We hosted a yuletide afternoon tea in celebration of Jane Austen's 250 birthday, Dec. 16, 1775. To begin the event, we served Simpson & Vail's Jane Austen's Black Tea Blend from their Literary Teas collection. This is a blend of black teas with spearmint, lavender flowers and vanilla flavoring, and is available at The Rosemary House. It was a popular tea choice. We then served Pease Soup which was a staple in the Austen household. Since we typically serve salad at our special events, it was fun to have something different, and it was quite popular among our guests. 
The sandwich plate included a warm Sausage Roll, Cranberry Apple Chicken Salad on white bread, Rosemary 'n Honied Red Beets in a phyllo cup, Cheese Toasties (Jane's favorite snack), Feta Pesto in Puff Pastry Holly Leaf, and Pork Tenderloin with Peach Conserve on a Crostini.
The holiday scone selection included our Traditional English Cream Scone and a Cranberry Orange Pecan Scone served with sweet cream and orange marmalade along with fresh fruit.
The dessert plate included a Trifle topped with Syllabub. Syllabub is a popular sweet and frothy British confection from the 16th to 19th centuries. It is sweetened whipped cream mixed with white wine and lemon juice. It can be served either thick as a topping, as used here, or in a thinner version and enjoyed as a beverage. Follow this link for a recipe we shared years ago on our blog. We also offered a Ginger Lemon Biscuit. And, in a letter dated 1808 from Jane Austen to her sister she noted, "we had cheesecake". So, we offered Pumpkin Cheesecake as our third petite dessert.
Some of our guests brought their Jane Austen dolls to grace the tearoom and join the party.
Happy Birthday, Jane!
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