9pm. The restaurant is about two thirds full tonite, and we are now sufficently underway, and I have enough senior staff on, that my presence is no longer required, so I have retreated to the sanctity of the house and the dogs ( my daughters are out on a club race), and thought I'd write a blog, while I have some time to spare. Its been a big week, becos we've done 4 cookschools over the past 6 days, and had the Wine and Food Festival last Saturday, and are now gearing up for a large outcatering wedding this coming Saturday. All of that activity takes place in addition too, and on top of the normal day to day processes of the restaurant. The last couple of nites at the restaurant have been a bit quieter which has meant I haven't been required to work quite as hard on the floor as I maybe otherwise would have - and that is a reality that I have gratefully recieved. Especially in light of the fact that cookschools mean that I'm over there at 9am in the morning to have everything ready to go before the first attendees arrive. Rick starts even earlier than that, to get the ingredients assembled, and we try and sneak in a cup of coffee a deux, while we can, becos there tends to be little time for personal chat after that.
The photo below is of the early stages of the Wine and Food Festival, when we were getting the marqee set up. The day is a logistical nightmare. We are one of about 7 food outlets, catering to about 2500 people - but that number is an unknown becos the turnout is completely weather dependant. We had a large menu, and a large number of staff, becos at an event like that the only way you can make a profit is to turn over a large volume. You can't charge alot for each individual item - you have to rely on economies of scale. And there is a point in the afternoon, when people get beyond eating, and just want to chill out and listen to the music, so the window of opportunity to make it, is quite small, and you have to go hard. Of 5 main course options you can never correctly predict what will be the big sellers. What works one year, doesn't necessarily do so the next
so there are no guarantees. Its an interesting exercise, to say the least!
The wedding this weekend, by contrast is much more structured - set fingerfood, set entree, a choice of 2 mains, and set dessert for 100 people. The kitchen however, will be set up in a garage, and there are all sorts of variables that come in to play - like the photographer always, but always. taking longer then they say they will, and the speeches never conforming to a preset time schedule. The wedding is in our clients garden, in a large marquee - which creates some interesting obstacles when the weather decides to be inclement. I never fret about that in advance though, becos its the one thing, you can not control in any way, so it always seems like a futile exercise.
I enjoy weddings. I enjoy making a positive contribution to someones special day - it is a priviledge in many ways.
We are about half of the way thru this cookschool series - and its going well. The food very much represents the best of what is available at this time of year - tomatoes, melons from Gisborne, apricots and peaches from Central Otago, walnut oil from Christchurch and the most magnificent butter beans from Spain, that we get via Sabato who import them. It all comes together into a selection of lovely dishes that we encourage people to eat gradually over time, rather than piling it all onto their plate at once. People take that admonishment to heart - and the lunches after the class have segued into long leisurely affairs, which have being entirely the effect we were hoping to create. Bringing back happy memories of our experiences in Tuscany a few years ago.
Selection of breads with galilee basil cheese, Evansdale farmhouse brie and melon and proscuitto
Poached chicken breast on whitebean and vegetable stew with walnut sauce
Provencal tomatoes baked with red wine vinegar and thyme
Red pepper spaghetti
Apricot tart with cream cheese pastry
Rose with peaches
Already I have been on the recieving end of much anecdoctal comment - including what I thought was the delightful story from a lady who lives in Maine, that lobsters used to be so common in the harbour there, that prison officials had to promise not to feed the prisoners lobster more than 3 meals a week. A concept that seems somewhat alien to our reality. At the class on Sunday I sat next to an elderly German lady, who told me about the pigs her family used to raise every year , during the war- the slaughter of which was cause for celebration, becos of the bounty of food that it represented. Our conversation then moved onto what had happened to her father, a baker, during the war - and she became so much more that just another face to me - she was a person, with an extraordinary personal story to tell. How can you not value those sorts of insights?We'd mentioned our pigs during the class and their aversion to onions - and that had led to a discussion about charcuterie. The food we do in each class is exactly the same, but the discussion that surrounds it always moves in unique and interesting directions, becos of the questions people ask, or becos of the comments that people contribute. I can go over to set up in the morning feeling a bit dispirited, and without exception I return to the house after the class, feeling enthusiatic and inspired.
We consider ourselves to be very lucky.
