Rainbow of cherry tomatoes, originally uploaded by wskrz.
I’m still around.
I’ve been quite busy with summer, as most people are. There have been friends and family visiting and the usual activities of summer.
In the meantime, however, please feel free to enjoy the many bounties of summer, such as these juicy cherry tomatoes from the Boulder Farmer’s Market.
This is part two of a two part series on Victorian High Teas in and around Victoria, British Columbia.
So you’re in Victoria, British Columbia. You’re enjoying the sights of the fantastic Royal BC Museum and you’ve taken plenty of pictures of the famous Parliament Buildings at night. You’ve done some shopping, including buying some of those incredibly tasty Empress Creams at Roger’s Chocolates. And you’ve heard that your trip isn’t quite complete until you do high tea at the Empress Hotel.
Until you’ve seen the price of the tea.
You just can’t bring yourself to pay $50 for tea, can you? Feeling a little wallet shy?
Have you been to Butchart Gardens yet? No? Okay, good. Because here’s a way to get as good a quality tea in a beautiful setting for half the price of the Empress.
As I’ve said above, the Empress tea should not be missed. It’s an experience to take in. But yes, it is a little pricey and I know that the sticker shock can put some people off. For comparison research (oh, it was so difficult 
, when I went up to Butchart Gardens to look at the amazing flower displays, I also did their tea and I can honestly say that it’s just as tasty as the Empress. And you’re only paying $25 per person.
Yes. That’s half the price of the Empress.
It’s still recommended that you make reservations. The good news, however, is that there is no dress code. I was walking around the gardens on a very wet and rainy day in my jeans and wasn’t turned back. If you forgot to make the reservation before you arrived at the Gardens, head over to the Guest Services desk and ask if they can make a reservation for you. Again, I would suggest taking tea for lunch, so eat a light breakfast and try to aim for as close to the lunch hour as possible for your reservation.
Butchart Garden’s afternoon tea takes place in The Dining Room Restaurant, once the home for the Butcharts, who began the gardens in 1905. The restaurant also serves a full menu for lunch and dinner, so if anyone else in your group decides to try the flame grilled Alberta bison burger or the seared wild BC salmon fillet “panzanella salad” while you take your afternoon tea, they are welcome to (although you will probably be taking up much of the table space. I’m sure you can reward the others at your table with a nibble of your shortbread cookie)
If possible, request the seats at the windows that overlook the Italian Garden so you can look at the gorgeous flowers that they’ve trained to climb up the walls of the restaurant and the bees that frequent them. It’s also a good vantage point to watch everyone coming and going through the garden.
The Dining Room Restaurant is a very quaintly decorated place, with flowery wallpaper, white linen on the tables and good service. The primary decorating focus is on the magnificent flower arrangements placed throughout the restaurant. This is, after all, one of the most visited flower gardens in North America. If your camera has gotten a workout through the gardens, it will no doubt get a little more exercise with the arrangements.
There are plenty of similarities between the Empress tea and the Gardens’ tea. There are multiple teas to choose from here, ranging from their own special Gardens Blend of Black tea blend of Darjeeling, Black Hunan and Gunpowder, to teas with hints of fruit and flowers, like the Teaberry Blend of black Ceylon tea flavored with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants or the Rose Congou mix of Chinese black tea scented with rose petals, to the more recognizable standards of Earl Grey and English Breakfast, among others. I chose the Gardens Blend, figuring that again, I couldn’t go wrong with choosing the “official” tea. It was very rich without being overpowering and flavorful.
You won’t get as much guidance with how to take your tea here as you would at The Empress. But for some people, that may be a little more comforting, to not have someone telling you the way that you should drink tea. As I mentioned in part one though, try the tea in many different ways: with milk, without, with sugar, with milk and sugar, so you can get a feel for the range of flavor of your tea.
