Alice's Tea Cup, Chapter II, 156 E 64th St, Manhattan, NY 10065
Savannah: Paris Market Cafe
Savannah is one of those places that has incredibly delicious food, the most friendly of locals and lots of lovely quaint shops. I'd never heard about The Paris Market before, so visiting the shop was a special treat. I think I might have spent a good afternoon perusing the beautiful merchandise and sipping tea (and of course, a cookie) at the lovely little cafe....
Savannah: Back in the Day Bakery
Location:
2403 Bull Street
Savannah, GA
31401
One thing at the very top of my Savannah list of places to visit was the Back in the Day Bakery. I'd seen it on Jamie Beck's blog and she highly recommended it on the list of must-sees she gave me.
On a rainy day it was an amazing, indulging breakfast pit stop.
I mean, biscuits and jam? I could have those every day.
(Also, who knew that I could have been sitting so close to one of my Instagram connections - wow, small world!)
TEA WITH: Ana + Alaina at Tatte
Location:
318 3rd St, Cambridge, MAI had the pleasure of having tea with these two lovelies recently, after a wonderful afternoon at this place.
Here we are at Tatte Bakery, one of the cutest bakeries in Kendall Square. A bakery that is not new to my Instagram feed!
As part of a new series, here I am having tea withAna and Alaina.
Vancouver: Granville Island's Public Market
I love a good market. Vancouver's Granville Island's Public Market is ah.mah.zing. The only snag, not being able to buy fresh produce that I could actually take home. Hmm...although, I did buy the most insanely divine Ice Wine Chocolates from Rogers' Chocolates and beer from Granville Island Brewing Company (so my priorities may be questionable) BUT I must say, the beer served us well during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Anyway, I digress. Back to the public market....where the selection is vast and the freshness, out of bounds.
For lunch, I had fish and chips (obviously) from Celine's and I had to make a stop at the famous Lee's Donuts (as seen on tv) after which I parked myself at the Granville Island Tea Company with a pot of Earl Grey admist a crowd of market goers.
Come with me to smell the peonies, maneuver pyramids of fruit while oogling the abundance of fresh fish...
The Taj is fit for a Queen (aka Mother's Day)
By Queen, I mean, of course, MOM.
Although our reason for Afternoon Tea at the Taj recently were for a reason other than Mother's Day, I'm recommending this age-old custom to those of you looking for a Mother's Day outing.
Afternoon Tea has never been more elegant than at the French Room at the Taj in Boston. Located at the corner of Newbury St. and Arlington St, the Taj overlooks the beautiful (and especially lush at this time of the year) Boston Public Garden.
Once seated, service is gracious and attentive with beautiful live music wafting through the elegant high and chandeliered ceiling.
The Taj Royal is $38 and comes with finger sandwiches, canapes, tarts, scones, dipped strawberries, with clotted cream and lemon curd.
The tea selection ranges from white, green, black, oolong, herbal and chai, so there's definitely one for everyone. Reservations are recommended and be sure to wear your most floral clothes. We sure did.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
NEW: Little Nicky's Coffee
Location:
375 Queen St. W. Toronto
Open only 4 weeks now, Little Nicky's already seems to have a cult following of donut lovers.
Mini donuts, that is.
Made on a cute little mini assembly line.
Old-fashioned, little, powdery-sugar-and-cinnamon-covered deep fried goodness.
We love the retro, dinery vibe, and with Ray Charles playing in the background, "A.Mat" said it reminded her of The Cosby episode where the family performs Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time". See video here.
One thing they might want to add to their menu however, is Earl Grey tea. Orange Pekoe (from Tealish) just won't cut it, even if IS loose-leaf and IS quite delish!
Still, with lovely iced lattes and happy little donuts Little Nicky's is already becoming a definite favourite at work this hot summer.
Vermont: Stowe, Black Cap Coffee
Location:
144 Main St
Stowe, VT05672
On Main Street, is the Black Cap Coffee shop, a quaint, picturesque coffee house, exactly how you would imagine there to be in a ski town.
For coffee, teas, hot chocolates, you can't go wrong. I didn't try any of there delectable delights, although the Easter sugar cookies were calling my name...
