I am so happy to see the start of the Fall season.
While I love summer and all the fun the sun and warm weather brings, there is something so wonderful about the fall season with its cooling days, the appearance of pumpkin spice everything in grocery stores and coffee shops, and of course the anticipation of Halloween!
But before we get too ahead of ourselves.... I was lucky enough to enjoy one last perfect summer day last weekend out and about with a good friend.
It's been almost a year since I last got to see my friend so this in itself made it quiet the occasion. We decided to meet up in San Francisco for the annual
Vintage Fashion Expo in Golden Gate Park. It was such a treat to wonder through the two big halls full of different vintage vendors. While the large array of vendors overall spanned from the 1800's all the way through the 1980's I was happy to see that most of the items seemed to be focused around the 1950's and 1960's (my personal favorite fashion eras.) :)
There was so much to be seen. So many dresses, sweaters, jewelry... there was even a vendor there that specialized in Bakelite jewelry and another who specialized in vintage eyewear.
It was a wonderful place to wander through for the day, ogling at all the goodies. I was able to pick up a light blue beaded cardigan for a decent price, which is something I have long been looking for, and my friend was able to pick something up for herself as well, a gorgeous vintage hat!
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| Just a tiny fraction of the offerings at the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco |
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| Another hall, another tiny fraction of what was offered at the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco |
And, as if the Vintage Fashion Expo wasn't resplendent enough of a thing to do that day, after the expo we did something that was such an amazing treat... we randomly went out for afternoon tea!
Just that morning, my friend happened to notice there was a tea place right in the neighborhood we were going to be in and so we decided to check it out.
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| The Secret Garden Tea House, San Francisco, CA |
Being in San Francisco, and just across the street from Golden Gate Park, I was amazed
The Secret Garden Tea House was able to accommodate us as walk ins. It was even during peak hours on a Saturday! Ordinarily, this might be reason to have concern at the quality of their tea but everything was just perfect!
The one room tea house was decorated in the usual sweet girly decor for a tearoom. There was lots of pink, lots of sparkly chandeliers, and lots of pretty floral teaware.
The menu was wonderfully varied. Rather than just have to get a full tea service, guests are able to choose from a full tea spread, cream teas, savory teas, or even full sandwiches with their teas. Checking out their online menu after I even noticed that they offered such things as samosas and veggie and hummus platters! Since it was my first time coming here though I chose to have the full tea service to best gauge my first time experience here.
Their tea selection, while not super expansive, consisted of a good selection. There was the usual black teas, green teas, and even some dessert teas. I chose to get the Snow Bird tea, a delicious vanilla, cinnamon, floral black tea. My friend had the black vanilla tea which was also very good.
Tea was served on a three tiered plate. For the first course there was a warm, perfectly flaky and soft cranberry scone. We didn't get any lemon curd but we did get strawberry jam and two servings of clotted cream.
For the tea sandwich selection there was five different selections, each delicious and each with its own unique twist from the usual tea sandwich fare. My favorites were the smoked turkey with baby dill and lemon capers cream and the pesto tomato sandwiches.
For the sweets, there was three different desserts offered: a chocolate chip blondie bar, a walnut brownie with whipped cream and caramel, and a cream filled angel food cake. One the dessert plate there was also lots of fruit and a couple of mini cookies.
The service was excellent and they were very attentive and courteous to us. This place is definitely one I will come back to again.
It was such a wonderful day out in the city. Catching up with a good friend, looking through a huge collection of vintage fashion, and gong out for impromptu tea on a rare warm and wonderfully relaxing day in San Francisco... What more could a person ask for?
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| Inside the Secret Garden Tea House, San Francisco, CA |