First course is a cup of seasonal fresh fruit with a delightfully sweet, but not too sweet, yogurt citrus dressing. The seasonal fruit included cubes of juicy cantaloupe and honeydew melons and chunks of fresh pineapple. It was nicely refreshing, especially with the freshly grated lemon and orange zest in the dressing.
Next came the three tiered serving platter that I’d become familiar with from The Empress. It was a somewhat similar layout, with the sandwiches and savories on the bottom, but the desserts were on the middle platter and the scones were on top. The other major change from The Empress’ tea display – Butchart serves warm savory pastries, such as a homemade sausage roll with imported mustard and a mini shrimp and Gruyere quiche.
I started with the warm savories, to be sure to enjoy them while they were still warm. The quiche was wonderful, with the right balance of Gruyere and buttery crust. I don’t tend to be a big fan of quiches, but this was very well done and just the right size. The homemade sausage roll was not the typical frozen roll you sometimes see at the grocery store. The sausage was definitely homemade and the portion ample. With it’s seasoning and the flaky pastry wrapped around it, I never needed the mustard at all.
Some of the sandwiches may sound familiar from The Empress, although many of them had a different twist to them that is unique to Butchart Gardens. The smoked salmon sandwich at Butchart, for instance, came with a maple Dijon cream cheese, which I wish were a little stronger. There was also egg salad, which was accompanied by watercress. The seasoning with this egg salad was more than The Empress’ version, and I found myself preferring the Butchart offering. The mango curry chicken salad was accompanied by toasted cashews and the cucumber salad was dressed with a fresh ginger cream cheese, which was light and favorable. One sandwich that Butchart served that The Empress did not as a smoked ham with sweet grainy mustard, which was very tasty. The smoked ham had the right amount of smokiness without being overpowering.
On to the scones. Butchart serves two warm scones, a traditional black currant scone and their signature candied ginger scone. Both are accompanied by strawberry jam and whipped Devon-style cream. My only complaint with the serving of the scones was that they were liberally dusted with powered sugar. I thought it unnecessary, as they didn’t really need the extra sweetening, not the mention my lap didn’t need the extra dusting of sugar either. Powdered sugar is pretty, but it’s also pretty messy. Other than that, the scones were very nice. Split open and swept with a dollop of strawberry jam and cream each, they were nicely moist and tasty.
Dessert was the star of the show, and rightfully so. It consisted of a fresh fruit tart, which was lightly painted with chocolate on the inside, a slice of housemade orange apricot loaf that provided a nice tartness to the dessert array, a lightly sweet and buttery shortbread cookie and, in my opinion, the best on the plate, a slice of chocolate brandy Napoleon cake. The cake was light and spongy, allowing the chocolate mousse layers to come to the forefront. I will admit that I did not try the Grand Marnier truffle, which I took home with me in it’s handy little box. It was also dusted with coconut, which I’m not fond of at all, but all reports from my husband were that it was very nice and definitely Grand Marnier.
At the end of tea, you are presented with a small box of loose tea to take home with you as a souvenir. And if you really enjoyed the tea you had, they are, of course, available for purchase at the gift shop. Forgot to take some home? They also sell some of their teas online.
I’m not going to say which tea was better, The Empress or Butchart Gardens. They are similar, but they are also different in many respects. Both are wonderful and both have excellent quality service and food. The main difference for me was the price and if the price is a major determining factor for you, then you don’t need to feel that you are missing out on the tea experience if you take tea at Butchart Gardens.
For a closer look at these and other pictures from Butchart Gardens, please click here.
Tips:
Butchart Gardens
800 Benvenuto Avenue,
Brentwood Bay, BC V8M 1J8
1-866-652-4422 (toll free – general)
250-652-8222 (for tea reservations)
Sheesh.
Come on, McDonalds. Just how stupid do you think we are?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-06-12-mcmoms-usat_N.htm
This latest marketing ploy of yours just reeks of stupidity and idiocy. Not that I will ever plan on eating at your establishment ever in the near or distant future, and no way in hell will my son ever eat there (as long as my dollar is in play), but do you honestly take me, as a mom, to be a complete moron?
