Happy Mother's Day (in Australia)

[DaveW]

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there.

Not sure if it is Mother's Day in other places because some of these days differ from country to country, but it is here in the land of Oz, so......

Happy Mother's Day. 

I hope I didn't send anyone into a panic.....

Edited May 14, 2018 by DaveW
Phone spelling..... although you all know that!

[Invicta]

I think ours is in March.

In France the Fête de Mères (Mother's Day Feast) is on the 27th May.  

[HappyChristian]

Ours was today. We had a good day. Had two visitors in church, but they were just visiting the area for their anniversary. It was exciting, though, because they found us on fundamental.org, a site I added our church to a few months ago. So, it works. =D

My hubs took us out for lunch after church. We tried a little place that my mom's been curious about. The food was good.

Our evening service went well, and we got home in the daylight (we are 22 minutes from the church so in the fall/winter, it is dark when we get home). I was chatting with my son on Facebook for a few minutes when the phone rang - it was my son, calling to verbally wish me Happy Mother's Day. It was good to hear his voice, and it just makes me more excited about his moving up here IN TWO WEEKS! 

We had our Mother/Daughter Tea yesterday, and one of the visitors talked to the woman who invited her about the fact that she is a sinner. Her name is Patricia. If you would, please pray for her salvation. I want to visit her with the lady who invited her and more thoroughly explain salvation to her. What a blessing if we see someone saved as a result of the Tea!

Oh, and my hubs got me my traditional mini rose bush. I enjoy looking at it inside for about a week, and then he plants it outside. This is our third Mother's Day since moving here, so sometime next week there will be three mini rose bushes outside. =D

[DaveW]

We had a high tea on Saturday for the ladies - almost 50 ladies turned up from 3 churches in our area, along with friends invited (some unsaved ladies).

And Sunday we had a "Mother's day service", which was a normal church service with the addition of a gift bag I made up for the Mums.

And left overs from the High Tea......

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by DaveW

[Jim_Alaska]

Bro. Dave, is the a difference between a High Tea and  a Low tea?       

[DaveW]

7 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

Bro. Dave, is the a difference between a High Tea and  a Low tea?       

It all depends on the distance between the teapot and the teacup when pouring.......

 

Seriously, I don't understand the appeal, but ladies seem to love it.

 

[Invicta]

 

The Difference Between High Tea & Low Tea

We British are famous worldwide for our so called ‘traditions’ of High Tea and Low Tea, but if you’ve never heard of them, or don’t know the difference between them, you are definitely not alone. It is a stereotype, of course. All British men wear top hat and tails, English ladies only communicate by handwritten letter and everyone, from scruffy students to busy billionaires, have tea in the afternoon. It may no longer be a tradition here in the UK to take tea in the afternoon, but millions of us eat tea every day as a main meal. Here we explode the myths about taking tea in Britain and reveal the big differences between High Tea and Low Tea.

 

High Tea

Contrary to popular belief and the aristocratic sounding name, High Tea did not originate amongst upper classes. In fact, the opposite is true; High Tea is a predominantly working class meal that was traditionally taken between 5 and 7pm – the time that labourers would arrive home from their physically demanding jobs. It was called High Tea because, in contrast to the cakes and tea at low coffee tables of the upper class Low Tea, High Tea was enjoyed at a high table – the dining table.

The foods enjoyed at High Tea were diametrically opposite to those at Low Tea. Low Tea was intended as a light snack to tide someone over until dinner. High Tea was an energy packed meal designed to sustain those who worked hard all day long. Instead of crustless cucumber sandwiches and petit fours, workers would dig in to meat pies, pickled salmon, cold cuts, bread and butter and jam. Tea, the beverage, was also drunk in copious quantities.

Low Tea

In the mid-1830’s, the Duchess of Bedfordshire was suffering from what we might today call a mid-afternoon slump. With a long gap between mid-morning breakfast and dinner at 8pm, she began to take a light meal in the afternoon, which consisted of tea, sandwiches and cake served at a coffee table in her room. She began to invite her friends to enjoy this meal with her and before long the practice had spread to the rest of the country as a social, afternoon meal.

And so Low Tea was born - the high class and quintessentially British tradition that is also known as Afternoon Tea. It couldn’t sustain a working class labourer, but was enough to tide over the leisure-loving ladies of the upper classes until their evening meal. The tradition is enjoying somewhat of a revival amongst the British public, but is used only as an occasional treat rather than a regular meal.

 

The differences between High Tea and Low Tea reflect some of the differences between the classes. Working people didn’t have time to take leisurely afternoon meals, in the same way the non-working classes couldn’t face a heavy meal at five o’clock when dinner was served at eight. Even today, modern workers tend to have ‘tea’ at around 6pm after work, with a biscuit and a cup of coffee to get them through the afternoon. These days, Afternoon (Low) Tea is the preserve of smart hotels for birthday treats, whereas High Tea (minus the actual tea) is still an everyday meal taken by millions of people.

 

We usually call the evening meal "tea"  

[DaveW]

All of which is ACTUALLY irrelevant to "High Tea" today.

For our 25th anniversary, I was blessed to be able to take my wife to Singapore, and one of the things I was able to do for her was take her to High Tea at the Raffles hotel.

From a website (here):

"High Tea Society was delighted to sit down for high tea at internationally renown Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Serving high tea for more than one hundred years, Raffles’ high tea has an old world charm and real sense of occasion to it.

After being ushered to a table of crisp white linen in the hotel’s Tiffin Room, we were offered a three tiered stand consisting of sandwiches and small cakes, such as an orange chocolate friand topped with raspberries, a layered mango mousse cake and a strawberry tart."

