The Glass Slipper Tea Cottage

While at the beach last week, my husband and I finally got to celebrate our annual "Valentine's Tea" together! I had a magazine deadline on Valentine's Day itself this year, obligations the weekends before and after, and other commitments that meant there just wasn't time. So when we got the opportunity to go to the beach last week, we also made a side trip to the absolutely delightful Glasss Slipper Tea Cottage in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.!

I first learned of this wonderful tea room from blog reader and "tea friend" Sarah in Biloxi, Miss., who is a great fan of the Glass Slipper Tea Cottage. She had surprised me with a gift of the tea room's terrific cookbook last year, so it was on my "bucket list" of places to go next time I was within driving distance. Sarah even helped facilitate my last-minute reservations to this tea room, and based on the full house the day we went, March 14, we were very lucky to get in that day! I loved this charming cottage from the moment we pulled up, and I thought the rocking chair made a most clever welcome sign!

When we walked in, I immediately fell in love with this tea trolley loaded with teacups, and we were invited to select our own.

Alex asked me to choose one for him, so with a nod to his Scottish heritage I chose this Nova Scotia Tartan pattern from Adderley. He chose Earl Grey for his pot of tea.

And after lusting over my fellow tea bloggers' lovely St. Patrick's Day teawares, I chose this one for myself, marked Golden Crown E&R. I chose the apricot tea, and the teas were properly prepared and served in teapots with Thistledown cozies. (Which my husband referred to as "Down with Thistles," but I knew what he meant!)

There are hats available for those who wish to wear them, and everything about this tea room tells me owners Jim and Shirley Simpson and Shirley's sister, cook Carolyn Chandler, did their homework before they opened this tea room in 2010. I was happy to hear business is good, and the tea room started to get packed within minutes of our arrival. I was also pleased to learn, from selective eavesdropping, that so many of the visitors here are regulars!

There was so much great decor to enjoy, including these teapots. (Note how it's apparently two smaller shelves displayed together. I love that idea!)

Lacy linens and toile tablecloths gave me an "Oh, goody!" moment as soon as we sat down.

Now I had had only a light supper the night before and totally skipped breakfast the morning of our visit so I would be able to eat *all* of the full afternoon tea, which had been enthusiastically recommended by Sarah. By the time our quiche, soup and cheese straws arrived, I was famished! The delicious and light quiche greatly hit the spot, and I was thrilled to find the recipes for it, the yummy asparagus soup and the cheese straws are all in the cookbook Sarah gave me. (My husband, incidentally, went on and on about the quiche, how he'd never tasted one lighter. I will have to try to make it for him sometime!)

When our tea trays came out, I was overwhelmed at how many selections there were!

Our savories included stuffed mini-peppers (my husband actually asked for, and got, the recipe for these!), a turkey roll-up, chicken salad, a BLT, cucumber, cinnamon apple and also some sugared pecans. I was starting to get quite full ...

and here's the other side view of the savories.

You can see some of the sweets on my full tea tray shown in a photo above (a cherry tart with whipped cream, an almond cookie, a chocolate and coconut cookie), and in this photo you can also see the lemon bread, apricot torte (heavenly!) and shamrock sugar cookie. Famished or not, I'm afraid I simply didn't have room for all the sweets, so the tea room happily boxed them up for us to take home.

I did, however, save room to eat one of the light, fluffy and flower-shaped scones while at the tea room, simply so I could enjoy the lemon curd and cream served alongside them in the sweetest little glass bowls you've ever seen. I really can't praise this tea room highly enough, and Alex and I both said it was one of our best "Valentine's" teas ever! Shirley, Jim, Carolyn, and our server, Katie, seem to have the art of hospitality down to a very enjoyable science. (And I know it's not proper to talk about the price of something that was, for me, a gift, but I must say, are you as shocked as I was that this bounty was just $19.95 per person, pot of tea included?) My only criticism about this tea room? I wish it were closer to my home! Tomorrow, I'll show you what I picked up in the gift shop!