Self-Care: Staying at Glen Eyrie

Photo Credit: Not Mine

I am doing something for myself that I have literally never done before. I've dreamed of it, hoped to do it, but never actually acted on it. I am going to stay at Glen Eyrie Castle for three days.

All on my own. Alone, with no work obligations and next to no plans other than to just be at the Glen, walk the trails, and spend time reading (both Biblical and fictional), knitting, journaling, and listening to Orson Welles' radio plays in my beautiful Victorian room. 

You might consider my staying at Glen Eyrie to be Self Care: Step One. 

Glen Eyrie was the magnificent home of General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, and is a now a Christian retreat center owned by the Navigators. I stayed there once before for a writer's workshop, but found myself wishing, the entire time, that I was just there to stay at Glen Eyrie with no other plans or obligations. Now, I'm finally doing it.

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Afternoon Tea in Epcot's United Kingdom (Disney World)

 

In January 2019, my sister and I celebrated our milestone and half-milestone birthdays at Disney World with a very dear friend of ours.

Our second day in Orlando we spent in Epcot, which is AMAZING btw.

Before we really even got started in the park, we headed to the United Kingdom located to the right almost as soon as you enter the World Showcase.

There is a replica of the Hampton Court Palace, parts of it anyway. That was super fun.

Beautiful little side-streets and charming, well-manicured greenery lined all of the UK, really making me feel like we were in England. We were there early before anything really opened up, but we had reservations for an experience.

So once we took some photos and our reservation time was close, we headed over to join a queue of people at the Rose & Crown Pub where we had signed up for a "tea experience."

The above photo isn't mine but was borrowed from the Disney website. I missed taking one of the Rose & Crown somehow. Oops!

We were part of a grouping of about 35 people, all crammed into one section of the Rose & Crown. A charming lady from York was our hostess. We were provided with several clear glasses in which to brew our tea (and she instructed us exactly how long to brew each type of tea). We drank five types of Twinings tea since they're partnered with Disney for this tea experience, 4 hot, and then one iced.

The hot teas were English Breakfast, Spiced Apple Chai, Summer Berry Green Tea, and Budding Meadow Camomile. 

The iced tea was Lady Grey, one of my favorites, but I had never had it iced before and just loved it.

Of the hot teas, the favorite with our entire party was the Summer Berry Green Tea, a tea that is impossible to find within the United States apart from shopping in Epcot. We each purchased a box of the tea, and we're now almost out so we'll have to order some new boxes from Twinings' website and have them shipped from across the pond.

We were provided with delectable sandwiches that I wish could fully remember the types of fillings, but it's been too long at this point.

We did have a cheese sandwich, it might be the one with the rye bread. Obviously, there's a cucumber sandwich, and then an egg salad, but I can't remember the fourth sandwich. They were all delicious.

Last, but not least, we were served these gorgeous scones with clotted cream and jam while we drank our iced Lady Grey tea. Everything was divine. We each had one plain scone and one scone with currants, both were perfection.

Finally, we each received a Mary Poppins tea spoon as a gift.

The entire experience cost $35 each if memory serves me and was worth the expense because how many times are you going to be able to sit down in Epcot and enjoy afternoon tea? We wouldn't do it every time, but this was special due to the birthdays.

Labeling it an "experience" is accurate because our hostess from York gave us a bit of history about tea, instructions on how long to brew the individual types of tea, and various tips along the way. It was a very interesting and educational hour spent and we all three loved it.

One reminder is that this experience is really not for small children (we had a few hyper munchkins in attendance). Wait until the kiddos are at least twelve before signing them up.

Of course, right now this experience is not available due to COVID, but I thought it would be fun to share and possibly provide an idea for folks planning a trip to Disney World when all the crazy is over. ♥

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A Regency Garden Party Celebration

In July 2018, my sister and I hosted a Regency Garden Party.

Both of us love hosting parties, I love Jane Austen, and our intimate circle of friends has always indulged us on this point. Now that we have our own place (my sister and I are roommates) it makes party hosting easier, but for the Regency Garden Party, my sweet parents loaned us their backyard. It made all the difference being able to play croquet and have afternoon tea on the lawn while making Regency bonnets in the house.

