Afternoon tea at the Quarter

Teatime

I went out for afternoon tea with some lovely ladies. It was a spur of the moment thing but I was really pleased to be invited. It’s not something English people do everyday!

The meal included various small sandwiches, mini quiche, a scone with jam and clotted cream, a mini Victoria sponge and a mini chocolate brownie.

And lashings of cups of tea or coffee (normal or decaff). The result was a delicious and tasty meal.

The Quarter cafe is at the Spode Site at Elanora Street, Stoke upon Trent. I think there is another one in the city centre (Hanley). You have to book the tea you can’t just arrive. Service was really good, the waitress was very helpful.

Cool drink

I am fed up of decaff coffee, I want a cold drink. Maybe some ginger beer or diet tonic water. I have ice so I can cool it down. But its still winter so I might have a blackcurrant or orange cordial with hot water. Or orange juice with water to dilute it. That’s very soothing, and I choose the ones with low sugar. I might even share a bottle of beer with my hubby. I don’t know, but something less boring than decaff? Maybe a cup of tea.

Cats sleep..

Late at night

Cats sleep and I can’t

I almost slept

Then a cat crept

Onto the bed

Laid down on my leg

My leg went to sleep

But I didn’t

Shook off the cat

And came and sat

On my armchair

With a cup of decaff

And a cracker with cheese

I’m really not pleased

Cheesed off in fact

I might try and nap

With a cat on my lap

Or go back to bed

As the dawn breaks red

Another night of cat naps fled…

My treat, Irish coffee

Coffee with sweetener, cream and whisky.

I don’t take sugar, which makes it harder to float the cream on top of this drink. The whisky is only a single measure of a blended scotch. The coffee is a decaffeinated instant coffee. If I had some in I would eat a sweet mince pie with it. It makes me feel like Christmas is on the way. I remember when I was first allowed one of these on a family trip to an Indian restaurant.

I sometimes have it without alcohol, it’s not always what I want to drink, but this is a treat. I think as the weather has got colder I’ve started to have more comfort food. I must watch my weight.

I can’t sleep

It’s raining heavily in the UK, but that didn’t wake me up. No it was my hubby getting up and making a pot of tea at four am. Then the cat wanted to go out at four thirty. I came downstairs to make a cup of coffee at five. Then as I was deciding whether to snack on a few olives left over in the fridge one of my paintings fell off the wall on the stairs, it came crashing down and shook me up a bit. I checked it over and its OK. But the string had worn through. I think hubby must brush past it on the stairs so I’ve restrung it with some wire this time.

Now I’ve had my coffee (decaff). I’m wondering whether to call the outside cat back inside. There is a forecast for rain turning to snow and ice later in the week…… I’m listening to the news on the radio. Train lines are blocked and flooded….. Do I go on… And they are talking about the end of the Trump era….. Life goes on.

Coffee spill

_20191127_233122argh! Just got soaked. I’d rested my cup of coffee on my easle paintbrush tray, a fresh, full cup of decaff (don’t ask). But it tipped up, fell off landed on my foot, bounced, splashed…. My legs were soaked, the throw on the  chair is soaked, my jumper, even my face was splashed! Everything is in the washer now! Coffee, even without sugar, seems to be sticky. Yuk.

Will have to wait for the washer to go through its wash and spin cycle. A later night than I had hoped.

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