High Tea: An Afternoon of Delight

My friend Kathleen loves absolutely everything about tea and tea parties. I've mentioned her growing scone business, Flour, Sugar Salt and am lucky to be on the advisory board of women she relies on for feedback when she is testing new recipes. 

Kathleen loves hosting tea parties for her friends and she goes to great lengths to offer a full English high tea. Last week, she invited five of us to an afternoon of tea and conversation.  We ate ourselves silly and relished the chance to really talk. 

There is storytelling that invariably happens when someone hands you a cup of tea. The topic turns to grandmothers, tradition, memories. I think that is how you really learn about someone; Listen to them talk about their grandmother. Kathleen's maternal grandmother was Scottish and her ritual of tea and treats made an indelible impression on Kathleen. 

Our first course was Kathleen's homemade tea sandwiches: Tarragon chicken salad in a lettuce wrap, Dilled cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches, Curried egg salad in phyllo cups and Sun dried tomato lavosh. Yum and yum. I was feeling a little rattled that day (I had only 6 days in Michigan between my trips to Palm Beach Gardens and Seattle), so I was happy to drink cups of hot Citrus Chamomile tea and let my blood pressure come back into range.

Our second course was Kathleen's famous Lemon Cherry and Cranberry scones served with homemade lemon curd and whipped cream. Her scones are perfect: tender, flavorful and just the right size for tea. Don't tell anyone, but I ate three.

Could we find room for dessert? Oh, we managed. That is the beauty of high tea - no rushing allowed. And with time comes room for more sweets. The dessert tray was loaded with chocolate-dipped brownies, almond madeleines, biscotti and lavender shortbread. 

It was a perfect afternoon. We all had a chance to catch each other up on our lives and let our conversation wander into hobbies and trends. I have a feeling that Kathleen may branch out into hosting tea parties professionally. She certainly has the passion and skill set to wow any tea lover. Everything Kathleen serves is always spot on.

Have you been to a tea party lately? Or visited a new tea room? I am drawn to them, of course and what I love most is the time commitment it requires. You are not meeting for a cup of coffee, when you go out for tea. A longer time frame is understood and that is a beautiful thing.

Royal Park Hotel: Tea For Two

This year my friend, Kathleen announced that we should celebrate my birthday by going out for High Tea.  What a fun idea! As you know, I love all things tea and it is Kathleen with whom I occasionally throw a tea party.  Remember this pretty table we set?  And this one?  

It has been so fun to have a kindred spirit to share my love of tea and tea time treats with. Kathleen bakes incredible scones that she serves with homemade whipped cream.  Kathleen has been to Scotland and drank restorative cups of tea with her relatives after touring the countryside.  Kathleen knows what I mean when I talk about different kinds of flour or how to judge which baking sheet to use or the process of making lemon curd. She gets the nuances of baking and entertaining that I think are so much fun.

I mention all of this because I don't believe that there are two people in Michigan more qualified to take tea and appreciate it.  Kathleen and I absolutely loved the "Royalty Tea" at The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan.  The table was set beautifully with fine linens, pretty rose-covered china pattern, a 3-tier serving tray loaded with handmade specialties and flutes of champagne!

Our first task was to consider the tea selection each tea and choose two for the table.  We uncorked each glass vial and had fun saying what we could detect - teas that were "very floral", "coconut-y", "had chocolate notes", "faint apricot." Kathleen chose a caffeinated tea with coconut essence and I went with my standby, English Breakfast - to me, it's the perfect tea.

Kathleen and I decided to eat our way through the selections together, so that we could make comments. These scones were delicious! We dabbed them with clotted cream and lemon and they were the perfect.  Look at the crunchy sugar on top - love it!

You won't believe the menu for the "Royalty Tea".  Two hot hors d'oeuvres, scones, tea sandwiches, desserts and shortbread.  Yes the presentation was gorgeous, but everything tasted even better than it looked! When do you say that?

Our table on the window let us have our tea party in the comfort of air conditioning, but with the bright light of a table on the patio.  In contrast to the dark and cozy formal teas that I've been to elsewhere, this high tea was light and happy. 

Our waitress was kind and made us feel welcome to stay and enjoy as long as we wanted.  I think that is one genius aspect to how tea is served at The Royal Park. Tea reservations are made between 2-4 pm; you won't be hurried through the experience because there isn't another party waiting to be seated after you. Kathleen and I were there over 2 hours and it was perfect.  We talked and ate and laughed and ate and drank tea.  Repeat.

