Category Archives: Tea Rooms

Tea ~ 9*1*1 Tea ~Pasadena

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.

This next post is from April 5th of 2009. I marvel at the energy and stamina my younger self had sixteen years ago! This post was titled ‘Oh What a Saturday’.

The whole experience yesterday had the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream. What’s the word I’m looking for?

We woke up on Saturday morning and realized our modem had died in the night. Before the rest of the world woke up and we could call about getting our modem replaced we left for a hike in Sycamore Canyon. It was a great heart pumping hike and for the first time we heard some rattling noises. I was concerned it might be a rattlesnake but Dear was pretty sure it could be some kind of bird.

When we came home we called Verizon to let them know their modem died and what our options were. We were so pleased that John from Verizon arrived early in the afternoon and replaced our modem and gave us some great additional information about our T.V. options.

We had a tea in Pasadena planned for my mother’s 85th birthday. Nine of us were meeting for Tea at the Rose Tree Cottage at 4:00. When my sister Vera and mother arrived my mother was tripped up by an uneven sidewalk and landed flat on her face splitting open her forehead just above her left eye. She was bleeding quite a bit. We were all at her side and helping her get more comfortable on the ground and trying to stop the bleeding. My SIL Letty who is a nurse and the rest of us mothers realized by looking this was going to need stitches. You just learn those things over the years. We heard sirens and the paramedics arrived. My poor mother was so upset that she would miss the tea she asked the paramedics to just put a band-aide on her forehead. They were very sweet and told her they would have to do what was best for her. We also knew she’d need further tests because the split on her forehead was very deep. When the fire engine pulled up one of the firemen saw my sister Kathy and said hello Mrs. W. and gave her a kiss (we Russians greet each other with a brotherly kiss).  He’s the one in the sunglasses reassuring my mother. Our oldest sister Kathy went to the Emergency room with mom in the Paramedic’s van.

So what should the other 7 of us do…go ahead with tea or not??? Well we were going to have to pay for the tea if we enjoyed it or not so we decided to go ahead with the tea. It was really weird not having the guest of honor with us and we all felt a bit guilty my sister Kathy was missing out, too, but it was just what the circumstances handed us.  My sister Kathy gave us updates while we were at tea. When we finished tea we headed to the emergency room a block away. On the way I managed to back into a block wall and give my car bumper an owie! Sheesh! I never back into stuff…

It was finally determined my mom did not have any bleeding in her skull so after she got stitches they released her at 11:00 PM. I was happy to finally make it home and crawl into bed.

My mother is in a lot of pain. Her left eye is swollen shut. Please pray that all will go well and she will heal up soon and that the swelling and pain will subside. Thank you all for your prayers and concern for us. I really appreciate it :0)

Update on Monday night: My mother is doing a lot better! Thank you so much for your prayers!!

Our dear Mom was called up to heaven on September 13, 2013. That was four and a half years after this tea time.

I didn’t write this in my original post but this was not a tea room I’d recommend. The owner wouldn’t let us take any photos inside (for security reasons). He said he’d take one photo of all of us. This tea venue is still open from what I can gather online. I read some of the reviews and the owner still has the silly no photo rules with weird explanations why…

We’re moving into the Memorial Weekend here in the U.S.A. I’ll have a Memorial Day post up for Monday. We have a very warm day in the forecast for Monday!

Tea ~ Tudor House Santa Monica

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.

This post from March 17th 2009 was about a birthday tea that Willow and I drove to Santa Monica from Camarillo to enjoy.

My walking Bloggy buddy Willow was blessed to be born on St. Patrick’s Day (which makes her exempt from the wearin o the green) I was born on the 14th of March. We decided to celebrate by taking tea in Santa Monica, California yesterday. Willow happened to have the day off and we worked it to our advantage.

We drove south along the coast to Santa Monica. This British Corner on 2nd and Santa Monica Blvd. has the Tudor Tea Room and Bakery,  Ye Olde King’s Head Shoppe, and a British Pub.

You can see Willow’s reflection in the mirror. Darn! We forgot to have someone take a photo of us taking our tea!

Look at that! They set all the tables in Willow’s favorite china pattern…Willow! We enjoyed eating our food and drinking our Earl Grey with these great Churchill plates, cups and saucers.

We headed for Ocean Blvd. to catch another glimpse of the Pacific before heading home.

