Empower Your Weakest Server

You have a weak server on the floor. You know this just because that person seems to be holding back a bit. They appear to be hesitant in their manner and not going for it. Maybe scared of making a mistake. It could be this person is still not sure if this is the right career move for them.

Here is what you do. Give that person a really busy section and keep an eye on them. Don't give them an easy section because that will not build up their confidence. What that person needs is a shot in the arm. Empower your weakest link. Be there if they need you but watch from a distance. Of course don't let service suffer. Help if it is needed.

A good bartender or waiter never stayed in the business very long if they did not get that busy section early on. A cook never stayed on very long if all they ever did was peel potatoes. They had to have a busy night on the line. Everyone worth their salt got slammed in their section early on and that is how you get better. You learn to survive the night and make some money and get better each time thereafter.

So if you are in charge of training or running a team get those newly hired people in the thick of it as quick as possible. Especially this time of year when you get a lot of people in the festive spirit.

Get that new employee when their enthusiasm is the highest and give them more responsiblity quickly. People naturally want to do a good job and feel like they are contributing.

Just do it soon before they leave to go somewhere else.

The First Time In 10 Years

I got another call from work the following day on my second day off in a row. I called them back this time knowing there was no way I could get into work , unlike the night before when they found someone else by the time I called them back.

There is swimming and piano lessons going on so the car is needed at home on Wednesday. That is the day of the week I have to ask for off.

Anyway I call them back and they had called me to ask if I would like New Year's Eve off. I was dumbstruck to say the least. Sure I will have to work New Year's Day but like this is the first time in a decade since I won't have to work on the 31st. The place I am at is trying to get the single people to work that night and that only makes sense since they will be up all night anyway and I can go out for a nice dinner with the wife and kids that evening.

My wife still has to work in the morning but at least this time I can be home to wish her Happy New Year rather than the call from work.

The Christmas parties started last night it appears. Unfortunately my night was not so great as I had 7 women and 6 separate checks. I just collected the money and didn't bother seeing what the tip was but I guess it wasn't so great as I didn't walk out of there with what I should have.

But the good thing is it is getting busier. Bring on tonight and the weekend cause honestly I feel like I have had a month off it has been so slow.

And I have New Year's Eve off anyway.......How about that?

Can you remember when you last had New Year's Eve off for you waiters and bartenders out there?

35 Days Off This Month

My wife and I had in total 35 days off this month and we still averaged a little over $900 a week take home pay. What business can you work in that gets you that kind of income and have that much time off to spend with your kids in the summer time?

I don't know if this will last forever but I have to say that I am enjoying it while I can!

Here Are 3 Interesting Questions To Think About

Here is some thoughts for you to ponder while trying to answer these questions.

1. When you started working in the Hospitality Industry how long were you planning to work in it when you began?

2. If you are still in it , are you in it longer than you expected to be?

3. And if you are in it longer than you thought you might have planned for , when do you plan on exiting it or is it now your career choice?

I look forward to your responses!

The Answers

Okay how did you do on yesterday's quiz?

1. This wasn't an easy one but the mammal that makes a good venison and found in the mountainous regions of the southern alps and Pyrenees of Southern France and northern Spain is called Chamois.

2. A la printaniere means spring vegetables usually prepared by tossing in butter.

3. The tobacco leaf on the nose usually is a good indicator the grape variety is a Cabernet Franc.

4. Green bell pepper is a good indicator that the grape variety is a Cabernet Sauvignon.

5. Mount Gay rum's home is that of Barbados.


There you go! Thanks for playing.

Wouldn't It Have Been Nice If Tom Watson Won Today

Tom Watson as you may have heard was one putt away on the 18th hole today from becoming the oldest player ever to win an Open at 59 years of age. That putt on the 18th went wide of the hole creating a playoff that Tom Watson never made a challenge on and his opponent Stewart Cink won his first major.

What was truly amazing was Tom Watson was able to play at such a high level over 4 rounds at that age and nearly come out a winner. This would have been a miraculous accomplishment. Even Jack Nicklaus when he won the Masters back in 1986 , a tournament I remember like yesterday , admitted that on some of those putts on the back 9 of the final day when he was making that charge he could barely see the hole he was putting for just because his eyesight was not as sharp as when he played years back in his youthful 20's and 30's. He was playing on instinct and what he knew already about the course. He was a mere 46 years of age then.

You know around our household I have mentioned on one occasion that both my wife and I are waiters. She is a bit younger than I , still in her early forties , while I am 50 and today we are talking. I say to her you know on Friday I did 31 covers or thereabouts and Saturday I did 37 covers and I have no energy during the day to do much. I was hanging on tonight just to do my shift and get out of there earlier than the previous two nights and get my day off tomorrow.

She , who has to get up at 5AM , says to me you know I feel the same way. I know there are things I have to do around the house but I just have no energy. I totally understand and here is why...

When you do something as mentally and physically tiring as wait on tables when you get older it wipes you out. Don't get me wrong we have two energetic young boys too that keep us on our toes , but really that is not such a big deal as having to run your ass off for 6 hours without a break. And I am not saying we are set to be put out to pasture either but as you get a bit older the recovery time after a big shift is a bit longer than a couple of decades ago.

