PutYourFlareOn

Epuisé

Tired.

I am so tired.  Exhausted. Drained. 

But somehow in the morning I find myself recharged and ready to start a new day.  The thought of going to my own kitchen in my own café still floors me. 

Another weekend has come and gone. This time no petage de plomb. It was a weekend full of coffee and couples. Students and sweets. Tea tasting and Twittering.  There was even a moment where both Lydia and I were able to sit down and have lunch together (which is rare). Sunday was fairly quiet, we had a steady stream of customers. .  Right at tea time the skies opened up and started to pour down.  Within in a minute, ALL of our tables were full. It remained full until we closed. I was home by 8:00pm.

If this is my new work routine?  I must say, I absolutely love it.

Café Characters

I'm going to start introducing to the blogosphere the people who are often seen at the café.  Of course, with their express permission.  You will see some of my Paris entourage for sure and some new faces of people who I have met through the café. These people have at one time worked for the café's previous owner. And with the sale of the café,  I have inherited a lovely network of people who truly are amazing. 

I'd like to first introduce you to Louisa.  My quirky part-time server who lives next door to the café. She helps me out on Mondays and Tuesdays.  There is never a dull moment when Louisa is around.

Petage de plomb*

*Or to blow a fuse (literally and figuratively)

Yes, it happened while we were in the middle a huge lunch rush. On a Sunday of all days.  For a moment there, the café was plunged into semi darkness. Only the light from the huge windows filtering through.  The clientele seemed unphased and continued on with their leisurely conversations.  A few looking over to me in the kitchen. I smiled and acted like nothing was wrong. Except that we had no lights in the kitchen, no lights in the bathroom, no dish washer and NO OVEN. The no oven part was worrisome as I use the oven to make the main course for the brunch which is the feuilletés and quiche.  While my staff buzzed around me, I continued to make lovely salade composé for the feuilletés that had been ordered. And watched calmly as they started to pull appliances out from the shelves to figure out another way to get some juice to them. A few frantic looks from my girls, I then figured it was time to call Julien. Within 10 minutes he was at the café with Maximilien in tow.  Good thing my lovely friend, Stefanie (Thank you, Stefanie!) and her husband were there to occupy my very busy 12 month old while Julien went to work.  A few minutes later we had light! The buzz of all the appliances surged on and were fully operational. Brunch was saved and all ended well. 

I was pleased to see that the books that I had brought over the night before were getting some use. Customers started pulling down books to thumb through to pass the time.  Exactly what I wanted these books to be used for. A Spanish couple mentioned to me they were happy to find that  had put a Paris guidebook on the shelf. While they waited for their œufs à la coque they jotted down places to visit later that day.

Standing behind the counter during my very first brunch rush was really surreal. I did not see the time pass except for when the fuse blew and those 20 minutes felt like an eternity.  But I kept cool, knowing that if I did not panic my staff would not either. I told everyone to smile and act normal and that all would be just fine.  I have been dubbed "zen" by my two part-time servers.  I like that. 

Our life revolves around the café kitchen

Touched

I arrived to work today to find this lovely bouquet of flowers waiting for me. These flowers were sent to me by a faithful reader of my blog who goes by the name of Tiffany.  Thank you so much! What a wonderful surprise to find these this morning. My eyes stung with happy tears as I read your very sweet note.  This bouquet quickly found it's home on one of my wooden tables. 

Again, thank you, Tiffany.  I am overwhelmed by your gesture.  I hope have a cup of tea with you someday soon.

Butterflies

I've got them. Big time. I feel like it's the first day of school or something. You know how you lay out your outfit for the first day of school. Well, I did the exact same thing. Threadless tee. Black skirt. Haven't decided on the shoes yet but I'll probably wear my old standard Converse All Stars.

The café fridge is packed. We have two of the three shipments of tea. We have good coffee. I'm going to make a mini fondant au chocolat this morning. I think we're ready to go...

I'll be twittering today from my cell phone as we do not have Internet.... yet. 

Have a good day, everyone! And if you're in Paris, stop by and say hi and stay a while. :)