Sunday, April 7, 2013

TEA AND TALES: Behind the Scenes (The People and The Teas)

Following my last post, with the food for Tea and Tales all prepped, I wandered around the Montgomery's Inn to check out how the rest of the prep is coming along.  Montgomery's Inn was built around 1830 for Thomas and Margaret Montgomery.  The museum has been restored to its heyday of 1847 when it served as a meeting place for the community and gave shelter and food for weary travellers.   It's a great place to visit to see what life was like back in the early 19th century.  And on Saturday, April 6th, it served as the meeting place for the Tea Guild of Canada's 4th annual tea and food pairing fundraiser.

Both the Tea Guild of Canada and Montgomery's Inn are not-for-profit organizations and any profit will be shared between them.  Montgomery's Inn is on Toronto Mayor Ford's "hit list" of cultural and historical buildings to be shut down.  So, if you're looking for a cause to support and a cool place to visit, the funds would be greatly appreciated in their battle to stay open.

Not sure who first said this but there's a saying that goes, you need to know where you came from to know where you are going.  I encourage to go visit Montgomery's Inn or any of our city's fine historical museums to learn more about Toronto's past.

The tables have been set in the tea room, waiting for the guests to be welcomed and the introductions to begin.
Busy bee volunteers stuffing the gift bags for the guests
 Preparing the trays of sweets
 Last minute review of presentation notes
In the historic kitchen
Final set up of the rooms
The ballroom
 Teas to be served, weighed out and ready for use
Dao Hong Pao to be paired with the sandwiches and savories
Dragon well (Lung Jing) to be paired with the chicken consommé
Close up of one of the Chinese yixing teapots on the table

Preparing the portions of teas
Last minute instructions to the greeters at the reception area
The guests have arrived and Bill Kamula, co-chair of the Tea Guild of Canada gives the welcome speech
The water is boiling and you know what that means...
Soon there will be TEA!

4 comments:

  1. These look fantastic. I don't know what to admire first, the delicious picture with the tea sandwiches and scones, the wonderful dragon teapot or tea leaves which looks so nice and real that I can almost feel their aroma. Thanks for sharing these nice images!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Carmen! You're welcome, so glad you liked it. Stay tuned, more to come.

      Delete
  2. The dragon teapot is gorgeous! And great photos Rita -- wonderful behind the scenes story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Michaelle, thank you! I really liked that dragon teapot too! I'll be on the lookout for something cool like that in China :)

      Delete