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On Saturday, My girlfriend and I joined the proprietors of the excellent restaurant review blog The Loving Spoonful, Tara and Dan, for tea at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

I didn't know they were avid food hounds and bloggers when I sat down. But that quickly became clear.

Dan was trying to get his camera to work when my girlfriend, Janell, asked, "Did you want to take a picture?"

"I photograph everything I eat," said Dan.

So I took a couple of blurry snapshots with my iPhone, and sent the single marginally presentable shot along to Tara. Then we dug in with gusto.

The "Traditional Tea" offers scones, sandwiches, pastries, and a pot of tea in one of several flavors. The scones were the best I've ever had, and I've had me some scones. Delicious, crusty, dusty outsides gave way to warm, sweet interiors. And the rasins were soft and sweet and juicy and made me happy even though I don't usually like rasins. Jams came in two flavors: blueberry and razberry chocolate. Both were wiggle-your-toes delicious.

The sandwiches were equally delightful, especially the smoked salmon & cream cheese. The egg salad was, well, egg salad. I pitty chefs that have to make egg salad sandwiches. There's just no chance to show off. You can't make them great. There's no chance to shine.

And I was happy I'd saved the pastries for last. They were fantastic. The cram puffs were the best of the bunch, but the almond cookies, and tiramisu didn't disappoint either. (Tiramisu is the opposite of egg salad: meeting expectations warrants just a shrug, while bad tiramisu is a real disappointment. It's "dazzle or die.")

And I give Tara and Dan two thumbs up as excellent tea companions and dedicated eaters of delicious things.

We all left the hotel stuffed and laughing, and as a special treat, I spotted a favorite The West Wing performer on his way into the hotel. What a great start to the weekend!