Tuesday 15 July 2014

Tea the Thirty-Ninth

Epicures drink it for want of an appetite; bon vivants, to remove 
the effects of a surfeit of wine; gluttons, as a remedy for indigestion;
 politicians, for the vertigo; doctors, for drowsiness; prudes, for the vapors; 
wits, for the spleen; and beaux to improve their complexions.
Arthur Gray - The Little Tea Book


Peacock Alley, The Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh - Friday 11th July, 2014


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Tea Takers


Sarah Ryan
Paul Ryan
Olivia Ryan
Bronwyn Henderson
Philip Henderson
Agnes Henderson

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Summer holidays having finally arrived we headed Northwards for a wonderful week on Lindisfarne with the Hendersons. Inspired by our day trip at Easter (Tea the Thirty-Sixth) we had little difficulty in persuading them to join us for a longer stay and with a cottage rented in the centre of the village we mostly enjoyed time on the island and in its immediate surroundings.




However, at the end of the week we made a more intrepid journey up the coast and into Scotland for a trip to Edinburgh. This seemed an excellent opportunity to add another country to the odyssey in excellent company.  A little research found significant recommendations for The Caledonian (now officially the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh) but particularly in its favour was the fact that tea is taken in a part of the hotel called Peacock Alley.  Given my great liking for the peacock (as a bird and as a design feature) the combination of this with tea was clearly irresistible.

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It turned out to be a rather longer walk than we had anticipated... We knew that walking from Holyrood Palace to Princes Street was something of a way (a mile, or something similarly royal), but hadn't quite reckoned on The Caledonian being right at the other end of Princes Street on the far side of the castle. It was a warm day and Edinburgh was thronged with tourists and so we were in significant need of refreshment upon arrival. To enter the stylish cool interior of the hotel, and the beautiful airiness of Peacock Alley itself, was a particular joy.





The Caledonian was built in 1903 by the Caledonian Railway Company, and Peacock Alley is actually a glassed in courtyard between buildings and was originally the platform and concourse of the station which the hotel was built to serve, still featuring over it the original station clock.

It is a very attractive space with the wonderful outdoor architectural features of the striking Victorian red sandstone building combined with elegant and comfortable lounge furniture and design. I particularly liked the very fine art deco style light fittings.  Paul and Olivia, through striking up conversation with a member of staff discovered that all Waldorf Astoria hotels have a Peacock Alley and why not, especially if they are as fine as this one.




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The tea was excellent - generous, stylish and of a very high quality.  The service was friendly and obliging, and we enjoyed the whole experience enormously from the arrival of pots of tea and glasses of iced water to the ceremonial placing of the cake stands (anticipated from affair as our smily waiter Vasilis carried them over).






They have no qualms about shop-bought jam here...



The sandwiches were lovely. Olivia was able to have the child's tea, which featured jam sandwiches to her delight, and meant that I was able to enjoy the peanut butter sandwich which she avoided - another first for the odyssey, even at this late stage.

The scones were good (if not the very best) and cream and jam were in generous supply, and the cakes and pastries varied and lovely, and supplemented by a plate of fruit cake and pecan cookies, just in case we were not already amply supplied.




It certainly held its own with many of the best teas in the odyssey and was much more reasonably priced than its London counterparts.

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Tea with friends


It was very fine to be taking tea with Bron, Philip and Agnes again, after our last tea outing in Guernsey (Tea the Twenty-Second). They are such very fine tea and holiday companions and very understanding of general Ryan chaos.  It would be fair to say that Agnes is the most changed since our last official tea event - the difference nine months makes when you are only thirteen months old is pretty considerable. 


She is now walking and laughing and generally charming at every turn, and is doing a good job of coming to terms with her god-parents. We all loved having so much time with her last week, but very especially Olivia who was thrilled to be able to help with bathing, pushing push-chairs and generally entertaining. Thank you so much to Bron and Phil for sharing her with us, especially in their precious family holiday time.




It should also be conceded that Bron and Philip, in their own right, were reasonably charming too.




Agnes worked her particular charms very effectively on all the staff - melting hearts and being generally winsome. It turned out that she was more than a little partial to the berries that were decorating the cakes, so, when Bronwyn asked if it might be possible for us to have a few more, she was swiftly supplied with an enormous bowl full - which, to her credit, she worked through very seriously.  Another big tick for the staff and general helpfulness of the hotel.



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Thirty-Ninth Tea - Thirty-Ninth Year





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As a child I was acutely aware and deeply proud of having Scottish ancestry. Three of my Mum's grandparents came from Scotland and she had still regularly visited family in Edinburgh as a child. In that way that children have, I attached a great deal of significance to this seemingly exotic otherness and  considered this as an important part of my identity (despite the fact that a couple of day trips and short family holidays were as near as I had ever come to living this particular dream). Growing up rather relieved me of all that sense and I had almost forgotten how very attached I used to feel to the place. So I am very pleased that Scotland did just make it into the 40 and additionally to rediscover how much I like Edinburgh. I look forward to more such excursions when we are holidaying in Northern parts again.

