“It’s always tea-time.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Thursday Life suspects this timeless quote serves as a de facto mantra for Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel’s altar to epicurean decadence, namely the Regency Patisserie, whose fabulously appointed perimeter spilled over into the hotel’s surrounding lobby space to host a kiddies play date of familiar parlour games, interspersed with bites of sensational gourmet desserts and sips of those fail-safe, hot-weather quenchers — lemonade and champagne cocktails (for the mommies and daddies, of course). But this was not to be a stuffy afternoon of languid leisure and aimless conversation, as specially invited personalities of the wackiest order, respectively The Hatter, The Queen of Hearts and little Alice herself, took a mini-sabbatical from the pages of the Lewis Carroll classic to hold court with a select group of next-generation gastronomes and bon vivants.

With moms (and a dad) firmly in tow, these Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland staples led the kids in a series of high-spirited activities such as Red Light-Green Light 1, 2, 3; Mommy Count The Cupcakes; Red Queen Says; and an all-hands-on-deck lemonade-drinking competition, which saw members of the guest list copping prizes in the form of saccharine goodie bags and in the case of Mommy Count The Cupcakes — a smarmy Cheshire cat. You know the one. Meanwhile, mobile patisserie attendants circulated palate-tempting fruit tarts, assorted vanilla bean and chocolate cupcakes, coconut-infused macaroons, miniature lemon meringue pies, layered white chocolate mousse confections, and savoury tea sandwiches. At the heart of this delectable spread was a towering topsy-turvy cake, which the kids assisted Terra Nova’s resident pastry guru Dawn Mitchell in decorating with edible Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland iconography. Come with us through the looking glass as we highlight engaging scenes from a ‘golden afternoon’ of imaginative innocence and sweet-tooth cultivation.

— Curt Cawley

(PHOTOS: MICHAEL GORDON)