Day 180, 181 & 182 - Full on Friday and Sunday!

So downstairs continued along its familiar path this week, with the roadworks still causing us great angst! I've calculated that we have lost approximately 2000€ so far, and there seems no sign that there is an end in sight... There was no work done on Friday at all. It's getting on my tits now!

A different story in the restaurant though. Another full house for the second Friday in succession. The only disappointment was having to turn people away, as we had no tables.

Saturday daytime in the cafe was a little better. I'm not sure why, as the situation outside means that we still have no chairs and tables, but a we had a fairly decent day. There were a couple of occasions where customers walked in and walked out again as there were no spare tables, so again, a little frustrating, but nothing we could do. The evening in the restaurant was a little better than last Saturday, but I still think that X Factor plays a big part in the lack of numbers!

Moving on to today. Another fully booked service for Sunday Lunch. I'm not sure why, but it gives me great satisfaction when we are full on Sunday. More so than on a Friday. I suppose that Friday is 'just Fish & Chips', whereas Sunday Lunch is a little more 'classy'. When done correctly of course! Also, for me personally, I know how much work goes into it. Sometimes, I am prepping 3 days in advance. Service also for me can be very difficult. Basically I am on my own in the kitchen, with Laura occasionally giving me a hand with the roast potatoes and gravy, but apart from that, I do everything else on myself. Imagine trying to serve 40ish people with a starter and a main course in approximately 2 hours. That's 40 plates of food in an hour! Its all about being prepared, and after 3 years of doing it every Sunday, I have a pretty good system!

Moving away from food for a moment, I must share with you all something that happened to us on Friday evening. We moved house about 2 months ago and we have been waiting for the return of our deposit (1000€) since then. Finally, while we sat waiting to go back to work for the evening service, our ex landlady popped over to explain that we owed her 76.95€! How could that be possible? She had 1000€ of our money. We had already been told by several people 'in the know', that you don't get deposits back from Spanish landlords, but we were hopeful of some sort of return. After deducting the outstanding water and electric bills, we would have been left with approximately 200€. That was until the cleaning bill of 320€. Cheeky buggers! She was trying to claim that 32 man hours were spent at 10€ an hour to clean the house! We had left it spotless... Oh well, just another one of those kick in the nuts you get when living the Spanish dream! Dream...it's more like a nightmare sometimes. After a few minutes thought, I decided to turn it to our advantage. If the going rate for cleaning a property was 10€ an hour, it was time to start a little sideline business in that industry! Guess what... 2 days later, (today), I secured our first cleaning 'contract'! One of our customers who alternates living in Spain to living in England was asking us if we knew any reputable property management companies. We mentioned that we were in the process of starting up our own service, and we were hired on the spot!. I am going round to their villa on Tuesday to give them a quote for a full management service, (key holding, regular cleaning etc)! the money is very much needed  at the moment...

Changing the subject again, we received an awful review on TripAdvisor yesterday. It was a 'fake' review, I assume made by someone who doesn't like us very much. The whole review was complete fabrication, and at times was very personal. They accused us of having painted chip board, tatty menus ect. Then said that  my food lacked seasoning and looked like it had been thrown on the plate with no care. It went on in that fashion. The reviewer had opened an account with TripAdvisor, purely to leave that review. They have never set foot in our restaurant. Unfortunately, although I have lodged a complaint with TripAdvisor, and left a reply to the review which the public can see, it will still push us a few notches down the rankings. Although we have more reviews and more 'excellent' reviews than any other restaurant in Calpe, the way they calculate the rankings is very strange, and therefore in a bout a week or so , when the system is updated, we may find ourselves down to about 5th or 6th. The thing that angers me about this, is that these people are allowed to get away with it, and 3 years of hard work are 'shat on', just because someone, (possibly a rival restaurant as has been the case in the past), has it in for you. I am the first to hold my hands up to a genuine review, where someone has a genuine gripe with their visit to us, but this just really angers me. It shouldn't be allowed to happen, but it is. Therefore, the reviewer wins, and we lose. C'est la vie, we just ave to keep doing what we do.

