Mad tea Party 2012- Edited to add review of TEABERRY'S

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Please come join us all over at 
A FANCIFUL TWIST 
for a Fun Frolic of Terrific Tea parties!! Thanks so very much for hosting this fun and lovely event again this year, Vanessa!

 

 No worries, you are NOT late (though I was a bit)

Welcome everyone to MY Tea Party; which isn't so mad.

In fact it was Festive, and Fun but Serious!

I am sharing LOTS of Pictures and 

the reason WE, as in; my Mom, My 2 daughters and myself, went to TEA!

Clockwise from back left; My Mom (aka Nana) Lenora, Myself (the only one to keep a silly hat), Amanda- my youngest child (25) and April my oldest child (will be 30 in Sept.)

The pictures may, in part be dark, or otherwise as it was my daughter's camera, and sometimes the flash went off and sometimes it didn't.

Let me get the SAD part out of the way, as many of my followers already know; my mom is dying (85, with a bad heart, and stage 4 Breast CA, just DXed).

 and the BITTERSWEET-

My oldest daughter is heading off to GA. on 7/31 to start Graduate School at Valdosta University in Valdosta, GA for a Masters in Marriage and Family Counseling (Social Work)

This was a "secret" little going away party, But Mostly it was for the two of them to have a nice memory, as I do not know if my daughter April will get to see my mom again, I AM keeping a positive attitude, but I have to be realistic also!

 April and her Nana

So with the reason behind us, lets get right into our WONDERFUL AIW High Tea!

My daughter April and I live at the NJ shore, Mom, lives just outside Princeton, Amanda is near Keyport (northern shore)  so I had to choose a tea room within a distance from my Mom. Which sadly is also a pricey area.  The BEST KNOWN Tea Room in NJ is Teaberry's; which is in Flemington about 30 minutes or so north of my Mom.  I found a few others and tried making a reservation, but I was giving them short notice as my daughter Amanda is hardly able to keep her days off as they are originally scheduled.

FATE intervened as it always does in my life, and we ended up with TEABERRY'S anyway!  I was NOT disappointed or upset (my wallet was a bit, but...) The place and people were wonderful...It is a REAL Victorian House, and the entire house is Tea rooms. (with the exception of the bath/kitchen and small gift area) They are English, and all the wonderful pictures of tea sets and china etc., that you'll see are 85% from her own family, and passed down. ALL of the china and stuff used is from Great Britain! We were in one of the downstairs rooms, due to Mom, and also me with my knees.

 (here is their Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Teaberrys-Tea-Room/189519931072092)

If you visit their website you'll see that they do all kinds of themed tea's including  "Mad Hatter's Tea", as well as a "Halloween Tea", and a "Titanic" tea, a weekly "American girl" tea party and many, many more including  "Fairy tea party"  There are LOTS of photos etc on their FB page.  The yellow room(The Salon) is the room we were in.

Our Table was set up, as most of the others were, with the exception of AIW china, and LOTS of AIW figurines on the table.

 and some close-ups of most:

March Hare, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Heart's with Flamingo. (Drink me potion also)

April with the "new" hat SHE picked off the hat tree, and the potion bottle! (I was the only one top keep the silly hat)

Here I am with a GREEN potion!

The sugar cubes on top had red hearts on them!

Mom with her "new" hat that Amanda picked for her, it actually matched her top, LOL! (Amanda is missing from most photos as she was the photog at out table...April has a few pictures, but she has yet to email them to me :( sad)

We all got our own pots of tea, Mom had "Pina Colada" (decaf), April had "Vanilla Cookie", Amanda had "Peach Ginger" she used honey...NICE!  I went for the standard, my fav.- "English Breakfast"

Mom and Amanda each had a cup of soup. Then there were two plates with little finger sandwiches of all type... Most were eaten by Mom and I, Amanda a had a few, April...still my picky eater...They brought her some cheddar cheese and apple slices.

 LOVE this Cheshire cat!

Here's my 2 beauties!

The Teapots had on the loveliest cozies!

The Salon

 

I LOVE this window!

Check out that jewelry chest!

There were two other pictures of the women in their finery, sadly it was a crappy photo, so I do not have it here.

Here is the front entrance, and hat trees

Some more photos of the downstairs.

 the hallway from entrance between the 2 downstairs rooms.

There were 2 others, and again, sadly they did not come out well.

