Tea Room Recipes
The refurbished Front of the House
The Story of the Tea Room
I once owned a tea room in a historic building on a cobbled brick Square in a place where no one needed to dream about a white Christmas. The tea room was mostly magical, at least in the front of the house.
Christmas officially began in this town the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Townspeople would gather around a large gazebo where the Mayor would be the master of ceremonies. A joint round of carols, a selection or two from the high school choir, and a flip of a switch by the hometown pageant queen – The Square would be alight, instantly transformed into a winter wonderland.
It was 23 years ago when I stood shivering in the crowd on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I was alight too. I had just moved to the small Midwestern town, following my late husband’s transfer there for a job. The simple goodness of the place made me feel grounded. For years, friends had been suggesting I leave my day job and open a tearoom, a daunting task for someone having never worked in a restaurant before. But they knew I had been dreaming about a space, a respite,
a haven – a gentle place I could share with anyone who
longed for such a place too. So it was on that cold November night more than two decades ago, the seed of this tea room was born.
Background photo: Table # 2, at the tea room.
Recipes
Very Simple Pumpkin Soup
From the Friday after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, the Square the tea room was located on, held sheer magic. At the first hint of dusk, delicate white lights cast a blurry glow through ice-covered branches creating a luminous outline against the crisp night sky. Bountiful pine wreathes with generous gold and burgundy bows, adorned the entrances of the rows of Victorian architecture. Dickens-style carolers dressed in period hats, cloaks and muffs, roved from shop to shop, seeming to never tire of harmonizing several choruses of, “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” And throughout each day, we could always hear the gentle rhythm of the horse-drawn carriage against the cobbled brick streets that transported shivering shoppers around the historic Square.
Inside the tea room the cooks and I worked hard to augment the regular menu with special seasonal entrees – turkey with a grated orange and popped cranberry Zinfandel sauce over a flakey fig scone, my mother’s favorite bread pudding recipe served with thick cream and a heaping of homemade sticky caramel sauce, and little chocolate mice for young children who took tea before and after the Opera House presentation of the Nutcracker.
The tea room was busiest this time of year, and being located in a town where the temperature often dropped below 20 degrees Fahrenheit in late November and December, keeping up with the demand for soup was a challenge in the tiny kitchen. In addition to our house soup – a homemade potato leek – each year from early fall until the week after Christmas, we offered this simply pumpkin soup. Served with homemade whipped cream and fresh ground cinnamon, or grated nutmeg it was a seasonal favorite, a little like sipping warm pumpkin pie.
1 30 ounce can solid pack pumpkin
1 30 ounce can pumpkin pie filling
3 cups water
2 cups half and half
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
salt and pepper to taste
Combine the first five ingredients in stockpot and bring to a simmer. Add the next five and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with fresh whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon or grated nutmeg.
Makes 6 Quarts
NOTE: Vegans and those who are lactose intolerant can substitute almond milk and plant butter for the cream and butter. Use a half cup less almond milk than recipe calls for to preserve the thick texture.
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