Now I get back to that putt by Tom Watson that he missed on the 18th. You could tell that if it was 1977 again he would have got that putt no problem. If Michael Jackson had the energy he had in his early 20's when he did the Thriller Album he would still be with us. He tried to do something he couldn't do again unless he was taking something prescription wise to give him a chance at reliving his past glory. His body was not ready to do what he did almost 30 years ago. Elvis was the same. Wayne Gretzky said one time the reason he was retiring was he noticed the first thing to go was his hands. Meaning his hand reflex and handling of the puck I guess was not the same as it once was , prohibiting the things he used to do so effortlessly before which were now becoming a struggle.

I noticed after Saturday night when my shift was over that my back was aching a bit and I was tired. You know I am still a killer waiter but I need time to sit back and recuperate afterwards. I know my body cannot handle it. My back I have to be careful of. When I bend down to pick something up at work I am practically kneeling to pick it up to protect my back. Sometimes I get so hungry at work that around 10ish I have to get some bread to munch on.

So here is my point that I am trying to make. If you happen to be waiting on tables into your 50's and 60's you may not hole the putt at the 18th either but you can still be one of the best on any given day.

What would also make it special is not that you would be doing a good job without much effort but that others will look at you and say holy cow that guy started waitering before I was even born and I have to run to keep up with that guy or girl. Sort of like Stewart Cink and others felt like today trying to keep up with Tom Watson.

It would be nice as long as I remain capable and healthy of doing the job that when I am 59 , others will look at me and say wow that guy can still carry his section.

I hope I am able to do that...................

This Week's Quiz

Here we go right into it. Hope everyone is having a great week out there!

1. We know that the Champagne region in France has exclusive rights to the word champagne for it's sparkling wine but they do make sparkling wines elsewhere in France that cannot use the word champagne. Instead this word is used to denote a sparkling wine made elsewhere outside of the Champagne area in France. What is that word?

2. What appelation area in France was known for making what was called the Black Wine because of the heavy pigment in it? The area runs along the Lot River and the grape that made the Black Wine popular was the Malbec grape which is now popular in Argentina today.

3. Is an Amontillado sherry a dry , sweet sherry , or a medium dry sherry?


4. What is the name of the popular British dish that was originally baked in the oven consisting of pieces of cooked meat mixed with smoked bacon and covered with batter? Nowadays pork sausages arranged in a dish and covered with pancake batter and served very hot is becoming the norm. You would be really good if you got this one.

5. When we cut lettuce en chiffonade what are we actually doing to the lettuce? In other words how is it being cut? Or just tell me what the verb chiffoner is in English.

The Answers to Today's Quiz

Okay here it goes. The answers you have been waiting for. Hard wasn't it?

1. This liqueur's name is Van der Hum which roughly translated from the Afrikaans means "what's-his-name."

2. Cerasella is the Italian liqueur that I am sure was on the tip of your tongue.

3. That Japanese spirit made from fermented sweet potato juice you all know by it's name Schochu.

4. The multiple choice answer for sapinette is a fermented drink that is produced in small quantities from some provinces in Eastern France by boiling the flower tips from the black fir tree with sugar and yeast. Eeeeekkk!

5. You have to be a paysan from France to get this one but the slang word in French that means to peck at food is the verb , "becqueter." J'ai becquete mon bifteck avant de m'excuser de la table. Or something like that.

Okay next week I promise not as hard. This was cruel today of myself.

More About Working On The Cruiseships

To continue on about working with Renaissance Cruises between 1992-96 which really if I can say so myself was probably the highlight of my entire hospitality career up to now and will remain there. I was a couple of weeks before my 33rd birthday and when I disembarked I had just turned 37 a month before. They were grand days and dare I say was at the top of my game in the waiting profession with so much energy to burn. Hey I was still single! What do you expect.

I mean every night there was a party in one of the cabins , usually ours , because we waiters would get into the beer and everyone else would come on over and join in. I wasn't one of the late ones but people started filing out of our cabin I remember around 1-2 o'clock. Let's face it we had to be up at 6:15AM to get ourselves ready to set up for breakfast. Our routine after breakfast , unless there was a fire boat drill , was to catch a few winks or else we would head ashore for a quick espresso and sit in the sun.

But often because we were going ashore after lunch to check the sites out , we would take the nap. Then it was to tour or go out for a lunch. When we were in Ashdod in Israel , we went to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem for example. During our stop in Istanbul we would do some shopping in the bazaars where you could bargain for a leather jacket , or check out the beach during a stopover in a Caribbean port. If we had an overnight we would be heading to the clubs for sure. Seville in Spain was a great overnight I recall going from one dance club to another. Safaga Egypt was one when the passengers would all leave the ship for an overnight in Luxor and we would have the entire ship to ourselves. This meant a big pool party during the day and hitting the disco in Hurghada that night and coming back in the wee hours of the morning. This was especially nice since the passengers weren't due back till the evening service so you had the entire next day off to recuperate!

Sometimes like Monte Carlo for instance , where I must have been about 30 times you knew exactly where you wanted to go instantaneously. For me it was to Cafe de Paris for a latte on a warm summer day. I wasn't much of a gambler so I did not hit the casinos. The bartender and I on one contract whenever we hit Patmos Greece there was a place where we would go and eat and while you were eating you could look at the pristine water while sipping on some Greek wine and food. Then it was time to head back to the ship and grab 30-45 minutes sleep , shower and head to the dining room for dinner service.

Afterwards the ship would leave port and then the next day you were somewhere else. Then after dinner there would be a party somewhere. Either in someone's cabin , crew mess , or even on the pool deck at the back of the ship. The life was surreal. No bills to pay , no responsibilities , just work and have fun and save your money too.

