Tea Time at Home

So about five years ago, when Fred asked me out, he took me to have afternoon tea and every year after that we sort of made it our tradition/anniversary to have afternoon tea somewhere. Now this year was a little different since due to the pandemic restrictions, we didn't feel too comfortable going out so we decided to have tea at home instead. Which I was actually really happy for because after going out to so many tea places in the GTA and Markham, it got kind of boring. And there wasn't a tea place that had everything, you know? They're all so different but they each had something lacking - whether it be bad scones or bad dessert or it was just really expensive for tea and sandwiches. I get that you pay for the decor and service too but why can't the food be good too, right?

So forget the atmosphere and service and decor... and the labour involved (although it was satisfying to make your own food) I had seen some videos about afternoon tea foods and I wanted to have a tea party at home for a while so I was super excited for this opportunity! I'm very thankful for Fred who went out and got this really nice glass 3 tier tray as the one I had kinda failed and we couldn't put it together lol...

We made everything except the scones, which Fred got from T&T Bakery in Main Street Markham and wow, these scones are life changing, the best scones I've ever had. Makes me think I've been eating the wrong "scones" my entire life lol. To be honest, scones are my least favourite part of a afternoon tea set. They're usually as hard as hockey pucks and are super dense and just turn into a paste in your mouth. No matter which fancy place I went, I hated the scones. While everyone around me was just eating them and slathering clotted cream on them (which somehow just makes it worse cause it then turns dense and even more rich) here I am trying to put jam on it and gulping down my tea just to make me able to swallow the thick paste that formed on my mouth..LOL. Yeah I guess I don't know how to have tea properly cause I'm not too much a fan of clotted cream (or any whipped cream or mass of fat in general if it's not done right and too rich to the point that it nauseates me) BUT THESE SCONES... had a crunchy crust and were so, so soft and airy on the inside. Buttery and soft. Fred got two kinds, cheese and a raisin one and the cheese had so much cheese in them. Ok maybe these are biscuits rather than scones and there's a difference but... tl;dr, these were really good and they were cheap! He also got macarons from The Social Blend, a Korean style macaron place we've been wanting to try for a while, but they also had a bit too much buttercream in it for my liking. It's a unique take on the classic French macaron but it just wasn't for me! The tea that came in their afternoon tea set was really good though! 

Overall the most fun part was deciding the menu and what things to make... if there wasn't a pandemic going on I would love to make more different things and invite friends over for tea, now that we have the tray and all. And this is totally too much food for two people, we had help from my parents too. If we didn't have macarons I'd be tempted to try making a chocolate mousse or some other dessert with fruits. So many possibilities!!

That's all for this post... until next time~