Cream teas and cakes! (Part II)

Cream teas and cakes! (Part II)

Hello again

Are you ready for more goodies? In my last blog I told you all about scones, cream and jam, so today I'm going to tell you about tea and cakes. Of course we British are famous for drinking tea - gallons of it. Tea can be bought in two ways: loose leaf (that means loose tea leaves) or tea bags (where the tea leaves are sealed in small bags made of paper). To make a really good, traditional cup of tea, this is what you need:

Loose leaf tea (never a tea bag) - one rounded teaspoon for each person

Freshly boiled water - never use water that has been boiled before

A tea pot

A cup and saucer (preferably made of china)

Milk - you should always put the milk in the cup first if you are using loose leaf tea

A tea strainer - to catch the tea leaves when you pour tea from the pot in to the cup

....and a tea cosy. A what? I hear you ask. A tea cosy. From the photo below, can you work out what a tea cosy is and what it does?




A tea cosy is a cover for the tea pot to keep the tea warm (or cosy) while it is brewing.




Gosh, this is making me thirsty!

And so finally on to cakes. When I was on Exmoor I visited the pretty little village of and couldn't resist stopping at the tea rooms.




As you can see they are in a beautiful spot and the weather was so lovely, that we sat in the garden to have our tea. When I went into the tea rooms, I couldn't take my eyes off the wonderful display of cakes: all homemade! It was so hard to decide which one to choose. I think I've got this right. Front row, left to right: carrot cake, shortbread, bakewell slice, iced sponge, chocolate brownies and orange sponge Middle flapjacks, coffee & walnut cake, caramel slices Back row chocolate cake, apple cake, fruit cake, scones.




Which would you have chosen? Can you guess which one I had? Well, actually, you can't see my cake, because it's in the cabinet just on the edge of the photo. This is what I had:




It's called lemon meringue (I had mine with clotted cream of course!) and is made of pastry, with a lemon filling and a mixture of baked sugar and egg on top - so it's very sweet and sharp at the same time. Here's a link to the recipe....although I've never tried to make it.


I have to confess that it was delicious....but I couldn't eat it all! Actually, the local birds seemed to be pleased there were leftovers. This blackbird waited until the people at the next table had left and then hopped down to pick up the crumbs. You can just see him behind the cups. You'll also notice there is a chaffinch waiting on the back of the chair! The waitress told us this blackbird is addicted to honey and is always trying to eat some before the tables are cleared.




Apologies to Tanya and Habooba for talking about cakes and scones again ;-)

Ana Paula and Naheed: I'll let you in to a secret - I actually quite like cheese and jam sandwiches. Of course it has to be strawberry jam ;-)!

Pary: my name is pronounced just like carry. It's actually short for Caroline: I'm only called Carrie at work - all my friends and family call me Caroline!

Kuldeep: it doesn't rain as much in England as everyone thinks (although today it has rained all day!). We don't have a rainy season: when it does rain, it may rain for a few days - but even then, there are usually breaks when it stops.

James: I'm not in the banner...they forgot about me! The person second from the left is Nuala - she writes The Flatmates. You're right, she is younger than me....but only a bit! Just for you, here's a photo of me on Exmoor (trying to look young!)




Chiladi: if you visited a British pub now, it would be very different, because no- one is allowed to smoke inside a pub anymore. Instead you would find a lot of people standing around outside the doors with cigarettes in their hands.

Hyoshil: I'm happy to have reminded you about your childhood! Until I went to Exmoor, I had never seen anyone working on a thatched roof before, so it was fascinating for me!

Mariusz: I'd never heard of the Hucul ponies before, so I had a look on the internet. I've never seen a Hucul in England - but it says they are good for riding, so maybe I'll find one one day, because I go horse riding every week.

Carrie

goodies: nice things
brew: to let the hot water absorb the flavour of the tea leaves. "A brew" is an informal way of saying a cup of tea - "Anyone for a brew?"
leftovers: food that has not been eaten.
to clear a table: to take away the dirty plates, cups and cutlery - the opposite is to lay a table - to put out clean crockery and cutlery.