Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Why? Because it was my birthday! As if I need an excuse!

A dear friend treated me to a birthday eve meal at one of our favorite haunts, New York City's Tea & Sympathy. The mushroom shepherd's pie with peas and carrots, $13.95, and a pot of decaf Earl Grey, $4.50.

A Mrs. Bucket-approved dessert: Victoria sponge cake, $8. Loved the post office tea pot, and thought of Hyacinth's poor postman. She only uses first class stamps, you know!


I always save one vacation day to take my birthday off. Do I want to spend my birthday in my cubicle? No! Instead...

At the Rutherford Pancake House in Rutherford, New Jersey, I shared vegan sliders with a tamarind date sauce, $5.95, and vegan cheese quesadillas with roasted red peppers, spinach and portabella mushrooms and the most sweet potato fries I've seen on one plate! $9.95.

At all-vegan Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, also in Rutherford, a Boston cream cupcake, $3.50. Kind of makes you want to move to Rutherford, doesn't it?

To go: their classic white room cupcake - vanilla cake with vanilla bean frosting, $3. There's something so timeless and comforting about vanilla, isn't there?

Toasting to a California sparkling rose at the The Kitchen in Englewood, New Jersey, which celebrates the cuisine and the era of the 1930s. Love this unique concept, and the BYOB saves a fortune. I don't care if it is organic, I'm not paying $12 for a glass of wine anywhere.


About five complimentary passed appetizers come (they accommodated vegetarian), and I also had a small taste of their daily soup (roasted garlic and cauliflower soup - some of the best soup I've had in recent memory). Then it was time for the entree.

The vegetarian gratin, with butternut squash with faux bacon, caramelized onions and greens, $19. Entrees come with two sides: sweet potatoes with nuts and marshmallows, and collard greens. Classic comfort food, done right.

I know, the apple cranberry crisp is more seasonable, but the caramelized banana napoleon, $8 - just so tempting and delicious.

An aside about how good the food was at The Kitchen - a lively table was next to mine with about a dozen people also there for a birthday celebration. When the food came - silence soon followed. A man at the table declared, "It must be good - the conversation has ceased!" Ever notice how when the food is amazing you zone into your own little world? I also smiled thinking about how food brings us together - yet another reason it is one of life's great pleasures.

Depressed about being another year older? No way. Remember the words in P.S. I Love You expressed by Harry Connick Jr.'s character, "We're so arrogant, aren't we? We're so afraid to age. We do everything we can to prevent it. But we don't realize what a privilege it is to grow old."

I'm privileged to celebrate another birthday, and hope you view your own next birthday and each one after with a happy and grateful heart.

I Heart Rainy Days

Sun go away, just for a few days. Bring on the rain...it just feels so much cozier. Where will you find me?

Perhaps at my favorite Irish pub, PJ Finnegan's, in Westwood, New Jersey.

Of course, I'd be having my favorite Irish beverage: Magners cider, $5.

And feasting on some veg pub grub: a portobello mushroom burger with roasted red peppers on focaccia bread, with a mesclun salad, $8.95.

I will definitely have the kettle on. A good "cuppa" does wonders for the soul.


Whenever rainy weather strikes, it always feels like a good "Tea and Sympathy day" - one of my favorite haunts in New York City. I used to work nearby, and would eat like a queen. Visits here now are less frequent, but just as cherished.

Cream tea: a pot of tea, my choice, their Rosie Lee (half English Breakfast, half Earl Grey) with scones, clotted cream and strawberry preserves, $10.75.


I think Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet!) would approve. My parents introduced me to the campy Keeping Up Appearances, a witty British comedy from 1990-1995, which reruns on public television regularly. I've admittedly seen every one of her crazy candlelight supper antics, and when viewing the sad state of television today often think, they don't make them like this anymore.

Maybe I'll be making a pot of soup, listening to some Celtic music, like WFUV's A Thousand Welcomes archives, watching a DVD from the library, or reading a thrifted or library book under a blanket. Almost certainly, I will hope for a nap, and if home, be indulging in one.

All these things make me wish for the rain to linger just a bit longer.

