Can we please just take a minute today to remember? One minute out of our busy lives? To remember one small act, one gesture that tried to make sense of it all?

Everyone surely knows where they were, what they were doing or who they were with when they heard that this Marriott hotel in announced free coffee and muffins to commemorate the victims of the terrible events of the 11th September, 2001. For thirty minutes. And the muffins are mini. Regular sized muffins would seem somehow...I don't know...ostentatious on a day like this. Miniature confectionery. That's corporate sensitivity in action right there.

Hard to believe but it's only one year ago. I know, the pain and anger is still there. Time eventually heals all wounds, but there are no short cuts. I wonder if there are mini muffins in heaven? Let's never forget, Marriott.

It’s a Sunday afternoon and my friend meets me at the Ratchatewi Sky Train stop. She wants to take me to this novelty café she’d heard about – “It’s meant to be super cute!” she tells me.

I’m not someone who is regularly swayed by public displays of wanton cuteness, but I was going to keep an open mind. As we got to the café, there were some clues as to what lay inside – plastic, manga-style cat models, walls full of child-like doodles and excited squeals coming from inside.

I peeked through the window, and even my jaded, seen-it-all, post-modern, end of times western eyes found it hard not to be completely charmed. Inside the café were these enchanting little creatures, running around, eating from bowls, preening themselves and generally being as adorable as you can imagine. I watched them play and eat and show off their multi-coloured coats and revel in their little toys and accessories. I couldn’t wait to get inside and among them, and a minute later, we were called in to be seated.

As we walked through the dining room, they shifted and stirred, some of them curling their legs up, squirming around, making way for us to sit down. Some of them were close up to our table, some in far corners...basically everywhere you looked, there was yet another and another, each more outlandishly adorable than the last. It was hard to know where to look. They made the sweetest little noises as their food came out, and I just wanted to take them all home with me, pinch their cute little ears, have them nibble on my fingers, and watch them as they ate their kibble with heartbreaking delicacy.

It’s no wonder they’re so universally loved, with their endearingly aloof air, their loveably quirky behaviour and unknowable ways – awwww, wook at you, sidling up to the table….what’s that you’re trying to say to me? Awwwwww…I don’t know what you want, I REALLY DON’T, but you look as cute as hell trying to tell me. What is it you want, you adorable little creature, you? What is it? Whadda ya waaaaaant? Is it this toy? Is it? Do you want to play? Do you? What’s that? Oh, you want to take my order? Fair enough.

Yes, there really should be more cafes full of Asian people. I could stay all day just watching them interact and play with cats. Oh yeah, there are cats in this café. I forgot to mention that. They were pretty cool too. Not sure how hygienic that can be, but they served decent coffee, I guess.

Hey, you know those massively-overpriced drinks that restaurants sometimes come up with the get into the newspapers? You know, the ones that are all, "The world's most expensive daiquiri - it costs five grand and is made from distilled hummingbird tears and diamond juice and liquidised parts of Donald Trump and garnished with George Clooney's back hair!"

Yeah, those.

Well, what better to buy the insanely gullible billionaire oligarch in YOUR life than a trip which comprises EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE rip-off drinks? A holiday company in the UK is offering the 'Ultimate Drinking Holiday' for the "true connoisseur", where you can sip on ten of the world's most obnoxiously-priced liquids, including a £110,000 wine and a £100,000 whiskey. There's everything in between in various far-slung locations, including going down to a £50 Singapore Sling, which frankly looks embarrassed to be on the list. The 'ten iconic places' you get to go to? I hope you like conspicuous consumption. A LOT. And yes, that "icon" of drinking culture, Dubai, is obviously on the list.

You can see the full itinerary HERE. Just don't ask for salt and lime for that £400 shot of tequila. Remember, we at Shandy Pockets have our own guide to the world's most pretentious cocktail bars.

Shandy Pockets recently ate its own weight in southern food and came up with this list of the best new restaurants in New Orleans. It's a hard choice, narrowing down the best culinary experiences in this town of food experts, but you know what? We're troopers, and we care about informing YOU, the reader. We're like martyrs to the cause, and if that cause involves high end restaurants, then it's hardly our fault now, is it?

Here's our list, written for our friends over at Zagat: 10 Hottest Restaurants in New Orleans

I live in the marshy metropolis of New Orleans, and there’s some division as to how healthy or otherwise the Mississippi swamp water that comes out of the taps here really is. To be honest, most locals are fine with drinking it straight from the tap, but I’ve seen an awful lot of water filters in homes. Also, when you think about the brain eating amoeba that were found in local water systems this year, you kind of get on board with the filtration set.

The Western world is obsessed with filtered water. You only need be overwhelmed by the choice of brands in your local store to realise this. The other things you quickly realise about store-bought water though: it’s chronically wasteful and there’s all those plastic garbage islands floating around in the ocean. Also: you’re being aquatically mugged every time you buy a bottle if they’re charging you more than a dollar.

That agreed upon, it’s obvious that even the most urbane, soy-latte-chugging city dweller who consumes water that isn’t coming out of their own private spring could use and save wads of money with this little black bottle, going by the name of Water-to-Go.

It’s a water bottle, yes, but in its cap is a space-programme-endorsed filtration system that nixes 99.9% of impurities and contaminants. We’re assuming brain-eating amoeba fall into that number. The everyday pollutants that sneak into tap water, even in developed nations, are easy meat. You can treat 200 litres of water, which by my reckoning is about three or four month’s worth unless you’re a particularly Thirsty Theo.

Now imagine how useful this could be if you’re going to places where you can’t actually drink the local water, which to us sensitive westerners is just about anywhere they have to overdub The Big Bang Theory. If you’re heading to, say, Africa, then shoving this into your hand luggage could save you hours of dehydration and almost eliminate the worries you’d have about your digestive system holding up.

Your health. Your bank balance. Your liberal guilt about landfills. All could be assuaged with one water bottle. If you’re science-minded, you can find out more at www.watertogo.eu and there’s lots of info for none-scientists, too.  

Prices start at £25 for bottle plus filter, with filters costing £14.95 for two. See website for stockists.