Cats and Cakes

This post was inspired by Helen's memories of Summer 2011 blogpost. Helen's is mostly to do with cake. When I thought about doing a similar thing I realised that food (not so much cake) was a big part of my summer but so were cats. They punctuated my summer. They aren't all here and some pictures (Peanut, I'm looking at you) don't present their best side.

1. Peanut 'helping' sort photographs.
2. I thought I wouldn't get any tomatoes from the greenhouse before I left. I was part of the watering the yard and greenhouse team but there were no ripe toms until THE DAY I LEFT and then I ate all of them.
3. Chickpea or Noodles in Manchester: no idea which one it is.
4. Beetroot, potato salad and green salad with cucumber: all from my Dad's garden/greenhouse. YUM.
5. Custard looks bad tempered here. He's not; he's divine and I love him because he will always come to me for some cat loving. He was actually poorly and taken off to the vets a few days later.
6. Zen or Sephy. No idea which cat is which.
7. It might have been the only cake I had a picture of but it was THE best cake I've ever eaten.
8. Zen and Sephy.
9. HP, 17 years young. This picture was taken in March this year. Two or three weeks after we got back to Bangkok we got the phone call we'd been expecting. RIP HP. He was a proper gentleman cat.
10. Lentil, red pepper and feta salad and whatever else I might have in the fridge. In honour of HK.
11. HK's cat. No idea which one but it came to comfort me when I was a party pooper and in bed with a migraine.
12. Back in Bangkok and I  made tzatziki in honour of my sister and felafels in honour of Leon.

2009 TATS Awards

Bob Hoskins was right when he said ‘it’s good to talk’. And sometimes it’s good to have a moan too. I like a whinge; but, you know, not all the time. Whining is particularly prevalent among expats in my experience… especially when it relates to the UK. I can’t stand unremitting grumbling. I feel quite strongly that if I complain about something I like to balance things up by praising where it’s due too. We quite often forget to do that; we’re happy to gripe but forget to congratulate. It must be done.

Therefore, TeaStains is proud to announce The TATS awards, the TeaStains Award for Tremendous Service. All of the following awards relate to my recent UK trip.

• The woman in Leon (The Strand) for giving me a free cup of tea because I looked like I needed it! (Don’t worry Leon Powers That Be, I also bought a choc tart and your recipe book.)


• Errol – downstairs in the café at Marks & Spencers in Marble Arch.


• The staff in Fat Face Cov Garden, during the ‘your husband is here and we’re transferring him to hospital’ debacle. They found me telephone numbers and checked out the location of the hospital for me and were lovely while I panicked.


• The (cute*) underground man who let me through the non public access way at Oxford Circus because I’d waited for the children so long…


• All the rail men who didn’t bat an eye lid (or laugh out loud in our faces) to Jen and I for being such dozy travellers and who helped us get our travel back on track…


• 02’s lovely techie staff who talked me through (several times) how to get my emails on my UK sim card in my Thai Blackberry …


• The Waterstones near the Hazlitt Theatre man (Ben? also cute*) who gave me the Orange Prize ‘bag for life’ free of charge because they’d run out of cotton bags to buy…

*Small print: can I point out that being cute in no way clouded my judgements. Their cuteness was noted quite separately from their earning a Tremendous Service award.

So have you had any great service lately? To whom would you present a TATS Award?