Ideas for your IRL book club: Mrs. Bakewell’s scones (also available gluten free!)

Happy International Women’s Day !!

This space is going to highlight Asian American women-owned businesses with goodies that pair up with books and reading.

If you want to get into that British tea party mode, look no further than Mrs. Bakewell’s — the only cream tea company in the entire US. Rose Bakewell, who packs every single kit herself, reached out to me to ask if I wanted to sample some of her goodies and boy was I glad I said yes.

I have celiac disease, which means I can’t eat anything with gluten, a protein found in wheat flour and other things but that was not a problem! They had delicious gluten-free scones, which tastes just like the flour-y ones once I heated them up.

The kits come with everything you need to have your own tea party (yes, it includes tea and spoons!) — although I’m still pondering how the Brits ever thought to name a foodstuff “clotted cream.” Like many Asians and celiacs, dairy is not my thing, but it adds absolute authenticity.

I paired it with Debating Darcy, a delightful Jane Austen contemporary YA update by Sayantani Dasgupta, who is also the author of the middle grade Kiranmala series, which has recently been optioned for a TV series!

Do you have any favorite AAPI women authors whose work deserves a tea party? Leave us some ideas in the comments.