A very special afternoon tea at the Langham

My Great Aunty and her sister are amazing. At the ages of 90 and 83 respectively, they both travelled together to New Zealand from Canada for a holiday. They stayed in the city where I live for 3 days, so our family took them on tours and out for meals and re-lived memories from years ago.

Then just over a week ago they set off on a cruise around New Zealand, Tasmania and the rest of Australia in the lap of luxury, with a butler at their beck and call. If this isn't amazing enough, last year they cruised over 700 nautical miles down the Amazon. Each year they travel somewhere exciting.

We decided to treat them to Tiffin afternoon tea at the Langham Hotel. The setting was lovely with comfortable chairs and setees around low coffee tables and a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room.

Two cake stands full of little savouries and scones were placed before us and we were offered different teas, coffees and hot chocolates. I chose their special blend English Breakfast tea with a slice of lemon. My Great Aunty and her sister and my mum had hot chocolate with grated white chocolate and hand made marshmallows. They could choose if their drinks were to be made of dark or milk chocolate...Yummy!

There was a large variety of savouries, including tiny cucumber sandwiches and potted shrimps. But I don't know what the chef was thinking about by serving very sweet, bright green macaroons filled with salty smoked salmon! That was a little bit of a shock to the taste buds....eeks. A few gulps of refreshing tea helped me recover...tea is good for that.

The scones with jam and cream were lovely. There was a choice of plain or date scones. I like to put jam on my scones then top it with cream. Though some people say that you should put the cream on first then the jam. I don't think their is a right or wrong way though...Which way do you prefer?

Then, when we thought we couldn't possibly eat anything more, a huge three-tiered cake trolley, full of delicious petit fours appeared! The left-over savouries and scones were taken away and boxed for us to take home.

You may have noticed that all my cups of tea have a slice of lemon in (here and here).

I must confess that I judge a cafe or restaurant on their willingness/ability to provide me with the essential slice of lemon for my tea. I usually get blank stares when I ask for a slice of lemon instead of milk. Sometimes when they have lemon they give me milk as well! But I am slowly training them and they are getting used to me at my favourite cafes hehe.

My Aunty's sister told me all about her house in Canada. She lives in a forest next to a lake. It sounds so beautiful. She goes picking wild berries, including large and sweet blueberries. Just imagine being able to do that! And foxes and brown bears visit.

In Winter the lake freezes over. They bulldoze the ice at the edge of the lake, then flood the area with water for three nights in a row...and hey presto...they have an ice rink. They mark with a channel to show where it is safe to skate. Then they put candles all around the edge and ice skate by candle light...magic!

I hope that we are all just as fit and active when we are 90 years old! xxx

A week full of smiles

Lots of smiles when my cat Ginger sat next to me under the plum tree while I read a book after work. He then posed beautifully for this photo.

A leisurely breakfast before work. Some delicious Anatoth raspberry jam on toast, peaches and English Breakfast tea.

After reading a post on delicious breakfasts by +Emma C on her Adventures of a London Kiwi blog, my New Year's resolution was to make what I eat for breakfast more interesting. Thanks for the idea Emma.

As you can see I need to work on this. Usually I have a bowl of Ready Brek (instant porridge), which I do love. But I was eating it every day!!! So this is a start. And the fruit is adventurous for me first thing in the morning, even if it was out of a tin haha.

I found a huge clump of yellow canna lilies in my garden that I thought had perished. They look really cheerful mingled with a native purple flowering shrub. Lovely contrasting colours.

An afternoon Sushi snack. Yum! Need I say more :)

Guido my gorgeous Bluepoint Siamese cat sat with me under the plum tree the next day. He will be 17 years old on the 20th January!

A fun afternoon tea at the Langham Hotel with my 90 year old Great Aunty and her sister who were visiting from Canada. (More to follow in another post).

The arrival of a courier parcel from my brother and his fiancee with these cute Birthday presents for me yesterday. Lots of pretty and yummy things!

And another courier parcel arrived, also from my brother and his fiancee! A beautiful handmade hessian and string tote bag with printed birds and flowers on. So cool, and eco-friendly too! I can't wait to use it.

Huge smiles yesterday when a colleague gave me this amazing bunch of red roses and creamy green calla lilies. The roses have the most beautiful scent. I kept sticking my nose in them all afternoon at work. They are now sitting on my bedside table and my room smells wonderful.

And a desk full of pretty birthday cards!

I hope that your week was full of smiles too. xxx

The delicious New Year lunch my brother made

I love the Christmas and New Year season in New Zealand. Our family go to each others houses to enjoy celebratory get togethers and share delicious meals. My brothers and sister are amazing cooks and I love good food....what could be a better combination!

Our Christmas celebrations started at home with my parents. Christmas Day was spent with my younger brother and his fiancee and my little nephew. Then a few days later my sister held a lunch at her house for my nephew's 3rd birthday. (I will show some photos in another post).

For Christmas lunch my younger brother made a mouth-watering meal. The entree he made included little hors d'oeuvres, BBQ'd king prawns (both garlic and chilli), Gravad lax coated with dill and some more fish platters. Then for the main course he made a glazed roast ham, studded with cloves, plus barbequed pork belly. This was served with a yummy red cabbage dish and the tiniest Brussels sprouts I have ever seen, cooked with cream and pancetta.

After lunch we gathered round to share presents. My little 3 year old nephew had a great time and delighted in telling me that he saw Santa's reindeer in the night. My brother had jingled some bells outside and told him that the reindeer were there, but that Santa couldn't deliver his presents until he was asleep!

Yesterday we went to my older brother and his wife's house for lunch to celebrate the New Year...

When we arrived my brother was completing the final preparations for lunch in his beautiful Victorian style kitchen. I interrupted him and asked if he minded me taking photos for my new blog. He couldn't understand why on earth I would want to do a blog and put photos of food on it lol...he doesn't know what fun he is missing out on!

So I took all the covers off the plates, arranged things slightly to be a little more photogenic. Trying to do it without him noticing, and started clicking away hehe. I had a great time. I ignored his perplexed stares lol.

In the first photo you can see the focaccia bread that my brother made. He used a bread maker to prepare the dough and then baked it in the oven. It was sprinkled with sea salt...yuuum! I will have to give this a try with our breadmaker.

The second photo, above, shows his aubergine and feta cheese tart.

Click, click, click went my camera!

We were treated to such a variety of foods accompanied with pickles, gherkins, garlic, olives and sauces.

Gravad lax which he made from fresh salmon. I had a couple of servings of this!

A lovely selection of cold sliced meats (one very spicy hot) and a Tunisian tagine.

He also made sauteed asparagus, a Spanish rice salad, Turkish bean salad, and...

...a pork terrine. So much tasty food!

We helped ourselves, filling our plates up in the kitchen. Then ate sitting around the table in his pretty dining room.

It was such a lovely sunny day that after lunch we sat out on the veranda with our drinks to chat. The men decided to have a game of Petanque on the lawn and had a great time. Dad, who has never joined in any sport, had a great time and had a big grin on his face :) I must get our Petanque set out and brush the cobwebs off. Maybe dad will join me in playing.

I also took a few photos more of my brothers house and garden and their new foal that was born at the beginning of December...more things to post about :)

I hope that you had a great time bringing the New Year in too! xxx