Tag: Afternoon Tea

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Outdoor Summer Tea Party

If you follow me on Instagram (@onemoresteep), you might have already heard about or seen photos from my outdoor summer tea party last week! If you missed it, or you’re interested in learning more about what went into the tea party, continue reading!

I started planning this back in May when I first stumbled across the teal and pink flamingo paper plates and napkins at a local dollar store – which is really when the whole idea started rolling. I also picked up an extra pitcher (for lemonade), the pink table cloth, and a green serving platter at my local dollar store as well.

There were eight people total (and two dogs!), and it was held at a local park that had covered picnic tables. It was actually a pretty awesome day, weather-wise. There was some overcast in the morning and it led to the entire day being a lot cooler than it had been in previous days.

Everyone got a pineapple or a cactus glass drinking cup at their seat – and this was also something that they got to take home as well. This turned out to be a huge hit. I got both the pineapple glasses and the cactus glasses from Stokes.

Food items that I brought included: ham, cheese & lettuce sandwiches, turkey & cranberry pinwheels (wraps that are sliced), egg salad croissants (inspired by Little White House), cheese rice crackers. Food items that my guests had brought: fruit salad (so many blueberries!), cupcakes, chocolate covered cream puffs (!), and brownies.

Of course, there was tea! I cold-steeped two fruit infusions from DavidsTea – Just Peachy and Strawberry Lemonade. I also made a pitcher of ‘regular’ lemonade using organic lemons and agave syrup.

Each guest was sent home with a little goodie bag consisting of honey sticks (from the Honeybee Centre), strawberry Pocky, guava candy, and little tins of tea (assorted varieties). The goodie bags for the kiddo attendees also included a sheet of tea-themed stickers.

As it was kid-friendly, I kept the food simple and nothing too out-of-the-ordinary, and I think it worked out pretty well. Especially since they weren’t kids I’m often around, I don’t know how adventurous they are with food. That said, the iced tea choices were hit between kids and adults alike, and pretty much all of the food was gone by the end of it so I would call that a success!

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Tea Experience: Bay Moorings

Bay Moorings Restaurant
Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver
High Tea $35 each

Bay Moorings Restaurant is located in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. For those who’ve ever gotten onto the ferry at that location, Bay Moorings Restaurant is literally across the street from the ferry terminal – so if you’re a foot passenger, it’s a stop you could make before getting on with your adventures. The views from their patio are amazing – you get the water with the marina, and then you can see the picturesque BC mountains.

Honestly, the view is gorgeous.

The High Tea at Bay Moorings features tea from Mighty Leaf. I picked the Organic Spring Jasmine (green tea) while my sister opted for the Organic African Nectar (rooibos). We received our teas in cute personal-sized teapots, the teas themselves were in tea bag form. Organic Spring Jasmine has a lovely jasmine aroma to it. This green tea steeped to a pleasant golden orange colour and had a great floral flavour to it. I did have my teapot refilled once, and the flavour was still quite strong, which made the tea enjoyable.

The food came in two tiers with the desserts on top and savouries on the bottom. For the savouries, there were four items each. There was a ham & cheese sandwich, a smoked salmon wrap, a pate and caviar open-face sandwich, and a ginger duck confit. I found the ham & cheese cheese sandwich and pate & caviar sandwich to be a little bit lackluster with nothing to exciting about each of them. The smoked salmon wrap itself wasn’t very picture-worthy, but the flavour was delicious. It had a lot of sauce and dill inside of the wrap though, and I think it might have been better with a bit less sauce inside of the wrap. The winner was the duck confit, followed by the smoked salmon wrap. The duck confit had a lovely ginger flavour, the fat was rendered beautifully, and the meat was moist and well-cooked.

Duck confit.

