Tea for Two...

Ever have those absolutely perfect moments in life? The ones you didn't plan too hard for, but just sort of happen for you? Kind of like a little gift, wrapped in a pretty little bow, from God...with love.

I had one of those moments, just yesterday, with a very dear friend. She and I go back longer than any friend I know, so much so, that we practically are family. I recall it fondly...our first meeting. It was a warm summer evening...she was walking down the street in my neighborhood...I was riding my tricycle on my driveway...the tender age of 3. I said, "Hi girl." She said hello back. Thirty minutes later, walking by again, I say, "Hi, Girl." She says, "I already said hi to you." Thus begun our 30 yr friendship.

We can never quite get our birthdays right. She knows mine is in May...I know hers is sometime in February. We don't get together as often as we should, but when we do, we just pick up where we left off. It really is an easy, wonderful friendship.

I've been wanting to do something nice for her/with her for a long time. Like over a year ago, I mentioned we should go for tea. We were both thrilled with the idea...but it slowly moved to the back burner. Until yesterday.

We walked into the creaky old house that had been converted into a Victorian style tea house. The foyer being a sweet little tea, princess, girly shop, and the next few rooms being disected into mini tearooms, each with its own theme.

(Now don't mind the flash in these pictures...it was very dark and to get any decent picture worth sharing, I did have to use flash)

Apparantly, ours was the cowboy room.

Okay, so maybe not cowboy, but horse related. We sat down opposite each other on roomy leather sofas. Then the wonderful tea was served. Our first tea was an English breakfast tea, blended from three of the teahouse's black teas.

It's so nice to just sit back and sip on a delicious cup of tea with a good friend. Then came the savories and sweets.

Each plate was served with its own complementing tea. English breakfast for the savories which included a corned beef and cucumber sandwich, a mini shepherd's pie in a puff pastry, quiche, and this beautiful cabbage, green apple, and parsley coleslaw. Our second plate was the bread course, with two different type scones and green apple curd and clotted creme. It was served with a creamy pomegranate tea. I am not one for fruity tea, but this was actually very nice. Lastly was the sweet course. There was a chocolate truffle cake, a bailey's irish creme cheesecake, and a pistachio petite something or another. It was served with a ginger peach white tea.

We were in our own little world for two hours. It was complete bliss!! At the end, our hostess brought us each a warm lavender scented hand cloth...

I highly recommend...if there is a teahouse in your neck of the woods that serves an English high tea, to DO IT!! Take your mom for Mother's Day, treat a yourself and a friend, take your daughter out to tea...or better yet, do it at home. Make a new tradition, to set aside some time for yourself to stop...and smell the savories!!