Miss Hickory's Tea room for Mother's Day, Strongsville Ohio

This year I decided to take my mom out for Mother's Day.  I am finding more and more that instead of giving physical gifts, I enjoy doing an activity with the person.  Making a memory and having an adventure together.  

This year I took my mom to two places she had never been too.  Tea in Strongsville and pedicures in Strongsville.  I know my mom loves both.

http://www.misshickorystearoom.com/

This lovely tea room is an old 1800's farm house.  It has two rooms to enjoy tea in and then a lovely out door seating area.

Side room (left below) and the front room (right below).

Each month they have specials.

The have a large variety of teas... black, green, oolong, and herbal

We did the High Tea Sampler (which is really an afternoon tea)

We each ordered a different kind of tea and then tried each others.

I brought my own tea ball- other wise they would just put the loose leaf tea in the teapot.  When tea is left to steep in the teapot only the first teacup is good- after that all the tea is bitter and over steeped.  The tea steep time is so important, I am always shocked when I go into a tea room and they add the tea to the pot.

If you have herbal tea it is completely acceptable to leave the tea in the teapot and strain with an external tea strainer.  But, if you have real tea- black, oolong, green, white, Pu-erh, yellow, or purple you need to be sure to only steep a particular amount of time. 

Blue Lady Tea

“Our Blue Lady Tea is a naturally flavored black tea blend which delivers a uniquely sweet taste with passionfruit, grapefruit, orange, and grenadine flavors. Of all the recorded ghost sightings in North America, more people report seeing a blue lady than any other apparition. Often appearing only for brief moments, these spirits materialize, show their hauntingly beautiful forms and then disappear. We named this blended tea in honor of this representative of the spirit world because of its hauntingly sweet flavor. Passion fruit, grapefruit, orange, and grenadine all mix together to create a citrus flavor that is almost as delicate as the ghostly shadows of the spirits. The sweetness of the citrus blends perfectly with the astringency of our high grown Ceylon tea.”

Angels Dream Tea

“Our Angels Dream Tea blend is a heavenly naturally flavored black tea with maple sweetness, blackberry pungency, full flavored Assam and a mystery green tea. We have sought the heavens to try to find the flavor befitting all the virtues of this tea’s namesake. The natural flavors of maple and wild blackberry enhance this excellent tea from the tea world’s finest regions – Sri Lanka, Formosa and Assam (India).”

A lovely 3-tier serving dish filled with an assortment of Miss Hickory’s favorite things:

BLT Finger Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Wonton Cups

Cucumber Finger Sandwiches

Egg Salad Club Sandwiches

Scones of the Week W/Devonshire Cream & homemade Jam

Strawberries

Lemon Tea Bread

The homemade scones with clotted cream and jelly were so yummy.  Those and the lemon bread were our desserts!

Apple-Cinnamon Scones

Our traditional cream scones, packed with chunks of apples & cinnamon, drizzled with a cream glaze ... served with homemade Apple Butter & our house Devonshire Cream

We so enjoyed being outside.  The tearoom backs right up to the Cleveland Metro Parks.  This makes it really peaceful and quiet. You really could not hear the traffic at all.  Also just beautiful trees and surroundings.

The views we had were wonderful.  It was a great day to be outside.

The indoor view vs outdoor view- both were spectacular!!

Dessert options...  We were happily content and did not partake in the desserts, but they looked delicious.

The bread pudding location so good, but so did the chocolate cake with the edible sugar doily. 

Quaint decor- inside and outside.

They also have a few items for sale as well.

Everything was so well done!  We just had a lovely time!

After tea we went for wonderful pedicures at Studio 3 in Strongsville as well.  It was about 15 minutes away.  I had a Groupon.  We loved it and decided it may need to be a yearly tradition.

https://www.studio3salonandspa.com/

19820 W 130TH St
Strongsville, OH 44136
440.638.4300

Our spa gals were great.  I would recommend this place for sure!!  They also have several locations in Ohio.

We got the deluxe package and with the Groupon it made it two pedicures for $60. 

Studio 3 Pedicure - $60

Soak, nail maintenance, scrub, mask, hot towels, massage & polish

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

 

Tea Tea, Camellia Senesis

They say that the third time is the charm, so I am trying a tea plant for the third time!!!  I believe I have learned from my mistakes. 

I will not add to much extra things to the soil and I will not over water.

I went up to Hirt's Garden, just past Wadsworth and picked up my third tea plant.

They had the nicest selection I have seen on the Camellia Senesis plants and they had two sizes- a 4" and a 6" size.

I randomly selected my plant and hoped for the best.   This is the large leaf tea plant.

https://hirts.com/

4943 Ridge Rd, Wadsworth, OH 44281

Be sure to check the hours if you want to go there, they close at 3pm during the week and at noon on the weekends.

I used the plant light I got a few years ago for Christmas to see if that helps with the red and blue lights.

They say it is an easy to grow house plant...here is hoping that they are right. This time if it starts to die I will bring it in to work...all my plants seem to grow great in my office with the artificial lights.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Picking up dishes as I go...

At Goodwill in Jackson I picked up this fun dish from Japan...I knew right away it matched some pieces that I already had.

Also, these pottery pieces are super light and almost feel damaged, but aren't.  As soon as I pick up any of these pieces I can tell they all go together.

This covered dish was $4.14.  I believe it is Darco Pottery - Troy NY.

A year or so ago, I picked up this pink pitcher from a Goodwill as well.  It also matches the pieces.