Before I go to bed, I must just say 'watch this space'. I may have some news for you tomorrow!

Nite nite
Jimbo

Day 176, 177, 178 &179!

As you can probably tell from my lack of appearance on here for the last few days, things have been pretty quiet. The roadworks continue and that means no customers.... It seems that one day the workmen dig a hole, and the next day they fill it in! Two days later, they dig it up again, and then fill it in... On Tuesday they laid concrete in front of the Cafe, and today they dug it up, only to concrete again this afternoon! Also, a concrete base for a lamppost has been erected RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR FRONT DOOR. We have a large awning, that when unraveled, will be touching it! Where do these idiots think we are going to put our chairs and tables? The people who plan all these 'improvements' cannot seriously give a damn about the effect it will have on the local businesses, or they simply wouldn't do this to us. I have done some calculations and discovered that so far, in the 3 and a bit weeks that this has been going on, we have lost approximately 1500€. How much longer is this going to continue? Who knows. We asked the work men yesterday, and even they didin't know! The problem is , that in under 4 weeks from now, The Moors & Christians' parade will be trundling down the street. It is the biggest fiesta of the year, and the money we take on that night alone, helps us through the quiet winter months. The fiesta will only take place if the works are finished... What's worrying is the fact that it has taken them over 3 weeks already, and they haven't even started work on the opposite pavement yet. Absolute shambles... Here are some pictures of the 'work'...

Here's where the lamppost is going...

They've dug another hole!

The base for the lamppost...

The base is setting! (Right outside the door!)

So, there you have it... The main reason for our lack of customers in the downstairs cafe. Fortunately, the restaurant does not have the same problem! We are ticking along nicely, and getting fuller and fuller as the locals return from their summer exodus! Fridays and Sundays are especially busy, and the 'all you can eat' is proving to be one of my better ideas! I would still rather that people would order off the menu, as I want them to taste, and know what my food is all about, but I have resigned myself to the fact that it will always be about 80-20 in favour of pigging out! I didn't change the set menu much from last week, as I am trying to keep a couple of dishes on, to find out their popularity. Out of the 17 that dined tonight, only 2 had the menu, so I didn't find out too much! I do know that 1 had the tomato, rocket, red onion and Parmesan salad followed by confit of duck leg, and the other chose char grilled veg and then chicken with lentils. They both thoroughly enjoyed. At least that's what they told me! I am trying more and more to pop into the dining area and mingle a little with the customers, to try and get a little feedback. So far, all the comments I have received have been very positive. Maybe they just don't have the balls to tell me if they're not happy with something! Here's tonight's set menu for you to peruse...

Well, that's it for now. I'll keep you all abreast of things as and when they happen

Nite nite all

Jimbo

Day 175 - Sunday lunch - Busy, busy, busy!

Sunday lunch again folks! I know I say it every week, but my God it comes around so quickly!

We had 19 booked, (well, it was actually 25, but I had forgotten to put a table of 6 in the book), and ended up full again! Didn't have to turn anyone away this week though...

I put on a Brie and bacon salad as one of the starters, and it sold very well. In fact so well, that it outsold the soup. Now there's a first! Perhaps it was the fact that the soup was pasta and lentil, and not everyone's cup of tea. here's a picture of the salad. Not a great one, but it'll give you an idea...

We ummed and arred about the desserts this week, and settled on a Lemon cheesecake, apple crumble and poached pears in cider. We normally make a big dish of crumble, but chose this week to serve them individually. Here's a couple of pics...

All things were running incredibly smoothly considering how busy we were, that is, until the six that I had forgotten to book in arrived. It wasn't just the fact that 6 walked in, it's that they walked in at exactly the same time as the 2 table of fours booked at 2pm and the 1.45's who were 15 minutes late, AND the 1.30's who were 30 minutes late!! 20 people all at the same time. Some times, all the planning in the world, and chaos! The following 30 minutes were a little tricky, but we muddled through.

