Tea at the Ritz

My first tea ever at the Ritz-Carlton! Thursday is not a busy tea day as I was the only patron having tea. I noticed the teapot did not match the Wedgwood India pattern china. Apparently, when they packed up all of the dishes because of Hurricane Katrina, the lids to the sugar and the teapots were never found.

I enjoyed Harney and Sons Paris tea, which I have at home too, but it's a nice black tea with smooth current and caramel notes. The server was most attentive. He even gave me a cute little Ritz bag with tea sachets, which they do not typically do as he put them in a used loose leaf tea container - very sweet!

My last moments in New Orleans - a relaxing high tea. Notice the three-tier tray even has a silver Ritz signature lion.

Beautiful room for tea, but very eclectic as is chic now I suppose

 

The little crunchy balls on the banana and chocolate desserts were very interesting. The server referred to them as Ritz cocoa puffs, ha ha!

Hot-tea!

Even though I was travelling alone for work, I made a point to both begin and end my journey with high tea in New Orleans.

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.    --Henry James

The first tea was at Le Salon in the Windsor Court Hotel. There were a number of folks having tea. I expected hats in the south and there were none in sight. I also found it intriguing that there were two tables of men with dainty dollies and petite sweets in front of them.

As I'm sitting enjoying my tea (pictures below), the girls at the table behind me are making a bit of a commotion. I turned around and asked them what was going as they pointed to the lobby as Quentin Tarantino and James Marsden (27 dresses!) are waiting for the elevator! Just then one table of men having tea gets up to leave. The girls inform me that it is Rufus Sewell of a Knight's Tale, a director and a screenplay writer.

While we didn't want to accost him while taking tea, we pounced like kittens as he headed for the lobby door - "hot-tea!" He is even from England. As I was posing for the picture below, I asked him "Are you here filming the vampire movie?" He replied with his rather dreamy British accent "Oh yes, I am the king of the vampires!" He wasn't short on confidence, but very nice and very handsome!  He’s filming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – June 2012 ladies!

James Carville and Mary Matalin were in the lobby when we returned from picture taking. I definitely stumbled upon the celebrity hotel. I must say this may have been the most invigorating high tea I've ever experienced!

 

Souvenir menu $8; picture with a handsome & famous Brit = priceless...

Cucumber and egg salad sandwiches. The egg salad had a peach chutney for an interesting twist.

Scones and the best Devonshire cream ever - it was from England and so thick you can tell they used an ice cream scoop.

The tiniest pecan pie tartlet - very popular in New Orleans.

Rufus Sewell a.k.a. hot-tea vampire!

Royal-Tea

Since it seems to occur only once approximately every 30 years I thought it was most appropriate to take the day off to watch the royal wedding. While I enjoyed the pageantry and the fairy tale of a young woman turning into a princess it was, of course, a good excuse to have tea! While my cousin, Rachel, and I did not wear hats today, she did bring, Roan, her handsome little prince.

I was excited to use my royal tea set for the first time. The tea set is white with different silver metallic crowns on each dish. We enjoyed "Buckingham Palace Garden Party Tea," crown cucumber sandwiches, gouda and crackers, roasted red pepper soup, fresh fruit, cherry white chocolate scones with vanilla bean devonshire cream, lemon curd and strawberry preserves and chocolate macadamia nut shortbread cookies.


The table is set for the royal-tea

Roan's first tea party

Springtime in Paris?

While Emma and I celebrated springtime in Paris, it was actually a rather dreary snowy day in Minnesota. The Mad Hatter served a special French menu with nicoise salad, croissants, brie, quiche, scones and crème brûlée tea. It was fun to see others dressed in Coco Chanel inspired attire - pearls, scarfs, and horizontal stripes. Dessert was served a block away at the French Flea. French macaroons in a variety of flavors were served with raspberry champagne.

Emma and I about to enjoy the first course - scones with devonshire cream and lemon curd.

April Tea at the Avalon

Andrea hosted April tea at the Avalon in downtown White Bear Lake. While Kimmy was enjoying the last snow of the season on the slopes we were able to meet Anne, Andrea's friend from college. Knowing that Anne has a tea cup collection she will have to join us again.