For those that didn’t hear about it last week, McD’s is launching a new campaign (because let’s face it – this is exactly what it is) to target moms. They’ve recruited six moms and given them access to the behind-the-scenes world of the mega-restaurant – visiting processing plants, orchards, test kitchens and restaurants. Beginning today, June 20th, these moms will write about their experiences and their opinions and have them posted online. This will continue for the next three months, which coincidentally, conforms to the time that many kids are off for summer vacations. Moms have a rather poor view of fast food, especially McDonalds, according to marketing research. How better to counter it by having people who are moms themselves with “real opinions and real questions about the food they are feeding their families” blog about it?
McDonalds thinks that moms will listen to these moms. That we’re lemmings and will instantly drop all of our critical views of them because six moms were given nice white chefs coats and were taken around the country on McDonald’s dime to see where the buns are baked and the orchard where the apples are grown and get to keep the laptops they’re “journaling” on.
Yes, journaling. Because if they were blogging, we could leave comments. Can you imagine the comments that would be left if we could? But as a marketer for McDonalds says in the article above, the mothers “are free to respond to consumers or to post comments on other blogs.” Hmmm. Not exactly a very level playing field for discussion. How much would you like to bet that most of the “responding” will be done by the McMarketing team?
It might work for some of the more media gullible moms. But it will not work for all of us.
Why? Because we know that the meat for your hamburgers still comes from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), which are the biggest polluters and create the worst living conditions for cattle (did you send the moms to a CAFO?). Because we know that you still deep fry most of your food. Because we know you target the majority of your marketing towards kids who should have better things marketed to them, like exercise and healthy eating.
Because all you have to do is watch “Super Size Me” by Morgan Spurlock or read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser and, as a mom, ask yourself – do you really want to buy into yet another McDonalds marketing scheme?
There are better choices out there for moms that want to feed their kids good food. Home cooked is always the first choice. But if you’re on the road and have to eat out, choose a local restaurant and support your little mom and pop places instead. They’ll appreciate your business every time you come in because the person you hand your money to at the register usually owns the place and makes good quality food. You can expose your kids to a variety of different foods and flavors and you’ll support your community instead of a corporate entity.
This marketing scheme should be considered an insult to moms everywhere. Show your displeasure with this by taking your food money elsewhere or keeping it at home.
“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – A Year of Food Life” By Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
ISBN: 10:0-06-085255-0
Published by Harper Collins
For any of you that have at one time longed to live off the main road and on a self-sustaining farm but couldn’t quite bring yourself to make the leap, here’s a book to rekindle those urges. Best selling writer Barbara Kingsolver and her family made such a choice, to grow and raise their own food, both produce and animal, and tried to buy only things that were grown by other local farmers in her immediate area. With two kids of her own, this was a tremendous undertaking to take a patch of land in rural Virginia and make it into what would essentially be their supermarket for the year.
Barbara takes you through a month-by-month account of her journey, along with some very interesting informational snippets by Steven, who is an environmental studies teacher at Emory and Henry College and Camille, Barbara’s oldest daughter, who gives not only the perspective from the kids point of view, but also provides many good recipes and meal plans from the various monthly harvests that were available to them. From choosing the seeds at the beginning of planting season to the harvest of not just the last veggies, but the chickens and turkeys as well, to all the canning and preserving in between, it’s a fascinating look at how we should all be eating.
“Animal, Vegetable…” is both a memoir and a rallying cry for those that are tired and feeling guilty of eating food that has been trucked to them over thousands of miles and want to make a difference, both with themselves, their community and their environment.
