My childhood was filled with tea parties. My grandma had a Fisher-Price tea set at her house, and we frequently had tea parties in the backyard with orange soda, Fig Newtons, and waffle cookies. One of my earliest purchases was a real china tea set from Toys ‘R’ Us, with Dalmatians printed on it (I was 7, it’s fine). I have many happy memories of putting on nice dresses and holding tea parties (with water) with my American Girl dolls at a doll-sized table in my room.
As I grew older, I started to actually drink tea. We usually had some kind of Celestial Seasonings tea in the cabinet (and later Trader Joe’s seasonal specialties), and my love for tea intensified when I lived in Seattle for a summer and discovered MarketSpice’s cinnamon-orange tea. When I started working, my tea habit increased, and now that I am in an office building, I drink tea even more. (I currently have five different boxes of tea in my desk.)
I love tea and have some idea of what I like and dislike, but my sister is actually an expert. While I was drinking tea that came from boxed teabags, she was using a looseleaf tea steeper with exquisite Teavana teas. I was out in Seattle for work earlier this summer, and bought her a peach white tea as part of her birthday present.
Melissa is also obsessed with all things British (namely Benedict Cumberbatch and a certain German player who was traded to Manchester United). When I discovered the London Tea Room in Tower Grove and their weekend settings of afternoon tea, I knew we had to try it out before she returned to Mizzou for the fall semester. I managed to snag an 11 am reservation for this past Sunday (10 days in advance), with little idea of what to expect besides the myriad of glowing TripAdvisor reviews. My expectations were far exceeded 🙂
After we were seated at our table, we each received an extensive menu of tea options – the afternoon tea includes a pot of tea for each guest – and made our selections. I chose the Scarlet tea (includes blueberry & cherry), while Melissa chose the Tangerine Ginger. A beautiful photo of Buckingham Palace adorned the wall next to our table. Then the food arrived…
three plates of goodness
So much food, all delicious and so filling. The black currant scones were so perfect – dense, filling, and yet so soft – and the sandwiches were equally divine, but the desserts were the most memorable part. Lemon blueberry tartlets, macaroons infused with tea, raspberry and tiramisu petit fours… yum 🙂 Needless to say, we ended up taking home about half of the desserts.
I highly recommend afternoon tea at the London Tea Room. It is the perfect way to feel sophisticated and enjoy delicious food. While a little expensive for the full afternoon tea, I think it is definitely worth doing! They also have a tearoom and café in the front of the shop, where 40+ teas and a variety of food is served (quiche, etc.), which I certainly intend to try out on a chilly Saturday this winter, or maybe over my Christmas break.
Kate
Note: This glowing review of the London Tea Room is not endorsed or sponsored, and is solely my opinion. For more information, check out http://www.thelondontearoom.com/.
So… hi. I kept meaning to write more posts (and kept forgetting), so here goes. Life has been busy, to say the least. In addition to all of this, there have been some friend get-togethers and puppy playtime with Scout (41 pounds of energy!), plus my sister’s birthday last month 🙂
Over the course of five weekends, Kevin and I had three Midwest roadtrips, which meant a lot of time in cars and a lot of Trader Joe’s snacks. It started out with July 4th weekend in Indianapolis. Kevin is a huge Rolling Stones fan and thought he missed his chance to see them, after their 50th anniversary tour a few years ago. But never fear, Mick Jagger is still dancing like he’s 25, and the Stones embarked on the Sticky Fingers tour of North American stadiums this summer. We got our tickets the second they went on sale (back in February) and chose Indianapolis. Aside from the Rolling Stones being British, it doesn’t get much more ’Murika than going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a concert on the Fourth of July.
After lunch with one of Kevin’s friends from college who lived in Indy for a few years, we spent Friday afternoon sightseeing, with all the usual downtown Indianapolis sights – the state capitol, canals, World War Memorial – and, completely full from our lunch of Chinese food, spent the evening at a Scottish bar.
