Taking tea in Kentucky!

Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Kentucky to participate in the Traveling Tea Friends Gathering. The event was expertly organized by my friend Linda of the Friendship Tea blog. I traveled to Kentucky with my fellow Georgian, Maureen, of the Tea and Talk blog. In Kentucky we were joined by Phyllis of Michigan, who writes the Relevant Tea Leaf blog, and her sweet friend Lori (who is now my friend too), and also by Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania tea room owner and blogger Nancy of the Rosemary's Sampler blog. (You'll often see Nancy's tea room mentioned in Tea Time magazine.) We had a truly amazing time, and our headquarters for the week was the Historic Boone Tavern Hotel of Berea College, a beautiful inn that was built in 1909 as a guest house for the college. We enjoyed several fine meals in the hotel, more cups of tea than I care to count, and on Tuesday afternoon came one of the highlights of the week for me, tea at the Boone Tavern Hotel.

At my table are, from left, Lynn, a lovely friend of Linda whom I first had the pleasure of meeting on a trip to Asheville two years ago; Melissa, Linda's daughter; Phyllis; and Lori.

At the second table are, from left, Nancy, Linda, Maureen, and Linda's friends (and now my friends) Patty and Mary. Linda is well-known for her tea expertise, and I think it speaks highly of the Boone Tavern Hotel that they have her as their tea consultant. I felt incredibly lucky to get to enjoy tea there under her watchful eye. I must confess that I forgot to take a picture of the, well, tea! But we got to try several selections and my favorite was the Lavender Earl Grey, just because I was in the mood for a flavored black tea that day.

Our afternoon tea began with a Boone Tavern favorite, a sample serving of their famous Spoonbread served in a ceramic spoon. Spoonbread is a cornmeal dish that is similar to a cornmeal soufflé, and Boone Tavern was kind enough to supply us with the recipe. Can't wait to make it, even if you do have to beat the mixture for *fifteen minutes.* (The recipe was also printed by Saveur magazine and may be found here if you'd like to try it for yourself.)

Next, we enjoyed a cup of Kentucky Burgoo, which I learned is a spicy stew. It was just the thing to warm us up on a cool Kentucky afternoon!

Soon, our pretty three-tiered servers arrived at the tables where we all oohed and aahed and took lots of photos! For once, I wasn't a bit self-conscious about photographing my food, because all the other gals were doing the same thing. The one thing I'd like to point out on the tray that is not shown in another photo is the middle tier with the pretty white-chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries. I don't believe anyone at my table had enjoyed a white chocolate-covered raspberry before, and we agreed they were delicious.

Our savories were so fun, and I loved that they, too, incorporated the Kentucky theme Linda had chosen especially for us. Clockwise from left are a Pimiento Cheese Tea Sandwich, a Fancy Deviled Egg, a Mini Hot Brown, and a Tea Biscuit with Country Ham, Apricot Glaze, and Arugula.

My favorite was the Mini Hot Brown, just because I loved the cheesy flavor and I'm so impressed they took the trouble to make this in miniature form! A close second, though, was ...

... the Tea Biscuit with Country Ham. Yum!

We had two types of scones, plain ones and Cranberry-Orange ones with a Triple Sec glaze, enjoyed with jam and some real clotted cream Linda had managed to find for us!

The sweets were Kentucky-inspired as well. Clockwise from left are the Mini Race Day Pies (partially hidden), Chocolate Bourbon Tartlets, and Mint Julep-inspired Bourbon Cupcakes with a bourbon and mint buttercream frosting. The Mint Julep Cupcake was my favorite of the sweets, though I enjoyed them all.

Last but not least, we had horseshoe-shaped iced sugar cookies, a lovely tribute to the upcoming Kentucky Derby. (Those fortunate enough to live near Boone Tavern can sign up for a Kentucky Derby tea at the hotel on April 19, sigh.) I was so stuffed by this point I took my cookie back to the room to enjoy later. It was a wonderful afternoon of tea with friends old and new, and a particularly delicious way to get acquainted with the eager-to-please staff of the Historic Boone Tavern Hotel!