Chef Karen Anne Murray's Tea Table

Forewordby Raul NavaChef Karen Anne Murray's Tea TableLife is busy and hectic. Each morning starts with a list of tasks. As the hours tick and tock, we nick away at our assignments one by one, yet by sunset, the list seems to have grown longer. Day in and day out, we plod along through our routine in a high-tech, wired world. In theory, this innovation brings us closer together, but in practice we've never been farther apart.Modern life leaves us starved for escape and connection-more so in the face of a global pandemic.Chef Karen Anne Murray invites us to purposefully pause, reflect, and reconnect by taking a seat at her tea table. I was first introduced to Karen when she opened Eddison & Melrose in Monterey, California, in 2009. Named in honor of her parents and leveraging Karen's culinary training in England and globe-trotting experience as a restaurant chef, caterer, and personal chef, Eddison & Melrose brought proper afternoon tea to California's Central Coast. Stepping into her cozy tea room and sitting down for a spot of tea and treats whisked me away from the bustling strip mall to the rolling hills of the English countryside. Her move to the corner of a shopping center in Pacific Grove expanded Eddison & Melrose to include granola, scones, and other baked goods.