The desserts featured French macaron, tiramisu, panna cotta, and a slice of coconut cream cake. We each received a different flavour macaron – I ate the green pistachio one while my sister had the lemon. The macaron was nicely made with the crisp outer cookie shell. I’m not a fan of coffee, but the tiramisu had a great custard layer and the cake layer did taste a lot like coffee (unfortunately for me). The panna cotta was delicious – I’ve made panna cotta before so I know it can be a bit of pain to keep the smooth texture, this one was delicious and I would definitely have it again. Lastly, the coconut cream cake had a great cream between the layers. I found the cake itself to be on the dry side (or maybe it’s just me thinking that there should just be a lot more cream!). I’m generally a fan of cakes that have more cream/frosting/icing on it, so that might be where I’m coming from. My favourite desserts were definitely the macaron and the panna cotta.

Above: tiramisu. Below: panna cotta.

For those who aren’t in West Vancouver, Bay Moorings might be a bit of a drive. Luckily it was mostly highway driving for me to get there, and traffic wasn’t too bad when I was going to and from Horseshoe Bay. It was a beautiful day that my sister and I opted to go to Bay Moorings to check out their high tea. Good tea with good views. I’d go back for the smoked salmon wrap, duck confit, and that panna cotta.

Coconut cream cake.

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Tea Experience: Honeybee Centre

Honeybee Centre
Surrey, BC
Fry’s Corner Beestro
Afternoon Tea $20 for Adults, $12 for Children

I went to the Honeybee Centre a few weeks ago with a friend for their afternoon tea. I think the last time I ventured into the Honeybee Centre was probably for some sort of field trip in elementary school to learn about bees and pollination. If you’ve never been to the Honeybee Centre, there are tours offered for school and seniors groups, a shop to buy all things honey, and their Beestro – where you can have afternoon tea or a more practical meal.

Each table included a honey bear for all your honey sweetening needs – I quite liked that touch. The servers were friendly and enthusiastic whenever they stopped by the table. While I was there for tea, there was a very large (read: 3 large tables worth of people) party that was loud and did manage to take up a lot of the servers’ attention, as one might expected. There’s also an outdoor patio if you want to eat outside.

I usually opt for a black tea with afternoon tea, but because it was such a hot day when we visited, I wasn’t really feeling it. For my tea choice, I had Nana’s Fruit Garden, which is described as a “bright, flavourful fruit tea with berries, apples, and hibiscus” while my friend had the Blossom Organic Green Tea. Our teas came in French presses. Nana’s Fruit Garden steeps to a deep red. It has a lovely fruity sweetness to it, I could taste both apples and berries in it, and it had a touch of tartness from the hibiscus. Nothing a little bit of honey couldn’t fix!

 

The afternoon tea goodies were placed on a two-tier stand. The bottom tier contained all the sandwiches. There was the chicken, brie and red pepper jelly panini (2 pieces per person), egg salad roll, and the artichoke ciabatta. I wasn’t blown away by the egg salad roll or artichoke ciabatta, but I loved the chicken, brie, and red pepper jelly sandwich. It was a delicious flavour combination.

Chicken, brie, and red pepper jelly panini.

The honeycomb scone was paired with a devonshire cream, which also had honey in the small bowl. The devonshire cream wasn’t as thick as I’ve experienced it before in other places, but it was tasty. The scone was really tasty, it definitely had a nice sweetness to it.

Honeybee cupcake.

The sweets included French macaron (we received a strawberry macaron and what tasted like vanilla bean), honeybee cupcake, and salted honey tart. The salted honey tart had an alright tart shell, but the salted honey filling was divine. I’m not sure what they put in there besides salt and honey, but it made my mouth so happy to be here. The cupcake was moist with a sweet frosting on top, and it had a great honey flavour. My friend and I wound up getting a knife to cut the macarons in half so we could each experience both flavours. My favourite was the strawberry, it had a very nice brightness to the berry flavour.

French macarons.

After the tea, we took some photos of the blossom trees, and shopped the gift shop – I picked up some honey and bee pollen (to help with my seasonal allergies!). There’s some beautiful blossom trees right out front, and I saw a lot of honey bees flying around!

I had a really fun time with afternoon tea at the Beestro at the Honeybee Centre. The service was great and I really enjoyed the food. I think next time I go, I’d opt for a more traditional black tea with the afternoon tea service. It’s a fun location, definitely kid friendly if you opt to take any children with you. There’s honey facts everywhere, so you might even learn a little something.