Let's face it. Our dolls live the good life. And we live our lives through them sometimes. Those hopes and dreams that we don't feel we will ever get to, we let our dolls do it for us. Tea and Tea House dioramas are very common in the fashion doll world. How many cups of tea have your dolls had over the years? For some of us, too many to count. I have wanted to go to a tea house for years. I have collected tea sets for over 12 years now and I drink about 3 cups of tea a day. So when I recently got the opportunity, through Google offers, to experience a tea house, I jumped on it. I decided to go today. I had a pretty tough week and I needed a pick me up.
For $9 (normally $20) I got unlimited tea and this 3 tier plate of goodies. When the lady said go ahead pick out your tea, I looked at the tea menu and thought, "yeah right". There were well over 100 teas on the list. How was I going to pick a tea? One caught my eye immediately. It was called "Wedding Tea". How appropriate. I knew I would have that one along with a few others.
The lady suggested I start with a black tea first, then move to the white and green teas. Didn't know I needed a strategy for tea drinking. I was grateful for the suggestion. The cute little tea pot is made of cast iron.
Remember when Nikaya had her sleepover and she and her friends got treats on my Rement 3 tier stand? I was a little giddy at this point. I had my Rement reference sheet with me that had a picture of the 3 tier stand. I wanted so badly to show my waitress and say "look". But I didn't.
I've always heard of cucumber sandwiches, but had never had one. This was 3 of the 4 sandwiches I had. Little food never tasted so good! Of the 4, the cucumber was my least favorite. Still very good, though. The other 3 were heavenly. At the top of the stand were 2 scones with lemon curd. My first time having a scone, and I didn't have a clue what lemon curd was. My dolls have scones all the time. I figured I would eat just one of them. I put some lemon curd on the scone. There are no words! I didn't remember what she said the lemon stuff was, so I had to call her over and ask. That stuff was delicious! She had the nerve to bring me out another serving. So I ate the second scone and the other lemon curd.
I decided to take a picture from where I was sitting. I was the last person left in the place.
It was a really cute little place.
This was the fireplace room.
This was the fourth and final room. I imagine they do lots of tea parties for big and little girls in this room.
So today another thing got checked off my Ultimate To Do list! It lived up to the hype. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
That sounds heavenly! Ahhh, I must find a tea house near me.
ReplyDeleteVerona - It was! The next time my dolls have tea, I will remember this day.
DeleteIn Wayne, PA, there is a place called A Taste of Britain. They have cherry-almond scones, lemon curd, and clotted cream.
ReplyDeleteYes, OMG, CLOTTED CREAM! It was divine. A must try at least once food.
Lemon curd is similar to lemon pie filling only lemon curd tastes much, much better. In the U.S., east coast anyway, a company called Dickinson sells lemon and lime curd. Toes curl after a spoonful of the lemon curd. Slather lemon curd between two white or yellow cake layers and topped with 7 minute frosting.
I can't continue. My eyes are tearing at the idea. It's too late to get any of that tonight.
Silliness aside, I am glad you had the chance to taste lemon curd and scones. Two foods the British got right.
D7ana - What in the world is clotted cream? Thanks for backing me up on that lemon curd. I didn't have the words to explain how good it was. Your comment definitely relayed what I was feeling. Girl, when you said put it between cake layers, I got chills. I should have known it was from the Brits. But Hyacinth, on Keeping Up Appearances, never mentioned lemon curd before. Thanks so much for the links! Dickinson has been bookmarked. They have some wonderful recipes I would like to try. Right after I learn how to make my own lemon curd.
DeleteI love tea myself, but I haven't ever been to a tea house either. Thanks for sharing this one with us along with your experience there. Of course, all my dolls have lots of tea all the time. It's one of their favorite activities. lol
ReplyDeleteChrissy - Hello! Thanks for commenting. As a tea lover, I highly recommend you treat yourself to a Tea House at least once. It really is worth the trip.
DeleteThanks for sharing you tea house experience. The place looks quaint and lovely.
ReplyDeleteGoogle offers are working in your favor.
My dolls have never had tea, but we humans drink several varieties. My favorite is instant ginger tea by Caribbean Dreams. It is a powder made from 100% ginger root. Yesterday I purchased vanilla rooibus, an organic chai tea that I will try for the first time today.
