LoveJoy's

For a completely frivolous and cozy afternoon tea, LoveJoy's on Church street is the perfect place. The quirky and inventive decor features mismatched china sets and a tasteful collection teatime treasures and collectibles. Unlike other tea houses in the City, the full spread includes enough tasty scones, sandwiches, and salad to leave you satisfied and a bottomless teapot to quench your thirst. Be sure to reserve a table well in advance. Weekends and especially Sundays are booked weeks ahead of time.

http://www.lovejoystearoom.com/

Hum. Well, since it is so often booked on Mother's day, it's easy enough to just copy to the entire menu, style, and theme at someones home. Here's a quick list of menu items and accessories to create the same effect. These are mere approximations of the actual recipes and may not taste exactly comparable because I've only eaten there on one occasion and only tried a fraction of their entire repetoir. But, the ingredients seem simple enough to locate at any grocery store or WholeFoods. Moreover, the wonderful thing about LoveJoy's is the tasteful, yet intentional, visual chaos created by contrasting colors, patterns, and textures. While the general style and shape of the dinnerware generally comes from the same era or aesthic, it need not match! So, everything can be found for a few cents at your local GoodWill on the next "dollar day"and returned later as a donation if you don't want to keep it.

Menu

• Fine, loose tea (herbal, green, black, fruit...anthing would work)
• Fresh scones
• Tea cookies (mmm...McVitte cookies, my FAVORITE)
• English clotted cream
• Jam/preserves(preferably homemade)
• Seasonal fruit cut into bit sized and decorative shapes (pineapple, melon, berries)
• Mixed salad greens with flower petals (from a local farmer's market)
• Vinaigrette salad dressing
• Gourmet coleslaw
• An assortment of tiny tea sandwiches. Spread any of the following between two slices of standard, plain, white or whole wheat bread. Then cut away crust and cut each square into diagonal triangles. Or, use a cookie cutter to shape perfect circles and place them on tiered serving trays. The sandwich fillings tend to be comprised of only a two or three ingredients in thin, delicate layers.

Sandwich fillings

• Olive and fig tapenade (try blending black olives and preserved figs)
• Humus with pureed artichoke hearts
• Stilton and thin pear slices (This filling was the BEST!!!!! )
• Butter and cucumber slices
• Pureed apple, walnut, and chicken salad
• Roast beef and horseradish

Plates, decor and accessories

• 1 flowered tablecloth
• 1 napkin holder
• 1 lace coverlet
• 1 antique cream server
• 1 antique sugar server
• 1 tiered serving tray with three, stacked, circular levels supported by a vertical rod going though the center of each. The lowest and widest level is about the size of a dinner plate.

Each place setting included the following:

• 1 antique or vintage teacup with matching tea saucer
• 1 lace dolie to go under the tea saucer
• 1 lace place mat
• 1 poreclain teapot (the crazier or more unique the better!)
• 1 dessert plate
• 1 teaspoon
• 1 tea strainer
• 1 small tin cup to hold the tea strainer
• 1 lace or flowered napkin

BON APPETIT!