Good Will Huntington

I love tea. I love my friends. I love tea with my friends. Bax, Giggles, and Glam are all members of The Huntington Library, so Slim and I were lucky enough to tag along for free as their guests.

The Cafe and Rose Garden Tea Room is a lot more casual than one might imagine.

The service is warm and friendly, although a bit forgetful, but it's a nice place to go with noisier friends like yours truly. We were not shushed!

Warm scones arrive at your table almost as soon as you sit down. These were chocolate chip and cinnamon apple.

Fresh Devonshire cream arrives later if you have a forgetful server, and then you are so excited about the Devonshire when it finally comes that you slather the Devonshire all over your scones and fail to take a picture of it because the forgetfulness is apparently contagious.

Tea at the Huntington is essentially all-you-can-eat. While the scones are brought to your table, the remainder of your repast sits in the center of the room at your disposal.

All-you-can-eat, folks! For $25! With no threats of penalties like at Korean BBQ!

My two fave sammies of the day: (1) smoked salmon with chive and cucumber and (2) tarragon chicken salad with walnuts.

Prosciutto di Parma with Maytag bleu cheese and Bartlett pears. Good ol' cucumber.

Watercress and cream cheese. Carrot and ginger.

Cheese. The green one was as nasty as it looks.

Lemon bar. Pecan bar.

And what is tea without...actual tea?

There were many other pastries and tartlets not pictured here. And you can get as many as you want. Like a lot, if you really really want.

Not that I did this or anything. I am a model of constraint, yo.

After tea, we walked a small portion of the grounds very briefly, as the Library was closing.

I love when strangers actually know how to use my camera. I also love that Giggles consistently lives up to her name.