Before the word foodie ever entered the lexicon, Sara Jane Parker was ahead of the curve, crafting dishes like avocado toast and putting curry into seafood salad. The Petite Palate Collection: Memoir and Recipes from the Kitchen of S. Jane Parker preserves these favorite recipes that were created and served in her tea shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which she and her husband ran in the 1990s.The beloved tea shop didn’t just lure people satisfying a sweet tooth with its famous cookies or bringing home comforting chicken salad from the deli case, packed with made-from-scratch dishes. The Petite Palate was a community gathering place that opened the world of gourmet cuisine to locals eager to indulge in afternoon tea (formal or informal) and sample unconventional items like spinach pâté, which demonstrate Parker’s passion for pioneering recipes. The Petite Palate Collection is also a charming memoir that takes the reader behind the scenes, with anecdotes detailing Parker’s life and the everyday goings on in the busy tea shop. What shines through, perhaps brightest of all, is Parker’s distinctive philosophy and passion for the recipes she has spent a life time honing.