This MAD HAT lamp was in the bathroom :)


The Back gift room, and handicap entrance (that is where we came in)

Their actual Gift Shoppe is a separate Boutique(The bldg. used to be the carriage house)

I hope to visit the boutique on a future visit!


Here is the other room downstairs...Green Room; "The Garden Room"

 The chandelier is is very different than the ones in the Salon, it is more metal and less crystal.(sorry it is blurry)

I LOVE all the pink and green!

They had 2 types of scones that day;
Plain and Butterscotch-Pecan. Mom and I had the Latter. the girls didn't have any. They were served hot, with clotted cream, lemon curd, and fresh raspberry preserves.


Then there were 2 plates of bite sized desserts, several flavors and types. Most were bars. But there were almond tarts so cute and very tasty, and a lavender shortbread cookie in the shape of a teapot!


Sadly, our resident photog (of the table) didn't bother to take any photos of the food.


Our server Marlene, was wonderful, friendly, patient, and just overall SUPERB!

Here she is with April and Mom.


I hope you enjoyed our little going away Tea party!
Here is April with her going away/house warming gift.
I picked her out a purple 6 cup tea pot, and matching (4) little teapot tea bag/spoon holders, and pot sized infuser, a small teapot shaped cup infuser, and a bag of tea.
(Amanda didn't take any pictures of the contents of the box, DOH!)

Thank you soooo very much for hosting this wonderful annual event again this year, Vannessa!

To visit VANESSA and  A FANCIFUL TWIST and ALL the other parties go click the image at the very beginning of this post!


I will be editing this later to give an overall review of our visit to TEABERRY'S. (review now here scroll down)



However I think you know it is going to be Positive!
Please visit their website, AND especially their Facebook page for soooo many photos and reviews etc.  

Just down the road is the Main St. Manor, a bed and breakfast that also has a lovely Tea room. (facebook page) it is worth the trip to Flemington (NJ) from anyone out of state to go for tea, and stay overnight. There are LOTS of wonderful little shoppes on Main St.
I mention the Inn because Donna, the owner of Main Street Manor spent a lot of time on the phone with me, and wanted to have us at her place for tea, but she had a large party in house.  Donna recommended Teaberry's and spoke highly about the owner Susan, on a first name basis. I was thrilled to have competitors speak so highly of each other.


My review of Teaberry's. 
I have only had High Tea two other times in my life, and one was a bridal shower, the other was put together by friends, so there is only a little to compare with. (Remember to scroll back to the link for their website and their FB page.)

Teaberry's selection of teas, I would have to say is extensive.
The true beauty of a Victorian home and tea room has definitely been captured! The atmosphere was delightful.
Their food was very tasty, and though there were many styles of finger sandwiches a few were a bid on the odd side.  There were 4 soups available; none of which had a any type of meat or poultry in them. Also the only person at the table who immediately said yes to one was my daughter Amanda who ordered the corn chowder (she did think there was going to be chicken in it) Mom reluctantly ordered the cream of mushroom soup, she likes cream of mushroom, but at her age now, a lot of foods don't sit well with her meds, so she was a little leery.
The desserts were most enjoyable. (we actually met the cook outside as we left and thanked him for everything)
I was disappointed that they only had 2 types of scones available...plain(which I didn't even know there was such a creation) and the Butterscotch-Pecan; which was UNBELIEVABLY tasty! I really could have had another.
I was also surprised that they didn't just bring out a plate with a handful of scones of different variety. After eating the one, I can only imagine how good some of their other flavors could have been!

When I spoke to the owner's daughter the day before, I asked if the scones and all would be brought out on the tiered serving plates and I was told yes. They were not. 
I thought there would have been more of the finger sandwiches, desserts and scones for the price we paid. At the very least I thought the finger sandwiches would be larger as well as the desserts. The finger sandwiches were about 1" X 2". (both other times I've had finger sandwiches they were more like 2" X 3" or larger)
The desserts were  about 1.5" square. The other Tea house, and when my friends put together their tea, both had desserts that were 2-3" square or round etc.
I really can not compare overall pricing, but to my mind I think it was a bit on the high side. Please keep in mind; Flemington is a pricey area of the state and I have no idea what the bridal shower ran per person. 
The friendliness of the staff and the prompt and careful service was well appreciated!
I would definitely return if the opportunity arose! (though I would have to save up for it)

Out of 5

I give Teaberry's:

"4 pieces"