Days 263 - 269 - News, pictures and a festive message!

Well, it's Christmas eve, we have just finished our last day in the downstairs Cafe and have just got Christmas day left in the restaurant and then it will be all over! It's been a bit weird this week really. I've just been waiting for it to end!!

Last Saturday was a good night. We had a finger buffet for a ladies 65th birthday party and it was a very enjoyable evening. We have had some groups in the past who can hardly muster a smile and who have lost any manners they were shown as children, but Saturday's party goers were the complete opposite. It is so nice to have a group of people in the restaurant who appreciate their food, service and surroundings, and every one of them was polite and very complimentary. Such a refreshing change!
I listed the menu in my last blog, so I will show you some of the finished food...

I thoroughly enjoyed all the preparation, all the plating and all the eating of the food that wasn't eaten!!! Now that our new venture will give a little more freedom than the restaurant ever did, I may start to advertise a buffet service. It's what I love to do and with the feedback we got on Saturday, maybe it's the way forward...

Sticking with food for a minute or two, here are some of the things I have been eating this week...

...the left over meatballs from Saturday night with some spaghetti

A rocket, mozzarella, avocado and cherry tomato salad

and some pasta with spinach and pine nuts...

I made a terrine yesterday that hope fully will set in time for Christmas day as it is one of the starters! Here's how I made it.....

Started with some minced pork, apricots, sweated leeks and pistachios

Lined a loaf tin with streaky bacon

Blanched some asparagus

and filled it in! Cooked it for about an hour and fifteen minutes, then weighted it down and it's now sitting in the fridge waiting to be ordered!

I'll post some pictures when its cut.....

I had a little fun on Sunday and had a go at making whopper Yorkshire puddings again. Every now and then I get the urge! Here is one of the big ones from yesterday...

While on the subject of big ones, I was asked by Laura's dad to make him some breakfast as he was very hungry. This is what he got...!

I also thought I'd garnish the potato and leek soup with my attempt at a Christmas tree. Art never was my strong point!

Here is an apple pie we made for a customer today...

Okay, okay, enough food pictures. Thought I'd let you know that they have FINALLY finished 

the roadworks outside the Cafe! Its a complete cowboy bodge up, but nevertheless, it's finished. Not sure if you'd call it 'sod's law' or irony that it's finished just as we are about to depart to pastures new, but here's what it looks like up the street now...

Well that's about it for now, except to thank you all for supporting me and my blog so far and to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a spiffing 2013. It's going to be a massive year for me personally and I hope you will all keep following my progress. Who knows... I may even have time to finish  writing my book....

Thanks again for reading and I'll speak to you all soon

Jimbo xx

Days 257- 263 - Hello again!

Well, hello again. Just thought I'd keep in touch. Nothing much happening at work for the last few days... Calpe is sooooooooooooooo quiet at the moment, it's like a ghost town at times. I spoke to the guy next door who owns a sport shop and he hasn't taken a penny for the last 2 days. Nothing at all... Times are definitely hard at the mo. Enough of this doom and gloom though and on to pastures new!

Only 7 days left! Wow, that seems really weird. It's all we've done since moving to Spain and now, all of a sudden we won't be there anymore...., a very strange feeling. It's a little sad as we have put so much time and effort into making it a success, but the opportunity offered to us was too good to pass up. So on one hand it will be a sad day, but on the other, an exciting time lies ahead.

We have sent our menus to the printers and they should be ready in a couple of days, so looking forward to that. Although I'm having to compromise and cook 'Wetherspoons' type food, I will still be using fresh produce and still put the same passion into every plate of food that leaves the kitchen. Think I'm gonna stick a weekly special on as well to slowly show my new customers what I cook. We'll see how it goes down...

I'm quite excited as on Saturday we have private party at the restaurant for a lady's 65th birthday and she has requested a finger buffet. Right up my street! Although she has asked for a couple of specific things, I basically have carte blanche do create what I like. It's what I love doing, so well chuffed with that. It's ironic though that it will be the restaurants last night of trading, (we will be open on Christmas Day), and it's the first booking of this type! Typical!