 Home at a reasonable hour for a play in the pool with Harrison and Susana and then settled down to watch X Factor and Match of the Day 2! Pretty similar to last night really, although I managed to avoid the humiliation of my 6 year old son out driving me on the X box!

A day off work tomorrow, although lots of things to do. Laura is starting up her own business called Crafted Gift Creations, (www.facebook.com/CraftedGiftCreations), so we have to head over to Benidorm to source some stock etc. It's exciting, yet scary! Haven't really got the money at the moment, but hey, if you don't try, you don't get.... We'll see how things go. She only started marketing her page 2 days ago, and already has some orders, so fingers crossed.

Nite nite all,

Speak to you soon

Slimbo!

Day 173 & 174 - Fish and chip chaos & Result of the weigh in....

Hola Chicos y Chicas!

Here I am again! Although I actually had things to write about last night, I was so tired that I fell asleep watching the final of  'Celebrity Masterchef'! I must have been tired! I did however, manage to wake up just as they announced the winner! No point watching the recording now!

Yesterday was another mind numbingly boring day downstairs in the cafe. I don't think I really need to show you more photos of the roadworks, and as they are no further along, you would only be looking at the same ones from Thursday anyway! Not doing trade any good at all...

On the positive side, a very busy night in the restaurant for fish & chips. In fact, so busy that half way through service I had to leg it round the corner to the shop to purchase more wine glasses! Gordon Ramsay doesn't know how easy he's got it! Can you imagine him having to leg it over to Harrods because they'd run short of a few glasses at 'Royal Hospital Road'! I think not. So, without an 'F word' in sight, I ran as fast as my rather muscular legs could propel me, grabbed 2 boxes of wine glasses from the shelf, and strode purposefully to the till. Just my luck.... A queue! The sweat is pouring off me. It has gone warmer again and the kitchen as usual is a sauna. Add to that  my 'sprint' up the road and then my urgency to get back to work and you can imagine the drips cascading down my brow. Not only is there a queue, but the person being served is having all their little nick nacks individually wrapped in paper! NO! Why is this happening to me...? I eventually got to the front of the queue, paid and legged it back with a dozen glasses. Life in the real world eh....

Managed to get through the rest of service without a hitch... Phew!

On to today, and half a day off. My first port of call was 'The Beauty Box' for my weekly weigh in. I was very confident of another loss, as I have been feeling lighter and thinner over the past couple of days. I was right to be confident. I had lost 2 more pounds. At last, two successive losses. Slimbo is back! A total loss of 3 stone and 1 lb in just under 6 months. In fact, next week will be 6 months! Wow, that seems to have flown by for me. For you lot, having to read about it every day, it must seem like a lifetime!

Managed to spend a nice few hours being beaten on the Xbox by my 6 year old son, who not only beat me, but had the nerve to take the piss out of me while doing it! He's definitely a chip off the old block!

Tonight's service was a slow one. Only 4 tables tonight. I think it must be a Saturday night TV thing! Too many people at home watching 'Ant & Dec' and X Factor! Talking of which, it's time for me to sit back and watch my recorded X Factor now, followed by Match of the day.

Nite all. I should be back tomorrow with tales of Sunday lunch......

Sleep well
SLIMBO!

Day 170, 171 & 172 - The Pool is finally done!, but the roadworks continue....

Hello! It's me! I'm still alive!

I've not been on for the last couple of days, as to be honest, I've had nothing much to report! Today has been a little more interesting than the last 2, so I shall tell you all about it.....

Well, as ever, I arrived at work, wondering how things were 'progressing' with the roadworks... Here are some pictures for you. Perhaps you can see just how far they HAVEN'T got...

So this is what it has looked liked outside our front door for the last 2 days, and this was the view from our front door at 10am this morning... Enjoy the film!!

 You can probably work out from these pictures that we could be busier!

