High Tea

Today I was invited to a High Tea. It's the first one I ever went to and I could really get into these events. The ladies all were required to wear a hat. If you didn't have your own the hostess had a bed covered in all colors and styles of hats to chose from. We all looked so dignified in our hats and we sat at our tables and waited patiently for the party to proceed. Each table had a hostess to serve us and so we were expected not to get up and move about the room. Each table was beautifully decorated and the dishes matched throughout the room. There were spaces for 18 ladies. She had 8 different flavors of tea. The tea started out with scones. We had the choice of two different kinds. A lemon poppyseed and a cherry pear scone. They had devonshire cream, lemon curd and raspberry jam to spread on the scones. Next, they had a fruit bowl filled with small chunks of frest fruit. Apples, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, and maybe more but I can't recall them all. With the fruit there was a dish of raspberry cream sauce to serve on top of the fruit. Then the trays of sandwiches were brought out. All in different shapes with different kinds of bread. A chicken salad with tiny pieces of cranberry and cashew nuts, an egg salad, a cucumber with cream cheese, and a rolled up sandwich containing an asparagus and havarti cheese all wrapped with a pretty pink ribbon. Then for dessert there were all kinds of homemade cookies. There were iced sugar cookies in the shape of a tea pot and each one a work of art and all different, and a mushroom shaped meringue, a walnut pastry, a striped chocolate and vanilla layered ice box cookie. It was all so impressive. So much work went into it and I guess these ladies put this tea on once a year. I felt so priviledged to have been invited and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't able to eat too much but I did eat enough to be satisfied. Made for a fun afternoon.