I traveled in the Red Sea , Mediterranean , Baltic , did the trans-Atlantic crossing , did the 5 week cruise from Piraeus in Greece just outside Athens to Singapore stopping off in places like Malaysia , Thailand and India along the way. Saw a lot of Indonesia during the 10 day cruises from Singapore to Bali.

Then your 6 month contract would end and you would have 2 months to travel some more and visit friends you worked with on the ship. So really I did not have a clue as to what was going on back home. Even now when I hear of things that happened during those years it is news for me. I was out of the country nearly all the time.

Also I used to participate in the cruise shows that was voluntary on behalf of the crew. Those of us who wanted , to would practice something to entertain the passengers. For me it was either telling jokes , singing My Way by Frank Sinatra , or doing Singin' in the Rain by Gene Kelly. I have these on tape so once I get these in the right format I may just put them on Youtube.

Getting seasick too was one of the worst feelings you can ever have. On one occasion we left Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to do a cruise hitting some Moroccan ports but the weather was so bad we hit only one port the entire 7 days! The passengers were quite unruly cause of this and battling with seasickness too, this made for a cruise that I would never want to do again. The seas and wind were so strong that the front of the ship dipped into the water. Grant it we were a small ship not one of your huge liners you see today. When it was rough you used to slide in your bunk from the tossing of the waves. Blecchhh......

Of course during a contract you would have to work with all kinds of people but the most pressure you would come across was a team in the dining room that just did not have the right chemistry or a Maitre'd that was a complete jerk. You always felt under the gun. And one thing about a cruiseship is they feed off the passenger comment cards at the end of their voyage. One bad comment and the person was singled out.

One comment I had will be for another post probably this week. It was a doozy! Other than that comment I did exceptionnally well on the ship getting promoted at the end to Maitre'd. I guess if I stuck around longer Hotel Manager would have been next and I would have by now owned a couple of properties and had a slew of money in the bank. But what happened is another post coming up.

Stay tuned for more........

Between the Isles of Scilly and Antiqua

To continue from last week we are now at the beginning of August in 1993 after working as a head waiter at the Island Hotel on the island of Tresco , part of the Isles of Scilly in the Atlantic off the coast of England , and heading back to rejoin Renaissance Cruises beginning in November.

But in the meantime , since I had accumulated some money and knew a bunch of people in Europe from my previous contract with Renaissance Cruises plus my two years in Switzerland I thought I might do some visiting.

So I took a couple of weeks before heading back home to go to Switzerland first. I took a bus if you can believe it from London to Geneva Switzerland then a train and another bus to this Swiss town to visit this girl I had worked with on the ships. This turned out to be a rather short visit then on to where I used to work in Montreux to see what was going on there at the hotel.

Then things got rather exciting for me. Off to Kisslegg Germany to visit a couple whom I worked with in Switzerland. He was German and she was Irish and were running a restaurant. They had already a couple of young ones and one afternoon we were at the playground playing around on the swings when she says to me , why don't I jump off the swing?

Well at first I said no but then when she turned her attention away I jumped but in a rather reckless manner . I was going to land in a bad way so I tumbled on the ground but the unfortunate thing was is that my wrist snapped backwards.

So here I am on the ground and I am looking at my wrist and just wondering why I cannot move a few fingers and for some reason my hand is out of sorts and twisted in an awkward way. Oh no!

I say to my friend I think I sprained my wrist and she says , no I think you broke it! Christ , here I am heading to work on the ship and I have to break my wrist. So I am riding the bike back to their place and I put some ice on it thinking that maybe this is all a bad dream and it will heal suddenly. A regular customer who is a nurse comes upstairs where I am and looks at it and says yep that is broken , you better head to the hospital.

After lunch her husband takes me to the hospital and it being of course Sunday there is a limited staff. Finally this young doctor who I guess had to be in his mid 20's comes in and takes a few x-rays and confirms that my wrist is broken in two places. But wait , we have to wait for the anesthesiologist to come in and stick me with a couple of needles I guess to dull the pain before this doctor snaps the wrist back into place and puts the cast on. Right now my hand is being held on a sort of tension device without any wrapping or anything else to support it.

We are waiting and waiting for this guy to arrive and I am getting a little fed up. So I ask my friend , who was fluent German and English to ask the doctor who spoke little English , if we have to wait for this guy to show up. He says well of course cause when he snaps it back into place it is going to hurt.

I say how much and he says a lot. I then ask him if he knows what he is doing. In the room you could see on the wall where the two points are that he has to snap back into place. With blind confidence in him I just tell him to just do it. They both start laughing but I insist that I do not want to wait all day for this guy to show up and just get on with it.

My friend leaves the room , the doctor puts the x-ray thing on me and he says first he will snap this one into place and you could see the bone where it is disconnected. That is the worst one and then he will do the same for the other broken bone. I just ask him one thing that just before he does it let me know so I can scream away the pain. Sort of like a karate guy who when he breaks a whole bunch of bricks he yells out while doing it to divert the pain.

So on the count of 3 twice , he snaps both bones into place. He was good cause both times he got it on the first try. He puts the cast on me and takes a final x-ray and says it is all good. In 6 weeks you can take the cast off. I remember my heart sank cause it was 6 weeks and 2 days I was going to Antigua to be on the ship.

