By Sharman Ramsey

    Kimberly Meadows, owner of the Willows                 
See Also:  Cecily and Lily's Mom and Me Tea
Tea for Two at the Willows

Kimberly Meadows had a dream. She wanted to run a tea room. Her grandmother, Muriel Meadows, a native of Liverpool, England, had shared with her granddaughter her love of tea and teatime. Muriel took Kimberly to tea rooms when she was little and at Christmas and on birthdays gave her tea pots of all colors, shapes and sizes. Kimberly, daughter of David and Diane Meadows and niece of state attorney Steve Meadows, grew up in Panama City and when she graduated from Florida State University her goal was to open a tea room on Panama City Beach. But, when she found out the Willows, a charming tea room on 4th Street in downtown Panama City, would soon be available, she decided to take over the established business. In June 2006 she became the proprietress of her own tea room, sandwich and British grocery specialty shop, as she says, "a small place with a warm, cozy feel."

The only person I know who loves tea parties more than I do is Miss Lily Clare Butterworth, my four-year-old granddaughter, referred to within the family as "Miss Lily" as she was so aptly dubbed early on by her great-grandfather, Dr. E. G. Burson of Dothan. She and I decide that having a tea party at the Willows would be a lovely thing to do on a Friday afternoon. So, I call and make arrangements for Kimberly to give Miss Lily special instruction on making tea and serving tea dainties. Lily and I come dressed for tea and are greeted warmly by Kimberly who shows us to our white linen covered table set with a rabbit tea pot and tea cups and a nosegay of flowers.

Kimberly takes Lily with her to choose and prepare her tea. First the pot must be tempered with hot water. Kimberly helps Lily pour the hot water into the pot and swirl it around before emptying the water. Then Lily is shown the variety of teas from which she may choose. This takes serious deliberation on Lily’s part, but she finally decides on strawberry. The bag is popped into the pot and hot water is poured into the tea pot. Kimberly directs Lily to stir twice. Lily counts the stirs aloud, seriously applying herself to the proper preparation of our tea.

Kimberly and Lily then bring the pot to the table where Lily adds several teaspoons of sugar and a dash of cream to her cup before pouring the tea into the cup. Lily again counts aloud her two stirs, having taken her earlier instruction to heart.

I have chosen an afternoon version of Earl Grey which has less caffeine than the usual morning selection. My tea is served in a charming chintz teapot and blue willow cup and saucer. Lily and I sip our tea as Kimberly serves us finger sandwiches of egg salad, chicken salad and cucumbers.

The scones come with directions on proper dressing. The scone is split, covered with cream and topped with strawberry preserves. The scone is the former Willows owner’s recipe, but Kimberly does have her grandmother’s recipes for scones and other tea dainties.

Our afternoon tea is completed with a choice of four different cakes made from these recipes.. Lily examines each and concludes the chocolate looks the most scrumptious and will be her choice. Lily declares the chocolate delicious, especially the dark chocolate icing. I choose the carrot cake and agree with Lily that the sweets served at our tea party are outstanding.

Our afternoon tea comes to a total of $19. The memories are priceless.

Copyright 1996  These are my own working genealogy files that I share with you.  The errors are my own.  But, perhaps they will give you a starting point.  All original writing is copyrighted.  Webmaster