New Beginnings withthe Lunar New Year Parade &Baby Shower at Tea Rose Garden

Now, I knew that this weekend was the Lunar New Year. BUT I didn't know that there was a huge parade right in the middle of where I had to go! Up until I turned off the 210 freeway into bumper to bumper traffic and the radio station I was listening to happened to air:

"Lots of parades for the Lunar New Year happening all around the city...including the 5th Annual Parade in Pasadena..."

It was already 11:30am and KC's baby shower tea rose garden party started at noon. I had thirty minutes to find somewhere to park. I was driving Northbound on Raymond Avenue, trying to find the cute little nook of a flower shop and restaurant where I was to meet the other girls...only to find that I was driving in the opposite direction of the parade!

Lucky for me though, I saw some floats - including the Taiko drums one with none other than one of my college friends whose a professional drummer for Taiko Project! I rolled down my window to wave and yell a hello as I crawled ever so slowly towards Green. With the crowds of parade watchers, I was directed to turn left and down the next street, the parking gods must have been looking down upon me. Lo and behold, there was an empty metered space. It being Sunday, I didn't have to worry about feeding the meter nor worry about the time. SCORE!


As I walked over to the Tea Rose Garden, I watched more floats go by and noticed that I was the first in the party to arrive. It was still 11:55am, and I had some time to kill.

Snapped a few photos of Miss Chinatown, Miss Koreatown, Miss Vietnam USA as well as newscasters Denise Dador and David Ono. They all reminded me of a former life when I had a brief inkling of running for a pageant and when I thought I'd be the next big Asian American broadcaster in Los Angeles...when I practiced my walk, my talk, met the likes of Wendy Tokuda, Rob Fukuzaki, and Frank Buckley. But all of that really is another post.

This post is supposed to be about new beginnings. With the start of the new Lunar calendar - it's the year of the dog - and the new beginnings of baby KTC, we were in full celebration mode!

KC chose the location, and we had a table for 7 reserved next to the indoor streetlamp. Cute little tables were lined with fresh red linens over white tablecloths. We sat on metal chairs that can be found in gardens with comfy cushions on them for our bottoms. Too bad, there wasn't anything for our backs. But we were greeted with friendly servers who asked us what kind of tea and scone we'd like. With such a long list of choices, I had a difficult time narrowing it down. After hearing others order the Mango Mist, Peach, Passionfruit teas...I decided upon a non-fruit tea: English Breakfast. Scone? Again, a difficult choice. Others got the Almond Raisin, Blueberry, Mocha...I got the Chocolate Chip.

JC ordered an Iced Passionfruit Tea which came with beautifully colored edible flower petals and a sprig of mint that garnished the refreshing drink. I thought of ordering the same but thought I'd get something I fell in love with the summer I spent in Cambridge: English Breakfast.

My tea came out in a cute round blue teapot and a brushed metal tea strainer with drop bowl. All very fancy, I felt like a little princess. No more pretending with small china and fake tea. This was the real deal. I dropped in a cube of sugar and a dollup of milk and the tea was just like I remembered it. Warm and sweet, it went well with my chocolate chip scone and fruit served with Devonshire cream. I passed on the raspberry preserves, but asked for a second helping of hot water for my tea.

The afternoon treats came on cute fragile silver towers that held three little platters suspended on top of each other. The very bottom held sliced fruits of kiwi, strawberry, orange, and grape. In the middle, there was my scone. And atop was the best of them all: four small cut sandwich triangles of Cranberry Chicken, Cucumber, Turkey and Basil, and Chicken Almond.

We had our set menu of unlimited sandwiches and filled up on the Cranberry Chicken wedges which were my favorite of the four. Shredded chicken breast with sweet cranberry sauce and cream cheese on a toasted white bread, I had about 6 of them. The Cucumber sandwiches were also yummy. Cool and crisp, these wedges had a tang to them with a hint of cream cheese and special herbs. The Chicken Almond Salad was also good with shredded chicken breast mixed with almond. And the Turkey Basil sandwich, one of their newer menu items, had an interesting kick to it. Subtle flavors with turkey and cream cheese and chives mixed with the strong basil mint aftertaste. Interestingly, I didn't think I'd be full on petite tea sandwiches and a scone, but after the equivalent of about 3 or 4 full sandwiches, an entire scone, fruit, and 5 cups of tea...I was done for the afternoon.

With all showers, we played games like guessing the baby food flavors with our noses and eyes - no tasting! Some of them had pretty pungent smells too - like the turkey, ham, and beef flavors - which you didn't want to taste! Great food, great friends with fun games and gifts make for a fabulous party. Here was KC with my gift to her. Hopefully, baby KTC will follow in her mommy and daddy's college footsteps and join the Trojan family too. Here was my way of starting the training now.

Tea Rose Garden
s: 28 south raymond ave
pasadena, ca 91105
t: 1.626.578.1144
web: www.tearosegarden.net
tea room hrs: m-s 10-5p |
su 10:30-4p
flower shop hrs: m-s 9-6p |
su 10-5p

Annual Lunar New Year Parade & Festival
Street: Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, CA