Be sure to check out the recipes for Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding, Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies (any recipe that uses up the bumper crop of zucchini AND includes chocolate chips is a winner!) and the Four Seasons of Potato Salad (which includes fresh ingredients available in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter)
There’s a lot of things about the supermarket these days that tick me off. For instance, there’s never enough local produce to make me happy (thankfully, we’re lucky enough to have a good local farmer’s market, but the more local produce that is sold in the larger grocery stores, the better off our local farmers are, the less the amount of gas is used in transporting that produce to the stores, the better off we all are, etc.). They also put the raisins and other dried fruit in an out-of-the-way spot near the produce section, while I think a better location would be the baking aisle. That’s usually where I suddenly remember that I need those raisins for oatmeal raisin cookies.
But there’s one thing that burns my bacon more than anything else in the entire store.
Those rolls of pre-made cookie dough.
Yeah, I’m looking at you, Pillsbury.
Look, I understand just as much as the next Mommy With No Time™ that it’s a convenience item. Just like those little baby carrots. And I’ll admit to sitting down with a spoon years ago and just eating the stuff right out of the roll raw. But I’m not going to do that with my kid. Besides, anything that has an ingredient list that long with a lot of things that I can’t pronounce is not something I want to feed my kid.
I’ll also fess up to the fact that I sometimes buy those rolls of croissants and biscuits. Making a flaky pastry dough by hand is pretty tricky and sometimes I don’t always have the time to make the biscuits. But the cookies? There’s no excuse for that.
Buying these rolls of cookie dough robs your children of some very important experiences in the kitchen. Set out some cookbooks and let the kids pick out the cookies they want to make. Then have them make the list of what they need to get to make those cookies at the grocery store. Make them responsible for putting those items in the cart.
Next, on baking day, re-read the recipe with them. Have them assemble all the necessary items on the counter, both the ingredients and the utensils. Show them how to measure. Have them taste the sugar and the butter (not the eggs, obviously) before they go into the bowl. Make them mix up the batter and scoop the cookies onto the cookie sheet. While they’re in the oven, have them watch the timer and watch the cookies while they change from blobs of batter to snacky goodness. Help them take them off the sheets and when they’ve cooled, let them sample their accomplishments.
What have you taught them? You’ve taught them how to plan and organize. You’ve taught them some math with the measuring and some science with the reaction of all the ingredients when they’re put together and put in the oven. Most importantly, you’ve taught them that together time is productive and important.
Come on, people. Making cookies is not that hard. There are a zillion recipes for cookies all over the Internet and in cookbooks.
Besides, in my humble baker opinion, homemade cookies will kick the ass of Pillsbury any day, because they include an extra ingredient that they can’t package at the factory. It’s called love.
Recipes
CHOCOLATE Chip Cookies
What’s the first word in Chocolate Chip Cookies? That’s why there’s so much of it in this recipe.
I recommend using parchment paper on your cookie sheets for better browning on the bottom of the cookie and easier cleanup.
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed
- ¼ light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 12 ounce bag of milk chocolate chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat butter, brown sugar and corn syrup together until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Mix in egg and beat well. Beat in flour, then stir in chocolate chips. Use your fingers if necessary to incorporate all the chips into the dough. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until lightly browned at the edges. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.
Quick and Good Buttermilk Biscuits
If you don’t want to make your kitchen counter too dirty, here’s a great recipe from Cook’s Illustrated’s American Classics cookbook (pg. 282) for biscuits in the food processor.
The key to working biscuits is to keep your butter and buttermilk as cold as possible and not to overwork the dough. The more you overwork it, the tougher the dough will be.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup plain cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into ¼-inch cubes
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk, or ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in your food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse 6 times.
Remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second.
Remove cover and pour buttermilk evenly over the dough. Pulse until dough gathers into moist clumps, about eight 1-second pulses.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a rough ball. Be careful not to overmix. Using a sharp knife or a dough cutter, divide the dough into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. Quickly and gently shape each piece into a rough ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake until the biscuit tops or light brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.
* Alternate – if you don’t have cake flour available, replace that with an extra cup of all-purpose flour (for a total of two cups). Increase your buttermilk or yogurt by 2 tablespoons.
