Holding court! Lemon curd, scones and clotted cream take center stage at neighborly afternoon tea

Neighborly afternoon tea tablescape included pretty china teapots, festive napkins and fresh flowers

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."   Henry James - The Portrait of a Lady

At BTS, we fully embrace this oft quoted homage to afternoon tea by the author of "Washington Square" and "Turn of the Screw", but this week, we'd like to revise it to include:

". . .and if your commute to said tea is less than 30 seconds, so much the better!" And, that was our delightful experience just a few days ago.

Over five years ago, when my husband and I were ready for a more maintenance-free residence, we scouted out several condominium communities in our area. After kissing a lot of "condo frogs", we found the perfect princely place for us just two miles north of our home of twenty-three years. This condo had private patios, mature trees in abundance, and, like a royal fairy tale, it just happened to be on a court.  A court, I may add, with wonderful neighbors.

Afternoon tea hostess, Clay, brewed delicious teas and whipped up clotted cream

At a recent court happy hour, where the ladies in the 'hood congregate in a common area with their own chair and choice of drink, it was suggested that rather than just talk to the person to your immediate right or left, that we go around the circle, each take the floor for a few minutes and share whatever you'd like with the group. It was such a great idea.  We collectively cried, laughed and applauded the members of our court congregation and I learned more about my neighbors in those few hours, than I had, in some cases, in five years. 

When I talked about - you guessed it - tea, I found I had a lot in common (that I didn't know before) with my neighbor, Clay.  We share a passion not only for afternoon tea, but travel as well. After happy hour, we continued talking about the tea rooms we had visited at home and abroad and decided we'd chat more over tea in the next week or two.

Enjoying tea time (attire to match hostess' china, optional)

And, that's what brought us to our neighborly tea this week at Clay's lovely home. She set a beautiful tablescape with blue-and-white china, festive napkins and fresh cut flowers from her garden. 

We had a "cream tea", which is an abbreviated afternoon tea. It's simply tea and scones, served up with clotted cream and jam. 

Raspberry lemonade tea from  Tea and Tumeric, pretty and pretty tasty!

Clay brewed two loose teas from Tea & Tumeric of Laguna Beach:  raspberry lemonade (herbal) and black current, a blend of black tea and berry leaves. Both were delicious and the herbal blend steeped up to a pretty red-punch hue, adding an extra pop of color to the tablescape.

I brought over lemon poppy-seed scones from Trader Joes and Clay provided the accompaniments, lemon curd, mixed berry jam and homemade clotted cream, whipped to perfection.

Black and herbal teas from Tea and Tumeric

Over scones and tea we talked about our travels, discovering that on more than one occasion, we were in the same place within a week of each other.  However, my neighbor has far exceeded my global traveling and I enjoyed hearing about her adventures around the world.

Our court "happy hour", lead to, paraphrasing Henry James, "more agreeable hours devoted to afternoon tea". 

Neighbors sharing an afternoon cream 

I highly recommend the "cream tea" for a neighborly tea time without the fuss of a full afternoon tea. It's a chance to brew some good tea, find a use for your pretty china, focus on conversation and indulge in some tasty scones, curd and cream. 

And, a thirty second commute is an added bonus!

 

Can you identify these special items? Our latest antiquing finds!

Once considered essential to a dining table of means, these items are finding new purpose for tea time

Although not commonplace on today's dining and tea tables, we've been enamored with these rather obscure accoutrements for a long time. However, it's only lately that we've started to collect them and finding they are not only a pretty addition to our tablescape, but a practical one as well.

The two objects pictured above are a salt cellar (foreground) and a knife rest, both purchased just last week at The Antiques Depot, near our "up north" home-away from-home, in Lewiston, Michigan.

The salt cellar, according to Atlas Obscura, has a rich history dating back to Ancient Greece. Because salt was such a valuable spice, adding both flavor and longevity to foods, what was made to contain it became a status symbol. From the ancient times through Colonial America, where you were seated at the table and your proximity to the salt, noted your importance.  In the latter era, if you were situated "above the salt", you were a guest of honor.

Salt cellars can find a new purpose at your tea table as individual serving pieces for curd or cream

The salt cellar was eventually replaced with the shaker in the early 20th century when anti-caking agents were added to salt, making it easier to dispense with - well, just a shake! The open cellars fell out of favor, but, in the 1930's, they revived as collectors' items (Salt Cellars, Wikipedia). 

During one of the tea-time online events in 2020, hosted by TeaTime Magazine's editor, Lorna Reeves, she suggested serving up lemon curd and clotted cream in salt sellers as pretty single serving pieces for your tea table (also pictured on page 117 of Christmas TeaTime from said Magazine).

We've kept this in mind for when we'd be back to our favorite antiques store in Michigan. Last week, I found a whole shelf dedicated to salt cellars and made my selection based on both the pattern and size. Since I love lemon curd, I wanted a cellar that could hold a generous amount. After a trial run at my tea table of one, I found the cellar I bought could easily hold two teaspoons of curd, perhaps more. (May still need to go a bit bigger 😊)

The knife rest, a pretty addition to your table. More to come on this special item.

