High tea
Ladybug had wondered (in the comments of my Friday posts) where HB was taking me over the weekend to celebrate the completion of my written thesis.
Well, I came up with the idea that we could go have high tea! I had read about a local tea house that served high tea on Saturdays. Now, to give you some perspective, for several years now, HB and I have talked about going to a high tea. Usually our discussions are prompted by some article in the newspaper listing off places that serve tea and a mention of how one of them serves high tea. Usually, the places serving high tea are fancy-shmancy hotel-like spots that required more planning than either of us ever seemed to be able to muster. I guess we got spoiled when we lived in Ohio and could go to Special Teas for, well, special tea at the drop of a hat.
On Friday, I looked up and called the local tearoom and Lo and Behold! they still had room for 2 for high tea on Saturday. Yay!
The tearoom is a farmhouse that has been restored/decorated as a tea place. The structure of it reminded me a lot of my grandparents’ place in Indiana. Our table was by an nice bay window and I could look through the wavery old glass and see a couple of very large trees.
The place settings were pretty, and made me all excited to be there.
I’ve never actually been to a place before that had so many utensils. My fancy dinner experience is somewhat limited.
We drank Lemon Soltice tea, a blend of black tea that had lemon, vanilla, licorice, and some berries in it.
I was a bit wary of it, because in the past, I haven’t enjoyed tea that is lemon, or vanilla, and I avoid licorice like the plague. I thought it was a bit odd that we didn’t get to choose the tea that we were going to drink, but I had a feeling going into it that was going to be the case from reviews I’d read online. However, the tea grew on me. After a cup of it, I found it quite pleasant. I couldn’t taste or smell the licorice, so all was well. And the lemon was offset by the vanilla and vice versa, and that made the tea fine. The tea also went well with the food.
First, we enjoyed a warm fruit compote. Very tiny chunks of apples with raisins (golden) and craisins topped with cinnamon and with the flavors kind of blending together.
Second was the scone. Oatmeal, maple, walnut with Devonshire Cream.
The scone was good, but the cream was to die for. YUM. For me, this was the highlight of the whole tea experience. Afterward, I decided that I’d be happy just going back for tea and scones sometime. If I could choose the tea flavor.
Third were the tea sandwiches.
Including pork tenderloin in pastry, curried chicken with gruyere cheese, and salmon in a phyllo crust. I liked the curried chicken one the best.
Fourth was the spinach and pine nut quiche. I decided to pass on the quiche. The eggs were too runny/custardy for my taste and I just couldn’t get past the smell of the melted butter of the crust. I have a really strong aversion to the smell of melted butter or melted cheese, even now, I can almost smell it and feel slightly nauseated by it. bleck.
Fifth was a Grand Marnier sponge cake. It was a fruity cream filled roll cake. The cream was cool and had pieces of orange and/or pineapple in it that made this cake a cool and light ending to a large meal.
All in all, it was a lot of really good food and nice tea in a lovely setting. I’m glad that I finally got to experience a ‘high tea’, although I think I now know that I’m just as happy having nice tea with a single dessert or scones and don’t really need all of the extra food. I did buy a couple of new tea blends too, and HB and I tried one of them over breakfast on Sunday. It was quite good. I’m looking forward to trying the other one today with lunch.
It was a special way to celebrate this stage in my graduate work.
Tea anyone?
Amber says:
That scone is taunting me, Danielle. It looks very tasty. I think I may just go make some later. Devonshire Cream. Oh tasty.
No wonder I want to be a pastry chef.
I can eat my homework.
Danielle says:
The dog ate my homework! No really! He did, I swear!
My husband ate my homework! No really! He did, I swear!
And
My son ate my homework! No really! He did!
and uh,
I ate my homework too. *burp*
Mother Hen says:
Maybe that’s Long Island Iced Tea
kalki says:
The man will do high tea but not ballroom dancing? This is sorta ironic because when we were in London, Rob refused the high tea thing. If we could combine our husbands, perhaps we would have the ideal (albeit a bit girly) man.