Here's what I'll be making....

Individual Caesar salads

Goats cheese and caramelised onion crostini

Lemon and coriander chicken skewers

Smoked mackerel pate crostini

Individual mini cheesecakes

Tomato, basil & mozzarella pinchos

A mixed sausage selection

Smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis with caviar

A quiche

Individual mini cheeseburgers

Meatballs

I did have a mini Greek salad on a skewer as well, but the customer wanted cheeseburgers instead! Even with that slight adjustment, I must say what a pleasure it is that they don't just want Vol au vents, sausage rolls, cheese and pineapple sticks etc! I look forward to preparing it all on Saturday and will take some pictures of the finished spread for you to feast your eyes upon when it's finished...

I'm also doing the food for the Sports bar on New Years Eve, so I'll update you with that a little nearer the time. It will probably be more like the buffets we are all used to, but I will put my twist on it without making it too poncy for my new punters!

Away from food and on to my weight loss. I have to be honest and say that I have not been as strict over the last few weeks and I need to snap out of my current frame of mind and get back to doing what I was doing. I keep saying I'm going to do it, but I haven't yet done so. Although I am exercising regularly on the gym and cross trainer at the moment, I'm using that as an 'excuse' to not be strict about what I'm eating. Just because I'm exercising and burning calories, it doesn't mean that I can relax my concentration and slide down that slippery slope again. I have PROMISED myself that I will never get into that downhill spiral again, so I need to focus again, and quickly. I make no excuses, I have just been slack, and hopefully this public slagging off of myself will kick me back into gear....!

Right, I'm off to eat a bargain bucket to myself, so I'll speak to you all soon!

Only kidding, there are no KFC's within 30 miles of here!

Speak soon and thanks for reading 

Jimbo xx

Days 246 - 256 It has been sometime since I blogged....

Its me! Hello! It has been some time since I last blogged. My offer my humble apologies, but as there really hasn't been anything worth talking about, I thought it best to say nothing!

The road works continue outside our door, (you know, the ones that were supposed to take place between Sept 3rd and October 20th)! These muppets really haven't a clue what they're doing.....

Work has been very quiet recently, but to be honest, I am so focused on the venture that lies ahead, I am not really bothered! We've had a couple of Christmas lunches in the last week that have gone very well, but apart form those, there isn't much to write home about.

I had a shock on the scales this week..., I gained 3lbs. Not a happy bunny, but only have myself to blame as I haven't been careful enough with my food intake. I've got into a mindset that says 'don't worry about eating that, you can burn it off later on the bike'. All well and good, except if I don't get on the bike...........

 I need to get out of this frame of mind, and get back to basics. Basically, I need to start from scratch and get back to doing the things that worked for me in the beginning. Although it can be difficult at times with all the food preparation and tasting I have to do, I just have to refocus.

I have a cross trainer now, and I aim to do 20 minutes a day. If after a couple of weeks I find myself becoming fitter, I will up it to 30 and see how it goes.

I haven't been too creative with the menu at work recently as it's been so quiet that I find it difficult to motivate myself into thinking up interesting dishes. What's the point of creating food that isn't going to sell... I may as well just throw money down the drain. We had a women's lunch group in today, so I could express myself a little bit. Here's the menu I prepared...

Starters
Tomato & Basil bruschetta
Home made mushroom soup with truffle oil
Goats cheese, caramelised onion and Serrano ham tartlet with balsamic reduction
Mushrooms pan fried in a garlic infused butter on toast
Char grilled vegetables

Mains
Confit of duck leg served with chilli spiced noodles
Pasta with courgette and cream
Pan fried Cod with crushed new potatoes and pea puree
Chicken & Chorizo hunters stew with crusty bread
Spaghetti with deconstructed pesto

Desserts
Home made Baileys and chocolate cheesecake
Apple and plum crumble
Banana split
Ice cream
Home made Sherry trifle

Ironically, 4 out of the 5 starters on offer were ordered by the 9 diners, but for main course, 7 had the cod and 2 had the duck! So, my creativity wasn't really needed after all!

