Sweet Shalom Tea Room – November 2020

We had another delightful visit to the Sweet Shalom Tea Room in Sylvania OH last Sunday for their 11:00am seating. David and I met up with dear tea friend Betty Hill. The theme for November is “Friends-giving”.

Doing a Google search came up with several explanations for the meaning of “Friendsgiving”…

Friendsgiving 101: The Origin, Date and Traditions

www.totallypromotional.com/blog/friendsgiving

Oct 24, 2018 · Friendsgiving is a gathering of close friends to share the spirit of Thanksgiving. A shorter definition is “Thanksgiving for friends.” Friendsgiving is sometimes the only Thanksgiving celebration for people who live far away from relatives, or can’t make it home for the traditional holiday due to school, work, weather or health reasons. Some people choose to spend the holiday with friends instead of the family due to estranged relationship.

What Is Friendsgiving? Here’s How This Popular Trend Started …

www.allrecipes.com/article/what-friendsgiving

Like mashed potatoes, the name Friendsgiving is a mashup of “friends” and “Thanksgiving.” The gist is to celebrate the American holiday with your best friends, while feasting on turkey, stuffing, pie, and other traditional fare. There is no set date to host this event — pre- or post-Thanksgiving works just fine.

www.merriam-webster.com/…/friendsgiving–meaning

Friendsgiving is a mashup of the word “friend” and “thanksgiving” that refers to a large meal among friends eaten during the Thanksgiving season. The level of formality is dependent on the participants, but the word first appeared around 2007 as an informal replacement for the holiday typically spent with family.

Personalized menu for the November theme of “Friends-Giving”

Oaten Scone with regular butter and apple butter

Three tier server filled with delicious savories and sweets

Roast Turkey with Cranberry Tea Sandwiches
Broccoli Salad in Corn Chip Cup
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Sweet Potato Streusel Pie with Whipped Cream

Wild Plum Tea Room

On our way home from the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC, we decided to take a side trip to Gatlinburg TN. While in Gatlinburg, I looked up to see if there were any tea rooms in the area. The Wild Plum Tea Room showed up in my search and had good reviews. So off we went looking for it. We drove around the mountains outside of Gatlinburg for an hour or more before we finally found the tea room! It was 2:45pm in the afternoon and the tea room closed at 3:00pm. We decided to venture inside just to look around but once inside we were invited to sit and have tea. And so we did!

I shared with you in an earlier post our elegant Afternoon Tea experience at the Biltmore Estate Hotel. The Wild Plum Tea Room was a whole different experience…for you see it was located in a log cabin! The Wild Plum staff was so friendly and the food delicious. Truly a memorable experience from start to finish!

Downton Abbey Exhibit at the Biltmore Estate

One of the reasons for our trip to the Biltmore Estate in November 2019 was to see the newest traveling exhibit about Downton Abbey. David and I had visited the Downton Abbey Costume Exhibit at the Winterthur Decorative Arts Museum in Delaware many years ago and that exhibit was phenomenal…even though at that time it only covered the first three seasons of the popular PBS production. So we were excited to see this latest exhibit which was to encompass all six seasons plus the Downton Abbey Movie.

Biltmore Estate staged this Downton Abbey Exhibit in two locations on the Estate. In the one location, exact replicas of the downstairs kitchen, formal main dining room, and Mary’s bedroom were staged in their full size. In another location, costumes from the series and movie were on display.

The costume exhibit at the Biltmore was a modest version of the one we saw at the Winterthur Museum and it lacked the pizazz of that exhibit as well. But it is always a thrill to see the show’s beautiful costumes in person, seeing the exquisite details of each garment, and thinking about the characters who wore them.

Here are a few pictures of the Downton Abbey Exhibit at the Biltmore Estate…

Costumes from the early years of Downton Abbey

Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson’s wedding attire

Various wedding attire from Downton Abbey

Gowns worn by (left to right) Lady Edith, Lady Mary, Lady Sybil

Blue gown with exquisite embroidered lace

Pink gown with diamond beaded design on bodice

White gown with intricate beaded design on lower tier

Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore Estate Hotel

Last November (2019) David and I traveled to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC to experience the Candlelight Christmas Tour at the mansion…and to see the Downton Abbey Exhibit on display at the Estate.