So for more than a hundred years the Raffles Hotel in Singapore has been doing a special "High Tea" and it is most definitely NOT an "everyday meal taken by millions of people". 

The Raffles Hotel in Singapore is one of the most exclusive in the world - when we went for High Tea we approached the front entrance and were met by a doorman who politely asked us why we were there, and when we answered that we were there for High tea we were directed along the outside verandas around the corner to an entrance from outside the hotel. Only guests are allowed to enter the actual foyer of the Hotel. And it ahs a list of guests that range from the historically important to the modern day famous. We didn't stay there - I am not that rich. High Tea was quite enough expense for me.......... But my wife was absolutely over the moon ecstatic about being able to have High Tea at the Raffles, Singapore. And it wasn't any sort of main meal......

We were shown to a table for two, right near the Harpist, and then a three tiered stand was brought to our table, and tea or coffee was offered, and there was large set of tables filled with other goodies that you could go and get. Everything is basically bite sized - tiny cup cakes, canapés, little pastries, scones, and various of what would be considered Hors d'oeuvres and the like.

You get the idea.

My wife felt as though she had been thoroughly spoiled - I still don't get it, but I was happy because she was happy, and that is enough for me.

 

Regardless of what the history may be, it is universally understood today that High Tea is a "high society" kind of thing, performed in such a way as to be a "spoiling event" for those who consider themselves of the more genteel kind.

What Invicta has kindly provided is the difference between afternoon tea and "tea" or "dinner" - which we all know and understand - everyone knows what afternoon tea is - coffee and biscuits (cookies for you Americans). If you do a quick google, you will find his irrelevant material, but mostly you will find the description of a fine affair of many small tasties and danties served in fine surrounds and performed in the style of a small and upper crust event.

If you go to any Café around which is advertising High Tea, you will not get a main meal, but an elaborate and fine "Afternoon Tea" . It will most likely be somewhere between the hours of 2 and 4 as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[No Nicolaitans]

Wow...and I thought my iced tea was special. 

Thanks for explaining that Dave.

[Jim_Alaska]

15 hours ago, Invicta said:

 

The Difference Between High Tea & Low Tea

We British are famous worldwide for our so called ‘traditions’ of High Tea and Low Tea, but if you’ve never heard of them, or don’t know the difference between them, you are definitely not alone. It is a stereotype, of course. All British men wear top hat and tails, English ladies only communicate by handwritten letter and everyone, from scruffy students to busy billionaires, have tea in the afternoon. It may no longer be a tradition here in the UK to take tea in the afternoon, but millions of us eat tea every day as a main meal. Here we explode the myths about taking tea in Britain and reveal the big differences between High Tea and Low Tea.

 

High Tea

Contrary to popular belief and the aristocratic sounding name, High Tea did not originate amongst upper classes. In fact, the opposite is true; High Tea is a predominantly working class meal that was traditionally taken between 5 and 7pm – the time that labourers would arrive home from their physically demanding jobs. It was called High Tea because, in contrast to the cakes and tea at low coffee tables of the upper class Low Tea, High Tea was enjoyed at a high table – the dining table.

The foods enjoyed at High Tea were diametrically opposite to those at Low Tea. Low Tea was intended as a light snack to tide someone over until dinner. High Tea was an energy packed meal designed to sustain those who worked hard all day long. Instead of crustless cucumber sandwiches and petit fours, workers would dig in to meat pies, pickled salmon, cold cuts, bread and butter and jam. Tea, the beverage, was also drunk in copious quantities.

Low Tea

In the mid-1830’s, the Duchess of Bedfordshire was suffering from what we might today call a mid-afternoon slump. With a long gap between mid-morning breakfast and dinner at 8pm, she began to take a light meal in the afternoon, which consisted of tea, sandwiches and cake served at a coffee table in her room. She began to invite her friends to enjoy this meal with her and before long the practice had spread to the rest of the country as a social, afternoon meal.

And so Low Tea was born - the high class and quintessentially British tradition that is also known as Afternoon Tea. It couldn’t sustain a working class labourer, but was enough to tide over the leisure-loving ladies of the upper classes until their evening meal. The tradition is enjoying somewhat of a revival amongst the British public, but is used only as an occasional treat rather than a regular meal.

 

The differences between High Tea and Low Tea reflect some of the differences between the classes. Working people didn’t have time to take leisurely afternoon meals, in the same way the non-working classes couldn’t face a heavy meal at five o’clock when dinner was served at eight. Even today, modern workers tend to have ‘tea’ at around 6pm after work, with a biscuit and a cup of coffee to get them through the afternoon. These days, Afternoon (Low) Tea is the preserve of smart hotels for birthday treats, whereas High Tea (minus the actual tea) is still an everyday meal taken by millions of people.

 

We usually call the evening meal "tea"  

Thanks for that explanation Invicta. I was only joking when I asked about low tea. I didn't even know there was such a thing; but then I didn't know there was a high tea until I saw it posted.

Being ignorant of British customs, I always thought tea was a drink made from tea leaves, not an actual meal, just a drink.

[Salyan]

All that about the Teas is very interesting. It makes me laugh because, in Canada, we are familiar with the historic British idea of an afternoon tea, but we have it backwards. Historic sites will often serve High Tea - with fancy cakes & teacups at nice hotels/mansions. Very expensive & fancy - and apparently not High Tea at all!! I wonder if it's only us moderns who are confused, or whether the early 20th century upper class Canadians continued the Low Tea tradition but changed the name to make it sound fancier.

[Invicta]

DaveW,

I am glad your wife enjoyed it.

Actually I had no idea what High tea and low tea was so I asked Mr Google, 

When we were in France a few years ago, we went into a small supermarket the day before their Mothers Day,  All the lady shoppers were given a red rose.