Do you enjoy taking all the inspiration that's out there, whether it be in books, magazines, movies or TV shows (can you say 'Downton Abbey'?), or historical places, and recreating and interpreting that in your own home?  I certainly do-- and my Mom enjoys this kind of thing too, so I thought I would create a Mother's Day Tea for the two of us-- based on one of our favorite Mother's Day activities, which is to go to the Huntington Library Tea Room.  




High tea, low tea, cream tea, light tea... I've done a quick read-up on the history of traditional afternoon tea in preparation for our tea celebration, and found that here are many different types of teas.  




A tea-scones-jam-cream Tea ('Cream Tea'), a tea-scones-sweets Tea ('Light Tea'), a tea-savories-scones-sweets-dessert Tea ('Full Tea')-- according to this website, all of these are considered 'low' or afternoon teas if they are served in the afternoon on low tables (i.e. coffee tables) near sofas or chairs in drawing rooms.  




Note, 'savories' typically means little finger sandwiches.  I'm not sure what the distinction is between 'sweets' and 'dessert'--possibly one or the other includes trifle?  Sounds good to me, I love trifle-- although I did not make trifle for this post, since it is a time consuming dessert to prepare...anyways, back to the subject at hand...'High' Tea includes all the same things, but is served in the late afternoon or early evening on dining room tables (hence the term 'high').  




There is a long laundry list of rules and protocols for how to prepare tea, how to serve tea, how to hold the tea cup, what to do with your fingers (pinkies up and held at a tilted angle), how to stir tea, how to drink tea (never slurp)....In bygone days, ladies wore elegant tea gowns....People had gorgeous silver and fine bone china tea sets.... Tea was, and still is for many, an occasion.




Creating an 'occasion' is what I tried to do with the tea celebration I'm featuring here in this post.  I tried to incorporate many of the key elements that we look forward to every time we go to the Tea Room at the Huntington, including the beautiful setting (the Tea Room is located in a lovely little structure that overlooks the rose and herb gardens on the expansive grounds of the library/museum--click here to see what it looks like) and a yummy tea buffet.  If we are lucky, we get a table by one of the tall windows that looks out over the gardens, and for a little bit, I can imagine what it would be like to live on a grand estate surrounded by acres of rolling, pastoral landscape, peopled with Greek and Roman statuary....to sit in my rose garden...to enjoy a little tea celebration surrounded by my favorite pink roses.....

I tried to recreate some of this in my own home....









I made these shortbread sandwiches using store-bought shortbread and ganache (so simple and easy make, click here for the recipe)....
















The advantage of creating this kind of celebration at home is the opportunity to make it personal with your own things and photos......this is my Mom as a young woman...this photo was taken in 1943, when she was 18 or 19.