The noose is looser

It's been a harrowing few months but we are getting very close to paying all our debts and actually making money. The days of sitting on the edge of my bed with my eyes wide open digging my fingernails into my forehead seem like a distant memory. On the other hand, you never know what's going to happen next and I can't count my chickens. They aren't hatched.

I took a day off

Actually 2, 3 if you count Sunday. I went to Las Vegas. I've never been there before. My friend Karen arranged it all. I just showed up at my front door and off we went. We stayed at the Palazzo which was very nice and went to see Louis Black, who wasn't. I learned to play craps and lost a little money but it was fun. Eating in restaurants is no longer the same for me. I was VERY conscious of bad service in a really expensive steak place we ate in. Aware of food temperature, saltiness, graininess in the "mac 'n cheese" that cost $14. On the other hand, I no longer feel any need to complain about it. Bad food and good service still gets a tip. Good food and bad service doesn't. The cooks don't get tips.

It's a party

It's a party and everyone's invited. Just not me. From appearances only, it seems I am having a good time going from table to table, talking and laughing (mostly). People don't seem to realize though, it's work. A friend in the design business commented this week, well, at least you're having a constant party. I'm not. It's a job. What they can't see is that the ice machine is broken, the vent over the stove is clogged, the convection in the oven isn't working, the cooler's down, the walk in cooler is frosted up. The list goes on. They also don't see that there's a french fry on the floor that's going to get stepped on and there's no busser around (probably out in the alley smoking, is my guess) to pick it up before it gets ground into the carpeting so I will have to do it. I'm also seeing that someone is looking for their waiter (in the server room texting someone making plans for later that evening) and that there are 3 people at the door and there's no hostess. Unfortunately, when this kind of thing is happening, my family and friends get short shrift. I have no problem being distracted when I'm with them. When it's a customer though, they get my full attention. Hey, it why we have family and friends.

Here's a few of my friends having fun without me.

What you wish for

Be careful. You just may get it. And it may not be what you want. The restaurant was packed this past weekend. Saturday night had an hour and a half waiting time. You could barely walk through the place at one point. This freaks me out. I seriously doubt I could get more anxious. There were few complaints and nothing was serious, just difference of opinions. Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. Food came out timely, waiters were cheerful and happy. What more could you want. Maybe a night off on a weekend.

Spring solstice

Gotta love snow. This is my balcony on March 21st. We closed the restaurant at 6 pm.

It's my dad's birthday today. I miss him.

It lives

My bay laurel tree re-leafed. In case you were worried.  As silly as it might sound,  the thought of the thing dying was really upsetting. And not because I wouldn't have a source for bay leaves, because I have another one. In any case, the bay tree lives, the key lime tree isn't doing so well.

That's the view from my balcony, by the way.

Almost everyone is wonderful.

But the ones that aren't, aren't. I don't really understand what makes people so angry about food. I know I have been myself. It just happens. Yesterday, a man ordered the roasted red pepper soup. I make it myself. I know it's good. I taste it. I see the head cook eat it for lunch (HIGH praise). In almost every review it's mentioned. People love it. Last night a man told me it was nothing more than heated ketchup. There are ways of complaining but he was utterly vicious, refused to accept an apology, dismissed me by waving his hand at me without turning around. Suggested I was cheating him. At our price of $4 for a cup of soup, I don't think he will go broke, even if he was being cheated. 

It's interesting, too, that people think it is acceptable to complain (bitterly) about the food if it isn't what they expected. I really have no control over what they expect curried rice with a chicken breast on it, to be. Though it is described fairly well on the menu. One young woman told me she refused to pay for it (though she had eaten the chicken breast) the curry was not the kind she was accustomed to.

In retrospect, these are funny events since they happen very rarely, but at the time it was hard not to take it personally. It's a good thing I don't drink while I'm working. It takes all I got to be polite, smile and apologize to an asshole. With a loosened tongue things might get less polite.

Like I said, though, almost everyone is wonderful.