The other BTS blog mystery item was the knife rest. That, too, has roots dating back centuries. We'll have an upcoming blog devoted to that accessory and it is our belief that it will evolve to be among the quotidian accoutrements of your tea table.

Tuesday Tea and Tomes: The Maid

 

When the protagonist of the novel asks incredulously, "is it true that some people drink tea with cream?",  we know we've got someone we can root for.

"The Maid" is the story of Molly Grey, a somewhat naive, but mostly well-intentioned young woman who, after the recent death of her grandmother, is left to navigate life alone -  an especially daunting challenge for a person who struggles with social cues and subtleties. Molly finds comfort in routine and her job as a maid in a fancy hotel in a big city perfectly suits her task-oriented nature. She takes pride in dusting, polishing and scrubbing, never taking shortcuts. But, a murder in the hotel provides another massive shake up to the order in Molly's life, leaving her vulnerable to those who seek to take advantage of her trusting nature.

As Molly's personality emerged in the first few chapters, I had an "Amy Farrah-Fowler" image come to mind. For those of you who are not acquainted with the television show, "Big Bang Theory", Amy is the girlfriend of Sheldon Cooper, the "on the spectrum" brainiac with rather robotic emotions. While Amy is slightly more socially adept than Sheldon, she's an old soul with a matronly wardrobe and a predilection for odd-ball sayings not of her generation.  Like Molly, her trusting ways and literal interpretations are part of her charm.

Throughout the book, Molly reveals the sweet, softly regimented lifestyle of Molly and "Gran": having spaghetti on Wednesday and fish every Friday, then, after dinner together, watching "Columbo" reruns where they mutually admired his crime-solving abilities (while loathing the cigar smoking). They also shared many well-brewed cups of tea served in fine china (a nod to Gran's upbringing) - and cream would most certainly not be used!

And, even in the midst of Molly's problems, she still envisions her dream date, dining on a "Tour of Italy" at Olive Garden. The joyful exuberance she placed on that experience made me smile at every mention.

"The Maid" was this month's selection of the book club de deux  (me and my super long-time amie, Loretta) and like our initial novel selection, it was a sibling referral. First, Loretta's sister recommended "The Giver of Stars" (see BTS review, May, 3, 2022) and, for this, our next read, my brother, Ed, suggested "The Maid".

Both Loretta and I were fans of Molly and her quirky ways, but until the very end of the book, I questioned how someone who didn't like cheaters and understood right from wrong, would be comfortable with bending some rules. When Loretta pointed out that one of the very bad guys was named, "Mr. Black", and Molly's last name was "Grey", it underscored that the author was signaling us a few clues into the nature of these characters at the onset.

We also liked the second Mrs. Black, Giselle.  Although flawed in many ways, her social interactions with Molly are endearing. Giselle knows how to talk to Molly as a friend in an easy manner that is neither patronizing nor condescending.

There are many characters who storm into the hotel, including the hotel manager, Mr. Snow (a snow storm, perhaps?), the first Mrs. Black, an earnest dishwasher, a concerned door man and a handsome bartender. They, too, have their stories revealed over the short week of the Monday-through-Friday chapters (plus epilogue) in the book.

Our book club de deux agreed that "The Maid" is great entertainment -  a page-turning light read full of mysteries and eccentricities. And, how can we not support a young woman who embraces her Gran's advice that  . . . "A good cup of tea will cure all ills, and if it doesn't have another".  

But, no cream, please!!

More Lemon Curd and other tea finds at Trader Joe's: "Ube the judge!"

 

Tea table finds from recent trips to Trader Joe's

We here at BTS are big fans of Trader Joe's. It's always a treat to venture in every week or so and search out new finds for our tea table. We've written about such delights in the past (e.g., Pretty in Pink:  Raspberry Mousse Cakes from Trader Joe's) and we'll continue our tea table treasure quest to share with you.

This past week, we came upon Trader's Joe's lemon curd, poppyseed scones and, the most unusual find to date, Ube tea cookies.

Trader Joe's lemon curd is "imported English" and "authentic"

As noted in a recent blog, lemon curd is one of my favorite scone accompaniments and just a few weeks ago, for the first time, I made my own. It was delicious and, although, it was derived from a not too terribly complicated recipe, it still took time and resulted in a sink full of dishes. Going back to "ready-made" had appeal. Enter Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's lemon curd's label boasts that it is both "authentic" and "imported English".  Quite a resume for this little jar! As far as taste, it's good, but not surprisingly, as good as homemade. It's the right bite of lemony flavor, but not quite as smooth in consistency as the version I created in my kitchen. The "trader"-off here, however, is convenience and that is always delicious in our estimation.

Trader Joe's scones score high at BTS

The poppy seed scones were scrumptious:  flavorful, not too overpowering in any ingredient, and lovely texture. And, bonus (!), they are very generous in size.

