tea times two to celebrate national tea month!

While in my house, every month is Hot Tea Month (Coffee. Ick!), January is officially National Hot Tea month. So to celebrate, I started off the month with two afternoon teas out with good friends at new spots. 

Around New Year's, I trekked out to Sierra Madre with friends to have lunch at the Four Seasons Tea Room. This is a cute converted house with two tea rooms and a back patio (that was closed for winter, but looks super cute -- might have to come back in the summer). 

The tables are covered in lace tablecloths and doilies and the tea is served on pretty china. There were three of us, so we were able to order two pots of tea. They make their own blends, and we chose the "Holiday" blend, which was cinnamon-y, and a traditional English Breakfast. Both were very good.


We had the "Afternoon Tea," which comes with five tea sandwiches -- cucumber and dill, egg salad, tarragon chicken salad, roasted bell pepper with sundried tomato, and a very yummy banana bread with cream cheese. We ate them all before I remembered to take a photo (sorry!), but I will warn that the sandwiches were smaller than at most tea rooms I've been to. I was afraid we wouldn't get full enough but then they brought out the scones...

In case you haven't read my past blogs on my adventures around LA's tea rooms, I LOVE SCONES!! And these scones, were warm (actually HOT) out of the oven. And they were DELISH! They were plain (no fruit baked in), but were lightly brushed with butter. And did I mention they were hot out of the oven? Clotted cream and a sweet raspberry jam + warm, buttery carbs = HEAVEN! I was no longer worried about leaving hungry :)

 

Next they brought out the dessert plate. The chocolate truffle was a tad too chocolate-y for me -- I could have used a big glass of milk to wash it down... it was that chocolate-y. But the other two desserts were two of my faves: lemon bars and homemade shortbread cookies, dusted in powdered sugar. Mmm.

Overall, I give the Four Seasons Tea Room two thumbs up! It was definitely worth the trek east. (Well, the tea plus the shopping visit to Savor the Flavor down the street where I bought some amazeballs Tequila Lime peanut brittle and a canister of Hot Cinnamon Spice Harney & Sons [you guessed it] tea!)

A couple of weeks later, I took my super-sweet goddaughter Olivia and her mom Alicia to Afternoon Tea at the American Girl Store as a belated Birthday experience for Livie.

Now don't laugh at the fact I'm blogging about this. For a store specializing in driving small girls insane with new dolls every year, and tons of clothes for those dolls, and the ability to then make appointments for those dolls at the in-store beauty salon and photo studio, the food at this tea was surprisingly good, while also being totally kid-appropriate.... and doll-friendly. (We got a table-attaching booster chair for Olivia's doll, Little Livie, and they bring out a little tea cup for the dolls too!)





As a starter, they bring out a basket of cinnamon buns. Then you get to choose your beverage... anything from tea or hot cocoa to lemonade or juice. Alicia and I had tea. Livie had lemonade.

Next, the three-tiered tray of tea foods arrives, and with a few exceptions, it's very like any other tea. (The main exception is every item is named after one of the famous American Girl dolls...thank goodness Livie was there to explain this to me ;) The top "pastry" tier that would normally be scones (sniff!) had more kid-friendly food: "Cecile and Marie-Grace's Petit Fruit Muffins," "Kaya's Fresh Fruit Kabobs" and "Julie's Jello Smiles."

The next two tiers were the tea sandwiches -- soy butter and jelly, turkey and cheese, cucumber and cream cheese -- plus pigs in a blanket! The sandwiches were all cut into cute shapes like hearts, stars and flowers. And they were all very yummy!

Then it was time for dessert! 

Chocolate covered strawberries, a vanilla custard fruit tart and chocolate mousse in a flower pot, which was my fave -- not too chocolate-y, but just chocolate-y enough.

It was really fun, and a great way to introduce kids to tea. And they get you in and out in an hour... so we had plenty of time to shop afterwards. Little Livie now has a fluffy white cat named Tutu, and Tutu has a nice new kitty bed :)