Afternoon Tea

What’s America’s idea of food? After years of living in this country, my conclusion is breakfast, lunch, and dinner… that’s it! And to this date, I can’t think of anything else that reminds me more of America than a hamburger…

No, there is nothing wrong with a juicy burger… but when you slept past noon and had a really late breakfast… and you started craving for something around 4 in the afternoon… I am sorry, a hamburger is really not anywhere on my list... but my options are so limited I frowned…

So here are the options my Urbanspoon app on my iPhone gave me when I put in “dessert” (although what I really wanted is Cantonese style curry fish cakes and beef tripe… yeah… dream on for that one):

Baskin & Robins

Panera Bread

Starbucks Coffee

Dairy Queen

Seriously! America – this is ALL that you have to offer? So I have to either stand in line with a bunch of kiddos for ice cream or drink coffee from a paper cup that cost $5???

rose petal tea @ MO, DC

Oh well, I have to say my recent experience at the Mandarin Oriental in DC really spoiled me… where I paid $5 for a pot of high quality rose petal tea served in a proper tea set with a bowl of nuts and olives and men in suits with British accent asking me “how did you enjoyed everything, miss?”, plus gorgeous view, relaxing music, comfortable chairs, etc.

I grew up in a culture where everybody likes to enjoy a cup of Joe and toasty buttered bread in the afternoon/evening while catching up with friends… in this country… nobody seemed to think that this is a good idea!! I am speechless…

With that anger and frustration building up inside me and my hunger increasing every single passing minute, I went into my favorite local groceries store (Joe Caputo) and picked up $30 worth of snacks… it sounds like a lot and yes it was embarrassing when the ladies working at the pastry counter chuckled when I can’t stop ordering their decadent sweets… but I can tell you it will last me many weekends…

The moment I hit home, I boiled the water for an instant mocha coffee, cut up some strawberries and dried dates, put the olives in a nicer bowl, grabbed 2 of the pastries that I bought (by the way, that cheesecake is to die for), threw some pretzel chips into a bowl to go with the guacamole (which was SOLD OUT last weekend) and put all of that on my coffee table and WALA~ I have my DIY afternoon tea set…

I think I need to start investing in some fine china…