Kate Wicker

Storyteller & Speaker

Tea Time

On Friday, the older girls and I took Gaba to the Baron York Tea Room. It was an enchanting and delicious afternoon. Our only regret is that the lovely and quaint tea room will be closing its doors after February 15th. We were hoping to make a formal tea an annual tradition. The good news is the friendly owner is working on a cookbook so we can enjoy her tea and treats during tea time at home, and she also shared the link to an online tea directory called Tea Map with us where we can find other tea rooms in our area. Thanks to the site, I thankfully located several more tea rooms that aren’t too far away from us.

We enjoyed chatting with the owner about tea and her upcoming adventures. Aside from finishing her tea cookbook, she has plans to visit three of her eight children who live in far off places. She has a child living in Bosnia, Japan, and India! She also asked me about homeschooling as she plans to begin homeschooling her seventh grader.

My little ladies were on their best behavior. When I dressed Rae in her pretty smocked dress crocheted with butterflies and flowers and trimmed with a green ribbon (green is her favorite color, although she’s partial to pink and orange, too), she said, “I feel like a princess!”

They behaved like princesses, too, daintily sipping their tea and nibbling on tasty treats like scones dabbed with Devonshire cream and miniature cheesecake squares. The tea sandwiches were delicious, too. We all loved the Mediterranean egg salad on wheat. The olive-studded filling added a tasty zest to ordinary egg salad (plus, my girls can’t get enough of olives).

Do I have your appetite’s attention yet?

I’m hungry as I write, so I can’t stop thinking about the deliciousness of the food and tea we were served. But the highlight of the tea was spending time with my girls and the mom I love.

Now a feast for your eyes as I share some photos from our tea:

Here we are before we left. Layla, the dog, really wanted to come along. She even tried to hop in the van. She was worse than 21-month-old Mary Elizabeth, who was sad to miss the outing. But it won’t be long before she’s joining us for tea time (Mary, not the dog).

Rae flipping through a book about a child’s first tea party as we wait to be served.

The gastronomic bounty! Butterfly sandwiches and grape caterpillars for the girls and a tower of treats for us all.

Madeline, Rae, and Gaba

Sipping tea! (Please note the delicate and poised pinkie finger.)

Please note the crusted peanut butter on the corner of her mouth.

All the girls…

The post-tea nap. Being a little lady is exhausting work!

Have a good week!

I promise not to bore you with photos of my children too often. If you don’t mind occasional maternal pride indulgence, then subscribe to Momopoly.

Comments

  2. SO precious! That sounds like so much fun…I would love to go to a real "tea".

  4. What fun! I work in a tea room on Saturdays and I love seeing moms and daughters of all ages coming in for a special time! Shirley and her littlest girl are coming into town this week and we are taking our girls to the tea room for lunch and I am SOOO excited!