A "Cuppa", Some Soup, and Good Friendship

Yes, I'm still celebrating my birthday. Since I do a "no gift" pact with my friends (I can't recommend this enough), we treat ourselves to a dinner out instead. I treated my friend, who is one of the few people who I know as obsessed with food as I am, to Salsa y Salsa. For my turn, we agreed on one of our favorites: Tea and Sympathy.

Tea out of a paper cup with a plastic lid? Unthinkable. A pot of blackberry tea, $4.50.

I can make an entire meal out of soup and rolls. The daily dairy-free, vegetarian variety: carrot, turnip and parsnip, $6.95. A good soup nourishes the body and the soul.

A side of nutritious peas, $2.


No vegan desserts are on the menu (veganize Victoria Sponge cake and Sticky Toffee Pudding at home). No problem, just have an extra "cuppa." Enjoy the conversation, and appreciate the friends in your life. I do. Friends are about quality, not quantity. Thank you for my dinner and your dear friendship, friend!

Pop by the shop next store, Carry on Tea and Sympathy, for a browse at their charming tea cups.



Hit your local thrift store for steals on tea cups and teapots, as evidenced in the The Thrifty Chicks' dazzling photo album of the treasures to be found at thrift shops. Shock the Mrs. Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) in your life when she pays you a compliment and tell her it's from the charity shop.

Visit Tea & Sympathy, 108 Greenwich Avenue, New York City.

Rejuvenating the Spirit at Tea & Sympathy

I love many British things...the comedies (from classic campy fare like Keeping up Appearances and Mr. Bean to more modern shows like Coupling); a good 'cuppa' tea; I even like rainy weather. And of course one of my favorite restaurants in New York City, Tea & Sympathy. I feel like not only has my stomach been nourished after a meal here, but so has my soul.

Tables are tiny (as is the restaurant), but it adds to the charm.

You always get a charming, often kitschy, tea pot. I've gotten everything including Alice in Wonderland, teddy bears, cats, and Queen Elizabeth adorning the pots. On this visit, I opted for always delicious blackberry tea, while my friend went for fragrant vanilla mint. $4.50 a pot.

Broccoli soup, $6.95 for a bowl. They always have a non-dairy, vegetarian soup of the day. Interesting varieties I've tried include spinach as well as celery.

Fresh beet and onion salad on mixed greens, $8.50. The perfect accompaniment to my soup.

My friend had the lentil casserole, $11.95. So hearty on a cold winter's night.

When I go into Carry On Tea & Sympathy, the shop next store, I always feel like Hermoine Granger, waiting for Harry and Ron to meet me to get some treats after passing our latest exam at Hogwarts. You'll find all tea-related things here, as well as British foods for your pantry.


Tea & Sympathy, 108 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY.

Poor Richard Bucket stands up to Hyacinth on the classic, Keeping Up Appearances.


One of Steve's famous rants on Coupling.

Tea & Sympathy

So you've just finished watching Keeping Up Appearances and you're craving a good "cuppa" Earl Grey in a lovely tea cup that even Mrs. Bucket (pronounced Bouquet!) would serve to a jittery Elizabeth. Where to go? Tea & Sympathy, where else? Now you might not think, "English food, vegan paradise!" Don't miss out on what I find to be one of the coziest establishments in the city. Open for lunch and dinner, indulge in their homemade soup (varies, always vegetarian, always non-dairy), baked beans on toast, lentil casserole (divine) and fresh beetroot salad. Don't forget a cuppa tea (blackberry or apricot are both delightful). The vegan options for dessert are non-existent though, so unless you want to whip up your own vegan Victorian Sponge Cake or apple crumble, just head to nearby S'nice for a vegan cupcake.

I was there recently on a crisp fall day, and had a bowl of butternut squash soup, served with two rolls (one white, one multi-grain, hold the butter, of course!) and a piping hot pot of blackberry tea.




Stop by Carry on Tea & Sympathy, the sister shop, next door, for tea, Ribena (blackcurrant concentrate), cups, and more.

Feeling more like Onslow and Daisy-inspired fare? Head to A Salt & Battery, one shop away, for some chips and homemade mushy peas, and wash it down with a Magners Irish hard cider.

Tea & Sympathy, 108 Greenwich Ave. (between 12th & 13th St.), New York, NY; A Salt & Battery, 112 Greenwich Ave.