The menu at the new venue will be much simpler. It will be more along the lines of a 'Wetherspoons' type. I will put on weekly specials, and will try to incorporate as much fresh produce and ideas as I can. Once we have finalised the menu, I will shove it on here for you to see.

I tried my hand at making a pate this week. I know it sounds weird that someone who has been cooking for so long has never made one, but to be honest, they're not my most favourite thing in the world, and I usually make a terrine. I did however give it a go, and was most pleased with the result.
I decided to do a chicken liver pate with brandy. It was a really simple recipe, and now I have done it, I think I will put my own little twist on one next time. Here's how it looked...

Be careful if you have long hair, as this really flames when you add the brandy! Fortunately, I do not have that problem!

Here's the finished product...

I made a second pate for tasting purposes, but by the time I took this picture, there wasn't much left!

I am not an offal fan, but it tasted very nice. Next time I will be adding more brandy and a little sweetness I think...

While uploading these 2 pictures, I remembered that I had taken a snap of the chicken and chorizo stew that I made today, so I've stuck this on as well!   

We have a Christmas music quiz at the restaurant tomorrow night, so as I have no idea how many people may or may not turn up, I am just going to make a beef casserole type affair with a lump of topside that I cut of my Sunday joint this week. I will post pictures when it is finished.

Until then, I will trot off and bid you a very good evening!

Sleep well all, and I will make a concious effort to blog a bit more often!

Hasta la pasta!

Jimbo

Days 241 - 245 - I've been stealing!!!!!

I'm back again! Not much to report as Calpe has been a bit of a ghost town this week.

We had a fund raising event at the restaurant on Wednesday in aid of a local dog charity which was organised by Laura. It went pretty well and some much needed money was raised. Although the road is STILL closed off to traffic, many people turned up to support the cause, so a big thank you to them. It was great success and if we weren't undertaking our new business venture, I am sure we would have organised another. Who knows, maybe we will anyway...

Back to work..... It's been an awful month, (November always is), and Calpe is currently like a ghost town. The road works are still continuing and I have to tell you that the road they have only just laid is being pulled up again!! Guess what.... I don't give a flying hoot!!! They can work on the bloody road forever now, I really don't care!! Roll on Christmas Day! Roll on new business venture! Roll on the roadwork free zone! Here's a piccy just to show you what utter muppets they are.....

Adios muppetos!

So financially, even though we had a decent Friday and Sunday, it's been a pretty difficult month for us, which really has reinforced the fact that we are doing the right thing in making the move. Time will tell, but noting ventured, nothing gained. Got to take a gamble in life, or you just stagnate. If it goes 'tits up', at least we tried. Better to have tried and failed than to have not tried at all.......... Can't think of any more cliches at this point!

Doom and gloom over, and it's on to the weather! It's bloody freezing!! I'll tell you how cold it is.... I wore tracky bottoms to work today! I genuinely cannot remember the last time I was not wearing shorts! I'm pleased I wore them too, as when we arrived for work yesterday evening, the internal oven temperature was 8C. The kitchen was probably a degree or two below that. Stark contrast to the 50C temperatures of just 3 months ago.

At home it's even colder! Although we have central heating, we have a problem with the workings etc, so until it gets looked at, the house is a fridge. In Spain they don't insulate their houses as most of the time it's hot and it would be silly to retain too much heat, so you can imagine how cold it gets! We have a real fire in the living room, but it only really heats the living room and the rest of the house gets no benefit. When we breathe, you can see the steam coming out of our mouths! We have found an old gas bottle fire in the garage, so we are using that now too! The funniest bit for me is... the price of firewood here is extortionate (130€ per cubic meter), so we have been stealing the wooden pallets that the block paving has been delivered on for the roadworks! Soon as they stop for their numerous breaks, I nick 'em and chuck 'em in the car!! Gotta get something back from those muppets!

I didn't get weighed this week, as I had too much to do, so I am now going to do it bi - weekly! I am hoping to acquire a 2nd hand cross trainer this week, so I will be upping the exercise in time for the next weigh in! 

Okay, I'm off to put the little fella to bed now, so I will speak to you all again very soon.

Take care

Jimbo