I spent most of the day upstairs, prepping for tonight's festivities. Here's tonight's menu...

As is usually the case, the majority of diners opted for the 'All you can eat' option, but I was chuffed to be able to serve the confit of duck leg. I had been toying for sometime with putting it on, and just kept thinking that it would be a waste of time, but finally decided to put it on the menu tonight. I served it with a canellini bean and bacon 'succotash'. Although not technically a succotash, I cant think of any other way to describe it! Here's what the finished dish looked like.. I have to say I'm very pleased with it.

I tried a new soup with pasta and lentils today. It may not be the best looking soup in the world, but I was surprised at how good it tasted. I added a little fresh mint at the end and it gave it a certain something....

So, that's it ! Not much has happened over the last few days, so I'll be back when I next have news for you!

Hasta la vista baby!

Jimbo

Day 168 & 169 - Results from the weigh in and a Full house for Sunday lunch

So, off I trotted to be weighed yesterday morning, full of dread at the prospect of not losing weight again for the 4th successive week. I needn't have worried. Somehow, I managed to lose 2lbs! I find it strange that this week I have done no exercise at all and lost weight, and yet, last week, I exercised like a nutter and gained 1lb.... Still, its a loss and I'm going in the right direction again. Also on a positive note, the pool seems to have corrected itself, so I'll be able to swim again this week...

Considering the roadworks, work was pretty okay again, and last night we had MORE people ordering off the menu and thoroughly enjoying it! Twice in one week...surely not!

Although pretty late in the evening, I managed to prep some stuff for this weekend's Sunday Lunch menu, which I have posted for you to see...

So, on to today, (Sunday), and a fully booked restaurant for lunch! Finally, the regulars are back, and the sun has been a little less harsh recently. Its good to see the place rocking again!

As you can see from the menu, we had made a  Bread and butter pudding for one of the desserts, and although Laura didn't like my choice of bread, I felt it was perfect! Not that I had any..., well, maybe a little bit! Laura likes to use brioche when she makes it, but I think this picture tells you that my choice was a good one!

I made a mushroom soup , (on a par with Minestrone as my current favourite soup), and a tomato, rocket, red onion and Parmesan salad for the 2 starters. Here's what they looked like...

I was surprised at how well they both sold...

For one of the mains, I had marinated a leg of lamb overnight in some wine, rosemary & mint and slowly braised it for 3 hours. I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish, but here it is sitting in its marinade...

It was bloody hard work today, but lunch went extremely well, and we are already half full for next Sunday...

 So that's it. The weekend is over, and I'm off for a good kip!

Nite nite all, speak soon

Slightly slimmer Jimbo

Day 166 & 167 - Busy, busy, busy and people ordering off the menu!!

So, Thursday has come and gone and we have been quite heartened by the support of the locals, who don't seem too bothered by the roadworks...

It has been pretty busy, considering that we are 4 tables and 16 chairs short outside, but it's just a shame to think how many more we could have done...

I spent the early part of the afternoon prepping for the 'all you can eat' and set menus. I made a  butternut squash and sage risotto, a mushroom soup, some arancini, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad and generaly got everything ready for service. The posh term for it is 'mise en place', but really, it just means getting everything ready! The arancini are simply 'balls' of risotto that are bread crumbed and deep fried, but they taste particularly good, (as long as its a decent risotto to begin with), and I made a little tomato sauce for them to sit on. I was really pleased that 6 people ordered it! Here's a piccy...

I have to say, without blowing my own trumpet, that the butternut squash risotto was amazingly good, and in a strange way, I'm hoping no one orders it so I can take it home!! Here's a piccy. The actual dish that goes to a customer will be a little wetter, but you can get the idea ..

Here's a couple of piccies of the salad bar. You cant really see everything, but it gives you an idea...

Really pleased with the evening service. We had 8 booked, and ended up doing 27, so very happy with that. It was nice to see a few people trying the menu as well. I'm a happy bunny...