Fortunately since I was a European citizen at this point and being a member of the EU my British health card covered all the hospital expenses in Germany. My stuff that I left at this bed and breakfast in Penzance before I went to Tresco was still there as I had made prior arrangements that they could keep it till I got back from the hotel. Well when I went back to see them before flying out of London they saw my broken wrist and I asked if they wouldn't mind they keep my two suitcases till I come around again after my upcoming contract on the ship was over. They said sure no worries! They were awesome people.

So I flew back to Montreal with a carry on and for the next 4 weeks till I was due on the ship I found a room to live in and bought a rubber ball to squeeze hoping some of the muscles would not atrophy during this time. I knew full well I would need them on the ship. It was a good thing I broke the wrist on my weak hand and not the one that carries the big serving tray with 6 plates on my shoulder or I would have been doomed.

Now you see the problem was now that I was out of Canada for such a while I was not covered at all medical wise. I had no address nor was I paying taxes. So what I had to do was go to an old doctor I had to get him to sneak me into the hospital and cut the cast off. We set it up for Thursday two days before flying to Antigua via Pittsburgh and Miami on the Saturday.

For about 15 minutes he sawed this cast off and when he finally removed it , he looked at it and said it appeared okay and off I went. But before that , I asked him why I couldn't move my wrist and he then explains that now I have to go to rehabilitation. What! I am scheduled to work on a ship two days from now! You see I didn't tell the ship about breaking my wrist.

I did arrive in Antigua two days later and was happy to see some old work mates. The hotel manager did ask me why my wrist looked a little lame and I said I had sprained it playing soccer and that it would be okay.

For those of you who wait on tables and have broken anything at all you could imagine this hand could not even hold a saucer in a straight position. It was so weak. Everytime for the first few weeks until it was strong enough again I had to cradle showplates in my arm and when I served food I had to use both hands to put the plate down. Lifting and putting down the trays on the side stand was tedious. Breakfast , lunch , and dinner service everyday. It was brutal but I got through it.

In the Caribbean every chance I could I would get in the sea to exercise the wrist. It has been the only broken bone in my body so far but the story behind it I think is what makes this one interesting.

So Why Should You Stay in Hell's Kitchen?

I know some of you out there have seen Hell's Kitchen with chef Gordon Ramsay asking that question to two people chosen by their respective teams to be booted off that night.

It is a fair question to ask. In fact , it is the only question a prospective employer should be asking someone who is aspiring to be a top chef in a beautiful restaurant to be paid a huge salary. But let's look at why he is asking this question because wouldn't it be easier just to look at one's cooking skills on the show to pick who would most likely succeed in such a position?

When the two give their answer he is looking for one thing and that is conviction from the person who is answering. He is looking for a fighter , not just someone who can cook. He is looking for someone who is tough enough and believes in themself and their ability so much that they can overcome setbacks and continue on with the job. He is looking for a leader with passion. Someone he can count on.

This is what brings me to this post. When you are being interviewed for any position , you have to communicate to the prospective employer why he or she should hire you. When I was in sales a short while I learned you can never say a feature without adding a benefit and the same goes when applying for the job. A lot of people say a lot in the interview of what they can do but never add the benefit. They talk features only.

For instance if I was to say I have over 25 years experience as a waiter to someone , that means nothing to them , until I add , so that you can depend on me to be highly organized and able to handle a very busy section when called upon. So the prospective employer now knows that my experience will help out him or her in that way.

Whenever you are being interviewed learn how you can match the features you have and tie them with the benefits the prospective employer is looking for. Be excited and clear about it.

If you are leader of a brigade whether it be in the kitchen , dining room , or anywhere else for that matter find out what motivates your team. If you know what motivates someone then you can use that to work for you. For example , someone needs to work late and is not quite up to it you could probably remind him or her that if they do , then the discipline they learn now by putting in an extra couple of hours will stand well when they have their own restaurant , if that is indeed what they want. Or like me the other night when someone ask if I wanted to leave early I replied back with a no because I want to make extra to buy a patio set we need for the porch.

Really all interviews basically should be , " why do you want to work here?" Just be ready for the answer when asked in the interview and if not bring it up yourself and list 2-3 features and benefits. You will soar above the other applicants.

I think all Ramsay wants to hear from someone rather than the babbling that spews from these contestant's mouths is ," Chef Ramsay , just give me the ball one more time so that I can prove to you I have what it takes to run a fantastic five diamond restaurant." "You will not regret giving me that opportunity."

What thoughts do you have on what motivates the employer and employee?

Answers To The Quiz Earlier In The Day

Here are the answers to this morning's quiz.

1. A roux is a cooked mixture of equal amounts of flour and butter used to thicken many sauces.

2. Pommes noisettes are small potato balls cut out with a melon baller then lightly fried and browned with butter. A delicious potato I might add.

3. With Cherries Jubilee the spirit added has to be Kirsch wouldn't you think?

4. Dry Sack is a medium sherry which makes me wonder why they call it Dry Sack.

5. The cocktail Beautiful is equal amounts of Cognac and Grand Marnier. At least that is what I last heard.

By the way last week's Black and Tan should have been half Guinness and half Lager Beer to give it the two colour name. My recipe was obviously outnumbered by the number of the above recipe. I had no trouble locating the beer recipe for Black and Tan in every other recipe book I could come across. This goes to show you that there are so many cocktails out there with so many variations of the same name that nothing is etched in stone it seems except for your basic standard cocktails which never change over time. Like a Pink Lady is a Pink Lady and that is it! No tampering with that cocktail! I hope.