Makes 12 biscuits.
This is part one of a two part series on Victorian High Teas in and around Victoria, British Columbia.
Before I put in my reservation for afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, I did some research online. The most common complaints I heard from online reviewers was that it was expensive and there wasn’t enough food.
Yes, it’s pricey. It’s about $50 per person. However, you’re not paying just for the food and the tea. You’re paying for the experience and that top-notch service. I guess some of these reviewers that said there wasn’t enough food were expecting a Vegas-style all-you-can-eat buffet, because I left with a box full of goodies because I was stuffed.
The Empress Hotel afternoon tea is your chance to relive those times you played tea as a little girl. Except the china is fancier, there’s really good tea in the cups and no peanut butter sandwiches on the tray.
Afternoon tea is a bit of an enigma to many these days. The British started the tradition in the 1700s as a way of curbing the
hunger pangs that typically strike between lunch and dinner. It was a way to socialize with friends, catch up on the happenings of the day with family and meet with business partners in a formal setting. It wasn’t restricted to just the upper class either. When taking tea became popular, the middle class began to join in the tradition, especially when the cost of tea became lower and easier for them to afford.
So you’d figure that a place, like the Empress Hotel, that has been doing afternoon tea for 90 years would have it right. They do.
I called The Empress to make my reservations for tea two weeks before my trip. Early June can be a bit of a quiet time in the tourist season, so I would recommend that if you plan to go during the summer, you might want to call a little farther ahead. There are multiple seatings during the afternoon, starting at noon. I’d suggest having a light breakfast and try to book it for as early as possible. Book it for noon and make lunch of it.
Another thing that the reservation staff will inform you of is a dress code. Don’t worry, you’re not going to have to pull out a taffeta dress or that high fashion hat you wore to the Kentucky Derby. They ask that you wear “smart casual,” which means no jeans, no running shoes, no athletic wear or shorts. However, in the line in front of me (after butting in front of me) three *ahem* ladies that were “dressed up” in jeans and a torn jean skirt were not turned around and were shown their table. Sure, they might get away with it, but let me give you this tip. If you’re paying $50 for this experience, dress the part. You’re only cheating yourself out of the full experience if you don’t participate fully.
Tea is served in the elegantly appointed Tea Lobby of the hotel, which overlooks Victoria Harbour. If you can, request one of the seats near the window so you can watch the boats coming and going. If you are taking tea alone, like I did, it’s fun to watch the traffic on the streets and imagine a time when the cars going by the front of the hotel were actually horses and carriages. Many of the seats are plush wingback style seats that will cuddle you while you drink your tea and eat your pastries. A piano player plays softly in the background, adding to the ambiance that so many other people that have taken tea in this same room for almost 100 years have also enjoyed. The appointments in the room are warm and inviting and enough to make you forget that the rain has been falling outside almost all day. It’s almost cozy like your grandmother’s house, except without the musty smell.
When you’ve found your way to your table, you’ll be offered a menu of the various teas that The Empress offers. They recently added some more non-traditional blends like herbal and fruit teas, to cater to those that might not want to have caffeine in their tea. If you’re not too concerned about that, however, I’d suggest that you select the original “Tea At The Empress” blend. It’s a dynamic blend of Assam, Kenya, South India, Ceylon and China teas that are an excellent accompaniment to the various sandwiches and pastries that will soon be coming to your table. Besides, if it’s the tea that they’ve been serving for these many years, how can you go wrong?
When tea comes to your table, let your server guide you with the proper way to take it. They know what they’re doing. Don’t drink it with milk at home? Give it a try (put the milk in first, then pour in the tea. Add sugar if desired – NOT that fake sweetener stuff, unless you’re diabetic. For God’s sake, don’t ruin good tea with Splenda or Sweet N’ Low! Stir). You’re given a huge pot of tea (and they will refill it for you), so experiment. Try it plain to experience the full flavor of the tea.
