Tea and Scones and Shamrock Dishes

You may remember my recent blog post about attending the World Tea Virtual Summit on March 15-16.  Day 1 ended with a happy hour of three perfectly paired scones and tea from Erika's Tea Room in Clermont, Florida.  I didn't order the scones and tea before the summit, but I placed an order afterwards, and they arrived in yesterday's.

I liked the packaging, and enjoyed a happy hour this afternoon all by myself.  I only sampled one scone and tea today - Baileys Irish Cream.  

The tea was a green tea with Baileys Irish Cream flavoring.

  

I could easily adapt to a daily happy hour!  ;-)  The scones were dense as compared to soft and flaky, but I ate it all so it definitely wasn't bad.  Erika's mother, Leila, is the baker for the tearoom. The scones were at least three days old by the time they reached me, so that could account for the texture.  I'll try warming my next one in the microwave before eating it.  

I follow Susan Herin's blog, Between Naps on the Porch and for St. Patrick's Day she shared pictures of a tablescape submitted by one of her readers.  As soon as I saw the vintage clear glass shamrock dishes I knew I wanted six of them.  The tablescaper said they were fairly easy to find, and quite inexpensive [around $2 each].   

I like finding things to modify my St. Patrick's Day tablescape so it's not identical year after year, so the search began.  E-Bay and Etsy both had the dishes but shipping was so expensive ranging from $7.70 up to $10 for one dish, and the dish itself ranged from $4.25 all the way up to $17.25.  Seriously?!  I decided to visit some local antique and Salvation Army stores instead.  I found my first dish at Salvation Army for $2.24 [yesterday was 25% off for seniors] and one at an antique mall for $4.99.  Four more and the hunt will be done.

Below are two pictures from Susan's blog.  The dishes make a pretty table even prettier.  Their original purpose was for nuts or candy, but they're the perfect size for individual salads and the more shamrocks on a St. Patrick's Day table, the better!