The Tea Scoop

Haunted Tea at the Strathmore

Not surprisingly, I love afternoon tea.  But perhaps you may not know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, tied with Thanksgiving.  Yes, even over Christmas. I love Thanksgiving because it is all the best parts of Christmas, of families gathering, but without all the pressure of giving and the awkwardness of opening a gift that one can never possibly use.  But Halloween is a special holiday, the day when everyone can go a bit mad and silly, and pretend to be something else. As I believe that silliness is a most valuable trait that many adults lose, I'm a bit supporter of the holiday.  

As such, anything that combines Halloween and tea gets my stamp of approval without having even experienced it.  Every year, Strathmore hosts a Halloween tea.  I had never been to any sort of tea there, but thought that it would make a most enjoyable outing with a most deserving lady.  So, I made our reservations, and we arrived a bit early to peruse their gift shop, a most diverting place with all kinds of tea accessories as well as delightfully kitschy crafty type things and doo dads.  

The tea had a single seating, so we dutifully lined up and were led to our table, marked with name cards, which was, I thought, a nice touch. However, the room was rather lacking in Halloween decorations. Pink tablecloths do not scream of the ghoulish theme of a haunted tea, despite the small vase of fall flora.  There was a pumpkin candle on the table, however, and a few scattered around the room. 

The tea was an unassuming blend from Harney and Sons, specially created for the Strathmore.  With the tea, we received a plate of your usual afternoon tea fare: three different tea sandwiches, a crustless quiche served in an egg cup, a cranberry scone, and a slice of apple with crumbled feta cheese, all garnished with a beautifully red strawberry.  The quiche and the scone were the highlights of the meal, especially with clotted cream and jam on the latter. As your official Tea Scoop reporter, I felt that it was my duty to take a second scone when offered. I also liked the apple and feta as a rather unusual amuse bouche on the tea table.  The ham on rye tea sandwich was rather mediocre, as the bread was rather dry, and the tuna was not particularly notable.  On the other hand, the cucumber and cream cheese sandwich was delicious, and the strawberry quite fresh and juicy.  

  

Halloween finally showed up on the table for dessert, which was rather a mixed bag of treats.  

The orange macaroon, drizzled with chocolate, was absolutely fabulous, and the citrus flavor delightfully refreshing.  The little slice of nutcake was also a yummy treat.  The spiced cookie was tasty, but a little too much sweet after the rest of the meal.  The wrapped candy tasted well...like Halloween candy.  

While we enjoyed our desserts, Strathmore presented three guest speakers.  The first, an expert on palmistry and handwriting analysis, spent the majority of her time selling her books, and gave very little information. The second speaker, a lady from Mexico, gave a brief talk about the Mexican Day of the Dead (which happens to be today) and the traditions that go along with it. The third speaker, by far the most diverting, was a historian of the local country, and spoke of the ghosts of Montgomery County and inexplicable things that have happened. 

Overall, we had a lovely afternoon, for we enjoyed each other's company quite a bit and are able to find diversion in most things. This was a nice fundraiser for the music center, but not a place to go for a well-done afternoon tea and entertainment. 

Girls' Night In

With tight budgets, more and more people are turning to nights in instead of out. So, for your next girls’ night in, have an evening tea.  This is not your pinkies out afternoon tea, and tea companies are catching on. 

Create a fun lounge time atmosphere by picking fun music and having guests dress as if they were still going out on the town.  Serve sliced up fruit, which will pair well with many tea cocktails.  If you want to reference afternoon tea, go ahead and serve tea sandwiches. If you are not in a cooking mood after a long week of work, pick up a box of frozen quiches from Costco (surprisingly delicious). Stacked slices of brie and apple drizzled with the slightest bit of honey make an easy light hors d’oeuvres. 

Many purveyors of our favorite leaf are catching onto the trend of tea cocktails.  Mighty Leaf has a couple of different options. The Aperitea line is a collection of tea mixers. They come in Chamomile Citrus Berry, Green Tea Tropical, and Orange Jasmine Mango. Mighty Leaf also sells a Sangria Tea Collection with White Orchard, Organic African Nectar, and Chamomile Citrus. 

Tea Forte has a collection of three cocktail infusions: Lavender Citrus, Lemongrass Mint, Silkroad Chai. They can be purchased individually or as a collection, and Tea Forte has a downloadable recipe booklet.

 Bigelow Tea has a great collection of tea recipes, including a beverage section with many marTEAnis. 

There are also tea-infused liquors available, such as Firefly’s Sweet Tea Vodka (in Sweet Tea, Raspberry, Peach, Mint, and Lemon flavors). Their tea comes from the Charleston Tea Plantation.

 Whatever naughtea cocktails you decide to serve for your girls’ night in, please remember to drink responsibly, have fun, and as always, enjoy your cuppa.

Cookie Exchange Tea Party

While this post is probably a little late to suggest for this year, I always like to hand out excuses to have a tea party.  Last weekend, I hosted my first Annual Cookie Exchange Tea.  I mean really, what goes together better than tea and cookies?  

Here's how it works: Each guest brings a dozen cookies for each other guest (if you have more than say, six people total, make it a half dozen.)  Sample cookies with tea. Eat snacks.  Drink more tea.  A very simple concept.  

What teas are great for the holidays?  There are quite a few Holiday Blends out there, some of which are likely the same blend with different packaging.  But look for something with bits of orange peel and spice for something truly delectable.  Teavana's Holiday Blend used to fit the bill quite nicely, but alas it has been discontinued. Adagio has its own list of holiday teas, including candy apple, candy cane, chestnut, cranberry, gingerbread, and pumpkin spice.  A sampler set of the above is only $11. I think this would be a great stocking stuffer!  They also have Christmas Tea which fills the Holiday Blend void quite well. 

My all time favorite cookie and tea combination--which I might just leave out for Mr. Kringle this year--is Bigelow's Constant Comment with Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps (which I am going to try to duplicate this weekend.)  

I would also like to express my appreciation to a recent reader who proposed marriage after stumbling across my blog. I'm glad you like it so much, but alas, I am already married.