I Finished One!

Last weekend, friends from work and I went to afternoon tea at the Park Plaza in downtown Boston. It was a cold, windy day, so hot tea and good company were exactly what I needed. Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera with me (even though Greg reminded me twice before I left), but I'll try to snag some from my friend Katherine and update soon.

The Park Plaza was hosting some kind of conference that weekend, so when we got there, all the open lobby and lounge space was full of very young people in suits. I was glad the restaurant where tea was being held was far away from the chaos. It seemed like the tea had been relocated because of everything else happening in the hotel that day, because we were kind of tucked away, and the staff wasn't the most responsive, but it was a beautiful dining room and the meal was amazing.

They started us off with a tea-infused port, which was stronger than I'm used to at two in the afternoon, but was surprisingly refreshing after the cold walk. The tea I chose was a light version of Earl Grey (my favorite), flavored with lavender, and it was absolutely delicious. Kari tried a version of Russian Caravan tea, which was unusual and smoky. That's one I may have to experiment with on my own. The meal included a still-warm scone with jam and clotted cream, four tiny finger sandwiches (though no cucumber...what's that about?), some really yummy little pastries, and lastly a tea-infused creme brulee.

In spite of how awesome the food was, I think my favorite part of the afternoon was the other group that was having tea at the same time. It seemed to be a mom with two little girls (seven? eight?), celebrating one of the girls' birthday. They were all dressed up, and completely adorable, and it was really cute when the staff brought out dessert with a sparkler in it. What a perfect girls' afternoon out in the city!

So I know this was something to check off my list, but I had so much fun, I hope to do it again. Maybe a yearly tradition has been born!

I'll never be this good...

Earlier this week I was looking up some author information on the Princeton University website, and the homepage had this amazing video about a student who organizes a Rubik's Cube tournament on campus. These folks are amazing! 

In other news, I'm three recipes ahead of my last post. Last weekend I made Cardamom Cornmeal Biscotti (not really photographable, but surprisingly tasty) and Snickerdoodles. I think these might be my favorite cookies from the book so far. Very easy, and so delicious!

Today I made the Chocolate Sugar Snaps. They were supposed to come out looking kind of like a chocolate version of the snickerdoodles, but they didn't really work that well. They're still tasty, but a little too fudgy for me. And I thought the dough was really hard to work with, even after having chilled. So even if I had time to remake recipes, I don't think I'd try these again.