High tea, rugs and ABC's

For anyone who knows me, you're probably keenly aware of my love for tea.  There used to be this amazing tea bistro by my parents house (back when they lived in California) that served the most wonderful high tea. It closed a few years back and my sister and I have been searching for a place of equal measure ever since.  We took our girl-friend there for her bachelorette party and my sister and I even copied her tea service for a mother's day tea we hosted years ago.  We have yet to find one locally that is quite as good. (If anyone knows of one, please let me know!) Although, my Mom has found a really good one out by her in Wyoming, which only helps me on my annual visit. I still jump at every opportunity I get to try a tea room.  Which is why I was so excited when a friend of mine mentioned that the Queen Mary is currently doing a Princess Diana exhibit and you can have high tea in the tea room aboard the ship after!  I HAD to check it out! I didn't want to go alone, and though I was certain The boyfriend would go with me if I REALLY wanted him to, I didn't think it was his cup of tea (no pun intended) so I invited my best friend Jennie and made all the arrangements. I was so excited!

Believe it or not, I have lived in So-Cal my entire life but had never before been to the Queen Mary. I have seen it driving past and my sister had her senior prom on board but I had never myself experienced it. My friend Jennie had never been either AND had never had high tea before! It was to be a day chalked full of new experiences for both of us.

We arrived slightly late for our 2pm reservation but were told by the people at the desk that we were welcome to have tea first and visit the exhibit after so we wouldn't miss our reservation.  After taking an elevator ,which can only be described as a creaky, creepy box I was sure we were going to be trapped in, we arrived at the tea room. Its certainly a good thing we rushed as the tea room was completely empty save for two girls at one table. Since we had made reservations and there was no one else there, we got to sit by one of the windows. We had a lovely view.

 

 

Our waiter, though slightly odd perhaps, was very nice and spent most of our tea service speaking with the two ladies at the other table. That was fine with me, as Jennie and I got to chat and enjoy tea and he checked in enough to make sure our tea was never empty. He started us off with a pot of tea of our choice. The tea was quite good, although lacking in options, I was quite happy with my Green tea mango and Jennie got Chamomile and said hers was quite nice as well.

 



He left us also with a 3 tiered serving tray filled with yummy finger sandwiches as well as scones with devonshire cream, lemon curd, and jam. The scones were quite good. Even Jennie, who apparently has also never had a scone, said they were surprisingly good! She said she expected dry and bland but that these were more moist than expected and tasted great.  I ate one of all of the sandwiches but was absolutely dreading the last sandwich.....As anyone who knows me will also tell you, I don't like seafood! The boyfriend is working hard to try to discredit this statement and we have found a few sea creatures that I don't hate....That being said, the sandwich I was dreading was a seafood sandwich. It was white bread with a cream cheese layer, a slice of cucumber, and topped with smoked salmon AND caviar!!! Pretty much as sea-foody as a tea sandwich could possibly be! Jennie encouraged me to try it and since I knew I would never hear the end of it from The boyfriend if I didn't, I began to work myself up to it. I imagined how un-classy it would be if I were to take a bite and gagged on it in the middle of the tea room!! HOW GHASTLY! So, I was determined that no matter what, I would swallow that first bite and not humiliate myself....

It was not nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be! I don't know if the cucumber and the dill cream cheese helped, but the caviar really just made it salty, and the salmon was only a little briney flavored....not really fishy. Now, I wouldn't have ordered this on its own, but it was not half bad! Here's my "victory shot" after the first bite to show The boyfriend that I had braved the seafood tea sandwich!

As we both munched on our last scones, I looked over and started cracking up as I realized the waiter had left us tongs which neither of us had used at all!

Such unrefined heathens, using our HANDS to pick up our sandwiches! TISK TISK! (Something about having tea and all, this seemed like the perfect moment for pearl clutching and gasps of horror) Luckily, there were now only 4 other people in the room and none of them seems to notice or mind our improper tea etiquette.

The waiter collected our dishes, warmed up our tea, and brought us a three tiered dessert tray. I had absolutely no issue with the desserts. (Except that I finally remembered to use the tongs when halfway through and dropped one of my cakes, frosting side down, onto the lovely white tablecloth....oops)

 

 

We completed our tea and chatting and then did a quick walk-through of the Princess Diana exhibit. (sorry no photography allowed) Overall it was a pleasant tea. It was not the same as my favorite tea place, but for the atmosphere and all, it was certainly worth doing. Next, it was off to our relaxing mani-pedi appointment to cap off our relaxing day.  But first, we ran out onto the deck to get a quick picture together. We didn't have time, nor could we figure out how to get anywhere with a better view, so the former home of the spruce goose will have to do.....

 

 

 

The next day, came another highlight in my days off, as my new rug arrived for my living room!

 

                                              

 





Step 2 in the living room re-decoration project is completed! I'm pretty happy with it and I can't wait to keep this project going and complete it!

And to top off my weekend, my niece turned 2 years old and The boyfriend and I went to her little party. We gave her a set of fabric letters and numbers (soon to be available in my Etsy shop )

 

 

She LOVED them! She went through the pile and asked me what each letter and number was and would repeat after me. Then, she picked up a huge pile of them and threw them at me and we had a little "Fabric letter fight" (similar to a pillow fight in almost every way) I have never seen this girl laugh so much! It was so adorable and fun! I say it all the time, but being an Auntie really is the best!

 

In between my fun activities this week, I did a bunch of prep work on some new products for the shop.  I am super excited about some new items and adventures in store for Sew it Seams. Lot's of fun stuff coming soon, so stay tuned! Hope you all enjoyed your week as well. What kinds of fun adventures did you stumble upon?