Afternoon Tea at the Surfrider

The Moana Surfrider is one of the most beautiful hotels in Hawaii, at least I think so. Being in there always makes me think of Victorian ladies in lacy dresses up to their necks strolling the lanai with parasols protecting them from the sun. Afternoon tea takes place on The Veranda, a small lanai with views of the ocean and Surfrider guests lounging on pool chairs. The experience started out with choosing our tea. Our waiter gave a short description of the type of tea, then passed it around for us to smell. I chose a white tea flavored with passion fruit, which was good, but I wish I had chosen a stronger one.

After tea was poured, a dainty lunch of mini sandwiches arrived: croissant with egg salad, focaccia with ham and tomato, and toast with smoked salmon. I'm not sure if that's exactly what I had since our waiter had an accent, but that's pretty much what I remember.



Next came a lovely tray of desserts. I was most looking forward to trying the scones with lemon curd and clotted cream (middle tray). The condiments complemented the scones very well, and all the desserts were very nicely done. Everything was so rich that even with the small portions, I couldn't finish everything and I actually got full! My favorite was the tiny little fruit tart on the bottom tray.



Goodbye, Waikiki!



The day after afternoon tea I was flipping through the cookbook By Request, The Search for Hawaii's Greatest Recipes and came across one for Diamond Head Market and Grill's Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones. Hawaii is a beautiful but odd place . . . only here would things like Fried Twinkie, Black Chicken Soup, Baked Pepsi Ham, and Chile Verde with Pig's Feet make the cut for most requested recipes. I know there are people out there who adore pigs feet, but I am not one of them! But anyone who has had DHMG's blueberry scones filled with chunks of cream cheese and blueberries will understand why this one made it to the top of the list. These scones are dropped onto the baking sheet rather than rolled into a circle or cut into circles. I made a batch of 8 and had myself a little tea party. No curd or cream to accompany the scones this time, but they didn't need them with the chunks of cream cheese tucked into each one. This is definitely a recipe I will be going back to again and again and again!