Downtown Tea

We met friends today who live near the downtown area of Houston, and tried a restaurant that advertised an afternoon "High Tea." Our friends K & B have traveled extensively, and have had High Tea in other countries, so they knew what to expect. I've been to quite a few tea rooms since living in Texas, and I have a lot of books on tea parties and services, so I knew what to expect as well.

This afternoon's tea, in all our opinions, wasn't as "high" as it should've been, and I doubt very much we'll go there again for tea of any sort. The place to go for "High Tea" in Houston is the St. Regis Hotel, but they couldn't get reservations there because they're booked up so far in advance.

It was very easy to get reservations for today's tea, which should've been our first clue. But we all went, and enjoyed the afternoon together, so it wasn't a total loss. The desserts offered today were very good and there was a nice variety-- chocolate cake squares and tiny cream pies, French brioche (cut into slices) and raisin scones, and cute little apple tarts. The little sandwiches (chicken salad, salmon, cucumber) were lacking in imagination and they were all on tiny squares of white bread. No wheat, no whole grain, nothing fancy there.

The waiter offered us various kinds of tea in a beautiful wooden box, but the tea brands were those which can easily be found in any of the local supermarkets. The tea cups were too big and clumsy to hold, and by the time you were half-way through with your cup of tea, the remaining tea in the cup was cold. I was so tempted to ask the waiter for "boiling water next time," but I kept that request to myself.

On top of every other tea rule that they chose to break, the hot water was poured into our cups and then we just put our teabag of choice into the cup. No teabag holders for the used teabag, so that had to rest on the saucers, and the waiter didn't remove the teabags till he was clearing the table.

High tea indeed. I think this restaurant just wanted to do something between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00 to bring a little extra money into their cash register. "Let's serve some tea and tiny sandwiches and sweets and call it 'high' tea. No one will know the difference."

The four of us agreed not go return there for high tea, low tea, or any sort of tea. But as I said, it was a great afternoon with K & B.... plenty of good conversation and a lot of laughs. We met them at their home, which has been undergoing a transformation from a one-story cottage-style house to a two-story Victorian. This construction has been going on now for a few years... the upstairs is completed except for interior finishes and plumbing fixtures, and today the painting crew was there working on the outside. They're making it a true "painted lady" house, with 7 colors on the outside. With all the trim and "gingerbread," it looks like something out of an architectural digest. They expect every bit of the work to be done in the next five years. Seems like such a long time, but after the upstairs rooms are completed, they will renovate the downstairs rooms.

Every time we've gone there, we always have something new to look at. One great thing about their home--- they turned their garage into a guest house. They call it the "Casita" (little house). So cute... it has a living room with a small kitchen, full bath, big bedroom, and there's a small deck and Japanese garden right on the side of it. Very private and peaceful and welcoming. So of course sometimes I look at our garage and think: "Let's see... our garage is as big as theirs... we could easily do that."

But then I come to my senses...... if I'm going to put that much money into the backyard area of our house, then we should be able to swim in it, not just have a "casita" waiting for out-of-town guests.