Friday, May 09, 2014

The Weekly UpDate

A lot of wasted time this week at my desk.  Yes, computer crap issues.  Wednesday it was the trials of getting the email list over to the new computer - I wasted at least two hours trying to avoid doing it in a way that took two hours.  So, it ended up taking 6 hours.  I am so clever!  This morning I've spent over an hour trying to stop conduit.search from taking over my browser.  Yesterday I had installed Chrome as a supplemental browser, to use with my online class, and apparently it dragged this hostile search engine along with it.  I've uninstalled Chrome but conduit hasn't let go yet, so I've yet to solve that mystery.  It's very annoying. 

And speaking of annoying, check out what we had to do yesterday:

This is the Brooks Tavern version of an oil spill clean-up.  We recycle our oil to a guy who uses it as fuel for his car, and we stack the used oil in five gallon buckets next to the dumpster.  Well, Wednesday, when the oil in the deep fryer was changed and the used oil placed outside, it all leaked out of a crack that was in the bottom. of the bucket.  We left Wednesday night, not realizing until the last minute what all that "wet" stuff was by our car.  The next morning you could see the tracks of everyone who walked through the oil toward their cars across the parking lot.  (Mandrell commented, upon his arrival Thursday morning, that it looked like Hansel and Gretal had left a trail to find their way home.)  Thursday morning Kevin laid cardboard over the oil; later in the day Rayvon took over, as you see above.  He pulled up the oily cardboard and sprinkled a 20 pound bag of cat litter over the cement, to hopefully absorb the fry oil.  What a mess!  But at least it isn't super hot out, eh? 

Wednesday night was meatloaf, which is always a popular prix-fixe menu, but the pasta starter was what got the raves:

Angel hair pasta, studded with the first asparagus of the season, plus garlic, Parmesan cheese and cherry tomatoes, was a hit!

And look at the meatloaf!  That looks so good.  To me, the true test of meatloaf is how it tastes cold - which is the taste I got of this one - and if it's good cold it's going to definitely be delicious served hot with an onion gravy! 

We were so excited to see Bill Kelly come through the back door yesterday with the first flat of Redman's asparagus.  Usually the bearer of the first fresh local vegetable of the season gets a big fat smack on the cheek, but that was Cathy.  This year Bill was fine with just a photo-op with Kevin.  And last year the first delivery was on April 30th...


How exciting is this!  And while Bill didn't mind a more sedate greeting, I know Kevin missed his first annual sight of Cathy coming through the back door, following her classic ring of the door bell.  Hopefully she'll be coming around one of these days!

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of food this week, but I did get a few shots of people.  This first one is a pair of our somewhat younger regulars, sitting in the cubby with Mom, enjoying the Wednesday night prix-fixe.  There is nothing I like better than to see little kids eating Kevin's food with such gusto.  So often all this age wants is a grilled cheese or kid's pasta, without anything green within miles of the plate.  These two - and we do have a few more pint sized diners who are as adventurous as their adult counterparts - are pretty much game to try anything, especially when Mom assures them that they will like it!

Speaking of adults, below is a group of a few of them, relatives of mine.  My sister Marty, second from the right, was in town for a conference, which called for dinner at Brooks.  My nephew Jay sits to Marty's left, with his wife Mandi across.  My brother John, soon to be a retired high school math teacher, is at the head of the table, with his wife Harriet to his right.  It was a mini-family reunion!  I joined in when I could, especially to hear about the exploits of Jay and Mandi's new flock of chickens...

We were pleasantly surprised by a quick pop-in by this old friend - Andy!  She came by with our ToT check but was on her way before we knew it.  Ever since leaving her enormously successful and still missed bar on High Street, Andy seems to be busier than ever and we rarely see her.  One of these days we'll have a date together, that is certain.  


The low point of last week was Becca's last shift at Brooks Tavern.  She has been working as a busser here since August of 2012, and doing a wonderful job.  She is one of those kids who started out as shy and awkward around the customers but gradually blossomed into a confident and hard-working employee.  She has left to take a server position at Waterman's, at which I am sure she will shine.  I would loved to have kept her here, but there is no growth available and it was only a matter of time before she would move on to next level somewhere else.  It was a very tearful moment when she gave me her two weeks notice, and more tears were shed on her last night, but we are very proud of Becca, and wish her all the best at her new job. 

That's all for now!
Peace out!


No comments:

Post a Comment