Toil & Trouble

Yesterday my young son and his friend entertained the younger visitors with Halloween puppet shows. They were supposed to do two performances and ended by doing five.
Wendy the Witley Witch puppet is the protagonist in two stories: "I've lost my Cat" and "I'm Not Scared".

It doesn't look like there'll be anything much left over  at the end of this season.
Which is good.
Except that I have to buy more supplies tomorrow as we ran out of so much today.
Yesterday a record was broken.
One order came in for twelve hot chocolates. Twelve. One dozen. On one order.
I sent out for more milk shortly afterwards.

Today was even busier than yesterday and we were short on staff. I hate it when people have to wait too long for their orders. It's a dreadful feeling.
I'm off to bed early tonight to recuperate.

The countdown.

We have entered the final week of the 2013 season.
The trick is to have lots on offer (witches brew soup, spider cakes, puppet shows) whilst at the same time winding down to empty fridges.
The treat is when there's a little bit of cake left over on Sunday....

Groupie

Wednesday's Walkie Talkies gathering was replaced by Thursday's Miles with Smiles, a group which was introduced to me as a selection of "very old ladies".  They had robust Black Country accents,  the sound of home for me, knew each other from church and arrived on a minibus.
Earlier that day we'd served lunch to the Worcester Friendship Group. They sat in the conservatory. In the summer they'd had Afternoon Tea in the garden and had booked this after enjoying their visit.

In the morning a pretty, young girl brought her dad to talk about her wedding in 2015. She would like a vintage tea party reception. Her son, sitting in a high chair, wiped chocolate on my apron with a broad, gorgeous smile.
She'd better watch out for her wedding dress.
I have a chocolate stain on the back of mine, left there by a then 2 year old named Meg.
Meg has just started her second year at Cardiff University and has been working at the tearooms in the holidays since she was 16.
She still likes chocolate.

Such sweet sorrow.

When I woke yesterday it was dark and pouring with rain. Again.
Older son had left on a school trip at 2am so I was suffering from lack of sleep.
I thought about not opening the tea rooms at all.
Then remembered we had a booking for 8 people from a group called the Walkie Talkies so I didn't have a choice.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain (well, nearly all) and brought enough visitors to keep two of us busy all day.
The Walkie Talkies were panini eaters and tea drinkers and wrote lovely stuff in the visitors' book.
Barry, who comes once a week for a walk and a ham sandwich, shook my hand as he left, told me he is visiting his son in Devon next week (our last of the season) so wouldn't see me until April when we reopen.
I felt remarkably sad when he left.

Leave me where I am

One of those days today. So slow that I can remember every customer. And every order.

11am Two men. Two teas, one millionaire's shortbread and one almond slice.

12noon Two police officers. One tea, one black coffee, one kitkat.

We decorate the tea rooms for Halloween.

1230 One lady arrives expecting to find two friends she's arranged to meet.
1245 Second friend arrives
1300 The two decide that the third isn't coming. Order two pumpkin soup and two teas.

1345 two ladies order two cafe lattes.
1400 a couple orders two teas and sit in the conservatory.
1415 two men ask if they can put up a poster advertising enormous pumpkins: 50-180lbs. They order two teas.

Er.
That's it.

I can't remember ever having such a quiet day....

Toil & trouble

Rain this morning.

Rain rain rain.

I'm off to buy pumpkins to spend the (obviously quiet) day making Witches Brew soup. 

Apart from the pumpkin it contains cinnamon, cumin, onions, garlic and bay leaves.

After that I'll start on the ark.

Countdown

Two weeks to go.
We have rather a lot of supplies to get through so I'm really hoping for a dry, busy half term.
Apparently there are different half terms for different shires again this year so you never know the kids may be in this week...
We have had two days of stunning storms. It's been dry for the most part but then absolutely torrential rain in the afternoon.
Lots of mud walked in by people with dripping hair who need hot chocolate.
Two weeks to go.
Did I mention that?

Dampener

A stretch of very poor weather - rain and wind - has left us very quiet.
Soup was the most popular dish of the day - our Autumn Harvest Soup, that is.
One lady who had some of it for lunch bought three portions to take home.
She was going to pass it off as her own.
I have cancelled the milk and cream delivery for tomorrow as the forecast is pretty awful.
Should I reconsider my opening hours?

These are the things we can do without.

For the last few weeks the cake display fridge has been making a dodgy noise...a LOUD dodgy noise.
Various people who hear it suggest what's wrong with it - mainly they say it's the condenser.
Whatever that is.
So the lovely Adrian had a look, did some research and announced that it couldn't be fixed. Or that if it could it would be expensive and he couldn't be sure the repair would last.
And they're VERY expensive to replace.
Yesterday the fridge added a death rattle to its repertoire of sounds.
And so we limp to the end of the season with customers having to shout their orders above the noise.

Or else we turn it off.
And enjoy the peace.

Above and beyond

Today Sandra and Mick (see Sunday's entry) brought in a card and a large vat of chocolates to say thank you for their Golden Wedding anniversary party.
They've now set the bar.
We shall expect gifts after work every day.

Joy to the World

We're selling packs of Christmas cards.
Not your usual tea rooms item, I'll grant, but these are pretty special.
They're designed by one of our customers Hannah Dunnett and they use the words from favourite carols through her rather lovely drawings.
Nothing bleak about them.

Always believe in your soul.

Fifty years ago this weekend Sandra married Mick.
This afternoon they brought 30 friends and family to afternoon tea to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary.
Mick made a lovely speech which began:
"Fifty years ago was a very special day. For once I didn't have to get up to do the milking..."

When they left Mick told me he'd enjoyed it so much he hoped we'd be around to cater their Diamond Anniversary.

Eschew

Two older, beautifully dressed, ladies perusing the menu:
Lady One: "What exactly is a panini?"
Lady Two: "We'll it's a sort of large flat roll. A bit like a toasted sandwich."
Lady One: "Oh no, that's not for me. My teeth are too old."

What's in a name?

This week we've been debating the best course of action for soup-naming.

Essentially what we are making on a daily basis at the moment is vegetable soup, but that title just doesn't do it justice.
When we pile a load of flavours from freshly peeled, chopped, sliced and diced things like courgettes, tomatoes, new potatoes, onions, celery and some frankly weirdly-shaped carrots, and then blend it, then the least we can do is to christen it well.
And so recently we've been serving "Country Garden Soup", which we sometimes amend to "Garden Harvest Soup" or at the very least, "Country Vegetable" or "Garden Vegetable".

Does it make it a better soup if it has a fancier name?
Maybe not, but it sounds like more love has gone into it, it sounds like the homemade soup that it is. And therefore more people are willing to try it....

Or should we just stick to "Veg Soup" and see how it goes down?