Tea Time

I love tea houses. Maybe you do too? Well, here's a sight that my mom sent to me that finds tea rooms near you. Enjoy!

http://www.teamap.com/

and for those with some adventure in you...here's the recipe for a cucumber sandwich. I am going to make one. If you do... let me know how yours turned out ok?

Peel a cucumber and slice it into transparencies on the slicing side of a grater, or by adroit (whatever that is!) use of a potato peeler. Sprinkle these see-through discs with a little vinegar and salt. After half an hour, (good grief!) drain away the excess cucumber juice by shuffling the slices in a sieve. Cover a slice of lightly buttered paper-thin brown bread with two layers of cucumber, and top with another slice of bread. Apply firm but delicate pressure with the palm of the hand. Slice off the crusts, and cut into three rectangles. Pile these neatly (naw.. I think I'll pile mine all over the place after all this work!) on a porcelain serving plate, (or a paper plate- ha) and cover with a lightly dampened cloth until tea is served.

"The cucumber sandwich is the aristocrat of the teatable; cool, gracious and impeccable. Should you peel the cucumber or not? It depends on whether you like the thin green line (also upon whether or not you live in America, where cucumbers are waxed and therefore must be peeled). One thing is for certain- the bread must be as slim as a leaf. (good luck on that one sista!) By virtue of its utter simplicity and symbolic status, the cucumber sandwich is also one of the few foods to rise from the merely culinary world to dizzy literary heights."

from the book The London Ritz Book Of Afternoon Tea

wow... these people are serious about some cucumber sandwiches! HA!