High tea porn

[rachelmanija]

When I was a kid in India, I was addicted to Enid Blyton's very English books in which kids have adventures and eat a lot. In particular, I longed to have high tea-- something which, for all our culinary wealth, is not readily available in Los Angeles. But one of my very favorite restaurants stepped into the breach, and today Mel and I went to Clementine for high tea.

I had a pot of peppermint tea and she had a pot of camomile, and then came the food: a trio of teeny "lovely tea sandwiches" with the crusts cut off, of which the mutual favorite was the gravlax with dill creme fraiche-- very delicate. Also egg salad with watercress, which is my usual sandwich but next time I go there I'm getting the gravlax, and chicken salad with apples and grapes on pecan raisin bread. Next were warm currant scone with lemon curd and clotted cream. I had never had clotted cream before, and pictured it as a sort of unappetizing lumpy curdled milk. Turns out it's actually similar to whipped cream, but heavier; almost the texture of frosting when you spread it on cake. Incredibly good! Then "assorted dainty sweets"-- a crumbly nut-covered raspberry thumbprint cookie, a light-as-paper chocolate meringue sandwich cookie, an apricot petit four with a teeny C in yellow and teenier leaf frosted on to it, and a cinnamon sugar twist thing with a German name that was the best of all.

The waitress accidentally brought us the dainty sweet platter twice. I wasn't going to say anything, but Mel did, but the waitress let us keep it anyway. So we got our money's worth and more. At the end we got teeny chocolate truffles which caused us both to jerk our heads back and inhale when we put them in our mouths. The blast of concentrated chocolate was like throwing back a shot of Scotch.

Last year I won a raffle to get a free grilled cheese sandwich every day I showed up for Grilled Cheese Month, when they do a different type of grilled cheese sandwich every day. In April. Dammit. I'm switching it over to Mel for the first three weeks, to her vocal glee.

Mel's baby stayed home with Daddy, but Mel reports that she now weighs ten pounds (six at birth) and looks like Winston Churchill.

http://clementineonline.com/

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Our favorite place, the Tea Garden, closed. It was decadent.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely! Last time Mom and I were in Bath, we had cream tea at the Pump Rooms (primarily so we could say "Last time we were in Bath, we had cream tea at the Pump Rooms"). Very good, even if it hadn't been in the Pump Rooms. XD

(Don't know if you've ever been to England or Bath, but they filmed the Pump Rooms scene in Persuasion in the actual Pump Rooms, where they set up the tables for tea.)

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Clotted cream is a wicked, wonderful thing.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

It is my firm belief that all children look like Winston Churchill on a bender somewhere around the 6-8 week stage, when their head is jowly AND wobbly at the same time, and smiles are still infrequent.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

There is not one, but two, tea houses near my house (both part of a franchise called Lisa's Tea Treasures). If you're ever up here, I'll take you out for afternoon tea.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

GUH

You killed me. But I greatly enjoyed it.

At the end we got teeny chocolate truffles which caused us both to jerk our heads back and inhale when we put them in our mouths. The blast of concentrated chocolate was like throwing back a shot of Scotch.

I liked all the description, but this esp was neat.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, high tea. IMO, clotted cream/Devonshire cream goes best with strawberry preserves/jam, especially with good chunks of fruit.

Yummy!

[(Anonymous)]

When you get back, have tea at the Huntington Museum's tea room (you'll need to reserve), then wander the gardens as a digestive aid. You'll like the whole experience a lot.

Did you know that High Tea is usually a good-sized meal, sort of a mini-lunch to tide one over until a late dinner? The "high" doesn't mean "fancy," so much as "big." (One of my sources for this is Michael Smith's THE AFTERNOON TEA BOOK, from which I make Grasmere Gingerbread.) Another source, which I can't lay hands on since the books are packed, said that high tea was much appreciated among farmers, where the food is unpretentious and substantial, and meant to get one through the last of the day's work. Which is a nice thing.

But in the U.S., we hear "high" and think "exalted." So here, a High Tea consists of very rare and delicate food. Which is also a nice thing.

--Emma

[majinkarp.livejournal.com]

I love high tea! Next time you come to NY, I'll take you to Tea & Sympathy, my favorite tea place. They have many of the things you mentioned, and more.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, "The next time you come to New York, we'll have to go to Lady Mendl's or Tea and Sympathy." Tea and Sympathy has better food, but Lady Mendl's has better atmosphere. Usually I will privilege food, but Lady Mendl's isn't *bad*, it's just not as *good*--and, seriously, the atmosphere! Best service EVER.

[isquiesque.livejournal.com]

Hello there. Here via Yoon recommendation.

*Adored* this sentence: " The blast of concentrated chocolate was like throwing back a shot of Scotch." Perfect description. So well put!