Jam then Cream, or Cream then Jam?

You may have already gathered that hubby & I long ago gave up the notion of “backpacking” on this round-the-world adventure, and have replaced it with what we like to think of as “flashpacking”. Today’s flashpacking event was a trip for afternoon tea in Gordon Ramsay’s place at The London Hotel, here in NYC. We had to make do with a visit to the bar area as the restaurant insists on jacket and tie for men. Hubby has only just got himself a pair of trousers after losing the legs (possibly as long ago as Mexico) to the only other pair he had. While hubby may have been happy to borrow a jacket and tie from the concierge, I happen to have highly honed sense of shame and couldn’t bear the thought of sharing a table with someone who might have been wearing a dreadful mismatched outfit.

We had a very lovely afternoon tea (well, I had coffee) served in the proper British fashion on a three-tier cake plate with crustless sandwiches at the top (egg & cress, smoked salmon, ham & mustard, roast beef & horseradish), scones in the middle, and 6 different cakes on the bottom layer. When we got to the middle layer, hubby and I piled the jam and cream on top of the scones (so much so that we had to ask the waiter to bring more), which was when I noticed that hubby layers his toppings in the order cream then jam, whereas I went for jam then cream. Hubby thinks of the cream as being like butter, hence it goes first with the jam on top, whereas I think of cream as the ultimate (and thus highest) topping. As Britishers, inventers of the afternoon tea, you think we would know which way round is correct, but we don’t. Does anyone know the answer to the correct way of applying jam and cream to a scone?

After debating which way was correct, we each continued to eat our scones in our own way. When we got to the bottom layer of cakes, I decided to let hubby eat both of the tiny little strawberry tarts as he loves them. However, I was forced to give hubby “the look” when he attempted to eat the first of said tarts in one mouthful. I wasn’t even looking when he made the attempt, but I knew it was about to happen as all the air got sucked out of the room as he opened his mouth to shove the tart in whole. Luckily I caught him just in time and I was saved from being embarrassed in front of the other afternoon tea-ers. Phew. A close escape. Hubby learnt his lesson and didn’t attempt it with the second strawberry tart, but he did decide to use up the cream that was left over from the scones by balancing it in a huge lump on top of the tart. I couldn’t complain about that though as I am a great believer in not wasting food.

This evening hubby went off to watch the Yankees play baseball while I went back to the apartment to watch the season finale (or "last episode" as we call it in the UK) of Ugly Betty. OOOOOO! What will Betty decide to do? Is it Henry or Gio? What would you do in her situation??