Update

Ice cream all gone.
Result.
Now for the euro millions lottery....

Hot-tober?

It's Halloween.
The tearooms are decorated. There's a pumpkin on a cake stand on the counter and a cauldron full of sweets. There's a witch on the dresser and small bats on the windows. And "Happy Halloween" bunting in case anyone needs it spelled out. Literally.
All but one of the spider cakes have gone so I'm going in to make more this morning. The Witches' Brew soup is made.

Apparently it's going to be 19 degrees today which will make the kitchen like a cauldron.
That's a July temperature and may also make the conservatory tricky to bear. The conservatory was where I was going to set up for the group of 21 dressed-up children and adults who are arriving for lunch at 12 but I fear the heat may make their make-up run. Not a pretty sight. Although that's the point, isn't it?

I only have 16 ice creams left which is great news as we close for the season on Sunday.
But if it were July, 19 degrees and I only had 16 ice creams left I'd be panicking.

Brush with the past.

Just over a week until the end of the 2014 season.
Sweepings from the conservatory floor can tell the story of the year.
Obviously we sweep up a good deal (promise) but the floor is paved and there are plenty of grooves for things to get stuck. So most sweepings gather a piece or two of confetti from the wedding in August, a shiny cut out "50" from a party in early October, a similar cut out "Congratulations" from a wedding anniversary. We've held children's parties, U3A lunches, gardening group teas, 21st, 50th, 80th & 90th birthday gatherings.
Next year we have a wedding and a Golden Wedding anniversary party already booked in.
More confetti? More little shiny 50s to sweep up?

Taking the biscuit.

Twelve members of Oxford Probus group came for lunch and tea today with a visit to the church and crypt squeezed in between.
I went in early to make oatmeal and raisin cookies to go with their tea and to serve tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning we'll be opening early to make SIXTY hot chocolates for a visiting school group.
SIXTY hot chocolates with marshmallows.
Deep breath...

Eggs is eggs

A young couple came in to order lunch. They had left a third member of their party at a table outside.
"She's vegan," they said, scanning the menu, "so she's going to have a jacket potato with homemade coleslaw."
The coleslaw, I had to point out, is in mayonnaise. Which isn't vegan. What about baked beans instead?
"That's ok," they said, "she's desperate.
And she doesn't like beans."

Not a sundae

82 to go.
At this rate I'll be eating it myself...

Plea

Ice cream eaters of the world, we need you.
Tubs of chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and mint choc chip await visitors this weekend and I have 92 to get through in the next two weeks.
The temperature is meant to be high (18 degrees tomorrow) which must bode well.
But at this moment it's pouring with rain.
So good luck to us with that one.

A spoke in the wheel

We've formed a sort of pattern on these quiet, rainy days.
We open up, turn everything on, set everything out, bake and cook as necessary and then we wait.
And we try to decide whether this will be the day when no one comes.
It was like this yesterday.
But I had a plan.
I'd make a batch of witches' brew soup (pumpkin, cumin, cinnamon) and some chocolate fairy cakes which will become spider cakes (red laces for legs, mini marshmallows for eyes) and by the end of the day I'd feel we'd achieved something.
And then the ladies came.
All in pink and black lycra.
From a cycling club.
"There are fourteen of us," said the first cyclist.
"There are only two of us," I answered, hoping they weren't in a hurry.
They all ordered individually and in their wake came more people.

So much for my plan.

Free and Easy

One of the jobs on my winter list is always to try new cake recipes.
This year will be slightly different because one of my sons was diagnosed this year with coeliac disease so I am becoming obsessed with gluten-free baking.
And despite not yet being closed for winter I have begun in earnest.
We've always offered gluten-free cake at the tea rooms and we have a great choice on most days - carrot (with orange and sultana), lemon & poppyseed, banana (which we drizzle with a toffee sauce) and ginger & lemon. Then there's the chocolate & praline cluster which makes an appearance on occasions. Good occasions.
Last week a regular visitor suggested a lemon drizzle cake she'd found which is made with mashed potato. I got over the initial (ridiculous) revulsion and made it at home. Utterly delicious. It's a Good Food recipe easily found online.
Then yesterday I made a gf pumpkin cake with a cream cheese topping. Way too good to be seen as a second-class citizen of the cake world.
And grating pumpkin flesh is rather satisfying.

Season's Greetings

It is wet and dreary.
I almost wish we weren't open at all.
Although we did have a handful of people in for lunch and another handful for tea and cake.
Those who came used the tables closest to the radiators.
We closed up at 3.30 when it was so dull it felt like night was falling.
I had spent much of the day with my hands round a hot mug of tea.

Kate and Gareth, who are getting married next summer, came to talk details and alterations. We're catering their afternoon tea reception in a marquee in the garden and it was really hard to imagine a lovely warm sunny day in July. Their smiles and palpable excitement helped.
As they left they wished me a happy Christmas.

Eat, drink, be merry. And eat again.

A Saturday which felt like a Sunday.
In a good way.
Lots of children around therefore plenty of ice cream sold.
Result.
Lots of lovely groups and couples eating cake and drinking tea and quite a lot of hot chocolate.

Customer of the day came early and ordered lunch for him and three others. He asked the size of the panini. He was hungry, he assured me. I assured him they were a good size, and he could always order more later.
He ate his panini (bacon, brie and cranberry) and was back to order quiche of the day (tomato and pecorino). When I took it to him he was devouring the leftovers of his friend's jacket potato (cheese and beans).
I looked at him quizzically. "I've been up a long time," he answered, "and I'm starving."
No kidding.
 

Bear with.

A lovely, slightly odd day despite the rain. Fairly quiet but steady, allowing plenty of time for some left-field conversations with visitors.
A lady from New Zealand was very excited by Tyrells crisp flavours and bought a pack of every one we had (except mature cheddar & chives) to take away with her.
She told me her favourite flavour in her home country is barbecue.

Two ladies who meet up twice a year with their teddy bears told me the bears were called Princess Mistletoe and Lady All-Heal. One of the ladies had made the clothing for both bears. They also told me that their husbands don't join them on their trips.

Yard Arm

"Have you seen our church?" I asked of two well-dressed (tweed skirt suits, neck scarves) older ladies. They'd been in for coffee earlier today, had come back for lunch and were now leaving the tea rooms for the second time.
"Yes, yes," one of them replied,
"We've done the culture and we've had lunch.
Now it's time for the booze."

Dampener

Ah. Autumn.
When we woke this morning it was raining.
Properly pouring.
We knew it would be quiet.
When two people don't need all their fingers to count the customers, that really is quiet.

Sit and weight.

Among the first customers today were a couple and their Bernese Mountain dog.
"Bentley" was simply enormous and as I stroked his terrifically large head he leaned his full weight against my leg.
The couple told me this lean is known as "the Berner Bump" and they don't know a single dog of his breed who doesn't do it.
I asked if he would fall over if I moved my leg away.
"It has been known," they answered.

Typical

The ice cream arrived today.
And with it came news of cooler temperatures and impending rain.
Hmmm.