A tea to go and ready to explore a bit, although everything was closed for Easter...except Shaw's General Store...still, it made it easy to go back to our hotel.
This is London: Harrods
Location:
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 0NA, United Kingdom
An afternoon at Harrods means afternon tea at Harrods, which is something to be savoured, not devoured. Macarons from Laduree were the best part, much better than the first time I had the french confectionery.
As elegant and sohpisticated as the dining experience was, something (perhaps the lobster rolls or salmon sandwiches?) didn't sit quite right afterwards with us and I realize it's not "proper" to say so, but there it is.
A feast for the senses, I especially liked the food halls on the ground floor, which we couldn't leave without buying armfuls of marmalade (how could you not?)
Christmas time at Harrods can't be missed, if only to take in the beautiful window displays outside, which Liberty London also does so well!
Here, a glimpse into the flurry that is Harrods starting, of course, with tea...
San Diego: Chocolat
Location:
509 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
To me, there's nothing better than a warm croissant and coffee or tea with breakfast.
Nothing.
Except, maybe with bacon.
Chocolat in the Gaslamp District of San Diego, appears to be a gelato/dessert bar, but they have warm croissants and pastries as well, served right to your table if you wish to sit down to eat for breakfast.
Which I did, savouring the moment (like this stylish patron was).
Their gelato spread looked divine, and is definitely worthy of a second visit!
DIY: Create a 3-tier Stand
This is the best Martha Stewart idea I've ever implemented into my own parties. It's the DIY 3-tier stand for cupcakes or sandwiches!
It's ridiculously easy and looks fantastic in any table setting, especially when covered with pretty edibles. (This can also be done with paper plates, if you wish)
You will need:
3 plates of 3 sizes, large to small
2 bowls of the same size, but smaller than the plates
1. Take a large square plate, (can be square or round, I prefer square)
2. Place one bowl upside down on the 1st plate
3. Add a smaller sized plate on top of the upside down bowl
4. Repeat with remaining bowl and smallest plate, TA DA!
If that wasn't the easiest thing, ever, I don't know what is!
Add whatever fancy finger foods to each tier, and there you have a 3-tier stand!
Frugal Fare #7: New York City: Angela'S Rock N Roll Deli
Location:
1428 6th Ave, New York, NY
Sometimes you just want simple bacon, eggs n' toast for breakfast. Add pototoes in the mix and I'm in heaven.
For $6?
Can't beat that.
I love NYC.
Boston: Francesca's Cafe
Location:
564 Tremont St, Boston, MA
Everyone talks about the South End, so we made it there this past Sunday - it was cold you guys, and everything was closed! Why do they do that? Made it to Francesca's Cafe in a frozen state and thawed out nicely with a hot chocolate, tea and a tuna melt (apty named for this occasion). Oh, a pretty cupcake made the cut, too.
Cambridge: Atomic Bean Cafe
Location:
904 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
When my bro-in-law, who used to live in Boston, was visiting in the Fall, one of the areas of Cambridge that he wanted us to see was Central Square. We walked around and checked out his old place and then were in the mood for some hot chocolate and tea. One of the first places we found didn't serve hot chocolate, the Starbucks had no seating and we found a funny organic health food place that served buck wheat and sprouty type drinks, which we were definitely not in the mood for. We finally ended up at Atomic Bean Cafe, which was well worth the wait.
Amsterdam: Hilton Hotel: Half Moon Lounge
It was raining pretty hard as soon as we arrived in Amsterdam, and it remained fairly wet and quite chilly throughout the trip. As soon as we got to The Amsterdam Hilton, made famous for John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Bed-In-For-Peace", all we wanted to do was have a quick bite to eat and some tea. So, while we waited for our room (not the John Lennon/Yoko Ono presidential suite, alas), we dined at one of the hotel's resturants, the Half Moon Lounge. We ordered some teas and a falafel sandwich with a side of fries. How amazing was this sandwich? And the service was wonderful and unintrusive while we relaxed by the huge canal side windows. Highly recommend this hotel, which has beautiful rooms and bathrooms with gorgeous canal views and a spectacular breakfast buffet, which may make an appearance on Foodhogger, later.