I am sure you all had some questions right on today's quiz. Congratulations to all!

1990 - A Year of What Was I Thinking? Part One

Okay as mentioned last week it is now welcome to the 90's after two great years working in Switzerland. Getting all that Swiss training in Food and Beverage was awesome and now I was ready for new challenges.

Only one problem though , I was returning back to Montreal with an idea of traveling further afield to utilize what I had learned. Before leaving Switzerland , I sent a whole bunch of resumes to Hawaii figuring that with me on a roll and having had the good experience of Swiss hotels that finding an employer to sponsor me would not be an issue. I sent the resumes from Switzerland in December with my contact info that of Montreal cause I was going to be there shortly.

So I returned and there was no replies right off the bat so I did a bit of a job search in Montreal while I was waiting. I ended up applying to the Four Seasons and had 2 interviews. The GM knew the place I worked in Switzerland as he was Swiss himself. The Four Seasons would have been a good move in hindsight or would it have been? I'm happy to say now it would not have been but at the time the way things were going with the situation of not getting a call back from anything in Hawaii at the time I should have stayed home to work there. Instead what happened is the day before they were going to call me to accept me for a post with the hotel I received a call from a hotel in Hawaii pertaining to a job opportunity. What do I do? I am on the phone with this guy from Hawaii and I ask him regarding work permit and he mentions he is going to check on it and would I be interested in coming for an interview.

Now I did say on my resume I would be in Hawaii toward the end of January for interviews but it was sort of a bluff you see to get a call so I can ask about if it would be hard for I to get a work permit. My dilemna was I didn't have the funds to get me to Hawaii and back let alone how expensive it would be for me to stay any length of time there.

Ever the optimist I decided when I talk with this guy again the following night and he is going to tell me that it is no problem and come on down after a mini interview over the phone. Then I would have gone there in a heartbeat low on cash or not. The next day the Four Seasons calls to tell me I got the job and I think you could hear a pin drop when I said that my plans had changed and was no longer going to be in Montreal. They were dumbfounded to say the least.

Later on that day the guy from Hawaii calls back , or did I call him back I cannot remember , to tell me the news that he is not sure about work permits. In other words come for an interview and we'll see. I persist a bit but realize this guy is going to interview me and just put me in a list of possible candidates. And I will be broke in Hawaii. I think if I had the cash I would have gone but I didn't.

So in less than a day I had told the Four Seasons no and put Hawaii on the shelve.

This is only January and I am running short on what cash I have but then after doing some research I discover that if one of your grandparents was born in the UK you can get a work visa.

There you go! So I send for a photstat birth certificate of my grandmother who was born somewhere in Croyden. Now all I have to do is sit around the house and gab with my Mother. I had a few Cater and Hotelkeeper trade magazines that I carried around and was salivating at all the jobs that they had over there. At this point in time too , nearly all my friends were in Europe so this would be great to get back close to them.

Finally at the end of February after checking the mail box day after day I get the birth certificate and head down to the British Consulate to get the visa. No problem and a week later with Mom crying that I was leaving again boarded a 747 to London England with about $500 in my pocket and 3 suitcases. No job interviews lined up but you know that part once I touched down and made a few calls I would be working in no time. Yeah Right!!

Now the lack of planning that went into this was astronomical. Time was running out when I left as the well had all but dried up and here I was jumping into a taxi with my 3 bags taking me to a B & B on Sussex Gardens near Paddington where I was going to stay hopefully only a few days to find work. This B & B was something else. One night while I was fast asleep someone knocked on my door and opened it with a key when upon noticing me waking up to say what do they want apologized to say they must have the wrong room. I fell back asleep to find out that about 6 rooms were robbed because these people must have got hold of the master key. Crazy!

Well my first job I get out of the paper and it is for a F and B Manager position at a Wena Hotel near Gatwick airport. I head for the interview taking the tube then a train to Gatwick from Victoria Station and after a shuttle taking me to the hotel. Now the money has run out and I am desperate and when you are you will take anything. I had another opportunity at this new hotel opening up in Ashford Kent , had the interview and pretty much had the job as restaurant manager , but because the title of F and B sounded so much better and was a natural progression from Asst F and B went for that instead.

Now at the Wena they had a weird way of doing things and I was there to straighten it out. The owners were Egyptian. Anything the chef ordered had to be okayed by the accountant first , chef could only make requistions 3 days a week and order minimally each week from suppliers. In other words if things ran out , tough. The food was smothered in sauces and there were so many liqueurs bought for guests each night the bar was losing money. The Maitre'd had not a day off for 2 months now. The staff accomodation was hideous , like barracks. The front desk staff couldn't smile if their life depended on it. It was bad and in the meeting when I did propose some changes that would make things better , the GM who at the beginning gave me carte blanche to fix things nixed it all and sided with the accountant. A couple of days later after only one week , yes only one week , I snuck out on the first shuttle with my bags and took an Assistant Conference and Banqueting Manager position with that Ashford International Hotel who interviewed me just before.

For temporary accommodation they put me up in one of their sister hotels nearby till I could get a spot to live in. I found a room in a big house shared by a few others. It was tough. After a promotion to restaurant manager and helping train the staff I asked for a raise. The raise was not forthcoming and at a salary of 10,000 pounds a year and having to wait another 9 months before salary review I decided to lick my wounds and head back to Canada. My thoughts of working and living in Europe evaporated. The only place I could legally do it was the UK and salaries just did not come close to that of the cost of living. Maybe things have gotten better since but at that time I was stuck. I licked my wounds and got a Virgin Airways ticket and headed back in June.

