It’s amazingly scarry to think about my first holiday weekend as manager at Sandcastle. Last year was crackalackkn NUTS! I’m so worried…..”Do I have the right amount of staff?”, “Did I order enough of everything?”….and if course I keep thinking of new tasks and concerns. ……

YES it is a beautiful sunny afternoon and I think a yak (kayak that is….lol) is in order.

Stay tuned to AS MY STOMACH CHURNS lol

That’s right! We open on Thursday. As the new manager, and I mean that quite literally, I am hamstringn’ stressed!  LOL.

Working for two years at Archie’s Seafood Restaurant on Commissioners Rd. opened my eyes to the restaurant industry. And, I believe, I was taught by the best! I never did envision myself working in a restaurant of any type but I needed the job and it wasn’t as a waitress. (Before you jump on the band wagon I think waitresses have a very stressful job and HATS OFF! to the good ones.) Waitressing reminded me too much of being a mom…..been there, got the T-shirt.  *a little side note – I do recommend the food at Archie’s. It’s quite yummy. LOL! They have the best garlic bread with cheese I’ve had in a very long time. If you get nothing else there try that!

So I worked take-out first. Friday nights were always crazy. Then I learned about how a kitchen runs and how to organize myself so nobody walked out the door with the wrong order. Doesn’t sound hard,right? Guess again. Then I started cooking on the buffet, flipping omlets, cooking pancakes, french toast and waffles, sometimes eggs, etc. After that I started working front of house, seating people, clearing tables, running food for buffet. Anything that needed to be done. And all the while learning about managing employees, scheduling etc from my good friend. (also my manager….see? Goes to show. When you are looking for a job, sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know…cliche but so true.) So…what’s the point? I LOVED IT! Who knew? I have always been a bit of a foodie.

This is my favorite part: I wanted more hours so I started working at Sandcastle in Port Bruce! Became Ass. Man.  Teehee….. I love saying that.  Marianne showed me a lot about how this Beach side restaurant works. Yah!  That’s right! I said it!  BEACH SIDE!!!!  What??  My dream job! I look out the windows and I see my lake! Yes…I will share. If I have too….GRIN.

Well, Marianne had a baby. Really cute little baby girl. I asked and was given the position of manager. WHAT? Yeah…me.  So….needless to say I have been busy setting up scheduling. Hours talking to suppliers and trying to place orders that give us all we need to open and not run out, BUT….also stay within budget. Checking with the Health Unit because everyone has to have a Food Management Safety Certificate. Trying to make sure I can keep track of waste, etc and portion control on the food. Lots of paper work but I figure once it’s set up I’m good to go. And I have to wave a big hello to my BFF, Chrissy. Her brains are good pickn’s. 

I’ll be back to share the adventure after we open.  Have fun till then.

What a lovely cold winter day! Seriously, NO sarcasm here! LOL I’ve been replenishing my dish cloth supply. I tend to give them away as fast as I make them. Do you find that a full size, hand made dishcloth is just too big and bulky? Here is a very simple pattern for a dish cloth that you can rinse out and hang over your tap.

I believe this is a vintage pattern. It’s hard to tell the size but it’s about the spread of my hand, four or five inches. I used kitchen cotton and a 5.5mm hook.

Chain 13 or whatever size fits over your tap. Close the circle with a slip stitch into the first chain crocheted.

Chain one and single crochet 30 stitches. More or less depending on your tension and length of chain. Slip stitch into chain one.

Row 1: 3 sc, 3 sc into next stitch, 3 sc. ch1, turn.
Row 2: 4 sc, 3 sc into next stitch, 4 sc, ch 1, turn.
Row 3: 5 sc, 3 sc into next stitch, 5 sc, ch 1, turn.
Row 4: 6 sc, 3 sc into next stitch, 5 sc, ch 1, turn.

Continue this pattern until 21 stitches.

Some people like to crochet a little edging, (I used a picot edging on the dishclothes I made for my friend.) For my own clothes I don’t . I hope you love these little babies as much as I do.

So…..on to the pitas. This was my first attempt. I had a feeling it would take a few tries to achieve the BUBBLE! I hope to nail it next time. So…what did I learn? LOL!!

I learned this:

Use a food processor. (I don’t have one yet but will shortly…lol. Very labor intensive)
Don’t put in too much water.
Roll out thinly.
Don’t make them too big!
Make sure your oven is HOT!!!! 500 degree F hot! and your stone or cookie sheet is HOT.

Bottom line: I will continue to do this over until I get it right. Mine may not have “bubbled” properly but they were DELICIOUS!! I plan on freezing a bunch to use over the summer at the trailer.

So google a recipe and have some fun!! Please share your tips or failures and we can learn together.