snow...

So... snow. right here in gibsons. lovely.

NOT.

I likely don't even have to explain how little i enjoy snow from a business perspective.
Two of our worst revenue days ever thanks to this snow... that's a little troublesome. What with the landlord really wanting us to get caught up on the rent, and nobody able to pull into the parking lot, it really makes it a tough proposition.

As I explained to the landlord... um... can you get the lot plowed? I can't pay you if nobody can get to my door and pay ME!

He understands, to a point, i guess... but apparently not quite enough to get the plow here again... today the parking lot is a slushy, icy disaster... took me FULLY 8 minutes to park cuz i kept sliding and spinning... it was ridiculous. If the lot had been plowed, I would have considered opening today, but there was no point. Nobody could park, and it was unsafe for walking on regardless.
Ya, I see.. Panago opened. It's nice that most of their customers have 4x4's!

Do I sound bitter today? Ya, i think I do. Snow bugs me. Things I can't control that interrupt what I'm trying to achieve bug me. It's a character f law and I'm trying to deal with it.

It's been a really hard year. Can I be that honest?
I suppose some would advise against it... but well, I'm not all that good at hiding the truth.

In our effort to maintain the vision of creating a place where people like us could come and eat more than once or twice a year, we got ourselves into a bit of a financial pickle... that being, that we paid out more than we took in and are thus deep in the red.

It's a sad state of affairs when we can't even afford to eat at our own restaurant... isn't it?? And that is precisely what we were working to avoid. Our entire premise is that regular people with regular jobs, and irregular people with regular jobs, and regular people with irregular jobs should all be able to treat themselves to a meal outside their own kitchen more often than once or twice a year... maybe even more often than once or twice a month! I don't think that's too much to shoot for...

Why should the luxury of having someone else cook & clean for you be exclusively the domain of those who earn more than $75k a year??? Ok, let's re-frame that... You and I should be able to eat somewhere other than A&W a couple times a month without it becoming a major budget consideration.

We've gone over our limit a few times... we've even eaten at Smitty's a couple times when we really shouldn't have... but jeeezzzz... we work hard... don't we deserve those little luxuries? You work hard too... and YOU deserve them too.

If you've got some ideas about how we can achieve this vision - maybe you've got some cost saving ideas, or some free promotional ideas, or would be interested in volunteering a little to help us get some of the work done for less overhead... let us know. Would ya? We're open to suggestions and ideas and help.

Meanwhile...
May you all be blessed with a healthy, happy, peaceful and more prosperous 2009.

holiday hysteria

i'm tellin' ya... the pressure to make christmas cookies could kill a girl.
The lights are up, and generally somebody is home... unless you get here at 5:55, by which time we're often somewhat braindead.

i've been procrastinating for a good couple weeks now but i FINALLY did it... Christmas cookies are UNDERWAY!! That means that by this weekend (Dec 5) you'll be able to start buying cookie tins & gift packs to share the love with your friends & family.

We've got the good old standbys - Pixies, Shortbread of various sorts, chocolate chip, and ginger, plus some new additions this year - Almond thins, Cocoa-Nuts, Double Chocolate Hazelnut, Lemon Coconut, Espresso Brownie, Cranberry Apple... I'm on the verge of experimenting with Chili Chocolate... any opinions??

The shortbread, as always, is gluten-free! Plus we'll have those amazing Cocoa Pecan Macarons and some other delicious holiday treats for our gluten-freebie friends. (yes, that's what we call you back here in the kitchen, the "gluten freebies", learn to enjoy it.)

we've got 1/2 pound bags of our fabulous coffee coming - they make GREAT stocking stuffers... and will be packaged with other treats for giving.

And there's a rumour afoot that we'll be breaking out the christmas cheer on Dec 20... but that is still just a rumour as I understand it, so wait for official announcements, but do save the date cuz it could be fun!

As always, we'll be open the ENTIRE WEEK (so that means sunday & monday too) before Christmas, closing at 4pm on Christmas Eve.

We'll be closed from then until Monday Dec 29 Inclusive. We'll be open on the 30th & 31st so you can get stocked up for New Year's Breakfast... closed for New Year's Day (moose milk at the legion, need we say more??) and back to normal on the 2nd.

Let the festivities begin!