I guess in retrospect a little better planning should have been done by me but live and learn. It was an experience. But what happened in the second half of the year which I will leave till next Monday was bizarre. I don't know what I was thinking but I got out of a real jam that I have only myself to blame for. I still had some wild things going on in my brain and that together with the travel bug landed me in strange places. The second instalment of 1990 - What was I Thinking happens next Monday.

Dubai - 1994

Only one overnight did I spend in Dubai while I was on the ships but that one night out a whole bunch of us went to where the bars and nightlife were.

You'd think we were in a western country not in a country where we think only dessert and camels exist. High rise office buildings , plush hotels , and so many westerners from Europe and North America you felt right at home when you walked around.

Very clean and friendly the service wherever you went was impeccable and there were no signs of poverty anywhere.

Many of us got back to the ship very late and we were in rough shape to get up for breakfast the next day. In fact the pool deck waiter never made it up for 5 AM as he was puking all over the place.

I did a lot of bar hopping that night but I will say that I saw who is probably the greatest Joe Cocker impersonator ever in one of the bars. He was so good in fact that he not only had his voice but looked exactly like him. I swore it was him until someone straightened me out.

Nowadays Dubai is one of the places on Earth where business is booming with construction cranes everywhere. Hotel work is abundant and they are always looking for foreigners to work there. The only thing about that though is you are paid in the local currency so when you did come back to North America the exchange would hurt quite a lot.

I am a bit beyond having an adventure but turn back the clock 25 years and I might want to check it out and see what it is like by working there.

Right now I will just settle for an action packed overnight on a ship , that's good enough for me.

The Savagnin Grape and Vin Jaune

Not to be confused with the Sauvignon Blanc grape , Savagnin is grown only in the Jura region of France and not anywhere else in the world. This region's climate is continental with hot summers and cold winters and there is the mountainous region of Savoie nearby that can cause temperatures to fluctuate. There is however a moderating effect from Lake Geneva and Lac Bourget. With Savagnin there is always the threat of coulure also so it is not a grape that would just grow anywhere. In the Jura is where it grows best.

By the way coulure is a vine disease caused when upon bud break alternating sunny and damp conditions occur that creates excessive foliage when the temperature heats up. By doing this the foliage takes away the nutruients destined for the grapes themselves causing minute growth in them and to fall off later.

In some years the grape does not ripen at all as it may not be ready to pick until December causing the resultant wine to be declassified.

On the gravelly soils around Chateau Chalon is where you find the best Savagnin grape that is small and the wine high in colour with a nuttiness about it.

A vin jaune wine , or yellow wine in English , the nuttiness really comes through because of the way the wine is aged. After a normal fermentation the wine is left to age in wooden barrels for 6 years without any topping up much in the same way sherry is aged. As in a fino sherry , without topping up a yeast flor will develop in the barrel with vin jaune causing a nutty , oxidative smell.

Then the distinctive wine is even more given it's own identity by being bottled in a special 62 cl bottle instead of the normal 75cl because the difference is what they estimate the amount of wine that evaporated during those 6 years.

Best opened long before sipping , this wine can be aged for up to a century without losing any quality whatsoever and it goes well with the local Poulet de Bresse. Poulet is chicken for those who are searching for the meaning.

Savagnin is also used for table wine and there are now stricter rules for making sure that it is not vin jaune wine that has failed the test. These wines that winemakers were passing off were heavily oxidized , but with new regulations there are some nice table wines coming out that are fresh and crisp with no oxidative aromas.

These wines are hard to find and taste. Has anyone out there tried a vin jaune?

Bartending , Wine Courses and Television Updates

Okay I am getting to be a ham. I love the camera and live shows. On Thursday I am on Daytime Rogers TV live at 10 Am with a few slots doing wine.

Then on February 13th going on ATV morning show again for 3 minutes to do a wine for Valentine Day.

Sooner or later I will get this on You Tube so you can see for real.

It looks good on one night so far I will be teaching Bartending beginning next week and maybe two but have yet to hear of number of people enrolled in the other course. The wine segment on tv is to spark some interest in starting a wine course with the college probably later in the month or February. It is new so doesn't follow any time schedule in the college's calendar.

If not thinking of doing it on my own linking up with some restaurant that has an area where I can teach it and cut them a bit on the room rental. We will see. Work has been good so far this month with lots of tips. Made $200 on Friday and Saturday then another $114 last night.

So far January is looking very good for the family.

Head West Young Man

Last Monday on my job history I left you during the Spring of 1983 when I was living in a room in North York , bartending at a private club , and concerned about how I will pay for my car insurance renewal. Also my job history was lousy and during the recession there wasn't many jobs to switch to anyway. During the previous year I had tried sales on a commission basis and although I made a few successful sale closures my savings was depleted after a short time.

So one day I chanced upon an ad looking for a head waiter in a dining room that was opening up for the season in May. Why not I thought , a change was what I needed since I was going nowhere in Toronto and this opportunity was a seasonal position with accomodation which would allow me to save up some money and decide what I was going to do after.

It was a place located halfway on the Banff - Jasper Icefields Parkway called the Saskatchewan River Crossing which was a hotel with a nice dining room plus another restaurant in the front which catered to the hordes of tourists that passed through on bus and stopped for lunch.

