Welcome to Tea Time 2025. These posts will be about Tea Rooms we’ve been to, Teas we’ve given for friends and family, Church Tea events, and High Tea in restaurants from 2008 to the present. Tea in the U.S.A., Tea in England and Tea in Canada. Many of the Tea Rooms are no longer in business, which is sad.

Greg and I lived in Camarillo, California from 2006 until early 2010 while Greg worked in Thousand Oaks. We bought a condo in Camarillo for that time period. This next tea is from our Condo and it is a tea I hosted in February of 2009.

Welcome to my Friendship Tea. I’m a table leader for our Women’s Bible Study at my church and I invited the ladies over for tea. It was fun putting together a tea table.

Our Bible Study Women’s Leader is part of my table and it happened to be her birthday on the day of the tea so we had an extra celebration.

We had 3 different types of tea,  an Earl Grey, Peach Herbal, and a Russian Black Tea.

Cucumber- Basil sandwiches, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Scones, Dream Cookies, Heart shaped Red Velvet mini cakes, Mock Clotted Cream and Lemon Curd and Strawberries.

The Places were set and designated with these fun vase place card holders.

“Such items, if properly prepared and portered, jingle and tinkle, twinkle and shine, as if to announce their approach, and all the cups and saucers, the silver spoons and the sugar bowl, the steaming hot water and the shining strainer, the teapot and the plate of delicate sandwiches – all seem to combine and say as one, “Let your worries cease for now; the world is aright again!” And in the welcome pouring of the tea and the delightful crunch of the cucumber and cress sandwiches, not to mention the promise of the coming cakes and the possible surprise of strawberries and cream to follow, all else is held at bay: the past is forgotten, the future does not exist, and all is peace. ”

Toad Triumphant ~ by William Horwood

These are the recipes that I thought worked well for my tea…

Mock Devonshire Cream from If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie Barnes ~

1/2 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup sour cream

In a chilled bowl, beat cream until medium-stiff peaks form, adding sugar during the last few minutes of beating. Fold in sour cream and blend. Makes 1-1/2 cups.

Cynthia’s Chicken Salad (from Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader)

4 cups diced cooked chicken
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Combine the chicken, pecans, green onions, and celery in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir into the chicken mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cucumber-Basil Tea Sandwiches (from Victoria ~ The Pleasures of Tea ~ Hearst Books)
1 – 8 oz. package softened cream cheese
2 Tablespoons half and half
2 Tablespoons snipped fresh chives
1 unsliced loaf or 12 slices rye or wholewheat bread
1 English (seedless) cucumber, cut into thin slices
24 fresh basil leaves

In a medium-size bowl, beat together the cream cheese and half and half until it is the consistency of soft butter. Stir in the chives.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the bread and top with several slices of cucumber and a basil leaf. Serve the sandwiches immediately, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes: 24 Sandwiches