Holiday High Tea at The Hawthorn

Whew! It has been one busy weekend! It seems like I go for weeks sitting at home doing nothing, and then I have a weekend like this one with five events crammed into it. Well, at least I wasn't bored!

So after recovering from my fabulous time at the 5th Avenue (all that applauding wore me out!) I met my friend Jill at The Hawthorn Tea Room in Old Town (Tacoma) for a Holiday Tea. This was a pre-set menu with two different seating times. Here's the menu:

Isn't it cute?

The table was beautiful and they had these gorgeous bouquets at each one. I don't think you can see it, but they are sitting in a tea cup.

We started with a really yummy pumpkin soup.  It had just the right amount of sweetness so that it brought out the pumpkin flavor but wasn't overpowering. I also liked the texture. It was smooth, but still had a bit of a rustic feel with some small pumpkin pieces.

There were three tea choices, but unfortunately, none of them were Vanilla. Oh no! What to do? So I chose the Cranberry Creme. I was worried that it might be bitter as cranberries seem to be sometimes. But it was actually very good. The "creme" part must have helped because I actually bought some afterwards to take home for other people who aren't vanilla freaks like me. And I might drink some, too. Jill had the Cranberry as well, but also tried the Raspberry Chocolate Mint and said it was pretty good. I'm not a big raspberry fan, so I just stuck with my cranberry.

This is the pretty plate I got to use. I like how it doesn't have much of an edge so it just looks kind of flat. I don't know why I like that, but I do. I think it was part of the same set as the sugar bowl.

I love the little lady bug crawling up the flower stem. Are all sugar bowls huge like this? I am used to my little milk and sugar sets which are much smaller than this. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. If someone wants me to have an unlimited supply of sugar, who am I to stop them?

Soon our 3 tiered plate came out with all the goodies on it. The spinach feta triangles were good, and very hot. It was nice to have them fresh. My favorite was the mini croissant sandwich with cranberry-orange flavored chicken salad. I know it sounds a little strange, but it was very yummy. The cream cheese carrot sandwiches had a nice texture with the crunch and sweetness of the carrots.

Notice how the stuff on the bottom is all savory and the stuff on the top is sweet? See how the salty stuff is nowhere near the sweet stuff? Take note, Queen Mary Tea Room! Or, just start reading my blog like Laurie from the Hawthorn does. Hi Laurie!

We moved on to the second tier and I really loved the gingerbread scone. As we've already established, I like to do things the same all the time (Vanilla tea anyone?). So I normally get a plain scone so I can load it up with lemon curd and devonshire cream. For the gingerbread scone, I just put on the cream. It was VERY good. It wouldn't have occurred to me to try that flavor. I'm glad The Hawthorn thought of it for me. And the fruit cup was fabulous. The fruit was very fresh and was a creative mix. No hard honeydew here! They even made an edible phyllo cup for it. So pretty!

We finally moved on to the dessert tier. The gingerbread men were very good, not too strong on the ginger. These "Snow on the Mountain" cookies were my favorite. Probably because I was having a chocolate craving and these did the trick. There were lots of chocolate chips in it, and the frosting wasn't overly sweet. Plus, isn't this a good photo of it? I love it when my camera actually takes a decent picture. A little to the left you can see one of the cream cheese mints. I remember making this type of thing as a kid. It brought back good and bad memories, as I remember having fun making them, but then I ate an entire batch and got really nauseous. These were really yummy, but Jill wouldn't let me eat them all, so it was all good.

This is Laurie, one of the owners. She was very attentive to our tea needs and is fun to chat with. And she reads my blog. That means she is super awesome. And you should all go visit her at the tea room. All five of you. Go now.

As we were paying our bill, buying tea and talking with Laurie, her husband (who was helping out) reminded us to take our gingerbread cookies. I was confused, since we'd already eaten our cookies. But I said OK and paid my bill. As we started to leave, they pointed out the "cookies" that he meant. On the table were these cute decorations

It's a snowman that looks like a gingerbread cookie. And his little legs fold or hang off the end of the table. I assumed they were just for decoration, but we got to take them home! I, of course, proceeded to jump up and down. Presents rock! And it's so cute! Cute cute cute!

Overall, everything at the tea was wonderful and I had a great time talking with Jill. I will definitely visit again and again.