Tea for Two

October 1, 2005
High Tea

Excerpt from Megan’s Journal:

Intrigued by the title of my blog today, as I know you are, I shall have to commence in succession of the day’s events. Patience. Today is not sunny and beautiful, not warm and pleasant, no mountain touched by the rays of the young sun. In fact, I cannot even see the mountain, the clouds engulfed around the peaks have made the mountain seem almost as if it has vanished entirely. Even Signal Hill is dusted with marshmallow gray fluff that threatens rain at any moment. As such, and owing to both the fact that Boulders Beach is about forty-five minutes away and we cannot find anyone else interested for such a venture, we have opted to stay close to the waterfront.

Tomorrow, as the signs announce in our hallway is laundry day. We have a mountain of clothes, so at least some mountain is visible, and unfortunately it happens to be in our cabin. Tomorrow will soon remedy that. We walked to the Kraal Gallery, which has a beautiful tradition of weaving fabrics with many interesting items on display. On a side note, we made what we believe to be the very last purchases from Cape Town for both mom and dad. Wow, it will most likely seem like Christmas when we return home. We love everything we have bought, both for ourselves and everyone else.

Heather writes, “The fog has settled over the waterfront today and one would think that the mountain did not exist at all, as it is not visible through the thick white haze. We had thought about going to Boulder’s Beach after reading the comments on our blog this morning, but the weather certainly put a dampener on our plans to see the cute little penguins. So what should we get into today? Pat certainly had the answer to that question and told us we would be very sorry if we did not have high tea at the Table Bay Hotel. She also told us not to eat before hand, as it is simply extravagant. We have talked a lot with her about how much we love tea and our plans to open a tea room, which she thinks is fantastic and can see the two of us quite easily in the tea room environment. Thus she said we just had to have tea in South Africa and why not?

We made reservations for three o’clock and will get all dressed up one more time for a tea party. Megan and I spent the morning buying dad his last gift and found something else for mom that we knew was a must. Sorry no details today, though when we made our purchase for dad the woman at the counter knew exactly what we meant when we said we wanted a variety and made it easier than I could ever have imagined. We worked on our postcards so that they could be mailed this afternoon and are anxiously awaiting tea.”

Pat, an adult passenger we enjoy eating meals with, also a nurse onboard and whom I believe mom and dad spoke to the day we boarded, told us about two other female adult passengers who had gone to the Table Bay Hotel, here on the waterfront, for high tea and how absolutely amazing the experience was. Apparently the food is so lavish and the atmosphere incredible that, owing to the fact she knows we love tea and tearooms, we just had to go. We called and made reservations for high tea at three o’clock and will get dressed up for the second day in a row. What fun.

The Table Bay Hotel is absolutely gorgeous, even the restroom which, of course, I had to frequent with so much tea. A harpist played music during the tea hour and Pachabel’s Canon was indeed our favorite. A table reserved for us, in our fancy attire, was placed at the corner of the room overlooking the garden and waterfront. Even on such a downcast and dreary day, it was beautiful. We were soon brought, by Celeste our waitress with the most perfect accent and cheery personality, seven tea sandwiches. What a spread the likes of which I have never seen, nor to be paralleled in the near future. I shall try to recall the various selections: cucumber roll, ham, roast beef wrapped around a pickle in a crusty croissant purse, salmon and egg, mozzarella and sweet red peppers, egg salad and chicken salad.

Excerpt from Heather’s Journal:

After walking over to the hotel and getting what I call by far way too many stares from the locals and comments on us being twins we walked into the most gorgeous lounge for high tea. I could have stopped at the center table with its display of desserts, but I figured that I should probably start with the tea sandwiches, savories, scones, and whatever else they decided to throw at us. We sat at a table with ivory china decorated in ivy leaves and a silver tier in the center for the tea delicacies awaiting us. Today they were serving English Breakfast Tea and with a small amount of brown sugar and cream it was delicious. Our first course consisted of seven tea sandwiches: cucumber roll, ham, roast beef wrapped around pickle in a crusty croissant purse, salmon and egg, mozzarella cheese and sweet red peppers, egg salad, and chicken salad.

The atmosphere was just perfect and our waitress was adorable. She wanted to know all about the ship and was even interested in finding out how to become a member of the wait staff. They wore lacy aprons over white starched dresses and the waiters wore tuxedos. There was a harp player and a piano player and I don’t think that our time spent there could have been any more relaxing looking out at the harbor and our ship docked just feet away. Our second course consisted of a ham and egg quiche, meat pie, and sweet corn and carrot in a crusty croissant purse.

So it does not end there, we still have the scones, which there were two, and the desserts, which there were dozens. One of the scones was raisin and the other plain, with a plate of cream, lemon curd, butter, and strawberry jam. I had the jam and it was simply fabulous, the plain scone reminding me very much of a Sally Lunn Bun from Windsor. On to the desserts, there was chocolate cake, strawberries, all kinds of gourmet chocolate delicacies, fruit tarts, shortbread cookies, coconut chocolate cake, carrot cake, marble cookies, pecan pie, and the list goes on. Obviously I am stuffed at this point and I believe that a nap would be quite beneficial after all of the excitement.

