High Tea in Hawaii

On Dec. 17 I was still in Hawaii, sigh... My husband was a good sport and we walked along Waikiki beach past the Pink Palace (Royal Hawaiian) to its sister resort the Moana Surfrider. Built in 1901 it's the oldest hotel on the beach. It has a white facade with lots of columns. We sat on the veranda overlooking the ocean. While it was a bit odd drinking hot tea in 75 degree weather, it was a beautiful day and a wonderful high tea. I wish I was there now.

The only proof that Jeff was with me is his hand in this picture, ha!

The Menu
Course 1: creamy mushroom soup
Course 2: three tea sandwiches for the vegetarian: cucumber with watercress; tofu/avocado; cream cheese on a baguette with tomato, cucumber and diced kalamata olives. Jeff's sandwiches included: roast beef; salmon/egg salad and cucumber.
Course 3: raisin scones with lemon curd and Devonshire cream
Course 4: dessert: puff pastry with cream; tangerine and chocolate cake, fruit tart and chocolate shortbread cookies
Course 5: green tea sorbet

Mad Hatter Holiday

Kim and I started the morning of Dec. 10 early rolling 250 truffles. This usually takes us the entire day, but amazingly we finished in time to have lunch at the Mad Hatter with Emma. Maybe not opening the bottle of Proseco expedited the process?

The Mad Hatter is our favorite tea room. With the owner's daughter passing away from cancer, the tea shop was in jeopardy. Thankfully, the original owner bought it back, which was great news! She makes a mean cucumber sandwich - what's the secret? Creme fraiche? However, we learned that her Earl Gray Cream tea purveyor went out of business. Since this is our official tea partay tea, we cleaned her out of what she had on the shelf. I hope she finds a very similar tea to replace it because it is so delicate, yet hearty with the bergamot flower - it will be hard to find a truly comparable tea.

This is becoming an annual tradition. Last year, we went to the Como Conservatory. It was nice to exchange gifts and consume the first freshly made chocolate truffles.

Notice in the picture Kimmy's super cute dress! She also had four inch heels on (as usual).