The old Chinese Food restaurant in Cloverdale

There used to be a Chinese restaurant in Cloverdale on 176th Street next to the Clova Theatre. I hate to say I can't even remember the name of it. Clover Garden Restaurant? Clover Leaf Restaurant? When I was a kid it served both Chinese and Western food. My parents liked to eat there at least once a month. I was glad for the Western cuisine and always ordered a burger and fries. As a kid I never liked Chinese food all that much. As I got older I found I could go into a Chinese restaurant and enjoy a dish or two and find something to eat, but its not my first choice when we're going out to eat.

As the years went by it changed hands. The last time I actually recall getting something to eat there was in the mid-90's, take out at a friend's place after enjoying looking at Christmas lights around Surrey. When smoking bylaws came into place the proprietors blatantly disobeyed and still kept ashtrays on the tables and allowed patrons to smoke in there. I saw this quite clearly when I walked my dogs past in the early part of the 2000 decade. Eventually the bylaw officer must have fined them because the ashtrays were removed and I didn't see anyone smoking in there. I'm not sure if it changed hands because I hardly saw anyone dining there. I don't think they even offered Western food choices anymore either. Mostly I just saw the proprietors and their family sitting at a table and kids jumping all over the booths whenever I walked past. Eventually it closed down and sat empty for awhile.

A couple of years ago I was walking the dogs through Cloverdale and I stopped at the restaurant when I noticed activity inside, particularly the door open and a lady outside cleaning something. I stopped to chat with her and learned that her and a partner were opening up a tea shop here. From what I gathered the premises were quite filthy and they had a big cleaning job ahead of them. This was in May and unfortunately they were not going to be open in time to catch the crowds of people enjoying the parade and rodeo.

As I walked away I wondered what the chances of survival were for a tea shop in Cloverdale. However I'd thought the same thing when a tea shop opened up in White Rock near my parent's house called Clancy's Tea Cosy. That was in the mid 90's and its still operating. So people in White Rock must like going out for tea! But Cloverdale is another story.

I'm not a tea drinker myself. Neither coffee. Or any other hot drink. Its not like I'm at Tim Horton's or Starbuck's a lot but I go in occasionally mostly for a donut, muffin, or pastry and will have a cold drink.

The new restaurant opened named the China Tea Cup Company. They've done a nice job of fixing it up inside with cute tables and chairs. They offer pastries and a light lunch menu in addition to all kinds of tea choices. I'm embarrassed to say that I have not gone in there but I'm not big on drinking tea. Their hours are a little limited too. They're open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm so they're mostly targeting retired customers who don't work during those hours. Its their shop they can choose the hours. That's all part of the fun of owning your own business. Choosing when you'll work. Sadly I never see many customers inside when they're open and I'm walking past with the dogs. I don't know if that's because of the hours or whether Cloverdale residents just aren't tea aficionados.

They have a sign on their window saying the business is for sale and to enquire inside. Obviously they have decided to move on for whatever reason and I wish them the best.

Sorry I'm not a tea drinker.....

Tea

My mother came from Scotland and was a big tea drinker. While growing up I was constantly putting a kettle on for her or pouring the boiling water into her old metal tea pot. We didn't have a meal called tea like they do in Britain. But during the times I visited my relatives in England I always enjoyed the later afternoon tea. Not that I liked drinking the hot tea, I just liked all the cakes, cookies, and other snacks that came with the drink. I especially liked going to a restaurant for a cream tea. That snack was crumpets, clotted cream, and strawberries.

Even when iced tea drink crystals came out in the late 60's, early 70's I never was a big fan. We had it in the house but I rarely drank it. By the late 70's and 80's I was buying and drinking iced tea made from the drink crystals on a regular basis, but I rarely drank hot tea. When we went out to restaurants I often ordered iced tea to drink, and that was the presweetened drink that usually came out of the same dispensers as the soda pop.

In the late 80's when I began travelling more often to California and Nevada and ordered iced tea with my meal, it came differently than what I was used to in Canada. It was real brewed tea and it was unsweetened. When it arrived at the table I could add sweetener or sugar to it. I began to prefer this over the pre-sweetened tea I got back home.

In 1994 we were in Arizona one winter and wandered into a shop. I saw an iced tea machine and called Kerry to come over and take a look. "Can you believe people would pay money for this" I asked. "All they have to do is boil water in their kettle, make tea, and then put ice cubes in it or put it in the fridge."

But a few years later I remembered that machine. Because now I'm thinking its a real pain to go through the hassle of making tea and then cooling it down so I can have iced tea. but I could find no such appliance in any of the stores I looked at in the Greater Vancouver Area. So I looked on Ebay and bought a used Mr Coffee Iced Tea machine. And then I was hooked. The machine brews the tea and then spits it out into the pitcher which we've filled with ice cubes. So that's the big secret! We made a lot of iced tea. We tried all kinds of different flavored herbal teas. But after all the use the handle came off the pitcher. Crazy Glue fixed that problem but to be cautious after the tea brewed into iced tea we poured it into a second pitcher.

In 2005 we were down in Washington one weekend and had dinner at Red Lobster. I asked for iced tea and the waiter asked if I wanted regular iced tea or Boston iced tea. I asked what the Boston iced tea is and he said it has cranberry juice. I ordered that and I was hooked. While down on that trip we bought a new Mr Coffee Iced Tea machine. And ever since then I've been stocking up on cranberry-raspberry juice that I add to the iced tea as sweetener. We make iced tea a lot, even through the winter months.

But an odd thing has happened. I've started drinking hot tea too. Not a lot and usually just when I have a sore throat. But maybe that's because its winter and old age is catching up to me....