My sweet and thoughtful father-in-law surprised me, my lovely mother-in-law and my wonderful Mum with the gift of a morning out for a high tea occasion at Rutherford House here in Edmonton. What a splendid morning! We all were totally in the dark as to what this particular surprise would be. It all started about a month ago when Fred, my father-in-law, mentioned that he had a special treat planned for us - his fair ladies! He then proceeded to send us hints - about once a week by email - about our surprise. He would send us quotes from online to pique our interest and really keep us excited about what he had planned. Then the day before, he gave us the address to where we would need to be by 11:00 the next morning. You can believe we were all thoroughly thrilled when we found out our surprise was for a morning out, just the girls, at the beautiful Rutherford mansion for High Tea. It was a fantastic morning! We all had such a grand time and it was such a lovely surprise! The Rutherford House is located on the beautiful University of Alberta campus. It sits quite exquisitely on a plot of land overlooking the river valley and has, this very year, turned one hundred years old. The Arbour Restaurant & Tea Room was our final destination and we sat quite happily out on their windowed in verandah - overlooking a sweet little garden. We decided we would order the Centennial High Tea for three and that was a most excellent choice! Our lovely hostess started us with our tea, of course. The Rutherford House Blend - Earl Grey tea (sigh Earl Grey tea) with infusions of Jasmine. Apparently the same blend Her Majesty serves to her guests at garden parties. The queen has very good taste in tea as this was a delicious tasting brew. Each of our tea cups and saucers were different patterns and all were either Royal Albert, Aynsley or Paragon (my personal favourite as Paragon was commissioned by the Queen Mum). Splendid and brilliant! Next we were brought an assortment of finger sandwiches consisting of cucumbmer and dill, egg salad on rye and spiced cream cheese pinwheels. Delicious! A perfect starter. We then moved on to our main course (all the while drinking our lovely tea). The main course was homemade oven roasted turkey pot pie with a puff pastry topping - absolutely scrumptious! And then lastly, and of course my favourite part of the meal, were our fresh-from-the-oven scones (Mrs. Rutherford's very own recipe and I quite literally cannot begin to tell you how amazing they tasted) and homemade Devonshire cream and freshly made raspberry butter. Mouth watering kinds of good! Served along with our scones and butters were fresh baked cookies, dainties and sweeties with fresh fruit. Oh my. It was simply delightful, all of it. The embiance, the sweet vintage tea cups and saucers, and the food - dear oh dear - the food. Everything, simply delightful! I cannot begin to thank my ever so thoughtful father-in-law for this well planned and very sweet gift. We all had a splendid time! To top everything off, we went down to the Whatnot Gift Shop in the basement of the old mansion and spent a few minutes perusing the sweet little items they had for sale. I came across this sweet little necklace complete with small pocket watch effect and chain. My precious Mum had been waiting for me to find something for my birthday, she hadn't been able to be here to celebrate and still, to this day, gets my brother and I birthday gifts. She had asked me to keep an eye out for something I might like and I think she spotted me eyeing the chain so of course, because she is intuitive and loving and completely wonderful, I get out to the car and she presents me with a sweet little brown bag (vinatge print) and inside was the lovely pocket watch and chain necklace piece. Thanks to my wonderful Mum! I love it! It was a grand affair to be sure and I would love to go again so if you happen to be in Edmonton, and wish to attend High Tea at the Rutherford House, I would most assuredly love to be your tea date! I've added some pictures from our morning out but you can find all of them on my Flickr page.
Great pictures! Thank you J!
It was a perfect morning with great company and food. A special kind of experience enjoyed by the fair ladies. Thank you Freddie - it was LOVERLY!
Posted by: Alice Chow | Tuesday, 06 September 2011 at 07:18 PM
It was such a fantastic morning! And I was so thrilled to be able to spend it with two such wonderfully amazing women! Fred certainly plans a great surprise!!! Can't wait to do it again someday! xo
Posted by: J | Tuesday, 06 September 2011 at 10:00 PM