Tudor House in Santa Monica closed it’s doors in 2012.

Tea ~ Country Village

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.

Back to the year 2008 and to Madam Fifi’s with more of our family.

After our very successful trip to Goodwill the ladies arrived at Madam Fifi’s Tea Room at Country Village in Bothell for an Afternoon Tea. This was the day after Thanksgiving in 2008.

Madam Fifi (Christine) had our lovely room all ready for us. The usual after Thanksgiving Goodwill shoppers were in attendance and this year we inducted Pat (my DIL Laura’s mother) into the group. Katie, Laura, my sister Lana, sister-in-law Letty, Pat and me for tea.

We each chose our tea and enoyed a relaxing time.

Our sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, lemon curd, and sweets were divine!

 

Tea~ Port Gamble

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.

This next post was from July 17, 2008.

On Wednesday afternoon Josh, Laura, Michelle and I took the Ferry from Edmonds to Kingston for High Tea in Port Gamble. The Tea Room at Port Gamble is in an old Victorian house on the main street in this little town. You get off the ferry at Kingston and follow the road to Highway 104 headed for the Hood Canal Bridge. When you get to the 25 mile an hour speed zone you know you are close. You can’t miss it and it’s a delightful afternoon stop!

The name of this Tea Room was, The Tea Room at Port Gamble.

Josh was such a good sport to play along and don a hat, too. He had never been to High Tea and we discussed just how civilized it is. Of course none of us had to wear hats but we were just in the mood.

I think the highlights for us were the wonderful scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream and then the chocolate fondue at the end of our tea. Duhliscious!! (I miss-spelled that on purpose!)

We strolled through the little town and enjoyed the architecture and unique little shops. Took the picture of the Artful Ewe for you Willow!

My son Josh and our DIL Laura

Do you see the sign the antique dealer has under her cash register in her shop? It says “YOUR HUSBAND CALLED – And said you can buy anything you want” On the way out of town we stopped at the Anglican Church.

From the cemetery we could see the Hood Canal Bridge and we commented that we should drop in on Dave and Beth but we didn’t call ahead and our afternoon was turning into evening.  Maybe you can meet Katie and I for tea sometime in Port Gamble Beth!?

At the cemetery Josh spotted this engraving on one of the tombstones. “Remember friend as you pass by, As you are now so once was I, As I am now you soon will be, Prepare for death and follow me”

Sobering thought or it could be taken as an encouragement to prepare ourselves for the inevitable by making decisions today that guarantee our future in Glory when we meet our Creator…

Well we decided it was time to head back to the ferry dock and journey across the Puget Sound to Edmonds and onward. But what did we spot on the way back…

CB’s Nuts! A small Roasting operation right off the main highway. We made a U-turn and headed back after we zoomed by too fast to stop. We are glad we turned around. We met Mr. Roasting Guy and he sold us some fresh peanuts, pistachios, and peanut butter.

Can’t get too much fresher than this!

At the ferry dock while we were waiting for our boat I zoomed in for this shot of Mt. Rainier and downtown Seattle. If you look closely you can see the Space Needle to the right of the rest of the buildings.

Another fabulous day in the Greater Puget Sound! To end the day we met my other kids, Dan and Katie, at PF Chang’s for dinner. A very full day that made this lady pretty tired but joyful.

There is a current open tea room in Port Gamble.

Tea ~Queen Mary Seattle

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.

This post is from May of 2008 when my sister Lana, our daughter Katie, daughter-in-love Laura, and I spent a day in Seattle enjoying tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room and time at the Japanese Gardens. The original posts are from June 2, 3, 5 and 10, 2008.

This last weekend my husband and I took a quick trip to our home in Washington. On Sunday my sister Lana (Above the Clouds) and my daughters had reservations for Tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle, Washington. So of course my T is for Tea!

 

The table settings were beautiful with a different tea cup and saucer for each of us to enjoy.

Our Tea food was delicious and plentiful. We started with 3 flavors of sorbet with a butterfly lavender shortbread cookie, Scones, Crumpets, Quiche, Sandwiches, lemon bread, and a variety of sweets. Of course we had clotted cream and jams to go with.

Laura my DIL, Katie my daughter, and my sister Lana G!

All the lovely Tea accessories and amazing assortment of Teas. Each of us had our own pot of tea. I had Lavender Earl Grey, Lana had Jack Fruit (a staff favorite), Katie had a Mango blend, and Laura had a Chai blend.