That Saturday, we headed to Bru Burger Bar for an early-ish lunch (a must-recommend if you’re in Indy) and headed back to get ready for the concert. I can’t believe I made it through that day. It was 80+ degrees outside and incredibly sunny, and we waited outside the gates for 2½ hours before going in (and another few hours before the first opening act even went on). The first opening act (Saints of Valory) was underwhelming and only performed a few songs before leaving the stage, but I thoroughly enjoyed Rascal Flatts (one of my high school favorites) and sang along to nearly every song. The Stones were even crazier than I expected. So many insane costumes, weird dance moves, and yet, their voices were still great and they put on an amazing show. Not bad for being in your 70s…
A few weeks later, we drove north to Wisconsin for a Doetsch family vacation in the Dells. Apparently, spending time in Wisconsin is a very Chicago thing to do. (Meanwhile, I grew up thinking Wisconsin was really far away. 😛 ) I had never been to the Dells and was pretty apprehensive about riding these crazy slides. It turned out to be AMAZING. Other highlights of the weekend included blowing my lead at mini-golf (I am incapable of beating Kevin at anything) and drowning my misery with Snickers custard at Culvers. On Monday morning, we made a stop at Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty before driving back to STL. Kevin had been raving for weeks, but I didn’t understand until I experienced those sugared doughnuts for myself.
The first weekend in August was spent in Kansas City. Amanda and Jeremy were one of those “when are these two going to start dating” couples. Finally, after one of the most nailbiting, nervous days in our house of four girls, Amanda came home after class on Halloween of senior year and told us that they were dating. 🙂 Izzy and I spent the rest of that year eavesdropping on them while they did homework in the upstairs loft, and I basically third-wheeled it to every football and basketball game from then on (though to be honest, I had been third-wheeling it with them for a long time). 😛
So anyway, why Kansas City? Because those two got MARRIED! Kevin and I drove to KC on Friday morning to take advantage of some of the sights. After a quick lunch on the Plaza, we walked over to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where I nerded out about Monet (I love the water lily triptych) and Kevin complained about the modern art. We also spent some time at Crown Center (aptly named) and walked through the Hallmark Visitors Center and a beautiful Crayola store, before driving out to Liberty for the evening.
I spent some time at the rehearsal (pianist problems) before heading back for dinner at the Corner Café with two people I hadn’t seen in ages. 🙂 Nathan is one of my closest friends from my graduating class of chemical engineering majors, and also one of the first friends I made in college. (Also read as: I noticed we were in 3 classes together during the first week of college, and made a really good decision to walk over and sit with him in our 8 AM chemistry lecture.) I’ve known his girlfriend, Banoo, for about the same length of time – we were in SWE together throughout college, and she was in our honors calc 2 class as well. (Those two were another instance of “when are they going to start dating?” and finally did shortly after graduating. When Nathan told me, my reaction was “finally, it’s about time”.) It was a delicious dinner – though I agonized about what to get before settling on a BLT – and Kevin thoroughly enjoyed hearing even more embarrassing Kate stories. 😛 I didn’t realize how much I missed them until we were all back together.
Saturday was the big day, but before the festivities kicked off, we did a little more sightseeing. We headed to the WWI Museum / Liberty Memorial – unfortunately, some storms prevented us from going in the tower – but it was fun to revisit it again.
We got ready and went to Belvoir Winery for a beautiful wedding. I cried a bunch during the vows, but kept it together for the most part. It helps when you’re in the back of the room at the piano, and literally everyone else is in front of you. 😛 (I did stand during the vows, and was slightly worried that I’d bump the piano keys…)
After the ceremony ended, I got to start an incredibly fun evening with Izzy and Janelle (and Kevin), with good wine, good food, and a beautiful cake. In addition to Amanda and Jeremy, the Royals were an integral part of the wedding – not only were they mentioned in the message and the best man’s toast, but the cake was in the shape of the shield (?) at Kauffman Stadium.
(L to R): Janelle, Izzy, Jeremy, Amanda, me, Kevin Some of my favorite people ever 🙂
I’m really excited to see the cute pictures of the four of us roomies together, and sincerely hope that we don’t have to wait for another wedding to all be together again. That means that a trip to Denver or Pittsburgh is in order 🙂
This past weekend was fairly quiet. We started a little early on Thursday with Beauty and the Beast at the Muny, which was beautiful and just perfect. (If I was 20 years younger, I would have been in a Belle dress too.) Kevin and I watched Fletch on Friday night, visited the Zoo on Saturday morning (typical), and celebrated our friend Danelle’s birthday on Saturday night at the Thaxton downtown. I managed to be at church before 7:30 am the next morning (on 5½ hours of sleep) and accompanied the choir (nearly sightreading… I first saw the music less than 4 days before). Afterwards, I played with Scout at my parents’ house (as usual), spent too much money at Trader Joe’s, and collapsed into bed for a nap in the afternoon. And despite a storm, Kevin and I went to Ted Drewes (abaco mocha is delicious, btw) and capped off a (comparatively) quiet, relaxing weekend.
Here’s to a more relaxing week 🙂 looking forward to a month here at home before some big travel next month!
Planes & Pink 