Tea Time

I have vivid memories sometimes of tea time;

tea and toast with orange marmalade or guava jelly,

tea with cinnamon toast – soft and buttery, warm and sweet.

I remember entire afternoons spent in preparation of sandwiches –

ham and cheese and tuna, corned beef, cucumber and radish

along with just baked, warm from the oven ginger buns and

squares of soft, yet crumbly coconut toto,

and dozens of crispy on the outside soft on the inside

buttery sugar cookies, and raisin filled rock cakes,

or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

I remember rich chocolate cakes

and light as air sponge cakes or plain vanilla cakes,

all resting on cooling racks,

ready to be filled with a variety of delectable fillings

such as chunks of pineapple simmered in rum sauce,

or Kirsch flavoured dark sweet cherries

or toasted coconut and chopped walnuts or pecans

and then iced with a smooth and creamy butter cream icing

or a light and velvety meringue icing.

Delightfully flavoured with vanilla or orange or lemon

or sometimes even coconut or peppermint essences 

depending on the type of cake, and then artfully decorated 

with candy sprinkles,or chocolate curls, coloured sugar, 

sugar glitter or butter cream roses or toasted coconut and

halved maraschino cherries; and then all displayed on glass

or ceramic pedestals for all to admire.

Tea pastries, cakes and sandwiches would be consumed

in the cool of the afternoon – not yet evening light, with cups of hot tea,

or glasses of iced tea laced with lemon juice or lime juice and sweet brown sugar.

Earl Grey tea, Lady Baltimore tea, Orange Pekoe;

teas from India,Ceylon, Bangkok, from worlds away...

served with a choice of full cream or whole milk,

granulated sugar in sugar cubes or free flowing

and thin slices of lemon and lime sometimes;

…. the taste lingers; and somehow years later -

I recall days in the very middle of June with Tea Time at 4:00pm.

I am walking past my local bakery on the way to work one morning

and my nostrils catch a light whiff of vanilla and hot, sweet milk;

I know that they are in there making the warm donuts

they serve with their special Vanilla Spiced Chai Tea

that is their signature morning offering to their appreciative clientèle, my self included.

While waiting in line to be served,on this particular morning,

I dare to to close my eyes at that very moment

and breath in the scents around me in that warm and familiar bakery,

while it begins to lightly snow outside,

and the chill in the air deepens and expands,

I confess to believing for a moment that I were
in my grandmothers kitchen,and that it is 1:00 pm on a Friday afternoon in summer.

© Copyright 2011 - Alison West