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dbg - Darn, I wish you had mentioned that vanilla rooibus tea before I went to the Tea House. It was on the list! I would have definitely tried it. I need to be better prepared the next time I go. I feel like I need a on-line degree about tea now. Ginger tea is really good too. I'm sure your dolls would enjoy a cup of tea now and again. I used to set up tea parties for my 24" dolls all the time. Funny, I have never drank tea from any of my collected tea services. That must change!
Deletedbg - That 'a on-line' should be an on-line. Oops.
DeleteHello from Spain: you're right that our Barbies spend many hours with their cups of tea talking about his stuff. Unfortunately, I in my daily life I have almost no time at all and where I live there is not the classic tea rooms. Anyway when I was in London had many exclusive local area and over a thousand varieties of tea. You would like to go to London. In Spain we are drinking coffee all the time ... Anyway, every evening when I get home I always drink a cup of red tea. I also tried the of rooibus and green but I prefer the red. It is stronger than all. You did very good buy. I remember the slumber party girls. It was a very real and creative input. Keep in touch.
ReplyDeleteMarta - Awww, London. You are right. I would love to visit London. I've never had red tea before. I must try that. Seems like I will have to visit another tea room with all my new information. I will visit soon!
DeleteWhat a lovely experience. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletelimbe dolls - It really was. I highly recommend it for tea lovers.
DeleteSounds like you had a lovely time. Had a bit of a giggle though - I drink tea all the time and have eaten scones all my life. Lemon curd is called lemon butter here and I had a great-aunt who regularly made it for us. It's easy to make, just a bit fiddly and takes time, and you can use all sorts of fruit like orange, mandarin or passionfruit as well as lime. And clotted cream tastes like really rich cream and honey - delicious, though hard to get now.
ReplyDeleteCarrickters - Thanks for sharing. I've eaten many biscuits and muffins, but never a scone. The waitress explained what was in the lemon curd. I will have fun experimenting with it. I still can't imagine what clotted cream tastes like. I don't do much with cream or milk, so it's hard for me to imagine.
ReplyDeleteDo you want a recipe or two? If you do, let me know your email address and I'll send you some?
DeleteCarrickters - I would LOVE a recipe! You can send it to vanessamorrison68@gmail.com. Thanks!
DeleteI'm glad you had such a nice time. It looked like a very nice place. I had to keep telling myself that this was a 'real' place, as I kept saying to myself that you did a great job with the tea, the biscuits, and especially the cucumbers, and how nicely sized everything was. Then as I read and looked closer I realized that this was not a place in Morristown :) I don't think I would like the cucumber sandwiches though. I can't imagine that many types of tea. I must give it a try sometime.
ReplyDeleteVals Joy - I had a wonderful time. Sorry to confuse you with full scale dioramas. LOL! I felt it was high time I started enjoying some of the activities my dolls always get to partake in. I highly recommend you try it. Try the cucumber sandwiches, too. They might surprise you.
DeleteI went to a tea house once as part of a wedding festivity. I felt so out of place, like I was a bull in a china shop. It really made me anxious, lol. Everything looks lovely here.
ReplyDeleteHey It's Muff - Did they make you pay full price or something? LOL! I'm sure they had some teas that could have taken the edge off. Try some chamomile tea next time.
DeleteSee, I don't drink tea or coffee so I was an odd egg out from the getgo. And, as my mother will lament, I'm not much of a "lady," so it wasn't the most comfortable setting for me. Sure, I have manners and know proper etiquette, but man, do I hate using 'em. I wanted to push a tea cart over or something. >:\
DeleteI had my one an only Tea house experience in Chicago at The Drake. That was my first and last time having a cucumber sandwich as well. I tried to do it at home, cut the edges off and everything. I sat down with my tea and sandwiches on my pretty china and my sandwiches were nasty. So much for that. But it was a WONDERFUL experience that I had with five other women. I don't remember what kind of tea I had, I just made sure to have something I had never tasted before.
ReplyDeleteKenya - Did you have any lemon curd? I'm thinking with your sweet tooth, you would LOVE lemon curd. One of my followers, Carrickters, just sent me two recipes. I will let you guys know how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely!! I grew up eating cucumber sandwiches, but we always used onion on ours too. Yummy! Can't wait til we have garden cukes!
ReplyDeleteLove, Dawn - OSS