On to today... Friday..., fish and chip day! A decent day in the cafe and a VERY good night in the restaurant. We managed 45 covers, which is a sign that the locals are back from Blighty! Long may it continue.

Tomorrow is weigh day and for once I can honestly say that I have definitely NOT lost any weight this week. If I have, it will be a miracle. Although I have been fairly good with my eating habits, I have not done ANY exercise at all this week. The pool has not been fit for swimming, and I have not visited the gym. I am expecting a 3lb gain..

As always, I will let you all now tomorrow. If you cannot wait for the blog, feel free to visit my Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/185455448234743/

Take care peeps

Speak soon

Jimbo

Day 164 & 165 - Roadworks, roadworks, roadworks!

Well, I decided last week that I would not post every day if I didn't have much to say. I haven't posted for a couple of days as not a lot has happened, but I thought I'd better let you know that I'm still here!

Work was a complete disaster yesterday. One of the quietest days I can EVER remember. I think this has probably got a lot to do with it...

Let's be serious, would you want to eat here...?


It really annoys me when I think about the situation, so I'm gonna shut up for a few minutes!

I'll talk about the goings on at home... The pool was still not right yesterday - it would appear that we have a filtration problem - but our landlord has been out today and has assured us that it will be ok by tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I haven't swum for 4 days now, so I'm in desperate need of some exercise.

Mindful of my impending weigh in on Saturday, I decided that as I was not doing any exercise, I would need to eat less calories and make sure it was healthy. The inspiration for last nights dinner came from my son, Harrison, who asked me to make Minestrone soup! I love it when he tells me what he wants, as normally when I ask him he just says 'I dont know'! Its so nice to know that he has asked for something specific, as a) you know he likes it, and b) you know he wants it. The bonus of him asking for Minestrone is that its so healthy and I love it too! I may not have had every ingredient that I would normally use, but I'm a big believer in the theory that recipes are just a guide and they should never be followed to the letter. You should adapt them to your own preferences and make them your own. I'm always nicking ideas from here, there and everywhere, but I make them personal to me. So back to the soup. I made a sofrito using the Holy trinity - onion, carrot & celery - and sweated them gently for a few minutes. Added some diced courgette, canellini beans, tinned tomatoes and chicken stock and cooked gently for a bout 20 minutes. I then increased the heat and added some vermicelli pasta. You could always substitute the vermicelli with spaghetti broken into inch long pieces. At the end of cooking, I chucked in a load of spinach, turned the heat out and covered with a lid for 5 minutes. While the spinach was wilting, I made a pistou. For those of you not familiar with it, it's a combination of basil leaves, garlic and olive oil blitzed together to make a cold 'sauce'. Its not far off a basil infused oil or even a good pesto and it works amazingly well in a soup. As I don't think I've unpacked my hand blender yet, I mushed it all up in a mortar and pestle. Here's what it looks like being made...

And then with the soup...

I like to make it quite thick, (as you can see), as it gives me the feeling that I'm eating loads of food! To be honest, its incredibly filling. I like to shave some Parmesan over the top just before serving. A little soup when making this type of soup... Never throw away the end bit of your Parmesan. Instead, save it until you make minestrone and just chuck it in. You don't eat it when you serve, but it adds a unique flavour....

On to today. We started this morning in the same way as we finished yesterday - dead. It was VERY quiet until around 11am, when all of a sudden we got busier and busier and actually ended up with a decent day's takings. We had to open the restaurant  for a while to accommodate the people we couldn't fit inside. I was mostly cooking this this morning...

Poor Laura and Kathy, running up and down the stairs all morning! It was heartening to see the cafe so busy baring in mind the goings on outside. This scenario was going on for about 2 hours, but our customers fighting spirit shone through...

I really am amazed that anyone would want to eat their food less than 6 feet away from this, but I am also very grateful to those who did. 