It was totally awesome to see the largest home in America all decked out for the holidays! In addition to enjoying the festively decorated mansion, we savored gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate in their courtyard huddled close to a patio heater (it had turned cold and rainy), we further explored the mansion with “behind-the-scenes” and “up to the rafters” tours, and had Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore Estate Hotel. I will say it is the most expensive Afternoon Tea we have ever enjoyed of but it was elegant, the tea food tasty and well presented. The dessert plate was the best!

Here is a pictorial recap of our lovely Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore Hotel…

Inside the Biltmore Hotel looking down the stairs to the Dining Room where our Afternoon Tea would be served.

Looking from our table across the Dining Room with our fellow Afternoon Tea guests

Hot tea served the true English way with loose tea leaves in the pot and tea cup strainer…
David’s favorite way to enjoy tea!

Tiered server of assorted scones and condiments

Served plate of tea savories…
Grilled Vegetable Wrap, Cucumber Sandwich, Sausage Roll, Butternut Custard Tart, Smoked Salmon Mousse

“Welsh Rabbit” they called “Blushing Bunny” –
cheese sauce over toasted bread, garnished with grape tomatoes

The decadent dessert plate – we each were served our own plate of these delicious little beauties!

A Biltmore Christmas

It is difficult to find the words to encompass all that we experienced at the Biltmore Estate last November (2019) when we traveled there to see it decorated for the Christmas season. It was all so spectacular! The huge House, the expansive grounds, the glittering decorations, the decadent treats, even the changing weather! It was a trip worth doing and hopefully we will do it again.

Biltmore Estate is the largest home in America and sits on 8000 acres of rolling countryside in Asheville NC. George Vanderbilt began construction of his 250-room “French Renaissance Chateau” in 1889. There are over four acres of floor space…with 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and includes an indoor heated swimming pool and bowling alley. The House was completed in time to celebrate Christmas with family and friends in 1895. This year (2020) marks its 125 anniversary!

Here is a link (copy and paste into a new tab) to explore more about the Biltmore Estate history…

biltmore.com/our-story/estate-history/

With the sun setting over the Biltmore Estate, let’s go inside and take a peak at the breath-taking holiday beauty as it transforms to its evening glow.

Entrance Hall with lighted garland radiating from the central chandelier

The amazing octagonal sunken Winter Garden atrium in the evening with a caroling choir in place

Poinsettia trees adorn the Winter Garden atrium

Dueling harps waiting for their time to make music in the Winter Garden atrium

Beautiful pair of illuminated trees near the Winter Garden atrium

The massive fresh evergreen Christmas Tree in the Banquet Hall

The long table in the Banquet Hall looking very festive

A trio of illuminated trees in the Dining Room

An inviting table awaits in the Dining Room

Beautiful tree at the base of the Grand Staircase

Grand Staircase tree with a chandelier halo

Halloween Dining Table

David and I had our meals on trays in front of the TV for years. For some reason I am not quite sure of, David has been wanting us to sit at the dining room table to enjoy our meals together. Maybe being home so much now, it is an escape from his upstairs office during the day and being in front of the TV in the evening. So I have taken to keeping the table fun and festive for our dining pleasure.

I posted earlier about the autumn table and food inspired from the September-October TEA TIME MAGAZINE. Today’s post is the dining room table decorated for Halloween. Hope you enjoy!

“Be-Witched, Be-Dazzled & Be-Jeweled” Halloween Themed Tea – October 2018

My last autumn Themed Tea was a Halloween “glam” one called “Be-Witched, Be-Dazzled & Be-Jeweled” held during the month of October 2018. The color black was the dominate decor feature, with silver rhinestones and purple accents. Witches and witch hats, spiders and spider webs were everywhere!

Each place setting had a different black/white/gold tea cup and saucer. White damask cloth napkins were decorated with a glittery rhinestone napkin ring. Witch hat candy favors were made from black glitter cardstock.

Glenda, the Good Witch, welcomed each guest to the Tea. She was constructed from an upside-down tomato cage frame, and clothed in layers of black and purple tulle. A grey wig over her Styrofoam head was topped with a beautiful witch’s hat. Purple fairy lights illuminated her skirt.

