Surprise Birthday Tea Party For One

Yesterday, my birthday,  around 11 am, I decided it would be best to get a shower in, I started to run the shower and heard an unexpected knock at my door. Wrapped in my towel, I opened the door to three smiling nieces, standing way back and offering me their hand made cards and a bag containing a tea party for one from Vancouver's Secret Garden Tea Room.

My sister who lives here and my sister who lives in London, arranged a take out order and picked it up to bring me to enjoy! I did not even realize that my nieces and nephews in London (and brother in law) were on Facetime on the phone and saw me in my towel! I was completely shocked and surprised. I absolutely loved everything in the special bag. The sandwiches were perfect, the scones delightful and the treats spectacular.  My sister for the last 10 years has made me lemon pie for my birthday, he birthday is the week before mine and when our mom died, she continued to make me the lemon pie my mom used too.  She made them into tarts for me to fit the theme.

Even with social distancing, I had a very enjoyable birthday. A friend and her daughter dropped of a gift bag, and my new upstairs neighbor, dropped me off this lovely plant. Thank you to all who reached out and made me feel appreciated and special on my birthday.
I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Secret Garden Tea Room In Vancouver, BC

This past Sunday a friend and I went for High Tea at the Secret Garden Tea Room in Vancouver, BC. I have been here four times and this Sunday was particularly busy and very loud. Despite how loud I found the tea room, I loved the presentation and the food items offered. The service was also really lovely.

I had the Secret Garden Tea, which was a lovely and light fruity, vanilla black tea and it paired well with what we ordered. The Egg pinwheels are always a favorite of mine, simple, classic and clean. Lovely! The Chicken Croissant was very good and the croissant was almost as good as the one I had in England. The Mexican Beef Tartlet was served cold and while very flavorful, not at all what I had expected for a high tea flavor, much stronger than the other three sandwich offerings.

The scones were picture perfect and divine! House made raspberry jam and the Devonshire cream, perfection!
The treats on the top tier a chocolate pie, an apricot pie, with icing, and the lemon tart were the perfect sweets to finish this three tiered tray. I think the lemon tart was my favorite but that Chocolate was hard to beat!

Our table had sugar cubes in a chipped cup and saucer, which looked lovely, but I hated to see such a pretty set with this chip! I still prefer a sugar bowl.
All in all it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Check out Secret Garden Tea Room on their website by clicking here. 
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a tea room review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A trip to Vancouver's Secret Garden Tea Room

Well it is February first and I read 19 books last month. I had hoped to finish 20 in January but it was not meant to be. Here is a sneak peek above of some of the books who's reviews I will be sharing with you in the coming days.

Yesterday I had the most wonderful tea party with a wonderful group of friends at The Secret Garden Tea room here in Vancouver. We had the demi tea and it was lovely.

My demi tea consisted of a cup of tomato soup, two sandwiches, scone and cream as we as the chocolate cake and the lemon tart. It was a lovely lunch and I had to order their zucchini muffin to take with me. I had the Creamy Earl Grey tea as well. The food was good but the company was so much better. I have an amazing group of talented, smart and amazing women I feel lucky enough to have as friends. I can not wait to have them over for tea at my place soon.
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy tea room review. If you are finding yourself in Vancouver do check out The Secret Garden by clicking here.
I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com