As we were finishing up Pat walked in to make reservations for tomorrow and even at one point in the meal two of the adult passengers waved from the window mouthing that they had reservations for tomorrow. Upon our return to the ship we called home immediately and were so happy to share our tea experience with mom and dad. Of course thirteen minutes is never very long and it feels as if dad finally gets his chance when the phone clicks off. I believe that I am weakening when it comes to our purchases in port and do not know how much more I can hold out keeping them a secret. Of course I know that this must excite mom very must. They said again how wonderful it is to read our blog and even to read the other comments. Ashley: thank you for spending so much time to respond to our adventures. It is truly special and you have no idea how meaningful it is to know that you are following along. I am sorry that you did not get our emails a couple of weeks ago, but it was in response to the discovery that you were having surgery. We just wanted you to know at the time that you were in our thoughts and that no matter what happens you have a wonderful smile and no amount of scarring can change that or your hardworking personality.

Excerpt from Megan’s Journal:

Round two, what a surprise, was soon placed before us with the most perfect savories. An egg and ham quiche, meat pie, and fresh, sweet corn and carrot in a crusty croissant purse I must admit were so delicious. Perhaps I should also add the tea was English Breakfast but quite good, not to strong or weak.

The quiet lounge with elevated ceilings, large paintings and framed old-Africa maps was gorgeous. The two fireplaces with giraffe statues and towering vases of arranged flowers were, dare I say beautiful as well. Really it was incredible.

Soon the third course, scones, was placed on the tier before us. Two scones apiece with butter, lemon curd, cream and strawberry jam. These reminded me of Sally Lunn Buns and were a blend of perfect sweet dough and raisins.

Without a doubt, the best was saved for last, dessert – stressed spelled backwards, but not one ounce of anxiety. We had cookies, cookies, cookies, and, what else, cookies. No we also had some cake but there were plenty of pies and other desserts I could not even begin to name. For only one hundred and fifty rand, the equivalent of a little less than thirty dollars and we were stuffed entirely. Two cheap if you ask me, but well worth every penny.

Excerpt from Heather’s Journal:

Tomorrow is our safari and we are very excited, but I think that goes without saying. It has been a wonderful day, and though it is only five o’clock now I have much to do tonight. We will be mailing postcards this evening and downloading the many many pictures that we took at the tea. Again, we are having difficulty with pictures, so stay tuned and we will do our best to get them back up so that you can see our beautiful smiling faces. GIRAFFES tomorrow, I can’t wait, and I know that Megan can’t either, though we have to be at the clock tower at six thirty in the morning and will meet Bob and Betty at six in Purser’s Square to walk over together. Goodnight, sleep tight, and mom, don’t let the bed bugs bite!

One more thing, we wanted to tell dad about his final purchase here in South Africa: biltong. Okay, so I know you have no idea what that is, but it is a type of beef jerky specific to Africa. Don’t worry, not just any type of jerky, we got a variety, meaning ostrich, beef, kudu, and springbok. Ostrich is a delicacy served at the fancy restaurants, and it was definitely one of the items on the menu at the Green Dolphin where we ate last night.

Megan writes, “Once returning to the ship we phoned mom and dad. It seems as if we have so much to tell them and we never get the chance to hear what they have been up to. I just love hearing their voices. The phone clicked off just as dad was talking and perhaps next time it shall be his turn to go first. I will tell him that one of his gifts includes biltong, remember I said it was like beef jerky only better, in four varieties: kudu, springbok, ostrich, and beef. They are vacuum-sealed shut and will still be fresh once we return home.”

Excerpt from Megan’s Journal:

We are going to finally finish our postcards and maybe the photos before packing our bags and heading to bed. Up around five tomorrow to prepare for our safari. Wait, what did I say? Safari. SAFARI. I cannot wait. I would love to post some pictures but will probably wait until we are back at sea to attempt this again. It seems like it is giving us problems. I guess last time was beginners luck.

Well just a side note to end. The item Heather purchased yesterday if you read the blog and she only hinted at was an Akua-ba. All I can say is, remember the snow-babies? Her response is paralleled entirely to this wooden doll from the Asante people of Ghana. We ended up having story time as she read her children’s story that she wrote in the Jimenez-Porter’s Writers’ House. I just love this tale and can see it so vividly as a published work about a young boy in the National Museum of African Art on an adventure with the doll he calls Ba. As he enters the museum with his parents wanting nothing more than to be back in the cul-de-sac playing games with his friends, the artwork from Africa he meets as he searches for his parents, and the image of him pulling out his red scarf and wrapping it around his head as he dances to the music in the Performers Exhibition. Heather seems to have quite a connection with the piece and being the art history major that I am wanted to get her the most authentic. Not just the one in the story with twenty copies. The woman in the gallery we purchased it from was quite amazed that we knew about the piece.