Kuala Lumpur: High Tea and Teeth

Nails painted

Fancy Chinese New Year dresses and suits worn

Serious diners worthy of being allowed into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for high tea.

Chinese New Year Mandarin oranges given to us by the Mandarin Oriental.

Clotted cream for scones, BABY!

But, even better for the Moms - excellent CHAMPAGNE!!!

All under the tall Petronas towers

Fancy dressup for our 2nd high tea!

Damn, Griffin looks good, and he knows it!

Note to Patrick: She is STILL wearing the pink cowboy boots you got her.
Even in sweltering, sweaty, nasty intense heat.

Meg the turtle researcher extraordinaire, Mike, and fam

Mandarin Oriental High Tea

The kids actually sat and chatted

Abraham, drawing Komodo Dragons with Meg, entranced by her magical abilities with kids

Tooth lost at the Third, Mom-Alice High Tea

February, 2011

Three High Teas in one month. First, Rebecca was dying for a high tea before she left. So, on her last day, she and Hunter took us out for Chinese New Year high tea at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, just under the Petronas Towers and an easy walk from our apartment. We had to paint the girls' nails and work on their matching hair-dos before coming. Then, we noshed on all the exotic Chinese items over high tea, not your typical high tea -- including a mushroom-chicken-filled Rabbit-shaped dim sum, with little red eyes. Of course, the kids only ate the scones with clotted cream, despite all the exotica in front of them.

Rebecca introduced me to a new, rich tea, and the kids had a near-spicy tea they loved with lots of ginger, lemongrass, and verbena. They learned to sit with a napkin across their laps, daintily dipping biscotti into their honey-filled teas. Of course, my favorite moment was when Becca ordered us champagne and we sat on the roof overlooking KL, with our kids drawing pictures next to us, reminiscing over our time in KL together, feeling more bonded than ever, so happy Becca got to know and picture one of the most salient years of our lives.

And, we went back for more! We took Meg there for her birthday, along with her friend Mike, both Fulbright student scholars doing fascinating work. Meg completely charmed my kids, once again, with her magic touch with kids. Click HERE for a video of our high tea with Meg and Mike.

Alice and I returned for a Mommy-Alice-only high tea a week later. Alice spent most of our tea intensely focused on her loose tooth. It didn't stop her from stuffing scones down her throat, but by the end of the tea -- Voila! I yanked the tooth easily out. But, we didn't forsee all the blood. Yes, at the fancy Mandarin hotel. But, that's their job, it turns out, to smooth over bloody messes with finesse. Alice may have bloodied up their starched napkins, but she was cleaned up quickly, fawned over, much fanfare was made over her tooth, and she left with a clean tooth wrapped up like a nugget of gold.