Friday, February 20, 2009

A splendid tea party...

Anyone for a cup of Rosy Lee?
I recently went up to the British wine and tea shop with some friends here on island. (Thanks for the above photo of me, Rene!) They actually thought I would know about scones and tea and all those British things. But, I had to disappoint them. I grew up in London knowing more about Mcd's and Wimpy burgers and Woolworths, than high tea! That was for the snobs down the road LOL. So this cafe was recently featured on Okinawa Hai. Someone had come across it because there is a geocache (is that the right word for it?) on their land. It is up past Nago, surrounded by lush forestry. For directions, see the actual post on Okinawa Hai. Actually, one of the ladies I went with was Kelly, the 'To Eat' editor. Here we all are...

Here we are again with Stacy instead of me. Kelly's son's expression says it all. 'This man can't half talk!'

So, back to the start! We arrive and are greeted by the most animated man I have come across in a long time. The self proclaimed, Mad Hatter, John, welcomed us into his crazy tea house in the forest and we gratefully obliged.
We were then greeted by friend and comedy sidekick, Terry, who was another great talker and joke teller. He was actually mid joke when I took this photo! He's really concentrating on the punchline!

Can I say we were laughing the whole time we were there? Well we were! I mean, look at these guys, they are just pure energy. Feeding off each other like good friends should.

So for the food. We were offered quiche and chicken tandorri or 'you'll get what you're bloody given' or words to that effect!!!
Drink wise...I, of course, the Brit was the only one who opted for mango juice instead of tea and that caused Mr. Mad Hatter to tell me off (in the nicest way possible, of course)! 'YOU WANT WHAT?!!!'


We did not get to converse much with their wives who were busy in the back. Which doesn't surprise me, us Brits like to talk and you could not get a word in edgeways with these 2! It was seriously like walking into Faulty Towers or something!

Recognize the style of the sign?

It was designed by the artist Ralph Steadman . (Fear and loathing in Las Vegas artist). Ralph and John apparently go way back. John actually used to be a commercial photographer back in the day in London. Looking around the bright and breezy place there was a lot of art pieces done by Ralph and children's books too.

I will definitely bring the family back here (if I can find it!). April would love a good conversation with Terry using cocky rhyming slang. It was so great to see and chat with some Londoners. For this one afternoon, I felt like I had come 'home'. We had a great time! I even left with a copy of the wine menu... 'go on take it darling, I have more'!
Bidding us farewell (John's wife, Maki, on the left)...These 2 can't even keep still for a photo!!!
See you soon, toodle pip for now (Maternity shoot photos coming next!)...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How fantastic! It sounds like you had a bunch of fun and now I wish I had even just a little bit of British in me! Love the story behind your awesome pictures.

ukreal1 said...

Thanks Marisa, you should go but have no idea how to return, I was going to go yesterday on my way back from Okuma but I couldn't rememeber the directions!

Cheryl said...

Sounds like this place is right up your alley, my dear! I would love to chat with those two blokes. I bet it's a bloody hoot!