Birthday Tea for 4...
Celebrating a birthday with an "event" is my favorite way to mark the beginning of a new year. My friend, Lynne, and my sister-in-law are both turning a year older this week so the three of us and my mother-in-law, Betty, enjoyed the afternoon at The Grand Tea Room in quaint downtown Escondido.
We spent hours savoring the ritual that is tea and the pleasure of each others company. It was an event to remember.
We spent hours savoring the ritual that is tea and the pleasure of each others company. It was an event to remember.
While drinking tea as a fashionable event is credited to Catharine of Braganza, the actual taking of tea in the afternoon developed into a new social event some time in the late 1830's and early 1840's. Jane Austen hints of afternoon tea as early as 1804 in an unfinished novel. It is said that the afternoon tea tradition was established by Anne, Duchess of Bedford. She requested that light sandwiches be brought to her in the late afternoon because she had a "sinking feeling" during that time because of the long gap between meals. She began to invite others to join her and thus became the tradition.
"There are few hours in life more agreeable
than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
-Henry James
than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
-Henry James
1 comments:
Looks like a wonderful afternoon, ladies style! I love tea so much and cannot go enough! We will have to dress up and sip some fine tea when we visit!
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