Wild Plum Tea Room: Girls Just Want to Have Tea

I must admit: I love a good, girly tea room. On our first anniversary trip to Gatlinburg in 2005, Jay and I drove out to the Wild Plum Tea Room. I took one look at the menu, which they change often (maybe daily) and post outside, and told Jay we could go somewhere else. I knew he wouldn't like anything they offered.

After seven years of marriage, I decided to force this feminine experience upon him. Besides, Jay is now used to eating only 1.5 meals a day, and he'd had a huge breakfast, so I knew he'd be fine with eating a muffin and drinking tea if that's all he found desirable to consume.

 We both drank the Wild Plum fruit tea. (I think I had about 4 cups.) I usually don't drink hot tea that has sugar, but this was a vacation-exception. We also both enjoyed two tiny Wild Plum tea muffins each. These were gone too quickly to photograph.

For my meal I ordered the strata, filled with tomatoes, cheese, and spinach. I prefer an actual quiche with a crust to this version, which had bready layers throughout the egg, but it was quite good. My side was a pasta salad, wet with a balsamic vinaigrette. I used "wet" with purpose. It was a little moist for me, but the flavor was delish.

Jay had fruit (which I got to share) and a turkey sandwich with a lemon spread. As I ate some of his leftovers for dinner, I can attest to the tastiness of his lunch as well. He also said his sandwich was a little "wet" for him. He's not used to a spread of any kind on his bread, and I was impressed he ate as much as he did and enjoyed it.

It was an adorable experience, and I learned a lesson: Jay doesn't hate tea rooms as much as I thought he did. So I will be seeking out similar places in our area and pulling him along for the taste-ride.