red dragonfly

red dragonfly

In this very challenging line of work small periods of time are required where it all stops, where the natural environment brings you back to what is larger- back to that something - that contains the mysterious just beyond your grasp.

I have a partnership with a red dragonfly that resides on our covered patio on a rock and fern covered waterfall amongst lilies, horsetail ferns and assorted greenery. He, on more than one occasion has brought that realm back into focus for me – especially when I have been in need of it.

When, in the course of a mostly normal day in the culinary industry - many things happen the way they should -AND - some things happen unexpectedly and that don't end with the results that give way to feelings of accomplishment.

Working with wonderfully fresh yard eggs and madagascar bourbon soaked vanilla beans and turning out perfectly steaming, jiggly crème brulees brings a contented sigh, and a knowing that this evening's guests will be very happy with their dessert selection. Or having just visited the local farmer's market and getting very fresh tomatoes, peaches, squash,  goat cheese and other great produce brings that same feeling.

That can be punctuated by the discovery of a cooler that is either freezing what it shouldn't be or thawing something it shouldn't be. Or a 5:00 call from a critically needed employee, who goes from, “I'll be late” to “I'm gonna have to take a week off cause I jammed my thumb playing soccer” (on a Friday night).

It's those times that drive me to the patio to seek out the red dragonfly.

He attaches himself to a fern and gets some sun, occasionally rising up to get a drink out of the fountain and then settling again motionless. Watching him and listening to the waterfall and chimes on the patio brings me back to quiet. After 15 or 20 minutes I retrieve my apron and return to the kitchen feeling the zen of the whole thing.

I have an ongoing dialogue with him (always looking around to see if someone is watching me talk to an insect). I'll keep that to myself, and suffice to say, it gives me a great deal of peace. He lets me get quite close and I have photographed him a number of times. I keep a picture of him as a reminder when we aren't able to visit.

This pots and pans, skillets and ladles, grills and broilers, business needs a red dragonfly now and again.

The Message

Actually this little ditty has nothing to do with the restaurant business.  

The things i do just happen to happen inside a restaurant.

We have a message service. I record a new message every week indicating  the date with pertinent information regarding the getting of a reservation on any given night.

I do it every week. It goes something like this - -  as a matter of fact, it goes exactly like this; “You've reached the Navajo Grill. This is the week of (give the date).We're at the corner of Main & Olive streets. We serve dinner seven nights a week beginning at 5:30. If you'd like to make reservations, please leave your name – phone number – number of people in your party – and the date requested and we will return your call as soon as possible. Thanks for thinking of us & we hope to see you soon!”

It's a very simple message – the only thing that changes is “this is the week of -----”. How hard can it be?! I've done it  every single Monday morning for 13 years.

Well - - -

Some Monday mornings are different than others. The distractions presented to me prior to the making of the 'message' cause me, on occasion, to short circuit continuously while trying to repeat these simple words into a recording device until i turn into Mr. Hyde, complete  with being intensely foul mouthed, very short tempered, and using dark gnarly nearly incomprehensible verbiage. The message takes on a different meaning. I want to firebomb the restaurant, because I am sure I am being singled out by the restaurant demons to suffer the utter shame of not being able to speak three sentences in  a row into this device that asks me every time, “Would you like to save the changes you have made to your new message?”

I will attempt to explain the distraction as well as the consequences that followed recently, regarding the weekly greeting.

8:10 am – Monday – Walking into the kitchen I immediately encounter the friendly Ecolab (commercial dishwasher maintenance) guy. He is standing there beside the 'beast' (nickname) for our dishwasher with a test strip in his hand looking at it like a doctor looks at a thermometer and with his best bedside manner, sez to me, “Wow, your water is totally screwed man! It's as  hard as a frigging rock. You better check your water softener cause you gotta real prob here”.  I put down the apron I just picked up and head downstairs to check out the water softener. Culligan handles our water softening issues and lately we noticed a decrease in the quality of the water. Too much spotting of flatware. They said they would take care of it. What they didn't tell me was that they would take “the water softener unit” with them, leaving us with a gap with two pipes and air in the middle where a water softening unit should be busily softening water. Ecolab has followed me downstairs and is standing behind me, he sez “Well duh!!”. I thank him for his astute observation and suggest that he return to the beast.

