one lump or two

well, so much for keeping up with the jones's! i have one busy week--and one very nice weekend at home--and i forget to update the one thing i had resolved to keep up with. dear, oh dearie me. here's taking another stab at it.

i mentioned a couple weekends ago that my friend elli was in town. while she was here, we made a pilgrimage to the queen mary tea shop. it's a little salon about the size of a postage stamp and has all the copious floral decoration you would imagine comes with a name like "queen mary." there were cherubs hanging from the ceiling and everything. seriously. tremendous (okay, mid-sized) cherubs just dangling in all their gold-painted glory. i think one of them may have had a trumpet. but i suppose that's beside the point.

the point, dear pretend readers, is that this place was wonderfully charming. the above photo was my lunch. smoked salmon quiche. mmmmmmm. i need to learn me how to make some quiche. everyone gets his or her own personal sterling silver tea pot, and each tea pot has a cute little infuser that fits right beneath the lid. the tea stays warm for almost two hours. i don't know how this works, but however they accomplish it, it's pretty sweet. and it kept me from having to drink the earl grey that my lunchmates had agreed on.

besides being a restaurant, inside there's a little shop that stocks every possible color of tiny tea pot and a really delicious assortment of... wait for it... just a little longer... i know the suspense is killing you... yes... tea! i got something called "andes merry mint." apparently, it's a red bush tea. i have no idea what that means, but it tastes like french vanilla and mint at the same time. i wish i could buy a little tin for every tea lover that i know.

places like this always give me the feeling of being transported. i sit up straighter, i feel daintier, i feel more cozy. even with the cherubs, who may or may not give me the willies. i wish that i could exist in a world that felt that cozy. looming adulthood certainly doesn't feel all that warm and inviting, but i'm determined to find the sweet things in it. things like wonderful afternoons with good friends always seem to help.