A Tea Luncheon

Today my daughter and I had a lovely luncheon tea with my niece and my sister in law.  My niece has recently returned from a year in Spain and we couldn't wait to see her.  My sister in law suggested we meet for lunch at a cute little tearoom in downtown White Bear Lake, MN.  We had a tea luncheon before she left so it seemed appropriate to have one on her return.

We easily found a place to park within a short walk of the tearoom.  My daughter insisted I take pictures of the beautiful flowers along the sidewalk.

The tea room we visited is called The Avalon Tearoom.  Here is a link to their website:   www.avalontearoom.com  It's located on 4th Street in downtown White Bear Lake, MN.

I would suggest making a reservation because the Tearoom is small and can get busy over the lunch hour.  They have luncheon teas, afternoon teas, formal teas and children's teas.  A number of years ago, we had a birthday party for my daughter here.  I had to go out and buy a butterfly shaped cookie cutter afterwards because she insisted that from then on, all of her sandwiches should be shaped as butterflies.

On their menu, they have light finger sandwiches, scones, soup, quiche, fruit cup, pasta salad and of course dessert.  You can pick items individually or do as we did and order the tea luncheon.  With the tea luncheon, we were offered a choice of 3 from the following:  finger sandwiches, soup, fruit cup, dessert, scone.  The tea luncheon also includes tea for one or you can order pots of tea of the table.  I ordered the finger sandwiches (egg salad, chicken salad, cucumber); a blueberry & almond scone with jam and cream; and a cup of vegetable beef soup.

I also ordered an individual pot of apricot tea that was delicious!

My daughter ordered finger sandwiches (chicken salad and egg salad); a blueberry & almond scone with jam and cream; and a very decadent brownie.

The food was delicious and the company was delightful!  I hope we don't have to wait another year before the four of us can enjoy another tea luncheon together!

"Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors."  -Alice Walker