Got home and 'had' to spend 2 hours on the xbox with Harrison, as I was trying to help him with a really difficult level on Sonic! It reminded me of being 20 again and playing it when it first came out! We eventually finished the level. Fortunately for us both, Laura cooked dinner tonight, as if we'd been waiting for me, we would have gone very hungry! She made a Lamb Tagine with cous cous, and it was excellent. It was one of her party pieces many years ago and she fancied making it tonight. I love tasting new flavours, and although the components were not unfamiliar to me, I had not experienced the flavour before. Here it is...

That's it for today peeps, hope I haven't bored you too much! I'm guessing I'll have a fair bit to report tomorrow as the restaurant is open, so until then, nite nite

I'll be back soon :0)

Jimbo

Day 162 & 163 - My longest blog ever! Sunday lunch & Monday's roadworks....

I must first start by filling you all in with the visit from the man from the town hall. I wrote it on my last blog title, and then forgot to fill you in! If I begin with the words 'what a knobhead', you will immediately get an idea of purpose of the visit! Baring in mind that the works began on the renovation of the pavement today, (see pictures below), he had the down right cheek to tell us that our pavement tax was going up to 2,500€! Apparently instead of charging per table, (we have 4 outside), they are now charging square meterage. Here's the best part...he has measured from the front of the cafe to the edge of the pavement where it meets the road. We dont have any effing chairs and tables there!!! We now have to take photographs of the chairs and tables we have, and where we put them, and submit it to the town hall. Problem is, as you can see from this photo, its a bit difficult to do that with the way the outside is at the moment....

 

ONLY IN SPAIN!

 

I will of course keep you up to date with the final result!


So another Sunday has come and gone and finally now that the stupidly hot days have just turned into very hot days, our regulars are definitely returning in their droves... We started the day with 25 bookings and ended up having to turn people away as we were fully booked. Thats more like it. Its so nice when you know you have a lot of bookings, as you can make a real effort with the food and know its not going to be wasted. By that I mean, why spend half an hour and extra money stuffing a loin of pork with sage, rosemary and apricot and wrapping it in streaky bacon when you only have 12 booked? Why spend time and extra money creating a really interesting starter, when you only have a few bookings. At least when you have a lot of bookings, you can make the extra effort knowing that there shouldn't be too much waste. A certain chef is slowly getting a little excited!

Although I have used it on the set menu a couple of times, I dont often put the 'goats cheese, caramelised onion, serrano ham and balsamic bruschetta' on the Sunday lunch menu. Thought I'd stick it on this week. It was about par with the minestrone soup for orders, so I was pretty chuffed. Here's a piccy (for those of you who havent seen it 100 times before!)

As I was a little busy during service, I didnt get much chance to take too many photos, so there is no picture of the minestrone soup. Its a shame, as the soup was excellent! I made some pistou, (basically just fresh basil, garlic and olive oil blitzed together), and spooned it over the top just before serving. If you've never tried it, its a must. It takes a really nice soup to another level. I cant describe what it does, just try it. Oh, and dont forget to put a message on the blog telling me how it was!

One of the puds this week was a home made lemon cheesecake. Although 99 times out of 100, we put a cheesecake on, (as there would be uproar if we didnt), we do try and rotate the type of cheesecake as often as possible. As we had an abundance of lemons this week, it seemed silly not to use them. Here then is this Sunday's lemon cheesecake...

No fancy coulis or sauces. Somtimes the simple things are the best. I'm not a dessert man, but I could eat this all day long!

So that was Sunday....

On to today, and a day off, yipee! We took the little fella to school this morning and then had to queue up for 20 minutes in the canteen to purchase his school books for this year. Only 130€! Popped in to work to see if the road works had started and to drop some baguettes in. This is what we were greeted with...

Great for business, eh! Not only can we not put tables and chairs out, (it averaged 35C today), but we couldn't open our doors up either, as I dont think those customers who braved the disruption would have wanted the dust and crap ending up in their food! As I have asked before, why have these imbeciles started the work now? Whats wrong with November? Really makes me mad! They can stick their 2,500€ pavement tax up their ridiculously illogical, disorganised arses...