The dishes were elegantly spring with multi-color flowers and varied cup shapes. The food was exceptional - all four courses! Quiche; four varieties of tea sandwiches; cream and cherry scones with devonshire, lemon curd and preserves; cake, shortbread cookies and two more desserts - yum! I think this was the first tea party where we all needed to go boxes.

Alice in Winterland Tea

After a postponement ironically due to a winter snowstorm; Alice in Winterland tea was held on a sunny winter day.

Four courses were consumed with all dishes having an Alice in Winterland title, including Cheshire creamy white bean soup and Red Knight royal sandwich Hearts. I emphasized savories over sweets on this menu as I find most tea shops have far too many sweets. The Snowflake Black tea from Lady Elegant's complimented the food wonderfully and the Cupcake prosecco was delicious.

 

Three varieties of sandwiches were served. Kimmy was so helpful and arrived early to help me prep. She did a great job rolling bread to make the Mad Hatter's celery cream cheese pinwheels and arranging the Dormouse's cheese and snowflake crackers. We put a twist on the traditional cucumber sandwiches using mascarpone cheese and layering with the cucumbers thinly sliced on top. Emma adored the roasted red pepper sandwiches so much she already called to ask if I'd make them for her birthday. Dessert included Knave of Hearts cranberry and blueberry scones and the ultimate coconut snowball truffles.

Red Queen's Strawberry Heart Salad - simple, yet elegant with feta cheese, slivered almonds and homemade heart croutons and strawberry dressing. 

Love my new Alice in Winterland tea set - notice Alice is figure skating across the teapot and the Cheshire snowcat is the lid. To center the table - a beautiful wintry blue arrangement with hydrangeas.

 

 Alice in Winterland ornaments incorporate the chandelier into the party theme.

The tea party girls! Thanks to Tiffany for all of the pictures!

“There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wander, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it. You need to be as mad as a hatter.”

Italian Princess Birthday Tea!

To say that I have the best friends ever would be an understatement...the tea partay girls made turning 30 special and fun. Kimmy - the hostess with the mostest - really outdid herself...again!!!!

In my honor, Kimmy hosted Italian princess tea. The Italian part was the food - all Giada recipes! The menu:

• pea pesto crostini
• fontina cheese crostini
• roasted red pepper soup
• green and white bean salad with fresh herbs and pecorino romano
• vegetable parmesan (red and yellow peppers, fennel, and eggplant)
• chocolate honey almond tart with whipped cream and blackberries
• mini tiramisu cake
• prosecco, prosecco, prosecco (Veneto Region of Italia and Mionetto Spa Valdobbiadene)
• Indigo Tea Co.'s "Celebration Blend" (a fine blend of black tea, orange, cloves, vanilla and rose)
• Mad Hatter Tea Room's Earl Gray Cream (our usual)

The food was fabulous! Many of us had seconds! Nice work Chef Kimmy! You can tell you put a lot of work and love into the food!

The princess portion of the party included little diamonds all over the tables - so cute! Tiaras for all of the partay girls in all different colors - fun! A birthday sash, balloons and cute tiaras on the wall.
 

Tiara Girls - Jackie, Em, Andrea, Sheri & Tiff (not pictured Kim the photographer)

 

Cake table



I'll toast to that! Jackie graduating from UST with an MBC degree and Sheri's 30th Bday!



Kimmy presenting her amazing homemade Italian chocolate torte. Isn't she super cute in her fun dress?



Blowing out the candles. Don't worry husband - no boyfriends, ha ha!



More whip please, ha ha!
(In this pic you can see that I am wearing the fun teacup dress and the
Platinum Diamonds by the Yard Tiffany necklace Jeff surprised me with :) 3 diamonds for 30 - yay!

Jackie had a grad party the night before, but we had to celebrate again - congrats girly on your Master's degree!!!

Alice in Disneyland

For Christmas, my mother-in-law, Dolly, bought me the perfect gift...Christmas tea! But it wasn't enough to just buy the tea, Alice also autographed it when she was at Disney. Too cute!

Dolly is also a master quilter and she made me the most adorable teacup quilt! Thanks Dolly!

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).