Your first course is a small crystal bowl of fresh, ruby-red strawberries with a dollop of Chantilly cream. The strawberries were just the right balance of sweet/tart and a nice refresher to prepare you for the rest of the tea. The Chantilly cream was heavenly, with just the right amount of butterfat to be rich but not too rich and a light touch of sugar to compliment the strawberries.
Next, the piece de resistance – the three tiered plate server full of sandwiches, sweet scones and delectable desserts. Depending on the number in your party, they will serve more sandwiches or sweets as needed, so no need to split that one smoked salmon sandwich three ways. You’re free to eat this in any direction you wish, but I’d recommend that you start from the bottom up. Sandwiches and savory items are usually on the bottom, with the scones and preserves in the middle and the “main event” desserts on top.
My selection of sandwiches included a very tasty and savory chicken and mango salad sandwich, egg salad on toast (which, in my opinion, could have used a little more salt or seasoning), a surprisingly good carrot and ginger salad with cream cheese and what would any tea be without the traditional cucumber sandwich. My favorite – the BC smoked salmon and cream cheese rolled sandwich. Not only was it pretty to look at, it was extremely tasty.
Next level up was the scones and light pastries. The raisin scone was served alongside some strawberry preserves and a dish full of clotted cream. Yes, yes, it’s got a minimum fat content of 55%, but this is a treat, ladies and gentlemen! Check your diet at the door and try it! Try spreading the cream on the scone, then add a dollop of the strawberry preserves for true decadence. Once you’ve picked yourself up off the floor from the wonderful flavor of the scones, there was a profiterole filled with green tea white chocolate cream and a small slice of a white black forest cake with just the right amount of sweetness.
Take another sip of tea, and go to the last floor – the small desserts and sweets. The colorful fruit lemon tart was fantastic, with a great bite of lemon tartness complimenting the sweet slices of strawberry, kiwi and grape. For the chocolate lover, there was a chocolate cup filled with Grand Marnier chocolate cream. Just the right amount of chocolate to satisfy. And of course, the traditional piece of shortbread. True to the recipe, it was buttery but not too sweet.
Here’s another tip – if you manage to get through all these layers of food, you can ask for more! The staff will gladly bring you more of your favorites once you’ve cleared through your food. And, if you were like me, you’ve stuffed yourself and can’t eat another cookie or sandwich, you can also ask for a box to bring the rest home with you. It’s not quite the same as the Tea Lobby, but when you’re stomach has made more room, you can finish and practice making a proper cup of tea at home to accompany it.
At the end of your tea, your server will present you with a souvenir – a box of the Empress tea to take home for yourself. Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of making tea at home. There are instructions on the box.
Overall, the Empress Hotel Tea is an experience. Come hungry and experience the elegance of a 100 year old hotel and the grandeur of tradition.
For a closer look at these pictures and others from the Empress Hotel tea, please click here.
Tips
The Empress Hotel
721 Government Street
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 1W5
Tea reservations – (250) 389-2727
*sigh* Another foodie blog. Blah, blah, blah.
Welcome if you’ve somehow tripped over something and fell in here. Grab a cup of hot coffee and a pastry of your choice and have a seat, if you’d like. And please feel free to speak up and add your voice in. The more, the merrier.
I’ve started this blog because it’s getting hard to separate the food related stuff that I like to write about from the diaper changing and baby stuff that I also write about here.
We all eat (or at least, we should) so we’ve all got opinions about what we eat, how we eat it and where we eat it at. This is my take on it. I’ll post up some articles and pictures as I can (between Flickring and blogging elsewhere and, oh yeah, that mommy thing) about my food experiences. I can be pretty opinionated at times about food and food issues. If you’d like, feel free to add to the discussion. If you don’t like it, well….I’m sure that there’s other places on the Internet for you. It’s not like this is only one of three blogs on the Internet, right?
So enjoy the nibbles and the sips. After all, Life’s Too Short To Eat Crap. Right?