You can see what a lovely experience this was.  I was relaxed and happy. Kathleen was too and I could tell that she was enjoying my birthday as much as I was!

Then this was brought out to me!  Can you stand it?  I truly am spoiled.  It was a personal hot fudge sundae with "Happy Birthday" spelled out in dark chocolate.  Love love love!  Kathleen had waved her magic wand and had the hotel make my day even more special.  What a friend!

The next time you are looking for the perfect place to go for a girl's lunch, look no further than The Royal Park hotel.  They put everything they have into giving you a delightful experience. And thank you, Kathleen, you are a genius.

Fancy Orange Toasts

I've perfected another new recipe for tea time!  Fancy orange toasts.  I was introduced to a similar item at a bakery, but found their version is more like biscotti, crisp and dry.  I wanted to experiment with a buttery orange toast that was chewy, like a cookie just out of the oven.

Fancy Orange Toasts

1 loaf of Pepperidge Farm Very Thin white bread
2 sticks of salted butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
Zest of one fresh orange
Juice of one fresh orange (I used a navel orange)
a splash of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Mix butter, sugar, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla together into a paste.  Trim the crusts from a slice of bread.  Cut the crustless piece of bread into 3 bars.  Spread a not-so-thin layer of orange butter on each bar of bread, covering the top of the bread completely.  Repeat slice after slice until the orange butter runs out.  (I believe that preparing each slice individually, instead of cutting the crusts off the entire loaf at once, helps maintain the bread freshness and results in a chewy but firm toast.)  I filled two cookie sheets with orange toasts.  Bake at 250 degrees for 35 minutes.  Cool and store in air tight container.  Serve with tea or coffee.  

Delightful Work Event

Look at how pretty my "work events" are!  I am so very lucky to have met my new friend, Julia.  She was introduced to my blog and books through a friend of hers that is a Presbyterian minister.  Julia liked what I was doing to bring the world delight and wrote to me to see if I would like to speak a tea party.

What fun! She arranged the whole thing and invited a variety of friends to spend a "delightful" afternoon having tea and hearing my thoughts on finding delight in everyday moments.  We enjoyed this table full of beautiful tea party fare and relished a little "girl time" in the midst of a hectic Spring.

Beautiful Tea Leaves

It is just as beautiful as I imagined.  When you sprinkle a few edible gold hearts into loose tea, it can makes your tea service extra special.

Somewhere in my life, I admired a photo of loose tea that was enhanced with edible silver dragees.  The shiny edible decorations added just a touch of formality to dry tea leaves.  I loved it, but I knew that I would like these paper thin gold hearts (or stars) even more.  I have been waiting for the right day to try it and today's the day! 

The edible gold hearts are sold in the candy decorating section of the craft store (or online above) and are traditionally used to decorate cakes.  I love them mixed into the tea (there is no taste or effect) and since one container holds hundreds of hearts, I'll be enhancing my tea for a long time to come.

This is delight!

Tea Party Fare

Then suddenly it was time for tea!  Kathleen brought her famous scones, studded with berries and accompanied by luscious homemade vanilla whipped cream.  She also spooned egg salad into mini phyllo cups and sprinkled them with chopped bacon.  Ummm hmmm.  It was divine.  In the distance you can see her mini bread squares that are spread with dilled cream cheese and topped with flower-shaped cucumber slices.  I made us a chicken and asparagus quiche

and this plate of individual strawberry pavlovas. I tried this meringue-shell dessert from a recipe I found in the January/February issue of Tea Time magazine.  Aren't they pretty?

It was a picture-perfect "Tea for Two."  We decided that we loved baking and preparing the food as much as we did eating it.  We are peas in a pod when it comes to tea party fare, so why not enjoy it together.  We made our own moment of delight.

Linens and Dishes Make the Meal, a Moment

It already seemed like a party and all I had done was pull pieces from the china cabinet.  My friend was coming for tea and conversation.  We both love traditional tea fare - scones, tea sandwiches, sugar cubes and every once in a while we throw ourselves a little party. 

For me, a big part of entertaining is using beautiful dishes and linens that can make a meal, a moment.  My deep periwinkle linen tablecloth, designed by Moutet, was woven in France and is covered with a variety of leaves and botanical names. The cloth is a botany lesson in itself.  It was a lucky find at T.J. Maxx at least 5 years ago. As a result, I never miss the chance to go down the linen aisle in T.J. Maxx, just in case!