On the way home from our tea party we stopped at the Seattle Arboretum and visited the Japanese Gardens so we could see this Japanese Tea house where Katie is studying the Art of Japanese Tea for one of her University classes.

The 4 of us were really in awe of God’s glorious creation and how He has given man the eye to plant and plan the beautiful landscape in this garden.

This is the tea house on the grounds of the Japanese Gardens where Katie attends class every Thursday to learn the Art of Japanese Tea.

“I finally received my yukata! Here are some pictures of me wearing it down at the arboretum. Don’t judge my obi tying too harshly, this was the first week that I dressed myself without help from my friend Mika or my teacher.”

It’s Spring so the Rhododendrons and Wisteria were in their glory.

I can almost guarantee that my sister Lana paid for our Tea Time even if the original post didn’t record that.

I’m happy to report that the Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle is still open for business!

Later I’ll include some posts about Katie’s Japanese Tea class and the Art of Chado.

Tea ~ Tranquility Thousand Oaks

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 were living in Camarillo, California from 2006-2010. Willow and I met through blogging when we figured out that we both lived in Camarillo. We met for coffee and then became walking buddies. This post is from April 18, 2008.

Oh what a delightful haven we found for Tea in Thousand Oaks. Willow and I had reservations for a mini tea on Wednesday Afternoon. We arrived at Tranquility Tea Room which is in an office space on the 2nd floor of a building set back off of Thousand Oaks Blvd. When we opened the door we were delighted with what we saw.

Lots of China, Antique furniture, Lace, hats, fresh flowers, and tea accessories.

We chose our table and settled in for a lovely time.

Willow decided it was OK if I took a photo of her at our table.

We enjoyed looking at so many pretty things and then our food started arriving.

Aprils menu included Blueberries ‘n Cream Scones, Orange laced Mini Swirled Scones with their homemade lemon curd and Tranquility cream. Then there was a choice of Gourmet Tea Sandwiches. I chose the Cucumber a la Provencale and Caramel Apple Brie with Pecans. Willow chose the Caramel Apple Brie and the Chicken-Almond Salad. For dessert I chose the Lemon cheesecake triangle and Willow chose the Strawberry Tart. It was all very fresh and tasty! The touch of fresh flowers that adorned the food and plates added such a visual treat. We found out that Candra’s mother does the flowers for her. Oh who’s Candra?

We met Sue (who graciously served us) and Candra (on the right). Candra owns and operates the Tea Room. We had a nice long conversation about Tea rooms and ministry. Here’s something I copied from her website about her and the Tea Room.

Tranquility Baking and Tea Room
Seven years ago, Candra Coogan began a baking business with a desire to help a local charity. She began delivering cheesecakes dressed in Victorian attire and donated 10% of her sales. Her business grew into a successful catering and baking business specializing in tea parties, and in December she took the next step, opening Tranquility Tea Room on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Tranquility Baking Company was created in order to help support a special recovery program for homeless Moms, The Lighthouse Women and Children’s Mission located in Oxnard, California.

What a wonderful ministry. They have a vision to move this tea room into a Victorian house in the Ventura/Oxnard area. That would be such an ideal setting. Thank you Sue and Candra for your wonderful hospitality and your heart for service to the community.

We highly recommend the Tranquility Tea Room to anyone who loves Tea in a comfortable, beautiful setting, with expertly created delicious delicacies. Can you tell I was impressed!

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”
Chaim Potok

As with many of the tea rooms we’ve visited in the past this one is also closed permanently.

T is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Wednesday April 23rd and we are on the letter T.

T is for Tea and Tea Rooms and High Tea and Tea for Two and a Table full!

Growing up, tea was the hot drink served most regularly. When there was ‘company’ involved with a meal, it was served at the end of the meal with some sort of sweet treat.

It has only been in the last 18 or so years that going to a tea room and enjoying high tea has been on my radar.

I love this photo of our daughter Katie drinking tea in our rented apartment in April of 2004 in Edinburgh.

Tea tables and tea times became front and center during my early blogging years.

This Blog-a-Thon at Gracious Hospitality by LaTeaDah lit the fire and inspired many table settings and hunting down tea rooms.

