Hands Across The Water

Was the royal wedding just a week today?  Did you think the excitement from across the pond was over? Fear not, have I got  treat for you!  The lovely Miss Pickering from swinging England has written a  guest post just for us.   So read and enjoy and think of England for god's sake, don't think of me running around the flower shop with what GG calls "crazy lady in the bus station eyes".  Cheers! (and Thank you Oh Lovely One)

"Write about tea, an English tea with a posy of flowers" she said

So here i am guest blogging about tea. An honour if ever there was one. Jane's blog is not only informative, gardening tips and tales of countless husbands, but a community, where we all come to hear tales, and give our tuppence worth in the comments. I shall endeavour not to upset the applecart. 

So tea, all English people drink tea, and gin, and occasionally water.  I have 4 varieties of tea, 6 of gin. I like a strong blend in the morning, and an Earl Grey in the afternoon, gin thereafter. The green tea is not mine, i don't know where it came from. Odd. 

Always make tea in a pot, leaf or bag, one per person and one for the pot. Pour into fine bone china, and add milk or lemon. Never put the milk in first, and never add milk to Earl Grey, your card will be marked, and you won't be invited to the next ball.

  

It is a legal requirement to have cake with tea, i favour a scone with clotted cream and roasted rhubarb. Do you have clotted cream in America? It is a very rich thick cream with a crust on top, your arteries fur up as you eat it, but oh my it is an exquisite pleasure. If you are having a fancy tea, you might have several varieties of cake and cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Claridges  http://www.claridges.co.uk/london-mayfair-afternoon-tea.aspx   do it so well, it would be rude not to go if you were ever in town. 

One might also arrange some activities a game of bridge, a tinkle on the piano, wink at Mr. Darcy in his breeches, or arrange an assignation with him under the rose arbour.

Naturally it will all be served in the presence of a posy cut from your garden.

 

In reality of course, we English all drink cappuccinos in paper cups, just like on Sex and the City.