Tea ~ George Washington Inn

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 was from February 22nd, 23rd and 24th of 2012

Between Sequim and Port Angeles on a bluff above the Strait of Juan de Fuca is a beautiful Inn dedicated to reflect the spiritual legacy that was the foundation of our country. Here’s a little recap of our journey for High Tea at the George Washington Inn.

We woke up to a significant wind storm on the morning of George Washington’s Birthday. We were hoping our ferry crossing on the Puget Sound would go well. We crossed with rocking and rolling and white caps in view.

We picked up Beth in the historic little town of Port Gamble and crossed the Hood Canal bridge without incident. When we turned the bend into Sequim we were hit head on with some gale force winds that made me keep a tight grip on the steering wheel. We were visually impressed when we turned up the driveway to the George Washington Inn.

How fun to have to be squinting in the bright sunshine! Despite the wind the weather treated us kindly.

What a wonderful surprise when we walked into the front door and George Washington greeted us!

He was kind enough to take a photo with us.

We were early so we toured the Inn before our tea time.

The Inn has great comfortable spaces and we enjoyed this sitting area before we headed into Tea.

The tables were set on the ocean front piazza, also known as a veranda.

First course included Black Forest and Lavender Cheddar Scones, Dried Cherry and Orange Biscuits, Fresh Lavender Biscuits and assorted flavored Butters and Jams. Beth reads my blog and she’s a real fast learner. After the first course she knew to pass me the service plate for photos before any of us took a bite. The drawback to eating with a blogger!!

Second Course included Petite Spinach and Swiss Quiche, Smoked Salmon Mousse-Filled Cucumber Cups, and Lavender Cream Cheese Turkey Finger Sandwiches.

Third Course included Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Assorted Petits Fours, and Rasberry/Lemon Lavender Cheesecake.

Tea served with each course was raspberry lavender black tea.

George Washington spoke to us during tea, sharing many interesting stories of his life leading up to his presidency.

President George Washington in portrayal is available for events and can be reached at vfrykholm@olypen.com

Katie won a bar of soap from Mt. Vernon for asking the president the best question of the day.

We were blessed during our tea time with views of more than one rainbow over the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

A stop at the gift shop on our way out for some lavender goodies to take home.

We also couldn’t resist sitting in the great rockers and squinting in the sunshine before we headed to our ferry crossing home.

It was a lovely day for High Tea at the George Washington Inn with Katie and Beth and of course with our first President.

Alas, this Inn is also temporarily closed as per their website.

Tea ~ Queen Mary

This post was originally from April 28th 2011.

Since Friday is the big day, my Friday’s Fave Five are all about the Royal Wedding! I know some people are yawning or even mocking the event but I choose to embrace it with hopes and prayers that things will go differently for this young couple and that their marriage will last as long as Queen Elizabeth’s reign. She’s been around a long time people!

On Wednesday after booking Katie and Andrew’s wedding venue we decided to have tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room to get in the mood for the upcoming wedding of William and Kate. The Tea Room is getting ready for the big event and is hosting a viewing party from 1:00 A.M. till 4:00 A.M. They have a special Royal Romance Tea for the occasion and a signature bubbly.

Katie wore her Princess Di ring. Well it’s not really a Princess Di ring but it is very similar and it’s fun to see Princess Di’s ring on Kate Middleton’s finger. Our Katie got her ring several years ago passed down from her Aunt Lana.

We enjoyed Cornish Pasties with salad and a very lovely carrot ginger soup with coconut.

Of course there were souvenirs that you could purchase commemorating the Royal event

I was tempted to get this mug to commemorate my Royal event this year!

I hope your week was a calm one instead of one filled with panic!

Are you going to watch Prince William and Kate’s wedding? We just gathered up a few of our British souvenirs and set them out for the wedding day. We even included the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Beanie Baby is the Princess Di Bear called Princess.