We decided to pop to a nearby cafe for a light breakfast. Normally,we would have stayed at our own place, but didnt fancy it. I wonder why! If we, the owners, didn't want to sit there, what are the chances of the general public doing so?

We went to a nice, modern air conditioned cafe about 5 minutes walk up the road and I had 'tostada con tomate, (tomato on toast!), with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. It filled a hole...

We needed to get a couple of bits for work, and try and look for 2 bedside tables, (as I'm sick of putting everything on the floor!), so headed off in search of those. Didn't find any!

We had invited over a couple of friends for a BBQ this afternoon as a thank you to them for helping us with our pool problem, so also needed to a little food shop as well, before picking the little fella up from school at 1pm. Just read this sentence back as I always do, and realise I had typed 'poo problem'. Thank the Lord I checked!!!!!

After collecting Harrison from school, we took him to 'Burger King' for a little treat. They have an indoor play area in there, so he likes to let off a little steam. I was very good and ordered a salad. As salads go, it was pretty dull!...

Didnt enjoy it, but patted myself on the back for not giving in to the temptation of the 'Bacon double cheeseburger'!


We had some left over fish, chicken, spinach, courgette and streaky bacon at work, so I got my thinking head on and came up with these...

Firstly, I made a spinach, sun dried tomato and ricotta filling and wrapped it inside some BBQ'd strips of courgette. Never tried it before, but it was pretty yum...

 

 

I then skewered some cod and streaky bacon and sort of entwined the bacon around the cod...

 

The picture isn't great, but you get the idea... I brought home the pea puree from work and used it as a sauce for the above and it was pretty darn good!

 

Laura made a paella, which is better than any Spanish version I have tried. I honestly believe that the Spanish have some very good ideas about food, and some interesting recipies, but they just dont know how to execute the dishes properly. I find that a lot of their food is just too bland for me... Here's the paella...

 

 

This isnt the greatest picture in the world, but I also made a Caesar salad and some BBQ'd chicken breast. Forgot to take a picture of the chicken, so here's the salad...

 

 

 

So that's basically it! My last 2 days in their entirety. Hope I didnt go on too much!

 

I'm off to bed and I shall speak to you all very soon

 

Nite nite

Jimbo

 

 



 



Day 160 & 161 - A man from the town hall popped in...arrrrrgh, The regulars are returning, and results form the weigh in

I will start with yesterday...

There seem to be many of our regulars returning from the UK this week. Lots of old faces popping in to say hello and book for Fish & Chips and Sunday Lunch!

We were in the 30's again last night for fish & chips, which considering that for the last 5 or 6 Fridays we have been averaging about 20, shows an upturn in trade. We also already have 24 booked for Sunday lunch tomorrow, so again, an upturn in bookings. The locals are most definitely back...

On to today...

Had half a day off today. Well, I went to do the shopping this morning and then took it all to work. I then popped round the corner to the 'Beauty Box' to be weighed and arrived back home at about 11am, so had 5 hours before needing to be at work. I suppose its as near as damn it to half a day off!

Notice I moved swiftly on from the bit about being weighed... Probably something to do with the fact that I put on 1lb this week. I'm totally confused and bamboozled... Unless I'm going completely insane, I know I'm eating sensibly and I know I'm exercising, so why am I not losing weight. I started to wonder how much weight I would have put on had I not have been execising. Its all very strange to me. I haven't had a fizzy drink for nearly 3 weeks. I understand the whole ethos behind losing weight. I know about burning calories. I know about what foods to eat and which to avoid, so why have I not lost any weight for a month?

All I can do is go back to what I was doing at the beginning of the journey, and log down everything I eat and its calorific values and see what happens next week... I am determind not to get into the rut that I have in the past with every other weight loss attempt I have made. On other weight loss journeys, when I have plateaud, I have slipped back into bad habits and ballooned in weight. NO way this time. I have too much to lose. I am in the right  frame of mind this time and the lack of loss just makes me more determined than ever...

