I just had a proper tea!

MoochNNoodles

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I just got back from a local tea-room where I had 'The Queen's Tea' with my co-workers. It was called The Victorian Lady. It was fabulous! I am ssoooooo stuffed it's ridiculous!

I had my own personal pot of "Island Coconut" tea...ooooh was it good! We had Pumpkin Soup (served out of what my mom called 'the fancy feast dish!' We're so refined!
) followed by Maple Scones with lemon curd and what I think they called Devonshire Cream. (Does that sound right?)

Then it was on to the finger sandwiches and desserts. One was a ham on a wheat type bread with a cream cheese and chive type stuff on it, plus something sweet that reminded me of an apple butter. There was also an apple something sandwich on a raisin bread, a pumpkin something on wheat, chicken salad in filo pastry shells with an cranberry orange marmalade on top, miniature pumpkin pies, a cranberry something bread, Victorian Finger sandwiches, Angel Delight, and a rosemary sage wheat cracker with a bacon/cheese spread. I think I got it all there. There was ton of food. I'm not sure I remember them all! They had dozens of tea flavors to choose from.

It was defiantly a fun experience. It's so bad, we go to a nice elegant place and try to act all proper...and of course we're dropping our food and just a mess!
At least we didn't get all loud or anything. (Some of my co-workers are just well....themselves! I'll put it that way!) It was defiantly something I'll be doing again! Actually we just decided to go to one of their Christmas Tea's, where they will be having a live harpist! Plus the gentleman who was in the gift shop when we were exiting said he will be making cinnamon scones! They also have 'Teddy Bear Tea's (bring your own teddy!) and Mother's Day teas, etc.) I can't wait!
 

pushylady

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Oooh that sounds like fun! I'd love to try that sometime.
Wow, you guys got a great selection of food there!
 

trouts mom

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I looooooooooove tea and scones..We go to this teahouse that has scones with homemade jam and whip cream...
 

lokismum

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Wow! That sounds great! We have a B & B near here that has started to serve high tea - reservations only! I'm trying to convince DH to go, but he's not into that sort of thing! The place is fabulous - it looks like an old plantation house, and was a set for the asylum on Road To Avonlea, one of our Canadian TV shows!
 

pat

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That sounds delightful! The only time in my life I remember having a proper tea was when I was 14 and my mom and I and two of her friends took a trip to Great Britain. We'd been to see Stratford on Avon, and I remember having Cream Tea? Scones, thick cream, tea and I don't remember the rest...it's been a few years since my teens
 

swampwitch

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I had the opportunity to escort my daughter's class in kindergarten (can you believe it) for a field trip for tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel here in Victoria, BC. This is the hotel where the Queen of England stays when she visits! It was pretty cool. I had never been to high tea, being a coffee drinker from Texas at the time, but my daughter got to experience it at age five.

They served them hot cocoa instead of tea, though, but still...

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
 

fwan

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In my first year of school in England i remember having tea teddy day that was loads of fun and i was only 5 years old!
 

jennyr

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It sounds wonderful! But not British! Soup at tea? Island Coconut tea? Filo pastry? There are two names for tea as a meal:

High tea, which contrary to what you might think is very lower class - it is what the miners and factory workers would eat when they got home as their evening meal, around 6 PM. They would always have a hot dish (stew, hotpot, egg and chips) followed by bread and butter and cake, washed down with very strong tea. Sometimes families today of all classes who eat large Sunday lunch, have a high tea instead of a dinner on Sunday evenings.

Afternoon tea, which is more what you had, is what the upper/middle classes had, and now we all do, around four in the afternoon, as a snack (though often more than that!) between lunch and dinner, which was usually served around 8-830 PM. It consists of finger sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, little cakes and a cup of tea, often but not always Earl Grey.

Of course, you can always have just TEA, at any any time of the day!
 

epona

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My favourite is the 'Cream Tea':
A pot of Darjeeling or Assam tea
Fruit scones
Strawberry Jam
Cornish clotted cream

 

pat

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Speaking of tea, I am newly becoming quite passionate about it

One place I enjoy shopping for teas if shopping online is Peets...and I find I love brewing a little two cup pot of tea with loose tea.

What places do you shop for tea?
 
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MoochNNoodles

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Originally Posted by jennyranson

..... often but not always Earl Grey.
They did have their traditional teas, but I just couldn't resist some of the unique flavors I'd never heard of! I'm not sure where the people who own the place are from....maybe they have thier Queen's confused! Everything was sweet, including the soup, or had someting sweet on it. My mother has been there before and said the menu is different according to the season. (Hence all the apple/pumpkin/cranberry items) I'm pretty sure they always serve some sort of soup for the Queen's tea. I thought they had a website, but I'm not finding it. I'll have to look at the paper when I get to work on Monday.

Oh and anonther fascinating thing....Our current Governor was born in that house. It was a hospital at one time. I'd never think of a victorian house serving as a hospital.
 
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