7 June 2014-
Anybody know proper etiquette when it comes to partaking High Tea at a fancy schmancy hotel????
I could use a crash course!
Mimi's mom, Chrissie, invited me and several teachers from IST (and my friend Quay), to enjoy high tea with her at the Ritz Carlton hotel this afternoon.
Now, a little background info for you: I've read ALL the Agatha Christie mysteries and many other English novels that at often delve into one of the characters of the story partaking in high tea at some point during the story. And ever since I started first reading Agatha Christie I've wanted to see first-hand what high tea really meant.
Here's my chance!!!!
Chrissie booked for us high tea at this extremely fancy hotel in Tianjin, the Ritz Carlton. Gorgeous place! I've been to this hotel only once before (the Elementary school Choir had a Christmas concert here this past year). Oddly enough, this fancy hotel is RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from another fancy schmancy hotel (the Astor).
I've heard that high tea is more than just about the tea. It's about the food!
There's Ms. Lares! She's one of the grade 2 teachers at IST and she's from New Zealand. (oh, gosh…I do love NZ!!!!) And holy cow….check out the goodies that are MINE all MINE!!!! (we each got our own three-tiered tray of yummy delicacies):
I wish I could remember what tea I ordered…maybe pu'er??? Doesn't matter anyway as they seriously taste the same to me. I mean, I love tea, but I can't tell one tea from another (unless it's distinctly and -ahem- vastly different). After we finished this round of delightful goodies they brought out scones. SCONES! Oh, how yummy! Sadly though…they only brought out a teensy dollup of cream and jam. How am I supposed to load up my scone with cream and jam with that???? Doesn't matter. It was good!!!
Darn it! I missed getting a photo of all the lovely ladies together (I KNOW somebody has this photo. Why oh why didn't I take a photo????)
I feel a little guilty as I didn't know most of the ladies/teachers- many of them teach in the secondary school and up until recently I haven't had much interaction with secondary. Next year though. Oh my. Next year will be an entirely different ball game!!!!!