Tag: #highteaEmpressHotel

Big Birthday Celebration: A Tale Of Two Teas

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, Adventures in Retirement, Good Times, Retirement, Roadtripping, See the Beauty44 Comments

Last weekend I hit a major milestone birthday – well, according to our government that is! I turned 65, which is the traditional “age of retirement” still, here in Canada.

Woohoo! I can look forward to my Old Age Security cheque every month now, starting in August. It’s not near enough for a person to actually live on, but it will be something for those of us who no longer garner a paycheque. When I retired from my career officially at age 60, I opted to take my Canada Pension Plan (a benefit available to all Canadians who have paid into the plan during their working lives) early because of a few good reasons – the main one being that my early CPP plus my existing survivor benefit (for being a widow of a working Canadian) meant I was pretty close to my maximum payout already, so why not?! And I have not regretted for one minute my decision to retire early!

My daughter had made plans to treat me to High Tea at the Empress, in Victoria, on my actual birthdate so I had a girly splurge at the local mall the day before – purchasing a new silk top, a new lipstick at the MAC counter, and some new jewellery. Happy birthday to ME, LOL!

Interestingly (to me, anyways), this statement necklace is made from recycled aluminum. Which makes it quite lightweight and thus easier to wear.
My beautiful daughter.
Getting ready to enjoy our tea tray and extra special tea blend (more on that later!)
Close up of some of the sweets.
Complimentary glass of prosecco rosé delivered by our waiter, Raymond.

Because the hotel knew it was my birthday, I was given some very special gifts including a sachet of their Empress blend tea (to take home), a delicious glass of bubbly, AND a pot of very premium tea – all on the house! The tea (regularly $18 a pot, on top of the cost of the High Tea itself) was absolutely wonderful – beautifully fragrant and a delight on the tongue – so of course I headed to the Fairmont Store right afterwards to source some to take home. Imagine my shock when I found out it was $99 for 2 ounces of Madame Butterfly!

Luckily (?) I can get over a shock quite quickly and easily 😉 so in the true spirit of YOLO: YES – I bought the damn tea! I reasoned it was the equivalent of buying a very fine bottle of wine or spirits, so out came the credit card. I also purchased the other blend we selected for our high tea – Lady Londonderry (at $18.95, a veritable steal…).

This is looking more and more like the equivalent of a very fine wine, indeed! (The flowers described on the label are jasmine, which gives the tea its heavenly fragrance as well as contributing to the taste.)
To be opened and enjoyed the next time I host Book Club.
Lady Londonderry ingredients. I have lemon balm and calendula growing in my garden…hmm, getting ideas 🤔.

As if I wasn’t spoiled enough already, my good friend and fellow blogger Donna wanted to treat me to a day at Butchart Gardens including THEIR high tea! Who am I to say no to two high teas only 3 days apart?!

We got the best outside table in the place, overlooking the owners’ private garden.
Another guest kindly took our photo.
This tea started with individual trifles! Photo by Donna.
The Butchart Gardens tea tray.
Including a special chocolate birthday medallion!

After that delicious meal, Donna and I valiantly tried to walk some of it off around the gardens.

View looking down at the Sunken Garden.
One of many spectacular dahlias that took my breath away.

In comparing the two teas, they were equivalent in terms of quality of ingredients in my opinion. The Butchart Gardens tea tray seemed to give you more in terms of quantity as well as cost – the Empress high tea cost was almost double per person – but in the wise words of our waiter, Shane: Yes, but you had to pay to get into the Gardens in order to eat here…

The Empress provides a different sort of ambience – including a piano player tinkling away throughout our tea, and a gorgeous view of the Victoria Harbour and Parliament buildings…as well as the history of that grand hotel itself. Meanwhile the Gardens provided spectacular vistas and blooms everywhere you looked while enjoying their tea and later walking their paths. I couldn’t choose just one over the other, and luckily I didn’t have to!

If you are ever on the island (and celebrating a special occasion…or not!), I can highly recommend either of these venues. After all, YOLO!!!

And if you can’t find anyone to treat you, there’s always this wisdom from the Parks and Rec crew:

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Fairmont Empress Edition

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate54 Comments

In December my co-host Donna and I decided to treat each other for Christmas with an experience – Christmas High Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. We had already tried a couple of high teas closer to home and I knew we would eventually make our way to the Grand Dame of all high teas on the island but didn’t think it would happen so soon. Kudos to Donna for suggesting it and making it happen!

We were kinda excited to make it to the lobby of the hotel. In case there was any doubt.
High tea is always served in the upstairs Lobby Lounge. Our table (framed by potted palms and near the grand piano) was waiting for us, candles in the tea warmers already lit.
Our server Yousef brought our teas shortly after we made our selections, and instructed us on the use of the tea timer.
Yousef also offered to capture the moment of our first sips of tea.
My beautiful friend and co-host, Donna.
It was a Christmas High Tea, and the sweets tier reflected that beautifully.
The savouries were also delicious! These are just a few of them.
And the still-warm scone was absolutely amazing with clotted cream and strawberry-vanilla jam.
Donna insisted I shoot this proof of her eating Christmas cake. (It was very good and I would have gladly eaten her piece and she could have eaten my chocolate thingy…which I ended up taking home for the kids, along with Donna’s macaron.)

During our 2 hour tea we were treated to piano playing as well as carol singers. Magical! After experiencing uh..overwhelm at the size and quantity of offerings at another high tea, we were pleased to be able to consume almost everything on our tiered tray…it would have been a shame not to; everything was so pretty and delicious!

I remember having high tea at the Empress back in 2003 with my late husband (then boyfriend) and the kids. He kept asking our server for more sandwiches, which were promptly supplied! I suppose this happens, with the men people with larger appetites who partake? I wonder if extra sandwiches would still be provided now, in these different times.

It was the perfect kick-off to the fast-approaching holidays, and with the perfect companion! Of course, we found our way to the hotel’s gift shop after our tea experience, and as well as purchasing some tea and one of those cute tea timers, I found the holy grail this:

I had been looking for a new waffle weave robe for years…ever since the one I had bought on my honeymoon had become threadbare from constant use been retired. SCORE!!! Merry Christmas to me 😉. Thank you, Fairmont Empress!

Please join me and Donna in sharing what’s on your plate! Join the Link Party or let me know in the Comments. I hope you all had a wonderful December however you celebrate (or not)!

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Rock on,

The WB