Culligan is called – Ecolab guy leaves – I put on apron and head for the answering machine. On the way (it's only 20 ft.), my brother (fellow owner) sticks his head in the kitchen door to tell me the blender jar replacement we have been waiting for, for seven weeks (should have received it in seven days), has arrived. To explain the pained look he has on his face, he holds up the box and shakes it – I hear the sound of a Sunbeam blender jar in 100 pieces instead of the one piece it was in, when it began the trip here seven weeks ago.

I keep walking and am pretty intent on reaching the answering device.

With thoughts of Culligan, Ecolab and Sunbeam whirling through my head, I pick up the phone and take a deep breath -

I dial the number -

The mechanical girl sez - “Please enter your passcode and press pound now”

I do it -

She sez - “For your personal profile press 2 now”

I do it -

She sez - “For your personal message press 3 now”

I do it -

She sez - “To listen to your greeting press 4 now”

I do it -

She sez - “If you are happy with your greeting press 5 now – or to record a new greeting press 1 now” (how does it get back to 1?)

I press 1 and am trembling with anticipation-

She sez - “Record your new greeting after the tone and press pound when completed”

I hear the tone and then silence – I'm waiting for my voice to start but nothing happens. With Ecolab and Culligan demons chasing each other through my addled brain I am wordless. I can hear the message in my head but my lips belong to someone else!

I press the pound key, frustrated already at my inability to begin the three sentences.

She sez - “Record your new greeting after the tone and press pound when completed”.

I hear the tone -

I'm off and running - “You've reached the Navajo Grill. This is the week of June 15^th (Oh Crap! - my mind sez) – cause it's actually the week of June 21^st – I'm looking at a calender but it's the wrong month. I hit the pound key.

She sez - “If your satisfied with your new greeting press 1 now, if you'd like to record again, press 2 now”

I press 2 -

 I hear the tone-

I start, “You've reached the Navajo Grill, this is the week of June the 21^st. We're at the corner of Main and Olive. (all of a sudden the other part of my mind is thinking about why we don't do brunch anymore – lotsa' reasons and a bad time to reminisce about them) We serve dinner (I pause) seven nights a week (of course you serve dinner seven nights  a week dumb ass) beginning at (I pause again) fi- five thirty.”

I jam my thumb into the 2 key before she can ask me any questions about how satisfied I am with my last attempt -

I hear the tone -

I'm holding my breath – I exhale and start talking at the same time (whoosh!) “You've reached the Navajo Grill. This is the week of June the 21^st. We're located (did I say 'located' last time, or, we're at the corner of?) at the corner of Main and Olive. We serve dinner seven (I guess it doesn't matter what I said) nights a week beginning at – at “, I close my eyes and hammer away at the 2 button.

I hear the tone -

It stops – I'm desperate now – please – please just let me record the f#@*+*g message – I can feel the heat in my face and my mind is racing -

“You've reached the Navajo Grill. This is the week of June the - - - “I hear the door opening behind me – It's the meat guy -

He sez cheerily, “Hey Bro, I got product for you!” He sees I'm on the phone and does an 'ooops!' and lets the door shut.

I shakily press the 2 button -

I hear the tone -

“You've reached the Navajo Grill. This is the week of June the 21^st. We're located at the corner of Main and Olive. We serve dinner seven nights a week beginning at 5:30. If you'd like to make reservations please leave your (omygod – I'm gonna make it! - shut up! You'll just screw it all up!) name, phone number, (both of you knock it off!!) and the number of people in your party and we will (who will, buster, who's gonna make the call back?) call you back as soon as possible. Thanks for thinking (God almost – my throat is so dry) us and thanks for thinking of us (Hah! see you can't do it!!!)”.

I realize I have just thanked the caller for thinking of us twice.

I touch the 2 key, my back hurts, my lips are cracked, I'm breathing so hard little blue planets are showing up about eye level and the room in going in and out of focus!

I press 2 -

I hear the tone -

It stops again -

I feel like throwing myself under a train!

“You'vereachedtheNavajoGrill.ThisistheweekofJunethe21st.We'relocatedatthecornerofMain&Olive.Weservedinnersevennightsaweekbeginningat5:30.Ifyou'dliketomakereservationspleaseleaveyournumber,numberofpeopleinyourparty,daterequestedandwe'llreturnyourcallassoonaspossible.Thanksforthinkingofusandwehopetoseeyousoon!!”

