The Tai Tai High Tea

While living in Singapore I often heard the term Tai Tai in relation to the "Expat Ladies". The tai tais being equivalent to “ladies who lunch.” In other words, a tai tai is a woman who is married to a wealthy man, loves to shop, has the manicure and pedicure each week, and often goes to spas ..... and a tai-tai always sleeps until at least 9:00 am.

But not all "expat ladies" in Singapore like being labeled with the term Tai Tai. Some feel it demeaning yet others just think of it as an endearment. Most just laugh it off if someone made a comment about us heading off for lunch with friends by saying "ah ha the Tai Tai ladies are going to lunch eh?"

Tai Tai was a term used in Chinese circles for supreme wife (implying situation where a man is  wealthy enough to have several "wives')  but no longer strictly interpreted.  

Term now applies to citizens of the world with an Asian viewpoint  who have "bounds of time and money".   A Tai Tai is a privileged lady of means and the term implies respect.
Awhile back I decided to host an afternoon tea at my home to "welcome spring". I intended to serve delicious cakes and slices on a well set table complete with cake servers, tiny cake forks, a three tier cake stand etc. On mentioning this to a friend from Singapore she made comment about it being a Tai Tai High Tea, hence the title of the blog but not referring in anyway to these lovely ladies and our afternoon tea to welcome spring. 

The ladies that came  - all 17 of them - are from the area where I live. Over the short time of living here I have come to respect these women and to enjoy their company. So yesterday I got to know them a little more in a relaxed atmosphere, over cups of tea, plates of cake and a glass of home made baileys!
 
the following are a few images are of our afternoon tea:

I had asked them to not bring anything, just themselves so they could enjoy the day without having to fuss with baking something. But a couple still came along with a plate of goodies, another with a box of chocolates and another with a bunch of daffodils. We even received a beautiful Daphne plant complete with card that said 'Welcome to Ballan, John and Leone'

we are overwhelmed with the generosity of these ladies.

I had a great day and certainly enjoyed the company of these lovely ladies and hope to host a similar afternoon perhaps to welcome 'summertime'!


so our little tai tai high tea is a little tongue in cheek but was a lot of tasty fun!!





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