Every year a tea is hosted by Cheryl Adams Palmer and a few friends at the beautiful, historic antibellum home-turned Lasker Inn just a few blocks from the beach in Galveston, Texas.
Come along with me and share in the day’s repast!
1019 16th Street
Galveston, Texas 77550
reservations ~ 409.497.4318
My friend Laura had sent me an email way early in the year telling me about this tea down on the island of Galveston and would I be interested in going? Well, of course! as I love going to tea and have with all of my friends in California during the almost 20 years I was in the Victorian Tea Society.
Friends Gloria and Sandy and I went to Barbara Ann’s in Ontario, California at her Queen Anne home turned tea parlor and to the Chocolate Angel Tea Room in Richardson, Texas, about an hour away from where we live now.
So driving 6-8 hours down to Galveston would be a fun road trip plus this would be during the Dickens Festival, which I had never been to one before and this one is BIG! More on that in the next post…
😉
These lovely gentlemen greeted us at the door and Frank, the gentleman on the right, sat at our table this evening. I believe Frank is Cheryl’s husband as he was telling me how she also makes corsets for women to wear and attends festivals as she is part of a costumer’s guild in the Houston area, which is how she and Laura met.
Oh! Did you know that many men who participate in costume guilds often sew their own clothes? I want to say that Frank sewed some of his outfit but later he said he was joking. His wife helped make his costume, and the other gentleman had his tailor-made and custom fit. Beautiful craftsmanship!
Often, costumers will use old techniques and that means a lot of hand-sewing.
Cheryl’s bio for the tea talked about how she was first an event planner in the oil industry but began a second career “designing and making historical costumes.” We are sooo glad she did! This is their third year hosting the tea.
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| Ms. Laura in her Marmie Civil War era wool dress. Perfect in every detail! |
Laura Ingalls Gunn (who writes Decor to Adore) graciously loaned me a small hoop skirt, a lovely Christmasy skirt and a Peter Pan collared blouse to wear, along with a garden bonnet made over
by yours truly…
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| Here I am ready to go back at the Four Points Sheraton. My room overlooked the Galveston seawall and beach. It was heaven in the mornings! |
The Grand Victorian Tea Reception began at 3:30pm
with many people just coming straight from the Dickens on the Strand Festival ~ including myself.
These women sewed their own dresses from antique sewing patterns… Absolutely perfect details!
Each of the rooms was decorated with a Christmas tree and the parlor was the first room off to the left here at the Lasker Inn.
In the adjoining tea room guests mingled while one of the hosts sat writing out part of a speech given later in the evening…
Images of weddings held at the inn adorn the central hallway walls and up along the grand staircase ~ ethereal, indeed!
I am sorry that a few of these photos are blurry and appear double imaged. I goofed and changed a setting on the camera and this was what happened… But I did want to show these guests and host as I loved their costumes!
Then we were called in to tea…
Wait staff from the inn brought out tall tea servers with the first course of several types of scones and a selection of teas from which to choose.
As this first course was finished tea sandwiches appeared along with acorn soup in the sweetest two-handled bowls.
Frank told me how the previous year another type of bowl was used and that the owners then went shopping for the correct bowls to serve for this year! The attention to detail was period perfect for this lovely afternoon tea.
“Marmie” played mother to the table pouring tea for us and for the family with whom we sat. Again I am sorry for the blurred photographs. The man on the right is Desi and he was very excited to tell me he was named “like I Love Lucy.”
He also really liked roast beef as that was one of the fillings in one of our sandwiches. Also part of the fare were cucumber sandwiches on rye but these had a bit of heat to them, which was really fun!
Most of the tea sandwiches served were gluten free except for the pumpernickel bread {the very dark sandwich on the bottom tier’s plate}. I didn’t know that pumpernickel had wheat in it ~ good to know.
There was a discussion about Celiac disease then and many other topics including talking about different kinds of teas.
I have to say that conversation is one of the things I relish about attending or hosting a tea ~ there are so many things to think about and you always learn something new!
We all had a lovely time and this was a special treat for everyone but especially for these young men!
We were blessed to sit and take tea with them.
🙂
The dessert course was next and everything was created by the owners’ daughter who is a professional baker.
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| Here is the wonderful chef who baked all of the truffles and macarons! She wore a dress decorated with her favorite blooms ~ sunflowers ~ all hand-made by her mother Cheryl. 🙂 |
She told us later as we sat down to an after-dinner conversation in the main parlor how she made the macarons and that their success is very dependent upon the weather!
These are the two hostesses ~ Cheryl Palmer is on left and Amanda Vermillion of The Tea Mistress, LLC.
Amanda’s talk was about a particular tisane bloom which when brewed is one color but changes color with the addition of another item. Her talk on this wonderful transformation is appropriately called “Accidental Alchemy” and everyone enjoyed participating and seeing the change!
Everything was so beautifully done!
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| Frank and Cheryl Palmer |
I hope you have enjoyed this visit and tea!
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Happy tea to you,