Congrats on finishing the thesis!
Danielle says:
Mom, I hope you got your drink and a break in that massage chair. Otherwise, you’ll just have to fix yourself up tonight.
Kalki, isn’t it nuts? While we are creating the ideal (albeit girly) husband, can we also throw in a desire to watch chick flicks?
And thanks for the congratulatory wishes.
jenski says:
I’ve been to high tea once and it’s fun to watch the other people there too (why parents would bring children to it in a fancy hotel is beyond me, but whatever).
I got this great tea pot (Bodum) as a gift with the inner tea strainer for loose tea. When the tea is done brewing, you push the plunger down and it traps the tea in a part of the strainer where there are no holes so the tea doesn’t get bitter and you don’t have to worry about taking it out…Perfect.
Danielle says:
I was given one of those Bodun tea pots as either a wedding shower or wedding gift from one of the two women who introduced me to tea when I worked in a lab. I love that the teapot is clear and you can see the color of the tea (and that it can go in the dishwasher).
It lasted 9+ years before accidentally getting broken. When we went to buy a replacement, we realized the new one was larger than our old one! perfect!
Now that you’ve got the teapot, you’ve got to try my two most favorite loose teas, Jenski: Passionfruit papaya and Blackberry Sage both are from Republic of Tea. My favorite black tea is All Day Breakfast. Man is it good stuff.
Squirl says:
I think that tea they served sounds interesting. I love lemon anything, though. Not sure how it would work with vanilla, but I’d’ ve given it a try. The food sounds pretty darn good, too. You deserved that high tea.
Girl.A says:
Man, am I hungry after reading that! I want the curried chicken, the salmon and the cream. All OVAH me!
I hope after HB took you to HIgh Tea he gave you the high hard, umm, bun. I mean, I hope you had a nice dessert afterward.
And I hope it was phd-elicious, phd-elightful and phd-elirium-inducing. (and ph-d-i-r-t-y.)
[Ok, don't ban me. She just let me outta the box. I know I'm bad.]
Danielle says:
I can’t stop laughing, Girl.A.
She let you out again huh? Oughta live’en things up around the blog world for a while, until you get nailed back in.
nailed. heh he, heh heh
LadyBug says:
I hope you clicked on Girl.A’s link, DANI. She’s such a hoot.
High tea sounds a bit fancy for my taste, but I’m glad you got to do something you’d been wanting to do for so long.
And I, too, hope you and HB had a nice, umm, dessert, afterwards. Hee.
Danielle says:
HA! I’d forgotten about Girl.A. and her infamous linkages. I’m glad you pointed that out to me, L’Bug dear.
I feel so special now, as if the “makin’ copies” guy on SNL just did my name as part of the show.
It is a bit reminiscent of these nicknames my friend and I would call ourselves. We were Daniqua and Shaniqua.
very fun. I think I’ll print that out.
Momo says:
How awesome!
We had a “High Tea” for one of our monthly ladies’s meetings at my church in Pensacola. It was so much fun. We each brought our own teacups (all who had them) and we made tea sandwiches, scones, lemon curd, and clotted or devonshire cream. The church fellowship hall underwent some major transformation…it became a elegant english tea room. Every lady came dressed in her “Sunday best”. I hate that we never took any pictures.
I’m so glad you and HB got to do this together, what a special way to celebrate your achievement!!!
Robyn Haggerty says:
I enjoyed reading about your High Tea experience, I love to go to high tea, I used to do a business going and doing tea parties for little girls, buit with a full time job it got to much, I do miss it. I am going to visit my daughter and 2 grandchildren that live in Ohio in July and I plan on taking my grandaughter to high tea for the first time, I can’t wait. I am surprised that they did not let you pick your own choice of tea that is very very unusual. I love Earl Grey tea, so that is usually my choice. Thanks for sharing your experience, I went just one time and was hooked.
Happy teaing…………………
Robyn a.k.a. Nana Lou