Afternoon Tea With Grandma

Hey there people of earth! (a.k.a who ever is reading this) It has not been too long since my last post but I would like to think a lot has happened. First of all, I added a new widget to my blog. It is just a list of 5 things; I plan on changing it once a month or when ever I get bored with the current one. This month’s is 5 Reasons To Be Happy! I just thought this would be something amusing for you to look at! 

Lake Louise Banff, Canada

Ok good, now that we are all clear let’s talk about something else that has happened recently. My grandma is in town! (YAY!!!) My grandma lives in Arizona so I only see her once or twice a year. I have been super lucky to be able to have seen her multiple times this year! I love her and try to make the most of my time with her. Hint: She is probably going to be reading this so . . . HI GRANDMA!!! Anyway the reason my grandmother is town is that my parents decided to go to Italy without me or my sister! Like what the heck man. So while they are away in the land of purses and amazing food my grandmother is watching my sister and I. Since my grandma is here we try to make the most of it by going to high tea. Even if this was only my second time I loved it. The first time I went to tea was in Canada this summer at Lake Louise with family! (picture for reference) The Lake and tea was gorgeous there and super fancy! (Warning, I love taking photos of food and fancy things so, there will be a lot of pictures.)

Pretty table setting

So at one pm on October 4, 2015, we went to the Grand America for High Tea! It was incredible! Anyway we arrived at the hotel, and we sat down at a cute little table with a couch and chairs. The table was set beautifully. The first thing the waiter did was put a little jasmine flower bulb in a glass with hot water. She then explained that it would rise and then bloom.  This was one of the coolest/prettiest things I have ever seen. The flower was incredibly cool to watch bloom.

Jasmine Flower fully bloomed

Then we order our teas. I ordered the Organic Spiced Berry tea. This was amazing and one of the best teas I have ever had. Once we order our teas we started with the first dish.  Strawberries and creme chantilly, which basically is a fancy way of saying thick whipped with strawberries. This was truly simple and I do have to say not tremendously fancy. This does not make it bad because come on who doesn’t love thick whipped cream with berries? We were off to a great start.

Strawberries and creme chantilly

Then we got our second course. (I’m not quite sure if I should call it a course or not. Oh well!) The second course was mini sandwiches and scones. I forgot to take a picture of this because I was just to excited to eat them. There were five different types of mini sandwiches. A cucumber with cream cheese and an olive slice on a piece of bread. A small piece of bread with egg salad garnished with a mini slice of tomato and chives. Then there was a bun with steak and other yummy stuff (sorry I forgot what was on it, all I know was that it was really good.) There was also a mini ham sandwich with swiss cheese. And finally, a mini bread loaf stuffed with lobster salad. They were all extremely good.

Yummy sweet treats

After we all ate the mini sandwiches we ate our scones. These are my absolute favorite. When you have scones at high tea they typically bring you three different spreads. A vanilla clotted cream, strawberry jam and lemon cream. All I can say about the scones is that I would perfectly fine if I showed up to tea and they only gave me scones. They are just that good. After that they brought out the desserts. Yes, the main food at tea from my past experience is that it's all sweets. Now I am not complaining, but it can be a lot. And when they brought out the dessert tray I almost died. I mean look at this! On the top you have three different homemade gum. Then on the middle plate there were citrus madeleines and strawberry jam filled cookies. The cookies were one of my favorites. Finally, on the bottom plate was French vanilla macaroons, a vanilla tart with raspberries, and a white chocolate mouse in a chocolate shell. It was all so amazing! I didn’t even get a chance to try them all! Everything was all to good, so I decided to save the mouse for later! 

From left to right: My grandma (Maria), Me, and My sister (Madison)

Selfie!

In the end, Afternoon Tea will always be one of my favorite things to do! If you live in Utah I would definitely recommend going to the Grand American. Click here for more info Afternoon Tea at the Grand American. I really hope that this can become a tradition that I have with my grandma and that I can do with my kids when I am older. It is a fun way to get dressed up and eat awesome food while feeling super fancy. I hope I can do this again and encourage everyone to try and go! Until next time!

-Morgan <3 :)