OK, of to bed. Got a busy lunch tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep. I will be back tomorrow with news of Sunday Lunch.

Sleep well all
Jimbo (the huge great big fat chef who hasnt lost any weight in one month)!

Day 158 & 159 - We're getting busier and still no roadworks!

Not alot happened yesterday (Wednesday), so I decided I would only be boring you all to tears if I blogged, so I didn't!

When I say nthing happened, I really mean it! Work was pretty busy, but nothing to write home about, or even write here about!

Today was a little mre interesting. Thursday is prep day for me, so at around 11am, I leave the cafe to go upstairs to 'my office'! I had some pork loin that I didnt use n Sunday, so decide to stuff it with sage, apricots and some chopped mixed nuts and then wrap it in bacon. It was a toss up between apricots or peaches, but I had the apricots already, so they won! I have done the dish a couple of times for Sunday lunch, and it seems to go down well, so I thought I'd stick it on the set menu and see what happened. Here it is and the rest of the menu too!

The pork before it went in the oven......

 

and then on the plate.......

 

I sometimes wonder if we are too cheap.............................

 

We had  26 in tonight and 6 of those chose the set menu. We sold a portion of everything and the feedback was very good! I was really pleased that we sold a couple of fish pies as I put a lot of effort into it! Here's a piccy. Not the most flattering picture, but here it is any way!

All in all, I was really pleased with all the food tonight and although I forgot to take a picture, the pasta with cream and mushroom sauce was pretty damn sexy! Due to its calorie and fat content, I only had a little taste, but I could have eaten the lot! In general, the night went well, until the fuse kept continuosly tripping,and as we were busy, it was difficult to isolate the problem. Something has burnt out somewhere and the electrics in Spain are from the dark ages, so gonna have to call an electrician in the morning.

The morning is also the first day back at school for Harrison after 12 weeks off, so I better be off in a mo for some much needed sleep!

Nearly forgot to mention that we inherited a rabbit today, from a lady who could no longer look after it. He's called Eric and has settled in well with the 2 guinea pigs, 2 tortoises, 2 fish and Maisie the dog! Our house is becoming a mini zoo!

Before I forget, I must plug the book I am currently reading. Its called 'Humble Pie', and it is the life of Gordon Ramsay. I cant put it down. A must read. Thank you Kerrigan for the recommendation...

Sleep well peeps and I'll speak to you all very soon
Jimbo

Day 157 - Have the roadworks started yet?.....

Well, once again, I peered round the corner as I approached work, wondering if the road works had started.....

Guess what... NOTHING! Well, unless you count this bloke who removed a loading bay sign...!

So that was the full extent of the 'works' today. A good thing really, as we were quite busy. I'm thinking that when the works actually start for real, we are going to have to open the upstairs restaurant for the cafe clientelle. Time will tell.....

I managed to have a 5 minute chat with my fitness guru, Sam, today and voice my concern that I hadnt lost any weight since I started the training programme. He told me not to worry, as it was perfectly normal. He also said that sometimes its not about the weight loss, its more about body shape. That made me feel better..... With that in mind, I had a fair old swim this afternoon, followed by my work out. I have upped some of the weights as the exercises were getting a little easier, but I still find bicep curls really difficult. I've never really had muscley, (new word!), biceps and I've never really done a job or sport that uses them, so I find curls very hard work! I dont have a problem with the leg exercises, as I've always had pretty strong legs, (they've needed to be, carrying all the weight over the years!), its just the curls....arrrrgh! Don't think I'll be upping the weights on those for a while! On a positive note, my back pain is still there, but seems to have eased a little. :o)

Laura has just made dinner... Beef stew and dumplings! I will not be eating any of the dumplings as they are ridiculously high in fat and calories...

Ok, off to eat my dinner now, and I have a night of poker ahead, so I will bid you all farewell for now and I'll speak to you very soon

Nite nite
Jimbo