Welcome Spring! April's Theme Tea at O'Mara's

After having such a good time at O'Mara's St. Patrick's Day tea [which I blogged about here], my girlfriend and I returned yesterday for April's theme tea - "Welcome Spring!"

All the tables in the room where the teas are held were filled for this tea, with approximately 30 ladies in attendance.  As much as I enjoyed last month's tea, this month's tea was even better! I asked one of the servers how long O'Mara's has been serving Afternoon Tea, and she said about a year, but they've only been using the current menu format for three months, and it's been very well received.

This was our table with its Spring tablescape.

The tea selections for this month were Peaches & Ginger, English Breakfast, and Formosa Oolong. My girlfriend and I both chose Peaches & Ginger, which was light and delicious.  We each had our own pot, and the servers were great about coming around frequently to refill it with hot water so the tea sacs could be infused continuously.

This is Diane, the same great server we had last month, but since this tea had a lot more attendees, she  shared the responsibility with two other servers this month.

The first course was soup - Irish Cream of Potato or Minestrone.  Remembering how great their Cream of Potato soup was last month, my girlfriend and I both opted to get it again. We weren't disappointed.

After the soup course, was the savory/sandwich course, which was brought out on three-tiered servers.   The sandwich on the top tier was an open-faced ham salad garnished with a slice of ripe olive.  The middle tier contained a strawberry-cucumber finger sandwich on white bread, with the edges dusted in chopped parsley, and a chicken salad triangle sandwich on wheat bread.  The bottom tier had a shrimp and curry coconut triangle sandwich made on a raisin swirl bread, and a tomato/olive bruschetta.

Don't they look yummy?

The photo below is Anita Kern, the restaurant's chef, and me.  Anita oversees the monthly teas by selecting the menu [which changes every month], and doing a food presentation, which is the entertainment or program part of the tea.  She went from table to table briefly chatting with each guest making sure everyone was enjoying themselves.

O'Mara's began something new this month - a drawing for a tea prize, and also the spring plants that were centerpieces on each table.

Can you believe Anita called the number on MY ticket for the tea prize?  I was so surprised, since I rarely win anything!  It was a butterfly and hydrangea tea for one, and a journal.  And my girlfriend, Lori, won a plant.  It was our lucky day!  ;-)

Anita did her presentation during the savory/sandwich course, which was a demonstration on how to make cinnamon/chocolate chip scones.  Her tea time scone recipe is on her blog, which is part of the restaurant's website.  She mentioned that she will soon be making scones for sale at the restaurant by the half-dozen or dozen.

In the photo below is my dear friend, Lori, and me.

After the savory/sandwich course came the entrée course - baked brie and apricot jam in puff pastry and fresh fruit, and a slice of forest mushroom and asparagus quiche.

The food at O'Mara's is delicious, and so abundant!  

Lastly was the dessert course.  At O'Mara's they serve scones as a dessert, and this month's scone was the cinnamon/chocolate chip which Anita demonstrated.  There was also a dessert goblet of berry fool [whipped cream with chopped strawberries folded in], and a tuile almond cookie [a thin, crisp French cookie with a curved shape resembling roofing tiles once used in France]. 

What a fabulous tea, and Lori and I will definitely be returning to one of their Tuesday teas in May.

We weren't quite ready to leave the City of Berkley after our tea at O'Mara's, because  I was recently told about a shop just up the street from O'Mara's that specializes in award winning scones [among other things].  Even though I was as full as a tick, I wanted to check out the scone shop called Elwin and Company.  At their website is video of Mr. Elwin Greenwald [chef and owner of the company] demonstrating  scone making at one of the local television stations.  Below is the exterior of his shop.

This is the interior bakery showroom where scones can be purchased.  I bought a caramel pecan scone to bring home to my hubby.

From Elwin & Co., we went over to Kris-tea's to browse around in her shop.  I found some tea-themed stickers to purchase.

Then we drove a short distance to Victorian Tea Parlor [also in Berkley] to browse the gift shop there.  I found a counted cross-stitch tea towel to add to my collection.

From there we headed for home.  It was the end of a perfect afternoon, with great tea, great food, enjoyed with a great friend!

When I got home, I fixed my hubby a cup of hot tea to accompany his caramel/pecan scone, which he said was very good.