The dishes are a variety of pieces from The Blue Room collection by Spode.  Sometimes I display the dishes as art (see it in my house) but on this day, they were ours to enjoy as intended, filled with beautiful sweets and treats.  

I filled a low open vase with lavender roses from the grocery store and used some of my "Blue Willow" paper napkins (love them!) to make the tablescape complete.  I found "Blue Italian" cloth napkins online that match these dishes - they are going on my wish list!

I wanted to showcase the table "before" the meal, so you could see the foundation for a very special day.  Tomorrow, I'll show you our tea party.

Paper Pastries

The Japanese shop girl had no faith in me at all.  That makes my paper pastry triumph all the more sweet.  

You know by now that I love things made of paper.  I have constructed paper houses.  I made a paper clock for my office.  To me, paper is as wonderful as fabric. It holds the same limitless possibility for color and texture, just in a difference medium.  

I have a few Japanese paper scenes that I love.  So when I was scouting for treasures at the Japanese department store, Shirokiya, in Honolulu last year, I had high hopes of finding something neat made of paper.  And I did!  

My heart stopped when I saw a packet of essentially origami pastries. Can you stand it?  I had to have them.  The packet contained a stack of printed papers and instructions in Japanese. 

There were 3 sets ($5 each) - two of the themes were dessert and one was sushi.  I was really happy as a swooshed up to the register.  When I asked the sales girl what she knew about these projects she was was very discouraging.  She said they were hard and that I would be okay if I already practiced origami or if knew how to read Japanese- blah, blah, blah. 

Well I won't say that it was easy or that I avoided tape in the final steps, but the paper pastries I have made are above and I couldn't be happier.  A cup of green tea, anyone? 

Sasaki Tea Set

Does eBay get you too?  I thought I was strong, but when I came across a set of cup and saucers to match my long-lonely Sasaki Teapot, I caved.

I was telling someone about how I have loved this teapot for years, by saying that "I have been me for a long time."  What I meant was that when all the other girls were asking for curling irons and clothes, I had to have this teapot. I was 19 or 20 years old at the time and the last thing I needed was a pale pink teapot, but oh how I loved it.
My parents did get it for me that year (my birthday?) and I have displayed it on a book shelf or in an open cabinet in my house ever since.  But actually using it for tea instead of art was never an option because the pattern was discontinued and I didn't have any cups!
I love the website "Replacements," but it never occurred to me to look for more pieces (I looked just now and they have some!).  Then I stumbled upon this set of 2 matching cups and saucers on eBay and I pounced. 

Sometimes you have to turn any old Thursday into your 19th birthday again, don't you think?   

Cookie Spoons

I have a new friend who loves tea, tea sandwiches and tea parties and we've been getting to know each other over tea-for-two.  We each make some favorite recipes and while away the afternoon talking and eating sandwiches, scones and sweets.

I have really enjoyed our time together and love the fact that it gives me an occasion to try out some new things.  For example, I have had a really neat "cookie spoon mold" for over a year now and I've never used it!  It is a white bake-able plastic that you fill with cookie dough and bake.  Each tray makes 4 spoons at a time.  Aren't they cute?!  I used the shortbread-like recipe that came with the mold to ensure that the spoons were sturdy enough to place on a saucer and not break.  Perfection!  And they are delicious too.

Want to make your own cookie spoons?  My suggestion is to buy two molds, so that you can have 8 cookie spoons baking in the oven at once.  And at around $2 a mold, a set can fit in most budgets.  Have fun!      

Tea Party

It all began when we started talking about our mutual love of England.  Which led us to agree about the importance of afternoon tea.  She mentioned "Lyle's" syrup; I said, "What's that?" and it was all over.  We were going to have afternoon tea - she'd bring the homemade scones and I'd make my lemon curd.  What fun!

My new friend, Kathleen and I have bonded over tea.  Shouldn't more friendships start this way?  I have found a kindred spirit.

And knowing she was coming over had me polishing my silver teapot-shaped trivet, pulling out my teapot-topped teaspoons and choosing my color scheme for the table.  It was fun and it had been too long since I had focused on tea.

We drank Yorkshire Tea, devoured the two kinds of scones that Kathleen made with her grandmother's recipes - one sturdy scone slathered with butter and Lyle's golden syrup (a sticky sweet brickle-like syrup) and another fruit-studded scone paired with homemade sweet whipped cream and we talked.  And talked.

If you like this kind of thing and know if someone who is also a tea lover, maybe it's time to invite them over for tea.  It just might be the start of a beautiful friendship.