ladies tea....

P. told me when we talked, long before this weekend, that we would go downtown to a little tea room she knew about and do 'tea and crumpets'. What is a crumpet anyway? I can't say...other than to know that it is something that requires one to hold a pinky finger aloft when consuming...

When she told a neighbor about our plans, and asked if she, being a hot tea lover, wanted to come along. The neighbor, C, recommended a different tea room, on the east side of town, down towards Ringgold, even more frou-frou than the one in the downtown area.  So we collected C,  across the street, at around 10:30 this morning, and headed out for the Beyond The Garden Gate. Located in the old courthouse in Ooltewah. Nicely repurposed as a cute little venue, with a chapel upstairs available for rentals.

Oh, my gosh, at the frou-frou. Beaded lampshades, feather boas and vintage hats available for party-ers to wear: cabbage roses on the walls, floors, tablecloths, in vases on every mantel-piece. Four rooms downstairs available for parties, plus the upstairs space for weddings, private events. We were the first people there, but there were several other groups that came in before we left. When, once again, for the second time in less than twelve hours, I swore I would never eat again.

It was good, and fun, and remarkably filling for thinking that we were only having a cup or two of tasty tee and some cute little finger sandwiches.  I am pretty sure we had a full meal... mine was a croissant with veggies, a little cup of corn chowder, and the other two had something like a 'garden salad' plate with pimento cheese, scoop of chicken salad, a wiggly congealed salad and some other little odds and ends. Plus we ordered a couple of different types of tea, both very good, though I can't recall the names.

After we were pretty much stuffed, from starting with sconce and tea, through a full meal, we were compelled to order three different desserts. Which we shared, and then asked if there would be some place we could all go lay down for a little siesta. The staff probably hears that a lot, as they just all chuckled and gave us the bill. Which we paid, and waddled out the door.