Easter High Tea treat

Australians are big on morning and afternoon tea.

It would be rude not to try our very best to fit in wouldn't it?

See the little girl in the photo above? That's my now nine year old Sibs. This was taken when we came to Australia 'for a year' - she was three, and we were celebrating my birthday with a high tea in the city.



"when will it start?"



 Same place, same girl...six years later.

This is the Mad Hatter's afternoon High Tea party that we went to this week to start the school holidays off with a treat.  The lobby of the city hotel was decorated with vibrant colours and was filled with chocolate eggs, chocolate rabbits and flowers. There was music courtesy of a pianist and violinist and they played lovely versions of nursery rhymes and childrens songs.

Mad Hatter's High Tea, Stamford Plaza, Brisbane



The hotel lobby looks out onto a courtyard and we were fortunate enough to sit next to the enormous windows to appreciate the Autumnal afternoon sunshine...bliss.

Apart from the numerous cakes and pastries, we sampled multi coloured sandwiches, macaroons, fairy floss, mini hot cross buns, various mini scones with jam and cream and smoked salmon blinis. To drink we had little shot glasses of berry cordial and for the adults there was champagne.  Then to finish  -  a selection of teas. The rose and vanilla tea was delicious...I quite fancied the tea cup as well!

Back to normal for today's morning tea!

The hot cross buns were toasted, (yes mine were well toasted!) there was coffee and hot chocolate
and there was no champagne...

Still, it's lovely to be at home and enjoy some precious time with my girl.

Wishing you a very Happy Easter.

Pasg Hapus.

(The Mad Hatter's High Tea is on at the Stamford Plaza, Brisbane until April 8th  - link here)

The pleasure and treasure of books.

I'm a big reader and have to have some books on my bedside table at all  times.

Usually there's another few dotted around the house in various corners too.

This is the current state of my side of the bed...



Bit of a theme going on I here I think!

I had a bit of a Jane Austen spurt at the local library last week. I typed her name in the search catalogue and all these related books came up. I have read a few of the Rebecca Collins sequels to Pride and Prejudice but had no idea there were quite so many other spin offs - there were pages and pages...

The Amanda Grange books are the classic Jane Austen stories retold in diary format from the male character's viewpoint. The plot follows the familiar tale of Emma  in Knightley's diary,  Sense and Sensibility  with Colonel Brandon's diary and of course Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mr Darcy. Fascinating reads.  You get to glimpse some expansion of the sub plots of the original and I'm lapping it up.

Knightley is still my absolute favourite Austen male though...a true romantic.

Are any of you Austen fans? Do you have a favourite?

I don't think I've ever seen Neil read a fiction novel. He's a scientist - just a 'facts and figures please' kind of man! Look at the contrast....

 I bought him the "Help I'm turning into my Dad!" book. It's pretty funny and we've had a giggle at the accuracy of many a topic.

Then there's Sibs...
Her bedside table doesn't always look this tidy. It's school holidays, so the bedroom has had a major clean up. There's usually pencils and a school diary and three or four other books there.

I devoured the Enid Blyton St Clare's and Mallory Towers books when I was her age and I'm so delighted that she's got the same reading bug.

Talking about Enid Blyton...

When we were on holiday last year exploring a bit of the Queensland coast we stumbled upon a bit of a junk shed. There were some interesting things there but being confined to a small camper van we couldn't buy much and I couldn't persuade Neil that the old ladder was an essential item to get!

Anyhow, Sibs and I found some old Enid Blyton books and even though I thought that they were a little pricey at $6, we'd spent so long there that I felt obliged to buy something. So we picked up a few and that was that.

Recently I was looking for something online and came across some second hand Enid Blyton books.

They were how much???

I rushed upstairs, had a look at our little collection...and it turns out after a bit of research we have a 1st edition! All of a sudden $6 was a steal!

There's a name in the front and someone has crayoned a few of the illustrations so it's not pristine, but still... what a lucky find!

You see - books are real treasures!

Easter school hols here, so we're loving the change of pace and routine. We're off to the dentist this afternoon. There was lots of cake eating happening yesterday as we went for a high tea. I'll get sorted with the photos and share - it was quite spectacular!