Pasadena Me Some Tea

While I was a bit tired from delivering a presentation, I wanted to take advantage of the little down time I had so I searched for "tea" near my hotel in Glendale, CA. I braved the freeway and discovered Old Town Pasadena, which was a major change of pace from LA and Hollywood.

I discovered three tea shops within a few blocks of one another. My first stop was the Tea Rose Garden. This tea room was also a flower shop. It was quaint and a little old ladyish, but cute. They had nine different kinds of scones, I tried the lemon raspberry. The table next time ordered a beautiful sandwich tray.

I ordered an Arnie Palmer and it came with fresh flowers - cute!

I wish I would have discovered The Scarlet Tea Room first as it was very posh and voted best afternoon tea in LA. The decor was simple, yet elegant and Fancy French. Alas, I had no appetite for treats.

The Scarlet Tea Room was like stepping into Paris.

 

Lastly, I found The Chado Tea Room. This tea room was by far the busiest with a guitar player and more than 300 teas from which to choose. The customer in front of me had been to a wine tasting where they served their wine teas - they had merlot, etc. it was really interesting. I bought some White Champagne Raspberry, Lavender Early Gray and a mystery tea to be revealed later :)

I had to buy tea in one of their interesting tins.

Sand & Sea Tea

Today Emma hosted a summer Sand & Sea tea in her garden. The centerpiece was a glass globe fishbowl with white sand, seashells and a sea blue betta swimming around. She decorated with lots of seashells and even had candles shaped like seashells. The music made us all feel like we were on a Hawaiian beach listening to the ocean.

And the food...we began with the bread.

Tier 1: Eggplant and hummus chipotle spread with yellow tomatoes from Em's garden served on pita

Tier 2: Cucumber sandwich with mascarpone

Tier 3: Apple cinnamon raisin walnut bread with a creamy fruit dip

We sipped a tropical Arnie Palmer: mango black tea with limeade and Earl Gray tea of course. Emma also had a special tea straight from Hawaii - Pineapple Kona Pop!

Kim & Em

Fruit included blueberries, kiwi,
golden raspberries and organic strawberries.

Tiff, Jackie, Kim, Kendall & Emma (I'm the photographer)

The main course included:

Coconut curry chicken (and mushrooms for me) on cous cous

Spicy chickpeas

 Emma's serving pieces included heirloom blue glass teacups and mother of pearl silverware that has been in the Spahl family for years.

Dessert: Mango lassi with vanilla bean ice cream

We were also served the best tea latte that included black tea & sweetened condensed milk.

And a parting surprise: We each had to dig in the sand to reveal a seashell necklace. The necklaces were purchased at an estate sale from LaVyrle Spencer, the American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. I love presents, but especially those with a story and a famous person! Fun!