I remembered today, for some reason, that one of my favorite little treats from when I was a kid was to go to this place called The Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It was an obscure little restaurant in a tiny shopfront downtown, where a lovely Japanese woman served English high tea with scones and tea sandwiches and other tasty treats.

When you came in you got to select your tea from a big list of black and herbal teas, and your cup from a huge mismatched collection of china, and she would bring out a french press full for you to steep to your taste. I don't recall it being elaborately decorated or anything but it faced west on a quiet street and the whole experience was just such a calm and pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I went from time to time with my mom or the whole family, and once, in high school I think, I invited my friends there for my birthday party, which mostly just confused them.

It closed in 2012 or so, after I moved away, and I don't have any photos of it: a defunct yelp page is the only place I can find online that records what it looked like. It's just a little, pleasant memory to me now.


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