Tea for Two

I did end up taking my Mom to afternoon tea at the Lobby at the Peninsula while she was visiting last weekend. We got snowed in on Friday and Saturday, but ventured out, dressed in snow boots and gloves on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday tea is later in the day, 4:00pm-6:00pm, since Sunday brunch takes up so much of the morning. This ended up being really nice since we got to see the city view from the Lobby's 20 foot windows during the day and all lit up at night.

We decided on doing the traditional tea and here's Mom with our tower of treats and balcony of live musicians in the background.

I'd already had a few cups of coffee at Kitsch'n that morning, so I was looking forward to a citrusy green tea of sorts (my favorite!). I never drink coffee, so I definitely didn't need anymore caffeine for the day. Unfortunately they only had two types of green, sencha and gunpowder. Neither of which sounded appealing, so I went with the decaf Earl Grey. It wasn't as potent as the Earl Grey I'm used to, but it was lovely and enough to last our entire, 90+ minute meal. Plus, the tea came in such pretty, short and stout teapots!

The tower of treats included a plate of desserts that included a mini key lime pie, an exquisite lemon tart, a chocolate cheesecake brownie, a homemade candy bar and others. Why are desserts infinitely better when tiny?

There were also a selection of savory finger sandwiches to give the illusion that you weren't only being served sugary treats for dinner. The curry chicken wrap and smoked salmon sandwich were my favorites, but I also loved the mini potato quiche, the grilled veggie sandwich and the extra cucumber sandwiches we got since my mom hates cilantro, an ingredient in the curry chicken wrap.

I was adamant about the inclusion of cucumber sandwiches since they're the basic staple of every "tea" I'd ever seen on t.v., in a movie or imagined for myself as a future trust fund brat. (Where I thought the trust fund was coming from, the world will never know. It's amazing what fantasies a 13-year-old's hormones can concoct.)

The real reason I'd wanted to have high tea was to get my hands on some more lemon curd and Devonshire cream. There was homemade jelly as well, but I only had one bite of scone with it since I knew there were better, lemony and creamy toppers to be had.

We each had two scones, plain and orange cinnamon, with an almond sandwich cookie and some buttery shortbread.

We also each got a fresh, sour cherry souffle straight from the oven and Mom got a special, birthday dessert with a candle.

Cause if there's one thing we were missing, it was more dessert.