Back to the Present:

This post is a fun memory of many things, the Royal wedding, Katie and Andrew’s wedding and our time living in the Seattle area. Today is Friday May 30, 2025. It’s been mostly quiet this week. On Tuesday of this week my heels were injected with cortisone so we’ll see what relief I receive from that treatment against my Plantar Fasciitis.

In case you are wondering: Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammatory condition involving the plantar fascia, a thick band of connective tissue found on the bottom of the foot. This thick band of tissue extends from the heel to the ball of the foot and aides in support and stabilization of the foot (especially the arch) during walking and running.

Have a great weekend!

Tea ~ Three Cups of Tea

This post is from December 6th of 2009.

The girls in my extended family have started a Black Friday tradition of shopping at Goodwill and then going to Tea. We were so happy to find this relatively new Tea Room in Bothell, Washington. Three Cups of Tea has a well rounded combination of great teas, really good food, and a wonderful ambiance. We would all highly recommend it!! Lea Miller, the “Tea-preneur” has the perfect personality to run this Tea Room.

There is a main eating room with gift items displayed all around in great cabinets and then there are two specialty rooms divided from the main area.

The back of the business card reads;

First cup of tea as a guest

Second cup of tea as a friend

Third cup of tea as family

This is the Alice in Wonderland room. So delightful. We took our tea in the more formal room with the fireplace and it was lovely.

Letty, Katie, Katy K, Me, Lana, Grandma Wilma, Pat and Laura.

This was close to Laura’s birthday so it’s fun to honor her.

The ladies with their tea. That’s my sister Lana in the center photo. She treated us all on this day. She is so generous. Thank you Lana!

We were all happy with our food choices. Everything was excellent. Our tea included fresh scones with clotted cream, jam, and lemon curd, Soup and 1/2 Sandwich of our choice, and a dessert. Most of us had to take our dessert home.

Three Cups of Tea is worth a visit. You can pop in for breakfast, quick lunch or plan a more formal get-together. We’ll be back!

Thank you Lea for treating us like family. We appreciated you and your great staff!

We had a second visit to this tea room with a smaller group on Black Friday 2010

Again we were close to Laura’s birthday and it is always fun to enjoy something special with her.

We enjoyed this tea room twice and I think Laura and her mom visited another time, too. It is no longer in business.

Tea ~ 911 Tea ~Pasadena

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

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 ~Friendship Tea Camarillo

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

Tea ~ Country Village

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 ~ Madam Fifi’s

I recently posted a Tea Room we enjoyed with our mom in Northridge, California in 2008.

Today’s Tea Room is Madam Fifi’s which was in Country Village, Bothell, Washington. This Tea Room didn’t last long and now Country Village is also gone and replaced with condos.

In August of 2008 I took my little sister Lana G! to Madam Fifi’s in Country Village for her belated birthday lunch.

The following was written in 2008…

We went to Madam Fifi’s Tea Room in Bothell at Country Village. I was wanting to share this Tea Room with Lana and since this is a rare day when we are both in Washington at the same time we took the opportunity. We were both delighted with the Grand Tea.

Madam Fifi’s Grand Tea

Pot of loose leaf tea or iced tea of the day

Cup of soup or garden salad

Fresh seasonal fruit

scones with cream & lemon curd

Generous tea sandwiches—

Smoked salmon cream cheese with cucumber

Crab salad

Chicken curry salad

Turkey with raspberry cream cheese

Grand assortment of decadent tarts, cookies and pastries.

We had the soup of the day and it was wonderful. We also chose the Lady Londonderry Tea. We really enjoyed it and both ended up buying some to take home to savor. It is really hard to treat Lana to a meal. She is very sneaky about picking up the tab. Today I was going to finally win but Madam Fifi thwarted me and insisted on giving us her Grand Tea on the house! Thank you Madam Fifi. We love your establishment and we will be back.

Tea~ Port Gamble

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

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.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

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