About Crumpets and Maltipoos

state, like the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, the Absecon Lighthouse which was built in 1857 and more. I told her what it was like to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island up close since she’d never been there nor had she seen Niagara Falls.

After moving home to Long Island and transferring to Hofstra as a commuter, I tried introducing my mother and sister, Susan, to afternoon crumpets but my mom had her coffee routine in the morning and Susan wasn’t interested in hearing anything about crumpets. “You may as well just pop some English muffins in the toaster and have them as a snack,” she said smirking. “It’s a lot faster.” But I still held fast to the fact that crumpets and English muffins weren’t the same thing at all.

Two years later, after getting my own apartment on Long Island, I became friends with Rebecca who lived in the same apartment complex. I worked fulltime in NYC so our coffee and crumpets get-togethers had to be held on Saturdays or Sundays whenever we didn’t have other commitments such as family parties, bridal showers, weddings, etc.

Rebecca and I looked forward to having our coffee and crumpets and she agreed that warming the crumpets and letting the butter melt into the holes was part of the magic. We marveled over our treats and talked endlessly about why crumpets tasted better than bagels or plain old slices of toast. We also discussed various ways to make coffee.

Rebecca and I took turns meeting at her apartment or mine. At her place her Maltipoo named Felix smelled something yummy in the air the first time she placed a tray of crumpets in the oven to warm. It smelled like good food

Everyday Cheapskate

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NO. 8: USE CAULKING TO CUT ELECTRICITY BILL

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Mary Hunt is the founder of EverydayCheapskate.com, a frugal living blog, and the author of the book “Debt-Proof Living.”

COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM to him so he hung out in the kitchen until Rebecca removed the crumpets from the oven. Sitting at her kitchen table we started chatting and Felix was still waiting. He waited patiently and expectantly - hoping for a handout from Rebecca.

Felix was a cute little dog and I almost tossed him a piece of my crumpet because he was so charming. A cross between a Maltese terrier and a poodle, Maltipoos are friendly, warm and loveable. Felix was one of the nicest dogs I’ve known. He was apricot colored and weighed about eight pounds. At age two, Felix had been well trained by Rebecca. He wanted to taste that crumpet so badly I was surprised he didn’t jump right up on the table and take a bite or devour the whole crumpet but he held back, probably hoping that by displaying his good manners, Rebecca would give in and let him taste that snack. She tossed him a dog treat instead.

Rebecca said she’d also tried persuading some co-workers and friends at work to try eating a crumpet but they declined. They stuck with what they liked then one friend, Mandy, jokingly remarked, “Is it tea time at 3 p.m. each day?”

Rebecca and I stuck with our weekend coffee and crumpets and in short order Felix got used to the routine of it. Or Rebecca would come to my place and I’d slide the tray of crumpets into my oven. One day I phoned Emily to see how she was doing and I told her about how some us on Long Island liked having coffee and crumpets. She laughed when I told her about trying to get additional people to join our little coffee and crumpets klatch.

When Rebecca and Felix came to my place, he liked smelling fresh coffee and warming crumpets plus playing with my cat, Cleopatra, a 10-pound tabby cat with brown and tan stripes. When I’d look over at them playing on the kitchen floor, I’d see them romping and tussling about meaning I’d see a swirling tumble of apricot-colored fur and brown and tan-colored fur flying around. They were good naturedly having fun and as we ate our crumpets, Rebecca and I would peer over our coffee cups watching them animatedly at play. All was well.