Happy Birthday to me

Today we went for high tea at the James Bay Tea Room.

We wanted to go for high tea since we have never done this before and being in Victoria and all, it is the thing to do.

The Empress Hotel also has high tea but it costs $75/a head. That's a lot of money for tea and crumpets. I know high tea has a lot more than tea and crumpets, but did we really need to spend that much money? Nope.

We were very pleased with the James Bay Tea Room, and the service was excellent.

I had tea and Fred had coffee.

My tea was in a real tea pot with a cozy on it. And you know what? The tea was actually hot. It seems that something as simple as boiling water is difficult for many restaurants and coffee places. I don't know why it's difficult. All they have to do is put the water in a kettle. Plug it in. Wait until bubbles appear and like magic the water is hot. Simple.

So. The tea was hot. And the goodies were amazing.

First there were two croissants with egg salad, two homemade cheese scones with smoked salmon, and two tiny quiches. The egg salad and croissant was exceptional. Didn't taste like the egg salad I make. And the cheese scones were light flavourful and fresh, with a good slab of salmon, my of my it was good.

Then there was the scones with clotted cream and jam. I didn't have these but had a bite of Fred's. (I did bring what we didn't eat home though). I've always wondered what clotted cream was. Fred said to me well maybe it's like the unpasteurized warm milk you used to get on the farm that was warm and straight from the cow and used to make you gag? I said no I don't think so.

Turns out it is sort of like thick whipped cream that isn't too sweet but probably has a ton of calories.

The scone again was excellent.

And the dessert was little baby carrot cakes with cream cheese icing and little custard tarts. And the best? Sticky toffee pudding cake. Oh. My. Goodness. It was to die for. Maybe even better than chocolate. I can't believe I just said that.

We did walk around for about 45 minutes after lunch, I mean tea. Which was a good thing. So many carbs. So little time.

And all of this (tax and tip included) for less than half of what it wold have cost us for the two of us at the Emperor Hotel for high tea.

I don't know but I think Ottawa should do high tea. Very civilized.

Return to Ireland - scenic walk between Lahinch and Ennistymon

Today Fred and I went to Ennistymon again. He didn't come last time when I went with Maureen and Jimmy. We walked using the back roads instead of the highway this time Such a beautiful walk. We were high over the area, as you can see from the pictures.

The walk took us over an hour and this can be a problem for me, as I always need a bathroom break. So at one point we came across a really old abandoned house. I went down the lane to it and was going to go for a pee near it (then take a picture of the house) when I saw a car parked and I did a quick u-turn. Fred said well go along the road anyway and I'll be on lookout. So I did. (Sorry God for putting my toilet paper in the bushes but I didn't know what else to do with it.)

I saw a lot more fairy trees (will blog about this later) and I have done my research now and am sure now about which trees they are.

We had coffee and scones at Ginger Lou's (where the scones are LARGE, we split one and brought the other one home with us) in Ennistymon, then walked behind where the falls are. We discovered a salmon run there, that was built to allow the salmon to swim upstream to spawn.

We then went back for lunch at Ginger Lou's. The food was excellent. In fact we have been very happy with pretty much all our food choices in Ireland. And the coffee is always lovely. One thing we learned about the coffee is that they always make it to order, they grind each cup as well. Everywhere. I love that. I drink decaf and usually that means I get a cup of coffee that's cold and tastes burnt. Not in Ireland. It is ALWAYS hot and good. And if I order tea, it is always BOILING hot. Often in Canada you get tepid dishwater for tea. Yeck. The Irish know their tea and coffee. Along with their fences which I didn't blog about this time because I did on our last trip in 2013.

Narrow road we were on between Lahinch and Ennistymon. When a car passed us we had to stand on the non-existent shoulder.

Falls and Man made salmon run

Close up of man made salmon run

We actually found some big trees in Ennistymon at the Falls Hotel. Thought they didn't exist in Ireland. They were some kind of fir tree maybe cedar.

Also went here with Maureen and Jimmy