Tuesday Tea and Tomes: The beginning of virtual Tea and Reads

Afternoon tea now features book club!

 

Afternoon tea is not just about tea and scones (although, those are delightful components). Our monthly family tea times have evolved to include not just a gab fest (although, another delightful component), but now book club, too!

At our initial tea, the conversation turned to latest Netflix shows and last reads. The latter topic lead to a an informal book club idea and Haley, my future daughter-in-law, had just picked up a book the weekend prior, "Mrs. Everything" by Jennifer Weiner.

Sis-in-law shows off fancy spoons and biscuits from Caffe Florian

Haley was drawn to the book because it's about two sisters growing up in Detroit. The time frame spans from the 1950's to present day and it's a page-turning journey of the sister relationship strained and forged over tragedies and expectations.

Having been on the cusp of the generation where women had the choice of stay-at-home mom or Ms. Career  - and a vast subtext of suspicion from each camp of the other - I understand the struggle to "do it all" with equal amounts of confidence and doubt.

The senior members of the book club found some of the sisters' antics exhausting. The millennials in our group were saddened by the limitations of the time for the Kauffman girls. 

With names pulled from "Little Women"  - Beth and Jo,  the pretty one and the tomboy -  the sisters carved out lives for themselves neither one anticipated.

And, all of this story with Michigan roots. There's some fun references to the Detroit area, but we all spotted out the incorrect geographic crossroads of Quarton and Lasher described as being part of Southfield. Not essential to the story, but still allows an "insider" to raise an eyebrow.

Definitely for mature readers, but a fast read and something, I'm happy to report on, out of my routine. It's nice to be in the new millennial from time-to-time.  

And, as with other teas, we still showed off what we were drinking and fancy accoutrements. We had a bit of a Caffe Florian theme - my sister-in-law, Sandy, showed off her beautiful silver teaspoons and biscuits (!)  from the Venetian tea room that she received as a birthday gift. I held up one of my selections from the Caffe Florian's 300 year's anniversary collection. Molto bene!

We've already selected our next book and scheduled the "Virtual Tea and Reads" for April. Looking forward to tea, scones, gab fest and book review - all delightful components for our next gathering!

Victoria's Tea Pleasures inspire spring teas and bring back memories from Carolina Inn!

Victoria Classic's Tea Pleasures inspires spring teas and tea travels

Yesterday, March 20, marked the first day of Spring and with that (and a well-timed sunny, temperate weekend in  Michigan), we're anxious to change color schemes from winter bolds to warmer pastels, take tea out of doors, and - with the promising outlook of more venues opening up - a visit to a favorite tea room. Victoria Classics Tea Pleasures special issue "Celebrating the Art of Tea" has all of those topics covered in almost one hundred pages of inspiring articles accompanied by beautiful photographs.

In this edition of Tea Pleasures, there's a delightful arrange of topics from tea traditions to tea hospitality. the latter including tips for making guests feel welcome such as place cards, uplifting background music and adding some casual elements to the table to dial back some of the stuffiness of a very formal place setting. 

Place cards can help guests feel comfortable and welcomed!

"Occasions for Tea" section features a Spring Tea and a Garden Tea - both of which I'm anxiously planning and preparing for soon.  Recipes and tablescapes for each themed tea are provided. Although the "lemon-blueberry parfait" is listed under the Spring Tea, I'm going to prepare it for the Garden Tea as well. It looks delicious and not overly complicated to prepare - and the bonus of having it in our "up north" tea garden is that blueberries grow naturally there and its herb garden is filled with mint. It can be our "tea-garden-to-tea-table" sourced afternoon tea!

Tea Pleasures has us thinking of more outdoor teas to come

Tea Pleasures wraps up in a final section on "Tea Destinations" which brought back memories as well as added to my must-see tea room wish list. The first tea room highlighted is The Carolina Inn which I visited back in 2013 (see blog story, Going to Carolina Inn my mind).  The article had me reminiscing about the delightful afternoon tea I enjoyed at this venue in Chapel Hill with then tea director Carolina H. 

Carolina Inn for tea in 2013

Tea Destinations also had me go back to my tea room visit wish list and re- highlight, re-circle and boldly underline New York's "The Plaza Hotel". With all our trips to Manhattan, that's one spot I've yet to experience, but now must.(Note to NY son, when we can visit you next, we'll be heading to Fifth Avenue and Central Park for a cup of tea). 

 While we wait to officially move the winter coats to the far side of the closet and travel becomes a bit more accessible, we recommend "Celebrating the Art of Tea" in Tea Pleasures for a refresh on tea essentials and lots of spring-time inspiration. 

Happy Spring from BTS!

Virtual tea times still going strong! Warning: duration of afternoon tea talk may exceed time on invite!

Virtual afternoon tea - a most civilized way to get together for an hour . . . or more!

Last weekend, BTS (Barb Gulley and Rachel Gulley Brown)  hosted a family virtual afternoon tea.  The invite list included two aunts, one cousin and one future sister-in-law (or, from the elder Gulley's  perspective, two sister-in-laws, one niece, and one future daughter-in-law) with a geographic spread ranging from the Oakland county suburbs to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Local afternoon tea guests were treated to delicious blueberry scones, baked and delivered by Rachel

The time was set for Sunday from 1:00 - 2:00 pm and all but our Cincinnati relation received a special delivery the day before. Rachel baked blueberry scones from scratch (gluten free and "regular") on Saturday, wrapped them up in a clear cellophane package cinched with a  silver twist tie and personally door-dashed them to local guests.

Come-as-you-are attire means hat and bling for some

It was "come-as-you-are", which, at BTS, means fascinator and bling!  

Virtual afternoon tea with the family. Cousin/bridesmaid Marti, shows off her fancy tea cup

We all logged on to our on-line  link and commenced with tea and talk. Over blueberry scones, we shared what tea we were drinking and in what cup. Honors go to Marti E., who brought the tea cup she was gifted as part of a bridesmaid invite package from Rachel last year (she's not only a cousin, but a bridesmaid, too!).

Sandy & Marti's pretty afternoon tea tablescape - all the essentials:  tea, scones, savories & tiered tray

Conversations covered current events and recent reads, the latter including text books, children's classics and "Mrs. Everything", the latter a choice for a future tea time book club.

Although the invite designated time period was one hour, it, without hesitation, went well beyond. Afternoon tea time cannot be constrained!!

So much enjoyed by guests, another virtual afternoon tea time was scheduled for this month (and tea time book club coming soon!).

We love keeping up this new tradition. Certainly more to come and we'll be ready with tea, scones, and tablesscapes. But be warned:  time on invite is merely a "suggestion". 

BTS' tablescape for one included festive spring flower placeholder (no confusion as to where I sat!)