Intros are in order:
I’m Rei Hanscomb, self-proclaimed Trufflequeen for Life, owner of La Buona Tavola Truffle Café in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. 

I have 2 kids (the “Royal Offspring,” both very sweet and cool and funny), and we live with my extended family, and our pets - all of whom provide rich fodder for my writing.

I've been writing my e-Newsletter, "The Trufflequeen Gazette," for a few years, letting people know about events and specials at the Truffle Cafe.  I couldn't help but slip in my silly musings about life and kids and pets, plus interesting goings-on about Town, Causes I support, and - of course! -  great places to eat.  

I've received lots of positive feedback from people who enjoy my sense of humor. "You're so funny! You should write a blog!" they tell me.

But blogs always seem so...purposeful.  Their writers all seem to have a theme or a Cause to promote - and my stuff is pretty unrelated and random. "Of the moment," you could say, if your parents taught you to be nice.

Apparently, that's what my TQ Gazette readers LIKE about my writing: they never know what to expect next - and my dorky humor cracks them up.  Go figure.

I'll write about things that occur to me, and if you have a Topic request, feel free to email me at trufflequeen@trufflecafe.com.  I don't know what to expect, in terms of volume, and I DO have a business and family to run, so I can't promise to respond to every email, but I WILL read them and do my best.

I promise to mix it up and serve a spoonful of this and plate of that - a little Trufflequeen Smorgasbord, if you will.  Take what you want, leave what you don't - and please, use the tongs instead of your fingers.  I don't need the Health Department coming down on me for this.

Oh, and I'm having a hard time thinking of a name for it, so I'm having a NAME THE TRUFFLEQUEEN'S BLOG CONTEST!  The Winner receives a $100 gift certificate to the Truffle Cafe - and you don't have to be a Local to win.  All entries must be submitted by January 30th.  The Royal Court will review them and choose a winner on the 31st, and we'll announce the new name on February 1st.  In the event of multiple submissions of the winning name, the first one to hit my Inbox will be declared the winner.

Well, here goes...

TQ BLOG #1: Never Put Off Until Tomorrow The Cat You Should Name Today

Some of you know a little bit about this Saga, because I wrote about it in the Trufflequeen Gazette as it was happening.  Bar none, the most frequently asked question has been, "Whatever happened to the cats?" Well, here's how one of them turned out.
 
A few years ago, the kids and I went to the SPCA and found a very cute kitten, whom we named Betsy.

Betsy was a sweet cat by day, but a Wild Child by night.  Just a few weeks after we got her, I took her to the vet to get spayed, and found out she’d already gotten herself pregnant!  We rallied around our little Fallen Angel and made the whole thing Educational for the kids (who were about 7 and 9 at the time).  We found homes for all but one of the kittens, whom the Royal Offspring named “Cookie,” after a cat in a favorite book.

Shortly after Betsy weaned her litter, we returned to the vet – only to learn that she was knocked up AGAIN! Somehow, being so busy with kids and the shop, I guess I just missed all the classic signs of a cat headed for Trouble: her slinky walk, staying out until all hours, wearing her Sex And The City-inspired “Betsy” necklace, and borrowing my best high heels.  I just wasn’t there for her like I should have been.

The kitten we kept from Litter Number 2 was gorgeous, but we just couldn’t come up with a good name for him.  He’s all black and white and fluffy, with a really high-pitched meow.  It’s tough to name such an effeminate cat - you run the risk of sounding ridiculously “butch” or too precious.  We tried Charles, Herbert, Buttons, and a few others, but he simply would NOT come to anything but “kitty” (and frankly, I was too busy to futz with it), so that became his name.

When construction on our house’s remodel dragged on (the Number 2 topic I get asked about), Betsy and Cookie got tired of the noise, and the mess, and the strangers with big, scary workboots.  One fine day, they went over to the house across the street and “adopted” the couple who live there, abandoning Kitty in the process.  

But he doesn’t seem to take their decampment personally - I guess he's philosophical about it: construction is harder on some than on others.  We see him hanging out in the cul de sac with Betsy and Cookie, getting in a little Family Time.  (Both cats give ME the Cut Direct anytime I greet them - as though the remodel was MY idea!  It's so unjust of them, really.)

And now, Kitty has grown into a truly magnificent specimen  of a cat: large, fluffy, and beautiful.  His voice mellowed a bit to a high, harmonic note, and he is very loving and sweet.  As is common in my family, he shows his love with food, leaving me "treats" of the things he's caught.  Apparently, though, I'm only getting a percentage of the Take:  Over the Summer, I discovered his rather extensive larder of birds, mice, and large insects, hidden behind some stuff in the garage.  I scolded him, but I think he misunderstood the reason for my ire, and began leaving my snacks in handier locations: right outside the door, or next to my bed.  (He’s so thoughtful.)

When he started coming home with scratches and scrapes, I assumed that my poor Kitty was getting beaten up by some mean ol’ cat. WHY don’t people fix their cats? I sniffed. Don’t they know how aggressive unneutered male cats are?  There are just SO many irresponsible kitty parents out there.  Hmpf!

It turns out, however, that it is Kitty who is the aggressor.  My sweet, wimpy cat is leading a secret Double Life as a Badass.  

I suspect it’s just like the old Johnny Cash song, “Boy Named Sue” – with a name like Kitty, he just had to get tough - which really makes me feel responsible.  What would his life been like if I hadn't been so busy?  If I had just tried something a little more “butch” that sounded like Kitty – perhaps Kenny? Or even Cory? ANYTHING that the other cats wouldn’t make fun of him for.

I guess we'll never know.  In the meantime, I'll just keep enjoying my snacks...our Truffle Salt really helps a lot.

Updates on other kittens: "Hypatia" now resides in New Jersey, where she is STILL "the noisy one"; "Mogget" lives in Renton, WA, and is also a fierce hunter - of feet.

Listen to Johnny Cash’s song:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n--1wR4L7zg