The three-course luncheon included a first course of White Cheddar Cheese Soup and Maple Glazed Pumpkin Scone with Spiced “Devonshire” Cream, second-course of Ghoulish Goulash, Black Plum Chopped Iceberg Salad with Plum-White Wine Vinaigrette, and Fly-By-Night Grape Salad. The finale dessert was a Chocolate S’more Parfait with a S’more-on-a-Stick…my inspired idea of putting mini-marshmallows on a skewer stick, brushing on chocolate and then coating in graham cracker crumbs. A chocolate drizzle finished the S’more-on-a-Stick!

Lila, Cristy’s Mom, attended this fun Themed Tea and had her special seat with her own tea tray.

Autumn Supper Tea

The creamware pumpkin teapot pictured on the front cover of the September-October 2020 issue of TEA TIME MAGAZINE inspired me to do a special autumn afternoon tea on our front porch. I posted about this tea on Sunday, October 18…“Tea Time on the Porch”.

Inside the September-October issue was more inspiration! Several recipes inspired me to do an autumn supper tea for my husband David and myself. I prepared four recipes from the magazine…

Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Maple Leaf Scones*

Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Tea Sandwiches*

Smoky Pimiento Cheese Tea Sandwiches.

In addition, I made Roasted Grape Tomato & Pesto Crostini, Mandarin Orange “Pumpkins”, and Maple “Devonshire” Cream for the scones.

I prepared the food and set the table a day ahead (Friday). All I needed to do on Saturday was assemble the sandwiches, warm the soup, and make the tea. This made for a more relaxing teatime supper!

Since a couple of the recipes (*) were from the section “Tea with Forest Friends”, I used my Mr. Squirrel knitted tea cozy (over a white teapot) for the centerpiece. This tea cozy was made by a lady who lives in the UK. Her Etsy shop is “CottageCosies”. Additional table decor included several autumn themed gnomes.

For the soup, I roasted a fresh large butternut squash…one from our country outing to a pumpkin produce stand earlier in October. I baked it (350-degrees for 1 hour) and similar to the way I baked the Mashed Potato Squash. Once cooled I added the cooked squash to the chicken broth mixture (32-oz. carton of chicken broth, 1 cup apple cider, onion and celery). I did not add any curry seasoning…not a fan of that taste. Instead I used ground cinnamon and nutmeg in addition to the salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. I also added some maple sugar which I had from making the maple scones. David pureed the soup mixture in his Nutri-Bullet. The soup turned out wonderfully smooth, thick…and super delicious!

Our tea of choice for our supper was Bigelow’s Earl Grey Black Tea.

“Harvest Moon” Fall Themed Tea – October 2017

This is my third Fall Themed Tea that I am posting during this month of October. This Tea’s name is “Harvest Moon” from October 2017. Pumpkins and autumn leaves are in abundance for the decorations. The layered color palette of orange, green, gold and brown reflect the seasonal landscape during a harvest moon.

We start our tour at the Dining Room Table and progress to the Main Dining Table. Since I did this Tea several times, pictures come from these various Teas. Best indicator is the floral favor, each Tea has different flowers. Included are pictures of the three-course meal and a special guest.

Personalized Menu Card and Fresh Floral Favor

Main Dining Table and Fireplace Mantle Decor

Main Dining Table with view of decorated tree and wall quilt

Autumn decorated tree and patchwork wall quilt (made by Cristy)

Pumpkin Napkin Fold and Sachet Candy Bag Favor

Chilled Sparkling Spiced Apple Cider Juice
(R. W. Kundsen brand)

Cinnamon Chip Pinwheel Scone (with Autumn Spiced Caramel Scone Cream)
Harvest Pumpkin Soup (with Ground Cinnamon garnish)

Meatloaf and Mashed Potato “Cupcake”
Sweet Corn Spoonbread
Apple Broccoli Salad

Pumpkin Cake and Caramel Trifle
Shortbread Tea Cookie

A very special guest with Soapy – Lila (Cristy’s Mom)

Sweet Shalom Tea Room – October 2020

On a gorgeous fall afternoon a couple of Sundays ago, David and I, along with our toy poodle Soapy, traveled to Sylvania, Ohio for our monthly visit to Sweet Shalom Tea Room. The theme for October…”Oct-TEA-Ber Fest”…a fun twist of the Bavarian tradition of Oktoberfest. The menu offerings consisted of an array of tasty German-style foods.