Living in Camarillo and closer to my California family for a few years (2006-2010) inspired planning tea times with family and friends. The first one was to celebrate our mom’s 85th birthday in 2008. We gathered at The Gilded Rose Manor Tea Room in Northridge, California.

SIL Kelly, Niece Melissa, Niece Jessica, Sister Kathy, Nadia~Mom and Babushka, Sister Vera, Niece Debbee, Niece Michelle, and me.

Our mom sharing words of wisdom.

There was a lot to learn about photography in those early years of blogging.

This was a fun tea room and it’s sad to report that it is no longer serving tea like many other tea rooms we have visited in the past 15 years.

There are too many tea experiences to try to post them all here for ‘T is for Tea’ this April. Maybe in May I’ll do a tea room or high tea experience a day until I run out of them.

Happy Wednesday everyone. If you are looking for Wednesday Hodgepodge it is the post before this one.

Hello Spring Hodgepodge

We are doing the happy dance because it is officially Spring!

Our local ‘kids’ treated me to a birthday meal on their mountain last Friday. It was fun to be together and enjoy some vitamin D outside watching the Grands on their bikes! We’ve been enjoying the glorious sunshine and temps above 60 the last several days.

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce for hosting!

1. Spring is officially upon us, no matter what the weather may be in your neck of the woods. Is there any ‘spring cleaning’ on your to-do list? What’s your most dreaded task? 

I would say washing windows inside and out. But…I don’t have to dread it because the window washer is only a phone call away and he’s efficient and inexpensive.

2. What’s something many people seem to love, but to you feels like ‘watching the grass grow’? 

Nine innings of major league baseball.

3. Mint grows in abundance during the spring season. Are you a fan? What’s your favorite food with a ‘minty’ flavor? 
I am a fan of mint.
Ina Garten’s recipe for Tabbouleh is a favorite food that uses fresh mint. Here’s a link to the recipe.

4. It’s been said, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ Agree or disagree? Explain. 

I suppose I agree. When something you enjoy isn’t available anymore you miss it and add an extra layer of fond memories to it that can make it seem even more important in your mind.

5. Are there any festive spring events in your city or town? If so, will you take advantage of them? 

Our best Spring events are celebrating Easter and the birthdays of our Grands. Today is Addy’s birthday and we’ll all be together to celebrate her birthday this weekend. JJ’s birthday is in the April, so we’ll gather again to celebrate him. I’ll say a lot about Easter next week.

Happy Birthday, Addy! Baba and Gramps can’t wait to celebrate you!!

The one in town event that starts back up in the Spring is our Farmer’s Market and I do take advantage of that.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Greg and I are having a little escape in Idaho doing many things that I’m fond like good restaurants and a large variety of shopping. The photo below is from a High Tea that I was able to enjoy in Idaho.

We are traveling home today so I will be late in coming around to see how you feel about mint.

Tea in Coeur d’Alene

We are having a little getaway to our neighboring state of Idaho. We traveled on Monday morning and our first stop was at the Inland Café & Tea in Coeur d’Alene.

 

I enjoyed the High Tea. The scone was so fresh and warm and delicious.

My favorites of the little sandwich bites were the chicken salad and ham with pepper jelly.

I was able to choose my teacup from all of these and chose one with the daffodils.

Greg chose a hot sandwich for lunch. A turkey brie sandwich with a cup of the soup of the day.

We enjoyed and would recommend this spot in Coeur d’Alene for their fresh and good tasting food.

We left the cafe and shopped at a few spots before we checked into our hotel. After we checked in we tried Happy Hour at Bardenay Restaurant and Distillery close to our hotel. It was good and we enjoyed conversation with a couple who moved to Idaho from Alaska fourteen years ago.

Today we hope to walk along the Centennial Trail, shop, and enjoy two more new to us restaurants for lunch and dinner.

Grateful to God for all the abundance that we enjoy with peace and joy.

Tea for Two at The Feathers

 

After some time walking about the town of Woodstock we were able to check into our room and get freshened up for our High Tea reservations in the hotel dining room.

 

 

Earl Grey was my choice for tea.

After our tea we took a leisurely stroll to get a glimpse of Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

We walked to the end of High Street where these gates to enter the Palace grounds were. Happy to see a side gate open for us to get onto the property.

The end of a long day of walking we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

On Thursday September 22nd we planned to visit Blenheim Palace outer grounds more thoroughly and pay to enter the Palace grounds, too.