Getting a bit ahead of myself I applied by mail which was the thing to do in those days ( remember ) and about a week later got a call from the DR Manager asking me if I would like to have the job and would I be available to start work mid - May. Without hesitation I jumped on it and sold the car , gave a month notice where I lived and was winging my way out to Calgary.

What a spot it was for a city slicker like myself. I remember going for a bit of a walk on a trail nearby and while doing so noticed in front of me a goat. Well I looked at the goat and it looked back and it was not moving out of the way at all. All of a sudden more goats arrived until there was about 15 of them. Suddenly realizing walking through them all was not a good idea I backed up slowly and they started walking toward me. I got a bit scared. Yea right like a goat is not like a bear. They would have probably done no harm but here I was running away from them now and they started running faster toward me! Just as I got near the hotel they veered off somewhere else. Wow what an outdoorsman I was! The story drew a lot of laughs from the others I was working with for sure.

Another few things I remember most was that at the time Ted Turner started a cable station out of Atlanta via satellite and because we were so isolated that was the only TV station we could get in the middle of nowhere. The only way someone could call us was by radio operator as there was no phone lines as such. It was cold too. It snowed on July 1st , Canada Day.

So all we did was work and go for hikes and of course party. When I did have a day off I took the same tour bus and visited the town of Jasper to stay overnight and come back the next day. I went on the Columbian Icefields tour as well where you could walk on a glacier.

Working in the restaurant was a lot of fun too but the tourists use to make me laugh sometimes. I remember one asking if that was real snow up in the mountains. Ahem , yes it really is.

I stayed till near September when things began to die down and headed back not to Toronto this time but to Montreal to stay with my Mom to see what I was going to do next. But that ad I answered in the paper for the job out West really helped clear my mind.

They say sometimes to stick things out till they get better somewhere but in this case for me getting away was the best thing I could do for myself at the time. Definitely working at The Crossing was a good thing to do and is an experience I will never forget.

Disco... Disco Duck....Disco.....Disco Duck

Just offhand that you have not been following this blog on Mondays , what I am doing weekly , except for last week , is trying to go through every place I have ever worked in this business. Two weeks ago is when I let the night club manager count my cash and ran off with a lot of my tips and I couldn't work for that guy anymore. Now of course I have learned my lesson well and never let anyone count my cash at the end of the night. Forget it!

A few days after leaving the Bristol Place I found myself a neat head bartending job at Club 5444 at the Ramada Inn Hotel in Mississauga just near the Toronto Airport. I cannot remember if I had called or just answered an ad but when I went for the interview they had just fired everyone and were in desperate need of some honest people. I was their guy.

It was the Spring of 1981 and disco was at it's peak. I would head to work around 5 , set up , and the doors would open at 7PM and it was just a party from then on. I would work about 5-6 nights a week and make some really good coin. It was a big stand up bar so the weekends two of us would serve the bar patrons and another would do the service bar.

The dance floor was right in the middle of the room with a big light show going on. The discotheque had two floors with couches and sofas and cushions so anyone could get lost with their sweetheart if they wanted to.

The manager was a guy called Jack and he loved his Rye and Cokes. Plenty of them. The DJ was a guy Jeff who loved his Screwdrivers. When he would send someone over for a drink I would take the orange juice and fill the glass 3/4 full and pour about 3 oz of vodka right on top. Same with Jack's Rye and Coke. The bartenders all had a drink going. I would dance behind the bar with my hands in my vest pocket and kick my legs up like a cheer leader especially when my favourite disco song came on called , " Get On Up and Do It Again."

It was party central and at the end of the night when everyone went home by 1:30 a few of us would stay back for a few and I would end up handing in the deposit about 3 in the morning. Then we would go out for a bite to eat and when I saw the sun coming up I figured I sure as heck better get going home to my room cause in a few hours I would have to be getting up again to do it all over.

The funny thing is with all the boozing going on how is it that when we did inventory at month's end there was never any discussion about beverage cost. Every month I would do the inventory and everything was fine. Now no one ever stole bottles but the amount of drinking that everyone was doing was a bit much.

Well unknowingly this is what was happening. There was a price list that I never really paid attention to. A beer was this much and a shot was this much and that I knew but whenever anyone ordered a cocktail like a Black Russian or Sling I would charge them $3.30 for it. I just did that cause it was consistent and I knew where the key was in the NCR machine. What I didn't realize at the time that most of the drinks I was charging $3.30 for were actually $2.75! Some but not many were actually $3.30. Premium brands I would charge more for as well.

I remember what happened one time is we hired this bartender and since I was in charge of training them I would tell them this is what the price was of something. Well one time during her first shift she looked at the price list and charged $2.75 for something we had been charging $3.30 for. The customer says to me listen how come it is this and I have been paying that. I said don't worry it is $3.30 and that it was just a mistake but we will give it to you this time for $2.75. I took the girl aside and said listen don't follow that price list cause it doesn't make sense just if there is two liquors in it charge them $3.30 and you will not be confused. She trusted me and charged that amount afterwards.

Am I proud of what I did? Not at all! What did I know? I was a Head Bartender who did inventory , made requisitions , trained others upon hiring , cut lemon and limes , and made drinks. I didn't know anything about costs. I knew about keeping a par stock but other than that I was just doing something that I thought made sense. It was easy and no one picked up on it.

So what happened is after 6 months of doing the disco I was getting a bit burned out and me and this other girl I was working with were thinking of moving in together downtown. Ah yes where the action is the heart of the city , Toronto. She was heading to Vancouver for a holiday and she would move in where I was moving in Toronto. She suggested Hyde Park area so I moved closeby and left the Ramada to work downtown.

