Tea parties don’t plan themselves, and mine was no exception.
Choosing the tea was the easy part – West Bengal Darjeeling plucked before the 2006 drought and dried in Northumberland. Selecting the biscuits proved to be the biggest challenge. Plain chocolate hob nobs? Yorkshire digestives? Which would bring out the nuances of the tea without overshadowing it?
After the biscuits, the china, the napkins, the doilies – oh my God, don’t get me started on the doilies! Still, I persevered. Days of anguished soul searching produced place settings, guest lists, invitations, and seating charts.
As the guests arrived, I could gauge my success by the delight in their eyes. Everything would have been perfect if not for the atomic blast.