The Queen Invites You to Tea

By order of her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, you are hereby summoned to a most unusual tea party, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, 1:00 p.m. Wear foolish attire for all to admire.

Enter the maddest party in the Queen's Royal Croquet Court

The table was set for our biggest party yet

Even the card men came to tea

I must admit, I was proud of my flower arrangement ;)



"There was a table set out under a tree in front of a house,
and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it:
a Doormouse was sitting between them fast asleep . . ."

"Which way? Which way?"

Emma's mom made me the cutest apron!

Bandersnatch Eyeballs
Alice’s Cuppa Salad
Cook’s Potato Soup
White King’s Cookies
Red Queen’s Strawberry Heart Scones
with Orange Curd and Cream
March Hare’s Orange Tea Punch
A Mad Variety of Tea

Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups with Pumpkin Mousse
Dancing Snails

Cheshire Cupcakes

 Royal Court Cucumber Sandwiches

Caterpillar’s Magic Mushrooms
Royal Court Cucumber Sandwiches
White Rabbit’s Pocket Watch Crackers & Cheese

 The Hatter says time "won't do a thing I ask!
It's always six o'clock now";
that is, it is always tea-time.

The girls!

Mrs. Spahl as the White Rabbit
and Emma as the Knave of Hearts

Wonderland parting gifts for the girls...

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!

Antique Tea for One

I was walking through downtown Anoka hoping to find a scone at Truffles and Tortes (no luck), but as I passed Antiques on Main this little tea set caught my eye. Ever since I had high tea in Hawaii and we were served with our own little silver teapots, I've been keeping my eye out for one. This set is silver plated = affordable, but still cute. I bought some silver polish and shined it up. I liked that it had a matching tray, sugar and creamer. Time to enjoy some tea for one. I can't imagine life pre-Emma and pre-tea :)

Summer Dinner Tea

Tiffany hosted our first dinner tea on Thursday evening. It was fun to mix it up and get together on a weeknight. With Mrs. Moos as her sous chef, Tiff really outdid herself on the made from scratch menu. I can honestly say that it was the best dinner I've had in months! Tiff was too kind and made everything vegetarian (you are too sweet to me!) The menu:

• Salad with Homemade Fresh Herb Vinaigrette - best homemade dressing ever - the combination of basil and rice vinegar in the dressing with a hint of sugar and garlic was a perfect balance.
• Crostini with Ricotta and Goat Cheese we love that Giada!
• Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho - amazing! The soup was light, yet it had great fresh flavor with tomatoes, cucumber and hint of cilantro - delicious!
• Summer Lemon Vegetable Risotto - another winner! I think this may have been Tiff's first from scratch risotto and she executed it perfectly. The asparagus was cooked to perfection and the risotto was creamy.
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote - just when you think dinner couldn't get any better she brings out the rhubarb!
• Hibiscus and Mint Lemonade - this was a very refreshing beverage; not too sweet and it was a beautiful deep red.
• Creamy Chai Iced Tea - a fun take on classic chai flavors in a cool form and less sweet as it paired nicely with the savory dishes.

Writing this is making me hungry and wish I had Tiff to cook me dinner again!

The elegant table setting

Summer Lemon Vegetable Risotto with the two iced teas

The girls about to eat dinner

Andrea - as pretty as the flowers

Kimmy and Cindy (Tiff's mom)

Kimmy was in heaven with her dream woofer, Daisy, but alas she couldn't take her home.

Français Thé

Jackie hosted a lovely French tea this weekend with delectable treats!



The table was set with Jackie's grandma's china and real silver!



She made a to-die-for spinach and cheese souffllé (we all asked for the recipe!), dill Havarti, baby Swiss cheese and Brie was served as well as strawberry rhubarb jam for the croissants. Jackie also made homemade chocolate mousse with raspberries, which I'm sure is laborious to make, but tasted amazing!

Croissants, macarons - pistachio and vanilla with chocolate filling, caramel eau claires, oh my! How do those French women not get fat?

The Girls tea partaying!

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!