21 with a friend

Ever since I learned last month that the Rosie the Riveter Trust was putting on an afternoon tea in the garden of the Maritime Childhood Development Center in Richmond, I was jazzed! Several years back, I was a volunteer at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park so the opportunity to help the Trust help the NHP while doing one of my favorite things–enjoying afternoon tea–sounded fabulous!

My best tea pal and I took off from my San Jose home in the early afternoon today, headed to the closest BART station in my car. After a full length ride of BART’s orange line, we then walked about 3/4 of a mile in Richmond to reach our destination. The weather was about 15 degrees cooler in Richmond than it had been in San Jose, so we were pretty pleased with our plan for the afternoon. But my high expectations were dashed almost immediately after our arrival!!!

First off, this event bore no resemblance to an afternoon tea!

Afternoon Tea is a meal composed of sandwiches (usually cut delicately into ‘fingers’), scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cakes. Interestingly, scones were not a common feature of early Afternoon Tea and were only introduced in the twentieth century.
https://afternoontea.co.uk/information/what-is-afternoon-tea/

This tea, served buffet style, consisted of various fresh fruits–strawberries, grapes, etc., packaged cookies from a grocery, salted cashews, shelled pistachios, and Lipton’s tea! No sandwiches, no savories, no scones, no soup, no salad! It was basically a dessert tea on the cheap! We paid $50 each for this?!?

Secondly, the organizers rented pop-up pavilions to provide shade at each table. But the tables were set up on the concrete patio instead of the lawn, which meant they were not staked or tied down in any fashion. And Richmond was pretty windy today–it often is! While I was filling my plate with cashews and fruit, the pop-up nearest me literally blew off sideways! I was nearly hit by it! I was disgusted beyond belief at this point and immediately removed myself to a picnic table a fair distance away from the tea tables so that I could consume the minimalist fare without any danger of dying from being hit by a wind-blown pavilion! See the woman in the red jacket and the woman in the gray jacket in the left half of the snapshot below? Those two are literally holding down pavilion poles to try to stop any more pavilions from becoming airborne while other organizers are off looking for heavy objects to try to weigh down the pavilion legs.

Soon after my friend joined me at the picnic table, I noted that like me, she had selected a Russian Tea Cake for her plate. I warned her that it was awful. Did she have any confidence in my cookie critiquing skills? Nooooooooo! She had to immediately take a big bite! After two chomps, she literally made a face and REMOVED the cookie from her mouth! As she ruefully pointed out, that Russian Tea Cake was the only homemade (or maybe bakery made) cookie on the buffet table!

While we were laughing uproariously on our walk/BART/drive back home to San Jose, we both agreed that today’s tea was The. Worst. Tea. Ever.

Ambiance	★
Service	★
Food Quality	★
Food Quantity	★
Tea Quality	★
Value for Money	★
Overall	★

West County High Tea at Patisserie Angelica in Sebastopol, CA: 06/19/21 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Eight members of the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup made a return visit to Patisserie Angelica in Sebastopol, CA, last Saturday. Our Meetup was a virtual re-run of our 01/25/20 tea. The weather was lovely; the parking was super easy (and free!); the West County High Tea consisted of the same items as before (although the mini-desserts on the top tier and the scones were all different than last time); and since the Patisserie is a bakery, not a tea room, we didn’t have to give up our table for the next “seating” because there wasn’t any next seating! Since many of us were seeing each other for the first time since the pandemic shut us down in March 2020, not having to exit in a timely manner was especially nice.

And of course, Sebastopol is a great place for walking around after tea! Several of us helped out the local economy at my personal favorite shop there–Silk Moon!

Sebastopol’s downtown has a charming bandstand in the middle of a plaza, complete with benches, grass, and public restrooms, ALL of which add to the enjoyment of an after-tea walkabout!

Patisserie Angelica remains a yearly “must” for our Meetup group!

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	★★★★★

West County High Tea at Patisserie Angelica in Sebastopol, CA: 01/25/20 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Nine members of the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup kicked off the new year of 2020 at Patisserie Angelica in Sebastopol, CA, with the bakery’s West County High Tea. January 25th was a lovely day for the 2-hour drive from the San Jose area to Sebastopol. And the tea did not disappoint! Since Patisserie Angelica is primarily a bakery, their tea service was not as adventurous as that offered by some tea rooms, but the quality, quantity, and ambiance made for a very enjoyable afternoon tea!

We plan to make the West County High Tea a yearly event for our Meetup group!

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	★★★★★

Afternoon Tea at Pardee Home Museum in Oakland, CA: 09/22/19 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Fourteen of us in the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup enjoyed a Garden Tea today in the lovely backyard of Pardee Home Museum in Oakland, California. It was a heavenly experience! The temperature hovered in the high 70s, the food was plentiful and tasty, and the teacups were kept filled.

The first tier included homemade cheese crackers, mushroom savories, chicken salad in phyllo shells, and three different small sandwiches. Once everyone had finished, the Pardee volunteers cleared away those tiers, replacing each with a plate containing a scone for each guest. These were notable for their dainty size, their straight-from-the-oven warmth, and the generous quantities of clotted cream and strawberry jam in attractive crystal servers.

The meal was completed with a tier of tiny desserts. There were a couple I did not care for, which was probably best since there were FIVE different ones for each guest!

Although Pardee Home Museum is located adjacent to a freeway, this Meetup seemed much quieter and more relaxing than most of our tea venues. After we had finished the tea service, a volunteer tour guide joined us for an introduction to the history of the house, followed by a tour of the main floor, several rooms on the second floor, and best of all–the cupola!

I first discovered Pardee Home Museum several years back during a “tea and tour” at three historic houses in Oakland. I then led my San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup group there in November 2017 for a tea in the Pardee dining room, followed by our first Garden Tea there in August 2018. After today’s superb tea, I’m confident we’ll be returning again in 2020! The Pardee Home Museum afternoon tea is simply the very best there is in the Bay Area….

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	★★★★★