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Saturday 12 July 2014

Tea the Thirty-Eighth

There's something hypnotic about the word 'tea'
Dorothy L Sayers - Gaudy Night


St Ermin's Hotel, Caxton Street, Westminster - Saturday 28th June 2014



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Tea Takers


Paul Ryan
Sarah Ryan
Olivia Ryan

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I know it might seem that it has been a while since a 'tea' has been taken on the odyssey, but as we approach these final few occasions we have had to be much more discriminating - saving these events for special occasions and opportunities. The 28th June this year was always bound to be one of these, being, as it was, Paul's 40th birthday.  Very important, then, to have a celebratory tea.  It featured as part of an exciting London day of activity, starting with a trip up to the top of The Shard, to enjoy the extraordinary views over the city.




Then a quick call in to collect our theatre tickets before heading across St James's Park for tea. A slight delay in proceedings was caused by the fact that London's Gay Pride march was taking place at that very moment, and getting across Trafalgar Square and Pall Mall became a much more complicated and time consuming activity than usual.  That excitement over, we had a very pleasing stroll across the park to tea.




I found the St Ermin's on the internet looking for somewhere nice to take tea in the Westminster area as this had been an important place to Paul, having had his schooling first at Westminster Cathedral Choir School and then at Westminster School.  It looked very pleasing and very much lived up to this appearance.  It also turned out that Paul had been there before, taken by one of his teachers - he recognised the entrance - and so it turned out serendiptiously to have established links, which we like to find on the odyssey.




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Adjacent to St James's Park tube station, the elegant red brick Victorian buildings of St Ermin's are typical of the grandeur and style of this area of London.  It began its life in 1889 as St Ermin's Mansions (named thus as it was built on the site of a 15th century chapel dedicated to St Ermin) and was converted into a hotel in 1899.

The conversion into a hotel was overseen by theatrical designer J.P. Briggs which helps to explain the lavish and dramatic styling of many of its rooms.





During the Second World War it was the headquarters of MI6 and, in 1940, the place where Churchill established the Special Operations Executive which ran from one floor of the hotel for the rest of the war.  Less salubriously, it was later a place where Burgess, Philby and MacLean liaised with Russian agents.

Who would not like such a site of intrigue and adventure as a place for tea?



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To reach the 'tea lounge' on the lobby mezzanine you have to climb the elaborate twisting white staircase which adds a great deal to the drama of the event.  We found at the top a interesting combination of traditional decor suited to the Queen Anne revival styling of the building, with more modern furnishings, which, as a deliberately eclectic statement, works very well.





They have gone for the deliberately quirky, simultaneously vintage and modern, pastel theme in both the presentation and the tea itself, but this is done confidently and without going completely over the top, and so it works.

Alongside the striking pink and blue Victorian/Cath Kidston-esque fusion crockery, tea is served in a intriguing range of ways from the traditional wire basket and napkin for the scones to a very striking square shelved cake stand - it cannot be quite adequately described so see next illustration... We had rather more sombre white and dark brown stands but on a neighbouring table was a striking yellow version of the same, and a similarly striking colouring to some of the cakes, did give a rather psychedelic feel to the proceedings (together with the quirky mix of styles it was all rather Alice in Wonderland-ish)




This was a very highly performing tea.  A nice range of fresh sandwiches, attractive cakes and some most pleasing scones.  Alongside the traditional plain (applauded for both quality and quantity by Olivia and myself) there were also Earl Grey and raisin (which Paul enjoyed) and an unusual addition the orange scone.  Now, I was dubious about this when I saw it on the menu but actually it was delightful - just a hint of orange zest - very fine with heaps of clotted cream.

Refined scone enjoyment:





I would particularly recommend the lemon macaron, but there were also glossy chocolate truffles, elaborate meringue pies and pleasingly compact walnut cakes. A very enjoyable spread indeed and the birthday boy seemed not displeased.




Olivia and I were both a little disappointed that the jam that came with the tea was blackcurrant (and those avid followers of this blog will already know of my feelings on this matter), so we asked the very obliging waitress if they might have any other jam available. A look of discomfort darkened her face 'We do have strawberry' [pause, voice drops significantly in volume] 'but it is not...... homemade'. We reassured her that this would not be any impediment to our enjoyment nor to our judgement of the establishment and enjoyed our shop-bought jam very much when a generous potful was brought to the table.

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Thirty-Eighth Tea - Thirty-Eighth Year





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Happy Birthday, Paul!

Using this blog to pay tribute to a range of very important people in my life has been one of its most enjoyable features for me and I think it has been fairly clear already from quite a lot of occasions how essential a part of my life Paul is. He won't thank me for being soppy but I am going to say this much: thoughtful, loving, funny, intelligent, dedicated, a person of enormous decency and integrity, he is, without question, the love of my life, my best friend and a part of everything that I am, and I am so grateful to him for everything he is and does.  There, I've broadcast that to the world now, Mr Ryan - so ner.



We finished our celebratory day with Mass at Westminster Cathedral - one of Paul's most important places - and then a trip to the theatre to see the utterly hilarious 'Jeeves and Wooster - Perfect Nonsense' - laughing, in my case, until I wept, on several occasions. A very lovely family day celebrating our favourite chap.




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