I AM not sure how tactful it is, the day before the great
American feast of Thanksgiving, to try to cajole you into
sampling the joys of British teatime. But we do have a whole
winter in front of us, and when the days draw in and the air is
chill, there is nothing nicer than a slice of something with a
cup of tea.  I should preface my remarks with the admission that
I am wholly aware that eating foods stuffed with sugar, flour
and butter is not in accord with current dietary wisdom. I do
not suggest you sit down to afternoon tea with cakes and bulging
sandwiches every day. But on the occasional weekend, a small
treat won't kill you. Better to have a slice of cake every now
and again than to live on alfalfa sprouts all day and creep down
to the fridge and polish off a tub of ice cream at night.  I
must be honest and say that in England the traditional English
teatime has more or less died out. It lingers in hotels but
barely in real homes. I don't exactly go in for it myself, not
in any formal sense, but I cer