Afternoon Tea Comes to Pozos

Years ago I wrote a book called The Pleasures of Afternoon Tea. It was a best-seller in the late 1980s and was well reviewed by the likes of chef Jacques Pepin and the Tea Council of USA. It’s no longer in print, but you can pick up second-hand copies on e-bay and Amazon (you’ll have to fight me for them!) Although I’d appeared many times on television demonstrating how to bake scones and was hired by companies such as Williams Sonoma and Lipton to teach staff about the concept of afternoon tea, I’d never fulfilled my dream of having my own tearoom: it remained a bucket-list item for me.

So when I saw the lovely boutique hotel, La Villa de Pozos under construction in our little town, I thought, hmmm … So I approached proprietors, Rosa and Oscar about the possibility of having seasonal pop-up teas there. Happily, they liked the idea, too.

                                          La Villa de Pozos

We held the first – the spring tea – in April. The idea proved more popular than we had dreamed. We reached our full capacity of 25 people and had a waiting list. Who knew that this classic English tradition would prove so popular in Mexico? Our guess would be that it’s because it’s unique in the area. If you want afternoon tea, you have to come to Mineral de Pozos! And they did: from San Miguel de Allende and from Queretero. Our little pueblo magico in the mountains is full of surprises.

                                   A full house of lovely ladies

Since La Villa de Pozos was still under construction at the time, we had to scramble to make it presentable for our tea guests. But with a herculean effort by all concerned, it was looking fabulous on the day (as long as you didn’t look behind any closed doors!). We held the tea in the elegant courtyard with its caliche (local limestone) walls and stone floors. The ladies – yes it was all ladies although we would love to welcome gentlemen – played their part by coming in their spring finery. The weather co-operated by providing us with a sunny, mild day.

                                          Looking fine!

The theme of the day was lavender (a nod to spring and to Pozos’s famous lavender farms) and the menu was traditional.

We had five types of tea sandwiches; classic scones with clotted cream and artisanal jam; and four small pastries. All accompanied, of course, by two types of black tea and to make the occasion extra elegant, a glass of champagne.

The big news is that this week – starting June 1 – we will be taking reservations for our summer tea to be held Sunday, June 26. We’ve changed the day from Saturday to Sunday to accommodate those people who work on Saturday. The theme will be roses, because what says English summer better? The menu will be completely different, except for the cream scones, which are such a cornerstone of afternoon tea that we would not dare change them!

Hope to see you soon with pinkies raised.

San Miguel de Allende: The City of Fallen Women Part II

A while back, I wrote about how San Miguel de Allende is known as the "city of fallen women" because its picturesque but lethal cobblestone streets and wonky sidewalks have brought many a virtuous woman to her knees. Well, it was only a matter of time, right?

The story of my fall from grace is not without some high irony. I was in San Miguel for the day from Mineral de Pozos to attend a birthday lunch for a game old girl who was turning 97.  Marie lives alone except for week day help on the outskirts of Pozos and has more energy and enthusiasm for life than most people I know a quarter of her age. She collects art, gardens, and is engaged in politics. So of course she was going to have a birthday party.

There must be something in the water in this part of Mexico; either that or it attracts a lot of Americanos with great genes because in my 60s, I was the “kid” in the room. I probably brought the average age down to about 80. And let me tell you, these geezers can really knock them back. The martinis, margaritas, and wine were flowing in abundance. As a general rule I don’t drink during the daytime because it leaves me sleepy and headachy, plus I had to get back to Pozos; so as well as being the youngest person in the room, after a while I was the only sober one.

I was a bit concerned about how some of these sweet old dears, who were half in the bag, were going to get home and was feeling a bit responsible for their safty. But that turned out to be hubris, since I was the one who ended up ignominiously sprawled all over the street on leaving the party.

Yeah, image cracking your skin on this curb.

I’m not quite sure how it happened: usually you don’t know in these cases. One minute I was upright, the next I was pitching forward and landing with my left shin on the curb. I’m not going to blame my trusty Birkenstocks because I wear them all the time without mishap.

As I sat on Calle Potranca clutching my shin with tweety birds flying in a circle around my head, all I could think was, oh no, I’ve done it again!

Several years ago I was on a hiking vacation on Vancouver Island in British Columbia (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite places on the planet). I was walking slacked jawed through the stunning old growth forest not paying a lot attention to where I placed my feet, when I lost my footing, rolled down a slope, and landed with my right shin wrapped around a moss-covered boulder.

Breathtaking Vancouver Island

You know how much it hurts when you hit your shin on the coffee table? Multiply that by infinity. That incident resulted in an ambulance ride to the emergency room and all I can say about that is, “yay for Canadian socialized medicine." I had to shell out a whopping $104 Canadian for all that treatment. It also necessitated a premature return to Los Angeles. That left me deeply disappointed as the next day I was scheduled to have the renowned afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. 

The world famous afternoon tea at the Empress in Victoria

Although I do have to say that the ride through the airport in a wheelchair, early boarding, and a bulkhead seat were some small compensation. After I got home, I spent days on excellent painkillers; weeks on crutches; and months in physical rehab.

But, painful as it was, I hadn’t inflicted anything like that kind of damage this time. I had a nasty scrape and in subsequent days my lower leg turned from black and blue to green and yellow. I might have nicked a bone because I still have a small painful lump on my shin that jars a bit when I walk. All told, though, it was just another day in colonial Mexico.

The following week I had a little birthday tea party for Marie and her Pozos girlfriends at my house. Not as impressive as the Empress, I'm sure, but a good time was had by all. And this time there was no booze and everyone managed to stay on their feet.  I’m sure Marie probably found the whole event very tame.

Marie, bottom left, at her 97th birthday tea at my house