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| Make sure you have a little plate for your sandwiches! |
This afternoon the office had scheduled a tea party in honour of a colleague who is having a maternity break. A virtual tea party!
Now I am a massive fan of tea parties. Tea parties are possibly my favourite among parties - especially the kind that take place in the better sort of hotel and come with all the necessary accoutrements.
Unfortunately I lack the needed moolah to have tea parties in such expensive places very often, and also the patience to book them three years in advance, as seems necessary to secure a slot these days.
I have to admit, I feel insulted if I have to book slots. If I can't swan into the place of High Tea Snobbery at any day and time I feel like it, winking at the doorman while advancing towards my favourite table with the determination of a well-trained panzer division, I go into a huff and depart in high dudgeon, never to return.
As a newly opened eateria in Oxford, called The Ivy, recently found out to their cost. They actually had the temerity to install a little man at the entrance, who stopped potential customers, and then insisted on showing them to whatever table he considered appropriate for them! I didn't like the one I was shown, asked for a different one, was rejected - and left immediately with a haughty look on my face. Honestly, who do they think they are?
Nowadays most tea places cater to the tourist trade, and although I find most tourists relatively easy to subdue (most are noisy and in a hurry, which is detrimental to enjoying a proper tea), it is nevertheless unpleasant to have to do so. And given the prices such establishments charge these days, I have regretfully given up frequenting them overmuch.
Instead I have retreated to my home, where I now celebrate Afternoon Tea most days, provided I am there at or around 17:00. Usually I do this in the Parlour, which receives the afternoon sun and is very pleasantly furnished, and ideal for that sort of thing.
However, since the office tea party was virtual, I remained upstairs in my home office, which has the large screen and headphones that are so very necessary for a proper office tea party.
I prepared the sandwiches and laid the little table in my office during my lunch break, so all I had to do before the event started was to brew the tea.
Punctually at 15:00 the party started - I was dead excited!
It was very jolly and we all enjoyed it immensely, although I have to admit I was just the teeniest bit disappointed by the plebeian understanding of 'tea party' my colleagues exhibited. You know what I mean, mugs and things .....
Nevertheless I can wholeheartedly recommend office tea parties, and hope you will all indulge in them as often as possible during this trying lock-down period. Do make sure you use your best silver and china, though.
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| Keep the tea table away from your work desk, to avoid spillages |
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| A small embroidered table or tray cloth, and a cheerful china pattern, always improve the tea table |
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| Two different types of sandwich, and at least one type of fruit or vegetable, make for an interesting and healthy Afternoon Tea. Today I had salami and egg-salad sandwiches, and strawberries. Also a few biscuits, of course. I tend not to have scones, or cake, though do occasionally have some seed cake. There is no need for too much stodge! |
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| Do invest in a little silver-plated cake stand - it enables you to have all your food in a small space, and adds an air of gracious refinement to your tea table. Afternoon Tea is an elegant meal, and should be celebrated, rather than scoffed. |
