THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502170181
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
The pot full of Queen Mary tea was steaming hot under its red tea cozy. Lemon slices studded with cloves were tastefully arranged in a row on a small rectangular plate.
Raisin scones were tempting tasty morsels on a nearby serving platter. A bowl was piled high with whipped cream and little pots of various jams were also out on the pretty table set in red and white for a Valentine's Day tea.
This was a full-fledged tea party at Kay Recknor's house on Bay Island but it was just a taste of what is to come next weekend at Virginia Beach Christian Church on Rose Hall Drive. That's when Recknor and other members of the church choir will hold several Afternoon Teas as fund-raisers for the choir.
Seatings for the teas will be at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday and at 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. Tickets are available by calling Phyllis Super, 481-5102 or Reba Hicks, 481-3979. Reservations can be made for tables for four or six or you can make individual reservations and be seated with strangers in the European tradition. Tickets are $5.
``Last year a lot of mothers decided to bring their younger daughters to introduce them to the tradition of tea,'' Super said.
Last year's teas were the choir's first and they were so successful, they're at it again this year. I can guarantee if the teas are anything like Recknor's Valentine tea party, guests are in for a treat. Choir members will bring their own special tea things from home to give each table an individual look. Silver teapots, ceramic teapots and choir members' own tea cups and saucers in various china patterns will adorn the tables. Fresh spring flowers and table cloths, napkins and matching tea cozies will enhance each table, too.
Recknor, who lived for two years in England, has tried to assure that the afternoon teas have a ring of authenticity. Guests learn tea party manners via a pink brochure that discusses tea party protocol and describes the various English teas that are on the menu.
For example, the Queen Mary tea we had on Valentine's Day is described as a ``Darjeeling blended with fine orange pekoe which was originally supplied to her royal Highness, Queen Mary.''
Church organist, Chuck Loucka, will add a further note of civility to the afternoons by playing background classical music on the piano. Waiters - men from the choir and husbands of choir members - will be formally dressed for the serving chores. Recknor and other committee members will be in the kitchen, making tea, always in the proper English way.
``You never take the tea kettle to the pot,'' Recknor explained, ``but always take the pot to the kettle to keep the water hot.''
Sandwiches and sweets served with the teas range from the decidedly English to the decidedly American. Scones, delicious sweet buttery biscuits with raisins, are the most English. They will be served with whipped cream and jam.
In England, clotted cream or Devonshire cream, a thick cream made by warming and cooling milk, would be served instead, Recknor said. No matter. If you've never tasted a scone, cut in two, spread with jam, and heaped high with whipped cream, you're in for a delicious, cholesterol-clogging taste sensation.
Door prizes will feature such tea time amenities as tea cozies, which are padded coverings for teapots, teapots and collections of scones and jams. If you don't win a door prize but you fall in love with tea time, don't despair. There also will be a boutique where special tea things can be purchased.
Recknor, Super, Hicks, Win Hall and Choir Director Maggie Austin conceived the idea of teas as fund-raisers after they went on a social outing to an establishment in Hampton that serves tea.
``We went out for a quiet afternoon and this is what happened!'' Super said.
A little recipe booklet featuring tea information and recipes for scones and other tea party morsels also will be on sale at the boutique. In the front of the booklet is a quote from Henry James: ``There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as Afternoon Tea.''
Enjoy.
P.S. HOW TO ATTRACT BIRDS to your back yard is the topic of the Virginia Beach Audubon Society meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Westminster-Canterbury. Betsy Nugent, field trip chairman, will be the speaker. The meeting is open to the public.
MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND RESEARCH is the topic of a program for students in third through sixth grade from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Virginia Marine Science Museum. The fee is $4 for museum members and $6 for non-members. Call 437-4949. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Tea party participants at Kay Recknor's house on Bay Island were
(clockwise from left): Phyllis Super, Reba Hicks, Win Hall, Maggie
Austin and Recknor. Members of the church choir at Virginia Beach
Christian Church will hold several teas as fund-raisers.
by CNB