My daughter and I are quite different people, but we also have basic things in common. For example, we’re both young. She’s 12 years young and I’m 42 years young. See? Same but different. She has endless energy and strong opinions. I have a bedtime and a heating pad. Yet, somehow, we manage to obsess over a few of the same things. And every once in a while, we like to take a moment to indulge in a couple of obsessions.
One place we are both obsessing over is Prince Tea House on Germantown Parkway in Cordova. This place is amazing and has the best customer service ever. When you first walk in, be ready to be wowed with the decor and ambience. It’s the prettiest and most elegant place. And the tea pots! Those and the tea cups are so dainty and pretty.
Prince Tea House has the best tea I have ever tasted in my life. My current crush is the English Toffee Milk Tea. I get it at 100 percent sweetness and sub the milk with oat milk. It is so yummy! My daughter loves the Prince Brown Sugar Boba Milk. She literally relaxes into her soul with every sip. I was able to get a tiny taste and trust me, it’s just that good. Her go-to meal is curly fries and Buffalo wings. I’m in love with the smoked salmon sandwich, or the katsu chicken sandwich. Oh! And the ginger salad dressing is the perfect consistency. It’s not too runny and lays well on the side salad. We’re chatty-catties until the food shows up. Then all you hear is low yums of satisfaction.
Nevertheless, my daughter and I always make the same mistake. We order and eat so much food that we never leave room for dessert. I know their dessert is good. There’s always a dessert on somebody’s table being devoured with the most satisfied-looking faces. But a full stomach never stops my daughter from ordering her dessert to go. And she always orders the New York-style cheesecake.
Cheesecake and tea at Prince Tea House
(Photos: Courtesy Patricia Lockhart)
Pro-Tips:
• Evenings are pleasant and quiet. Since they don’t close until 9 p.m., you can enjoy a nice night.
• If you plan on going on a Saturday, try between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., after the morning rush, but before the lunch rush.
• Order all the things you want! You can always take it to go.
We both enjoy being active with group exercise. My current obsession is GRIT Fitness and hers is Collage Dance Collective, more specifically their ballet program. GRIT Fitness is located on Poplar Avenue across from East High School. I friggin’ love this place. The workouts are not too hard but they’re definitely not easy! My favorite classes are Body Attack and Body Pump. Body Attack is your cardio workout that has a few strength and core components too. What I love most about Body Attack is that those who can’t do the move the instructor’s doing are encouraged to modify it or do something else completely different. I can’t tell you how many times my rhythm dissipated, leaving my ancestors laughing in their graves. So what did I do? I improvised! I just moved my body however it wanted to move. Nobody batted an eye or looked at me like I was crazy. Body Pump, on the other hand, is strength training. Ladies, listen! You will not bulk up from lifting weights, but you will get stronger. If you’ve never lifted before, this class is perfect. But, full transparency: I was sore for two days after this class. Yet I did not give up, I just leaned (literally) in. There will never be any pictures of this productive struggle!
My daughter is obsessed with ballet. She has been doing ballet since she was 5 years old. It feels like it was just yesterday that we were dancing at the Overton Park (then Levitt) Shell when she told me, “Mom, you have to put me in ballet!” Fast-forward seven years later and she’s still crazy about ballet. She practices at Collage Dance Collective three days a week for one and a half to two hours per class. And she loves every minute of it. This year is particularly special — she began her en pointe training. Do her toes hurt? Yes. Does she complain? Yes. Does she ever want to stop? Never! They recently had Observation Week where parents could come and see a class. The level at which these young girls practice is unreal and impressive. They learn so many French terms, positions, and movements. And at Collage, excellence is the expectation.
At 12 and 42, we are very much the same … and very different. Different obsessions, different stages, different shoes — pointe shoes for her, sneakers for me. But we meet in the middle over some good tea and boba. And as long as there’s tea to sip and cheesecake waiting somewhere down the line, I’ll happily keep indulging in this season of mother-daughter obsessions.
Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. By day, she’s a librarian and writer, but by night … she’s asleep.