| Tea parties help cancer patients
CLEVELAND -- On each end of the buffet, a circle of pretty china cups and saucers wait. At the center are silver trays of fancy almond bars, fruit tarts studded with blackberries, strawberries and kiwi slices, tiramisu squares, and tiny puff pastries sprinkled with pistachios. Four ladies stand by silver urns of Earl Grey and herbal teas, ready to pour. Choose a cup painted with roses and ribbons. Sit, visit, relax. Every Wednesday afternoon at 2:30, there is a civilized interlude from the treatment of a very uncivilized disease at Cleveland Clinic's Taussig Cancer Institute. For about an hour, patients come and go from the Bistro Cafe on the center's ground floor, indulging in a bit of calm along with a cookie or scone. It's no tea party to be hooked up to an IV for 6½ hours, as Fern Legat has been, hoping that chemo will arrest for a while the non-Hodgkins lymphoma she endures.
Upstairs Downtown to open Sept. 14
Upstairs Downtown, above the Downtown Inn in Piggott, will open Sept. 14, offering tea room services to the area. The operating hours will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Use of the room will be appointment only, but groups may book weekdays or nights. Upstairs Downtown will offer one of two options: dessert of the day and hot or cold tea; or sandwich, dessert of the day and hot or cold tea. The dining area can accommodate up to 30 people and extra settings can be made available for small groups. The tea served at Upstairs Downtown will be a flavored black tea and an Oolong tea. Tea rooms are becoming quite popular for those looking to experience the peaceful and relaxed setting while being served with fine china on crisp white linens.
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