Well there is a sucker born every minute and this time I was one of them. She never came back. It is always just as well.

But a funny thing happened to my friends at the Ramada when I left. I went back a couple of months later and Jack grabs me with a drink in his hand and says , "listen the bar costs is way up but I don't understand it , nothings changed!" I reply that they have to stop drinking so much. He is begging me to come back at this point. Meanwhile I head to the bar where the girl I had trained earlier was happy to see me. After about 15 Rye and 7ups that were on the house I start to thinking it is the free drinks but now she says they are being strict with the prices now. That was a aha moment.

A month later everyone got canned. Jack was told to fire all the bar staff and he refused so he got turfed as well. He was devoted Jack was , and a great guy too.

It was a sad moment but I learned something about beverage costs during this job. I was what you call learning by trial and error. Not something I recommend.

See you next week when things get hairy.....

So far,

Hilton Hotel
Willows Inn
Holiday Inn
Credit Valley Golf Club
Bristol Place Hotel
Ramada Inn

Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is one of those grapes that does well in one part of the world and that is about it. In California and Australia they are trying to introduce the grape but neither match where it's home is in a corner of northwest Italy in an area known as Piedmont.

Flanking the town of Alba is where you will find the stars of the grape , Barolo and Barbaresco. Barolo being the powerful and long lived one while Barbaresco the gentler version and not as long lived. These wines are so popular within Italy they were the first to be elevated to the DOCG level which is a step up from DOC.

The name itself is said to be derived from the word "nebbia" which means fog that rises from the warmer valley in late October when the grapes are picked.

Because of the long growing season necessary to ripen Nebbiolo as it is an early budder and late ripener it is planted on south-facing slopes at the highest altitude possible. This ensures that conditions are cool for the grape throughout the growing season so it has the time to fully develop. The long autumns does much to ensure that the high acid of the grape is met with as much ripeness as possible. Additional sunlight from the south facing slope does much to ensure ripeness along with some Cabernet Sauvignon that is being tried out in the area.

Highly resistant to parasites the main problem with growing Nebbiolo is coulure which occurs after bud break when barely formed berries dry up and drop to the ground due to a lack of essential nutrients caused by wet and dry conditions in the Spring.

Nebbiolo makes for a tough wine with it's high acidity , tannin , and dry extract. To tame the wine the winemaker has to be skilled and know what he is doing. Fermentation can last up to two weeks with the skins submerged to give the wine even more colour and tannins.

The wine has to be aged for many years to soften it and it usually is done in Slovenian oak so as not to give the wine too much wood tannins and leave the fruit tannins to dominate.

Even after 10 years in cask the wines are a deep colour with a noticeable orange rim caused by a slight oxidation while it was aged in oak. Full of acid and with some noticeable tannin you will still get on the nose some violets , dried fruit and herb , truffles and tar , and even some prunes and dark chocolate. Truffles being grown in Piedmont and featured in local cuisine makes for a perfect food match.

Big dishes such as game stew and rich beef dishes are matches for the big Barolos , while the lighter , more perfumed Barbaresco would go good with a rare roast beef dish , or liver and kidneys.

Hope you enjoyed this post on Nebbiolo....

Hedonism - Negril Jamaica 1985

Travel day today takes us to Negril , Jamaica where for one week it was party , party , party.

I had 3 weeks off in July from work and it had been a little too long since I treated myself to a nice top notch vacation. Beginning around the early to mid - eighties the term super club was being kicked around as one of those places you go to where everything is included. Unlike Club Med even the liquor was included and some sports etc.. So I decided on the second week of my vacation to go to Hedonism in Negril which was one of the first ones to open. Sandals and Couples all followed suit at about the same time. But Hedonism like the word suggest was living life to hedonistic pleasure and it was a strictly singles resort.

As soon as the jet landed and we were in the van heading to the resort the club GOs I will call them were filling us up with Rum Punch. As soon as we got there we were headed to the bar where there were hors d'oeuvres and more alcohol to be consumed. Behind the bar was a real eye opener though as it was the pool. Not a pool that you jump in from the bar but a pool you could see the swimmers all underwater. Now I don't want to get into graphic detail but what these men and women were doing in the water well.........I just about choked on my shrimp cocktail.

Hedonism along with the moves the opposite sexes were doing on one another stood out for me for a couple of reasons.

It was the only time I have ever done Para - Sailing. Now what that is when you are attached to a line behind a speedboat and when it gets taut you take a couple of steps and whoosh you are up in the air like a glider. Sort of hang gliding but without the wings but a kite instead.

Well I managed to do this the hard way. I am on the beach and the guy in the boat says when you feel the line get tight take a couple of steps then away you go. But what I did instead was start running before the line was tight enough and I ended up running in the water trying to leap into the air. So at this point the harness whips me back and I am backwards skidding on the water thinking I am done for. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the speed of the boat whipped me around and I was airborne. It was great. But what a welt I had on my neck where the harness rubbed when I was bouncing off the water.

It was also the first time and I cannot remember if I did it again I did nude sunbathing and swimming. I think it was the only time.

On a day excursion went to Dunn River Falls and another night went to Rick's Cafe to see the sunset over the Caribean. Quite beautiful.

All in all I have to say it was quite a time during that week and lucky I had a week still to go on my vacation cause I needed that just to recuperate.