It was a sublime experience and I can't believe I never shared it on my blog. 

Our spread of goodies set up under the canopy.

Delicious fruit cocktails with heavy whipping cream and twills.

Divine macarons purchased from Costco just for the occasion. I'm not brave enough to try my hand at making macarons, although maybe someday. I've seen enough baking shows with Australian baker Adriano Zumbo to be unnerved at the prospect of making my own macarons.

Lemon tarts and homemade scones, although now I can't remember what type of scones. I'm thinking they were probably your basic plain scone or maybe lemon, one of those two.

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Afternoon Tea in the midst of the COVID-19 Outbreak

As we are all well aware, it's been a longgggggggggggg couple of weeks bogged down with COVID-19 hysteria so I figured now was as good a time as any to share photos of the afternoon tea my family shared on March 21st.

To my delight, everything tasted delicious, although I'm not sure that I like apple bits in my scones. I'm still a little torn on that one.

These are Apple Cheddar scones. Aren't they pretty?

I love how you can clearly see the bits of cheese. We didn't have white cheddar like the recipe said, so I just used regular and they turned out fine. I suspect that white cheddar was mainly for aesthetic purposes, anyway.

If you care to try them, the recipe is in the January/February 2020 issue of Tea Time magazine.

These are called Romeo's Sighs because they're from A Literary Tea Party cookbook by Alison Walsh. It's a truly darling cookbook with lots of yummy recipes and ideas.

Romeo's Sighs are a delectable light cookie with a hint of almond extract.

They're actually half of a whole cookie since the intention is to make an elegant cookie sandwich.

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A Fall Themed Evening Tea with Maple and Pecan Scones

There are just some days when you need to have an Afternoon Tea. We just turned ours into dinner, which we've done before, and this was just a time when we needed it. Enjoy! I'm sorry you couldn't join us.

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Tea in the Garden: A Collection

A fun time spent setting up tea in the Garden for Bernideen's Tea Time Blog. Life has been just a little bit hectic this last month, taking up time, and yes, causing immense amounts of stress. So this moment, a single moment taken in a single day, really shows that life goes on, and that God is still not only faithful, but also good. Time spent outside does such a world of good.

One of my favorite flowers is the Iris. You know, people think they come in just a few colors, mainly shades of purple and possibly yellow, but there are so many different possibilities. For the purpose of this photo shoot, of course, I placed the tea table where we have purple irises, but I may do one with the others in a week or so.

 

Did you know that chive plants actually blossom? And they don't smell like chives! Those are the lovely little purple blooms you see on the left.

Such a beautiful chive blossom.

Caitlin made this lovely little wreath out of some of our dried flowers last year. It held up really well, and and I love that long shot down to the end of the yard. Don't you just love the green from all the rain?

One of my favorite teacups. I didn't always love purple flowers, but I really do now.

And blessings to all of you during this beautiful June!

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An Easter Afternoon Tea

Left to right: my sister Caitlin, mom Tammy, and me (probably the first time most of you have seen me)

I realized that it's been months since I last posted about Afternoon Tea, probably because it's been months since we've really done one on a major scale. I figured there was no better time than Easter to enjoy a lovely tea so this morning we went all out with the preparations.

So, my darlings, Happy Easter, and prepare yourself to enjoy the goodies I have for you today!

On the Menu

Spiral-Sliced Ham

Cream Scones

Mini Salmon Quiche

Brie and Baguette Wheel

Sauteed Mini Squash

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Join me for an Impromptu Afternoon Tea!

Why impromptu? Because I like to fly by the seat of my pants and make my life totally complicated! Just kidding, but seriously, doing what I did this afternoon is not always the best method for having an afternoon tea. But I had one of the best excuses, a visit from a family friend who deserved to have an afternoon tea in her honor.

On the Menu

Cucumber, Crab, and Olive Tea Sandwiches

Sweet Lemon Scones

Mock Clotted Cream
Lime Curd

Irish Cream Tea

To discover my recipes, secrets, and certain methods of serving afternoon tea, come on into the full post, my darlings!

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