Two or three years ago I picked up these pink cups...that matched these green cups and tea pot that I had bought about 12 years ago.

This is the set that started it all.  This vintage glazed stoneware tea set from Japan I picked up for $10 when I worked at Audrey's Attic.

I am enjoying my eclectic little set of Japanese tea ware all with the basket weave pattern. 

I have tried to research this pottery and I can't find anything on it sadly.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Kintaro, Brown Sugar Bubble Tea, Parma

Oh man, if you like sushi or hot pot (Also called Steamboat) you need to try Kintaro...and the bubble tea was really good too!!

I ordered the Brown Sugar Bubble Tea.  It was really delicious.  My friend ordered the Thai Tea bubble tea.

We were in Parma visiting Krazy Bins- which if you have never done that you should check it out.  All the items in the store are from Target.  It was lots of fun to check it out and get some great deals.  Kintaro is about 5 miles down the road from Krazy Bins.

https://kintarooh.com/

There are several Kintaro locations in the North Eastern Ohio area.  We went to Parma, since we were in that area, but there is also on in Akron- at Fairlawn, that would be a lot closer for those local friends that follow my blog.

Hot Pot is really fun.  And if there are at least two of you- I recommend one person get hot pot and one person get sushi.  From 11-3:30 it is all you can eat for $17.99!!!

       

With hot pot, you select your soup base...and if you can't decide you can get a side by side pot and try two different kinds.  We did chicken broth.

• A. Chinese Herb
  

  B. Chicken Broth
  C. Sichuan Spicy 
  D. Sha Cha Soup
  E. Mixed Soup
  F. Tomato Soup
• 
  
• Then you select your noodles. we did the Vietnamese Noodle

  • N1. Rice Noodle

  N2. Potato Vermicelli
  N3. Vietnamese Noodle
  N4. Instant Noodle
• 
  
• Then you your meat. We did pork.
  1. Pork Slice
  2. Fatty Beef
  3. Chicken Gizzards
  4. Chicken Meat
  4a. Pork Stomach
• 
  
• Next your seafood. We did crab stick.
  5. Fish Fillet
  6. Clam
  7. Squid
  8. Crab Stick
• 
  
• Then the balls/dumplings. We did dumplings 
  9. Pork Ball
  10. Fuchow Fish Ball
  11. Fried Fish Ball
  12. Beef Ball
  13. Cilantro Ball
  14. Tempura
  15. Dumpling
  16. Homemade Fish Ball
• 
  
• Lastly the vegetables.  We selected a variety.
  17. Spinach
  18. Tomato
  19. Taro
  20. Chinese Cabbage
  21. Broccoli
  22. Fried Tofu
  23. Cilantro
  24. Frozen Tofu
  25. Black Mushroom
  26. Potato
  27. Tofu
  28. Bamboo Short
  29. Corn
  30. Seaweed
  31. Lotus Root
  32. Chinese Lettuce
  33. Turnip
  34. Bean Sprout
  35. Tong Hao Cai
  36. Tofu Skin
  37. Enoki Mushroom
  38. Watercress
  39. Wood Ear
• 40. Winter Melon
• 
  
• The broth heats up at the table and then you cook the items that you ordered in the broth.  And they will bring you as much more as you want.

There is also a "dip bar" where you can create your own dips to dip your items in.  This was fun, but I wish I had googled some recipes, because there are some suggestions of what to mix together to create fun blends.  They had about 15 items there to pick from. Even raw eggs, if you wanted to create an egg drop soup if you wanted.

Here is our broth heating up...and the items we were cooking in the broth....

                                                           

                                                  

  

What I was pumped about was the sushi menu!!!  $17.99 for unlimited sushi, hibachi, appetizers, and more!

Here is the sushi that we split.  It was sooo good!  

Classic Roll and Hand Roll

• Classic Roll: Min. 6pcs Per Order
  Hand Roll: Shaped Like an Ice Cream Cone, One Piece Per Order

We ordered:

• Honda

  Shrimp tempura, cream cheese, topped w. avocado, mango, mango sauce & wasabi sauce

• Jeep

  Shrimp tempura and cucumber, topped w. avocado, salmon w. eel sauce & spicy mayo

• Eel Avocado

• Sweet Potato  **This may have been my favorite

• Crab Stick in a cone

Check out Parma!  There are lots of fun things to do there.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!
 

Lavender Chai, LincWay in Dalton OH

My Wednesday Wanderings took me to Canton via Dalton.  I headed to have an oil change for my car, but I thought I would grab a drink at LincWay and check it out.

I ordered the Lavender Chai, it was okay, my thought it might be the Oregon Chai Concentrate with lavender syrup.  I am not a huge Oregon Chai fan, so I found it just okay...nothing special.  But, they do have other drinks that I have purchased that are really nice.  This is just one I will pass on next time.

https://lincway.us/cafe/

They finished the giant 42,000 piece puzzle!  Can you believe it 42,000 pieces!  They had the community work on it in stages.  It is 5' high and 25' long.

LincWay is a great place to hang out by yourself or with friends.  They also have a place to paint pottery which is a lot fun to visit.  I have done one piece there and it was really fun and I was super pleased when it was glazed.

They have a nice selection of food and constantly are doing new seasonal drinks which is really fun too.

I decided to try the egg bites, they were pretty good.  

They are also getting a nice little shop going with local artists items.

You should stop by and check them out.

Psalm 96:3
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!