I realize immediately that all the words have run together and I'm screaming at the end– but that fricking voice in my head left me alone this time!

I press 2-

I hear the tone-

“You've reached the Navajo Grill. Leave your number. I'll call back.”

I press the pound key.

She sez -

If your satisfied with your new greeting press 1 now.

Completely defeated, I press 1.

I walk away from the phone and hope I do better in the kitchen.



A Blog About Blogging

I was trying to sit down and explain to my computer whiz, why it was taking so long to put the next blog up on my site.

It's the restaurant biz I blog about.

The under story here today is that we are getting ready to setup for a GREEN Fair // a renewable, sustainable kind of GREEN thinking festival downtown in our little burg. We are serving food there. So all utensils, cups, plates, napkins, yada, yada, yada, have to be recyclable.

So the day has begun by gathering all the bric a brac together that it will take to do the deal.

A delivery truck shows and amongst the bags of sugar, cases of tomato paste, containers of spices, baking flour, cooking oil, etc., there is supposed to be all of my biodegradable goodies for the show.

Got plates, don't got cups, got paper towels, don't got flatware. It goes on like this for a while till I decide to go sit down at the keyboard to explain what's keeping me from blogging.

As I walk across the parking lot to sit down at this keyboard, I am interrupted by 'mr. telephone man'  (that's the name of his company) – he is hard wiring our point of sale system, which to this point has been wireless, BUT – the point of sale company (who shall remain nameless) has indicated that our little lapse in a properly working system is due to our wireless connection, thus mr. telephone man and his observation about the difficulty of putting in a hardwire system. Something about going over a rock-wall and under the sidewalk, and “It's gonna take a little longer and probably cost a few more bucks, and I'm not sure if this is gonna solve your problem or not, but hey, I'm not the POS guys!”

Oh yeah, I forgot, the POS guys say they can't fulfill our maintenance contract with you cause of your wireless connection. Gotta be hardwired, even though at some point in our multi-year relationship, SOMEBODY in the POS company indicated wireless should work OK.

Me: “Well, Don (tele.man) how much is this gonna cost?”

Don: “Are we talkin' about before I found out what was under the sidewalk or now?”

Me: “What did you quote me when we started this last week?”

Don: “Ya know I believe it was about $200. less than it's gonna be now.”

As my face screws itself into a knot and Don grins and pulls his gimme hat down tight over his eyes, I am interrupted by the maintenance guy who has been trying to turn off the water to the building cause we have a small 'niagara falls' kind of leak in the kitchen by the stove. I notice he's red-faced and shaking his arms wildly and cussing only the way you can in the restaurant biz -

“I can't turn the (just use your imagination) water off cause of all the (imagination again) fire ants clogging the valve up!”

I say, “Since the water's still on, get a hose and blast em!”

He stands there holding out his arms and really getting creative with the english language, turns and heads back to the ants, valve and hose. I don't see him again for a while.

I turn back to Don and he has another question, “Since you are gonna need room in the conduit for several lines (I need several lines for another reason – hold that thought) I think your gonna have to spring for the upgrade over the initial estimate. I stare blankly and my head moves up and down understanding the sound of '$cha-ching$!!' way better than I want to.

I hear tires on the gravel driveway and turn to see Detective Weidermeyer pulling up. A gent that until last weekend I had never met (are you still holding that thought about another line).

We got burgled last weekend. Some kids got into our patio liquor cabinet and partied very hard.

One of the results' of the liquor raid is that I want a proper security camera to watch the bar (there's the other line that needs to go thru the conduit). Detective Weidermeyer sez, “Just a coupla questions”.

I'm thinking about the explanation to my 'techy' and not being able to sit down at the keyboard again.

We discuss the ins and outs of the criminal mind and my coming down to press charges, and it'll only take a minute (once they have time to see me  - I still have to go down there, put my name on a list and sit till I am called). It's like standing at the meat counter and taking a ticket  - - you know, I've taken no.75 and they are serving no.16.

So I'm dickering with him about when I can get down there and he's whipping out a calendar and trying to lock me into a specific day and a specific hour in that day.  My blog opportunity is getting fainter with every passing minute.

As I stare into his dog-eared daytimer, I am interrupted, not by telehpone man, not by maintenance man, but the chef who has about a dozen questions about food for the event.