The most unusual tea treat that I've been witness to at Trader Joe's are the Ube Tea Cookies. My husband, Chris, (and fellow Trader Joe's enthusiast), spotted these on a solo sojourn and sent me a picture via text. Oh, yes, please do bring these home for sampling.

Ube tea cookies, we found them very sweet, but "ube" the judge

The Ube tea cookie is new to me. An excerpt from the box explains this exoctic item:

". . .Ube tea cookies [are] made from all-butter shortbread that's been mixed with slightly savory Ube, the popular purple tuber from the Philippines. . . they make a great companion to a nice, steaming cup of coffee or TEA*".

These purple yam shortbread cookies are small, but they are big on sweetness. Even a hearty cup of English Breakfast tea couldn't quite balance the sugary taste. But, as a petite sweet for your tea table, it's a fun and unexpected addition.

Cheers to a delightful tea time, filled with old and new finds from Trader Joe's. We look forward to more future TJ tea treasure hunts be they traditional, convenient or unexpected. "Ube" the judge on that one!

*emphasis added by author of this blog

Tuesday Tea and Tomes: "King Lehr and the Gilded Age"

King Lehr tells the story of the Gilded Age couple, Harry Lehr and Elizabeth Drexel

"King Lehr" is not a Shakespearean tragedy, but it certainly shares elements of the narcissism, deception and power grabs of the bard's great play. 

"King Lehr and the Gilded Age" was recommended to me by a docent of The Elms when we visited the Gilded Age mansion in Newport, Rhode Island last month (and, more of the adventures of that trip coming to future BTS blogs stories, to be sure!)

BTS visits Newport - more blogs stories to come!

The author of the book, which was written in 1938, is Elizabeth "Bessie" Drexel, whose portrait (which also dons the cover of her book) hangs today in The Elm's ballroom.

"King Lehr and the Gilded Age" is a firsthand account of a time, to borrow (again) from Shakespear, when all that glittered was not gold. In the late 19th century, Bessie was a lonely young widow from a well-respected family of New York's upper echelon. Her world would change drastically upon meeting Harry Lehr, her social climbing second husband.  With little money of his own to support his taste for expensive clothes, dining and travel, Lehr parlayed his good looks and charm to fill the void of a recently ostracized doyen of Mrs. Astor's elite 400, Ward McAlister. 

Mrs. Astor  (picture on display at the Rosecliff mansion)

Seeking a suitable match for his aspirational lifestyle, Harry Lehr courted Bessie and her family fortune, winning her over quickly. A marriage date was set and fanfare ensued - that is, until the first night of their honeymoon, when Harry told his new bride he would not be joining her in the bedroom. Oh, and not just for that evening, but every evening going forward. Harry proclaimed the marriage was one "in name only", that he did not love Bessie and never could. 

Mystified as to why Harry would marry her, he confessed to Bessie it was all for her money.  And, although their union would not be consummated, Harry promised he would give Bessie much attention publicly and, with his charisma and her money, they would have access to all the best homes and parties locally and abroad.

Devasted, Bessie weighed her options. Her faith, and a frail, sickly mother were just a few of the factors that contributed to Bessie's decision to stay with Harry Lehr. A commitment that lasted - for better or worse - twenty-eight years.

Rachel outside The Elms

Being a Gilded Age enthusiast and reading a great deal of books on the topic, I've come across the abbreviated story of Bessie and Harry many times. It's usually written in a rather sympathetic tone towards Bessie. And, while I agree, she was certainly taken advantage of and Harry's apres-marriage declaration was a horrifying way to start a life together, Bessie isn't completely above reproach. Her life with Harry was glamorous and, due to her husband's ambition and personality, the couple were entertained by royalty throughout Europe.  She notes her husband's foibles and members of her social circles' faux pas, but never her own (and, as it autobiographical, she is entitled to her own "spin").  But I found some discrepancies in her tales such as her "Cinderella story" of Henry Flager's third wife (neither 35 nor an undistinguished servant). More importantly, however, she was offered some "escapes" from her marriage to Harry Lehr and she opted not to take them. One might suppose that, perhaps, she was not all that offended by her "jet-set" lifestyle (of course, before commercial jets) and relished it more than she admitted.

Elizabeth Drexel's picture hangs today in The Elms' ballroom

The most off-putting element of her story, however, is blatant racism. Difficult to excuse, even though these were "different times".  As a victim of circumstances as she proclaimed, a bit more sensitivity would be in order. 

In her final act, she pens the book as "Lady Decies" as she married Baron Decies after Harry Lehr's death. Perhaps titles meant more than she disclosed?

And, don't be enticed by the book's final entry "Extracts from Harry Lehr's Locked Diary". There are no revelations or exposes - just journal entries of venues and menus.  As exciting as my shopping list for Kroger's. 

Overall, with credit to The Bard, methinks the lady protests too much. 

All that glitters is definitely not gold and this Gilded Age tale is a testament to that sage adage.