Tuesday Morning Musings

• Tuesdays are our Monday.  We are sleepy and lazy and don't wanna go to work.  It doesn't help that it's dreary and gray today.

• Pickle mania this weekend yielded 9 quarts of Bread and Butter Pickles.  Yesterday we made Marty's Blue Ribbon Bread and Butters; today we are making more of those, plus an experimental batch of sweet pickle chips.  We have a bushel of Kirby cucumbers to use up...Kevin is also trying out a recipe for half-sours, which should be ready for tasting any day now!

• We are in need of a part time dish washer and a weekend server.  Send in your applications.

• The health department's shuttering of Brix is bad news for the town - the last thing we need is the loss of another business, let alone a restaurant.  And the big question is, if their grease trap - as rumored  - was too small or even non-existent, how the heck did they get opened in the first place?  How did they pass all those early inspections regarding grease trap requirements?   I know we had to jump through a lot of hoops during that process, and it wasn't cheap. 

• This poses the next questions - how can the town attract more restaurants?  We need them, badly.  A shortage of good dining venues resulting in less options for diners means fewer people traveling to the area specifically for the restaurant experiences they can find there.  It also results in a lack of employees - how can this area attract qualified, let alone talented, restaurant help if there are no stimulating places in which to work?

• A late season entry into the Rose taste-off of 2010 has entered the building - Montes rose of syrah.  Really nice.  Fruity and steely at the same time.   It might make an appearance on the wine list...but if it doesn't, just ask about it.

• Those who have enjoyed our Arcimboldo prints might want to make a trip to the National Gallery to see the originals of the Four Seasons, among the six hanging there until January 9th.

• Too bad stink bugs aren't on anyone's menu!

• We've heard good things about Molly's Place in the new "Vonnie's" complex north of Kennedyville.  One of our servers - Ann - left to take a job with Jeren and her crew, and it sounds as though things are really taking off!  Those first few weeks of opening a new place are pretty stressful; I think we will wait a little longer before checking out the new digs.

•  Anyway, Tuesday will be over sooner or later.  Each new week brings challenges and rewards; none of us ever know what is in store for us.  We can only hope we are up to the task of dealing with anything that comes our way in a professional and graceful manner...and that we get to eat well!

• Cheers!