugar glaze brushed on the cake that soaks in.)

I was very happy that she loved both the cake and the tea and drank many cups of tea. She told me that she usually isn’t a big fan of lemon but was intrigued by the yogurt in the cake and that was why she wanted to try it.

Another neighbor came later to borrow a yard tool and rocked in my socially distanced rockers for a while, and was given a bowl of mushroom and rice soup to take home, so all in all, it was a really good day with nearby humans that I have not been able to see much since March! I am somewhat of a homebody and a loner at times, but I am missing warm people and good conversation.