My friend Melissa decided a few months ago to make a monthly ritual of going to tea with the girls. Nearly every month, she picks a new place and invites all her girlfriends to join her. I am a very willing co-conspirator.
Melissa had been working on a film in the Czech Republic for a few months, and this was her first tea back. For this occasion, she chose the Rose Tea Garden Room at the Huntington Gardens. Greg brought me here for one of my first birthdays in Los Angeles, and I absolutely loved it! I hadn’t been back in years, and I was very anxious to go back; so despite the revelries of the previous night, I made sure we were up in the morning.
Apparently, teatime does not drive others in the same way. I think the 4th of July took the majority of the other girls as casualties, because I was the only lady left. Luckily, Melissa had chosen to invite the boys on this occasion. It ended being Melissa and I, and a group of gents – her husband Jason, our friend Paul, and I somehow managed to rope in both Marc and G.
Luckily, G woke up with the right attitude, proclaiming that he was “going to eat the shit out of those sandwiches.” The tea munchies at the Rose Tea Garden Room are served buffet style, and G was in perfect mental form. The tea selection is limited here, but the mini scones are delicious, as are the sandwiches and salads. It was a really hot day and the refreshing fruit trays hit the spot.
The botanical gardens at the Huntington are extensive, consisting of several theme gardens ranging from a “scratch and sniff” garden (Chocolate mint really smells like chocolate mint!), to a bonsai garden, to an Australian garden.
Even though it was so hot out, we decided to walk around the grounds. The tickets are a little on the expensive side --$20 on the weekends, plus the $24.95 per person, plus tax for tea – so once in, we were definitely going to spend some time there to get our money’s worth. The boys mostly talked about movies and video games, although G did exercise his camera quite a bit, as did Melissa. We spent a good amount of time in Desert garden this time, which was cool since the plants seem so alien you feel like you’re on another planet – perhaps created by Dr. Zeus, as G pointed out.
There is a lot to be seen at the Huntington, but I had to get back home to cook for a dinner party -- a thank you to the interns and PA’s that kept me sane during the production of the film I was working on – so we didn’t get to go to the lily pond this time, or the art galleries, or the library of rare books and illuminated manuscripts. (Being a big ol’ nerdy bibliophile, this is my favorite!) Perhaps if my mom or Anto actually make good on their plans to come visit this summer, I’ll make another trip out there -- but probably on the free day.
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