I have just got to the end of a reasonably intense few hours spent downloading all the information from my old computor onto a new system. A process made much easier by the fact that Chris comes and helps. I would be completely lost without him, but don't tell him that - he'll be insufferable!
I've needed a new computor for a while but have been delaying, becos being such a creature of habit I was dreading this readjustment stage that I knew I was going to have to go thru to familiarise myself with all the new stuff.

I think we're over the worst now however, and I certainly loving the new key board, and the speed with which stuff is happening...

Its kind of ironic to ponder that when we opened up back in 86, personal computors were not around. I'd just left an accounting office where there was only one mainframe computor, and an operator who would work overnite - we'd leave all our files on her desk and she'd do all the entry overnite.
I can distinctly remember getting our first fax for the business here, and feeling absurdly modern! Then came the photocopier, and the very first computor, which has been upgraded a number of times over the years.

I've been lucky in that I've had Chris to drag me up to date with each modification - left to my own devices I'd probably still be sending everyone snail mail. But I am a convert - I do love the immediacy that the computor gives me. I can sit down and complete a task - send it and get a response all within the space of minutes. Plus the depth of knowledge that the internet opens up is just extraordinary.

So its a great tool - and well worth the few hours of discomfort, while we swap everything over and make it all compatible.

Plus I had a gentleman from the Liquor Licensing board call in to check details for the onlicense application, and I had to do all the normal bookwork as well, so being a pretty full on day, and I'm looking on going over to the restaurant for service shortly, almost as light relief!

The restaurant has been put back to its normal state after having moved all the furniture outside on Sunday for the Sharon Elizabeth concert. I delayed doing that as late as I could becos the weather wasn't offering me any guarantees that it was going to stay fine, and going thru the process of getting everything set up outside, only to have a shower sweep through, would not have been good.

We were lucky.  The weather played ball, the courtyard looked quite lovely - Anna from Silver Bubbles worked her magic and created a lovely space, that was beautiful in the sunlight when people first arrived, and then turned romantic and dreamy when the candle light and fairy lights kicked in as it got darker. I told Anna that she reminds me of Rick - in the sense that what she does is create layers of visual interest. The end result is deceptively easy in appearance, but I have more than an inkling on Sunday of how hard she and others toiled to create the kind of effect they wanted. And there were multitudes of things to catch the eye.

Ricks sauces are like that. Look simply on the plate - but there is layers of technique gone in to create the complexity of flavour that is arrived at. All interesting.

Sharon sang beautifully - the sort of songs that evoke nice romantic memories for those of us who have been fortunate enough to go to any of the Mediterranean countries. I have absolutely no religious belief at all, but never fail to became captivated by listening to Ave Maria. We visited a monastory close to Montalcino that had been built in the 900s, and the soaring stone edifice was one of the visual highlights for me of the trip. I associate Ave Maria with it, becos I bought a CD of the monks singing it.

I used the evening as an opportunity to introduce everyone to the Herons Flight Sangiovese - an Italian style red wine grape made in Matakana that I particularly like, and was gratified to get a uniformly positive response. You never know with wines how they're going to be recieved, and its always a big step to convince New Zealanders in general to step outside the grape types that they're familiar with.

An evening like this where Rick and I set the food and the wine matches gives us a chance to throw in something a little different  - and always a buzz to have that recieved positively.

A nice nite - well worth all the stress that came with the territory!