Teacup Tales

Happy New Year! Happy Winter Time! Hello Tea Friends, I hope this finds you well and refreshed. While I certainly enjoyed my share of holiday teas this season, I was pleasantly surprised to experience some tropical tastes yesterday during tea time. I wanted to start the new year by going to afternoon tea at a local tearoom. Our first course was ambrosia salad served in a teacup. This took me back to my childhood as ambrosia was a fun sweet treat.  The dusting of cinnamon on the salad was wonderful and a fun, interesting start to our tea time. I selected a flavored black tea: Pina Colada. I really enjoyed its smoothness and the cute cottage teapot. The rest of our afternoon tea was the standard wonderfulness and boy was I full at the end. I even had to bring some of the sweets home. Before the holidays, I ordered two bags of "Coconut" from adagio teas along with a favorite blend of theirs ~ Pumpkin Spice. I really enjoy the mild sweet...

Happy Summer Tea Friends!   One of my summer pleasures is visiting new tearooms while traveling. Saturday was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than going out to afternoon tea. A favorite travel spot of mine is the Monterey Bay. Carmel by the Sea, Monterey and Pacific Grove are idyllic towns. Last year while walking in Pacific Grove I came across   The White Hart . The beautiful Victorian immediately caught my attention. I was thrilled to learn the home serves as a tearoom to the public two weekends a month and can be rented for private parties as well.  I knew I wanted to celebrate my birthday there. We made reservations for 11:30 (right when it opened). The White Hart does not have set seating times like many other tearooms. This makes for a relaxed experience in my opinion. I was happily surprised to see the decorated table when we arrived. So sweet! A birthday card on the table! Noritake teacups We enjoyed a ...

Beautiful scents and colors are in the air as spring has finally "sprung" here! One of my favorite spring flowers are lilacs.  Unfortunately several consecutive rain showers really "damaged" my lilacs this year which is such a pity as I adore their scent. This is a photo taken last year in my backyard with a lilac branch and Royal Albert's Blossom Time Series Lilac  teacup. Many of last summer's vacations provided me with the opportunity to visit various tearooms. I didn't get the chance to share this wonderful garden and tea experience until now. Another purple hued flower I enjoy is lavender. While visiting Portland, Oregon I came across a brochure advertising a lavender cutting farm in Hillsboro. I was so intrigued. We enjoy fruit picking, but I've never cut lavender before. My mom and I drove to  Helvetia Lavender Farm  and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon picking lavender and relaxing at the tea pavilion. So peacefu...

Ahoy Tea Friends and Happy September, As summer winds down, I have been thinking about some of the tea related travels I experienced this summer. Probably the most wonderfully unique place I've had afternoon tea was on the Queen Mary which is docked in Long Beach, California. We were taking a short cruise to Ensenada, Mexico and the port was a block away from the Queen Mary. I couldn't pass up the chance to have tea at this historic site so I made a reservation for their first seating at 11:30. I was happily surprised when I realized this table was reserved for us. (Sorry, it was tricky to get decent photos with the window light.) The room was clean, modern and spacious. I didn't want to eat a traditional British afternoon tea course because I was boarding the cruise in just over an hour. Didn't want to start the trip on too full of a stomach. I opted for half a shrimp salad with hearts of palm, avocado and hard boiled eggs along with the Gravlax (...

Welcome back tea friends, Hope your summer continues to bring you warmth and enjoyment. One of my favorite summer time activities has always been traveling. I haven't traveled as much in recent years so this summer's three "short" trips have really ignited my passion for traveling. Even though my trips were not terribly far from home, I enjoyed relaxing and discovering some new tearooms which is always a delight. "Perhaps it is while drinking tea that I most enjoy the sense of leisure."                                                      ~George Gissing At the end of June, I found myself in Hillsboro, Oregon which is a suburb of Portland. My mom and I went to visit my brother who lives there. While on our trip, we had tea at the Tea's Me (clever name, huh?) tearoom for my birthday. Thank you  Steph  of Steph's Cup of Tea for the won...