Chef: “What exactly do you want to feed those treehuggers at the hippie fest?”

Me: “I'm not sure right now, but I know a vegetarian menu will probably work pretty good.”

Before I can get more specific about what exactly we will be serving several thousand people, I get a call from the health department. They would like to go over the requirements for the fest. The do's and dont's of it all. You know, where does the bleach bucket go, where does the dish bucket go, where does the rinse water go, where does the handwash bucket go, how cold is the cold food, how hot is the hot food, got rubber gloves? NO, get em, got water test strips, NO, get em. The questions just go on and on and on  - - - Until I am saved by another problem.

My accountant calls to ask if I made my quarterly tax payment. I have no clue – my manager does this and today is her day off.

He sez, “Ya might want to take care of that! You know how the IRS is.” I shutter and agree. My mind conjures  jackbooted, thin haired, steely eyed agents – saying “Theese will not go goot for you if you haf not made the proper arrangements to comply!!!”

I stare longingly across the parking lot to my office wherein sits my idle keyboard waiting for the excuse to my 'techy' bout my lack of blogs.

My eyes glaze over as ant man (maintenance guy) tells me he finally got the water off and Don (telephone man) walks up to me using his own version of (use your imagination language) because he needs the water on to put pressure on the pipe under the sidewalk so it can exit the other side and as continues his explanation i find myself slipping away.

I'll try to get to the keyboard another time.

$hundred dollar$ millionaire (w/a $1000. truck)

I'm breaking eggs and separating yolks from whites (for 20 crème brulees) – It's Saturday and we will probably sell out and I will be standing here tomorrow morning doing the same thing again.

As I do this little chore I think about the one I just left. The chore that makes me a 'hunnred dollar millionaire'.

$-THE BILLS – THE BAD PART – THE SAD PART –

THE UNBELIEVABLY EXPENSIVE PART-$

Some of the following happens to us daily(produce guy 4 times wkly.) , some twice a week (meat guy, fish guy, dry goods guys), some monthly (rent, gas, electricity), others come like a kamikaze (crash and burn water heater, freezer compressor malfunction with mucho dollars worth of frozen goods melting like a 'greenhouse effect' hit glacier, computer challenges @ $100. an hour).

Grease trap guy (quarterly) $315.

Sysco (dry goods – twice wkly) $400. to $ 1500.

Ben E. Keith (dry goods – twice wkly) $400. to $1500.

Alcohol bill (twice monthly) $2700.

Loan (consolidated – equipment / build out, I don't know what - monthly) $3412.

Meat guy (twice wkly) $1200.

Fish guy (twice wkly) $600.

Credit Card (not much since they took it away from me - monthly) $500.

Bug Guy (monthly) $56.

Payroll (twice monthly $11,000.ish

Liability ins.(monthly) $688.

Menu printing (changes – now and then) $125.

Newspaper ads (now and then) $115.

Propane (for patio heaters – seasonal – 6 times yrly. at least) $500.

Produce guy (four times wkly) $200. / $500.

Rent (monthly) $5200.

Water heater replacement - - kamikaze- crash and burn – went cheap this time -$1400.

($4500. last time)

Electricity (monthly) $900. to $3000.

Gas (monthly) $250. to $1200.

Computer guy (operates on us way too often) @$100. hourly

CC charges (monthly) $1700. - $2500.

Lawn maintenance (average - monthly) $300. - $500.

Ecolab (dish machine – maintenance) $75.

Water softener (monthly) $60.

Ventahood cleaning guys (quarterly) $325.

Linen bill (monthly) $750.

Trash p/u (monthly) $175.



There are other $$ leaks in this boat that are just to numerous to go into. They come like the plagues in the bible. On and on and on. (flatware, glassware, pots and pans, uniforms, mountains of work towels, aprons, flower arrangements, leaks in things that won't leak when the plumber is there, fuses that refuse to blow till the electrician leaves <and has to come back>, carpenters that try to get artistic when you just want some hammer and saw work done.



We sell about a million dollars worth of food a year. I always seem to have about, a hundred dollars in my pocket – making me 'a hunnerd dollar millionaire'!!

(I saved up that hunnerd bucks that I occasionally get and got a $1000. truck – it's the least I could do for myself and about all I could afford) - - picture attached.