Paris snapshots

Quick quick quick update

2012-01-24T12:02:00.001+01:00

Just a note to investors and others who might be wondering what we're up to:
- the Investor Newsletter summarizing the first four months of operations for Cozy Bar in Amsterdam, as well as information on our dividend payments and overview of 2011 (and forecast for 2012) will be sent before the end of January. Check your email boxes.

- I'm heading to Amsterdam to begin my three week cycle working at Cozy Bar. We've had a good winter in Paris so far (sales-wise), and hope to see some progress in the coming weeks in Amsterdam as well.

- December was our best month of sales ever in Paris. Yay!!

- Overall we're doing well, healthy and happy and excited about making 2012 a great year.

More later!

What happened??

2011-12-11T23:24:00.001+01:00

What happened to November?? I just realized that I hadn't posted any blog entries during the entire month of November?

Well, I hope I can be forgiven.

It was a busy month - first of all, I had been planning a surprise for Martin's birthday (oops! - to quote Rick Perry - I almost gave away his age!! Let's just say that it was a "milestone" birthday, ending in a zero). I had his parents come from Los Angeles to fly to Paris and surprise him on his birthday. It took a lot of planning, but it was a huge success. To see the video of Martin's parents surprising him at our apartment, check it out on our new Youtube channel - www.youtube.com/buckmartinberko

Also, the month of November included our having Christina D'Angelo and her boyfriend, Christopher, visit us in Paris (and Amsterdam) from NYC for Thanksgiving. As per our custom, we celebrated this quintessentially American holiday at Joe Allen's restaurant in Paris, with our friends Maxime and Kevin. As usual, I had the pumpkin enchilada appetizer followed by the traditional turkey dinner, and a pecan pie dessert. It was fabulous.

And so now, it's December. And I'm back in Amsterdam... not entirely in the holiday mood, but I'm enjoying it here (just need to get back to the gym). I like working with Robertino, and I like my routine here - living in the apartment, having my cappuccino muffins at Coffee & Company on Centurbaan on my way to work. I'll be here until the 23rd when I return to Paris for Christmas with Martin (and Berko).

In the meantime I'm going to work like crazy to start getting Cozy Bar ready for 2012 - new advertising, new events, and a new promotion ("high tea" ... English style, not cannabis!!).

A small slice of Coziness

2011-10-29T12:28:00.003+02:00

We've opened Cozy Bar in Amsterdam for almost two months now, and with the Groupon successful promotion we have been averaging at least four or five reservations per night for the "all you can tapas and 2 cocktails" offer. As a result, we've needed to hire a couple of bartenders to help during that peak period between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM.

Adrian comes from Hungary, and he just moved to Amsterdam to try to start a career as a DJ. But in the meantime, he needs to work ... so he asked if he could work part time for us. Perfect! So he's been a big success with the customers - everyone likes him.

Robertino is a student from Stuttgart studying business in Amsterdam. He's very easy going, conscientious, and an all around great guy. Both Martin and I are really happy that they are each working with us to make Cozy Bar a success.

In the meantime, if you haven't checked out our website for Cozy Bar - www.cozybar.nl - do so now. And if you use Facebook, we have a Cozy Bar page there as well, to follow what we're up to on a "nearly" daily basis.

A view from the tram

2011-10-19T11:58:00.001+02:00

Just a quick view of my typical "commute" from the apartment in Amsterdam (Old South) district towards the city center where the bar is. My tram ride begins right outside the apartment and then after two stops I change to another tram and get off at "Dam" square where the bar is a five minute walk away.

Yesterday, when I took this video clip, was my day off - the weather was sunny, but cold. I had a relaxing, wonderful time off (a delicious mocha and chocolate muffin, reading my Kindle and sipping a Chardonnay at Leidseplein square...).

Three magical days

2011-09-30T20:30:00.002+02:00

As part of our marketing plan for Cozy Bar in Amsterdam, we decided to include GroupOn as a vehicle for raising awareness and bringing people into the bar. Our problem has been since we opened a month ago, "how do we get people to come inside once they walk up to the door?" Human psychology is such that most people will not go into a store, bar, or restaurant if it looks empty. People want to be around other people, or more likely, if there is crowd at a place, the "pack mentality" will dictate that "wow, this place must be good, look how many people are there."

So getting bodies inside is a bit of a Catch 22. Our good friend, and investor, Jeff Stine - while visiting us in Amsterdam and checking out Cozy Bar, suggested we give GroupOn a try. GroupOn, for those of you gentle readers who have never heard of it, is an online service that sends special offers to its subscribers. Typically a business will offer a price reduction or a get one free if you buy 3 type of deal. I met with GroupOn's representative in Amsterdam, and we came up with an "All you can eat tapas, plus two cocktails, for 19 EUROS" deal. Apparently there are 400,000 subscribers in greater Amsterdam, and a successful campaign would entail 0.1% buying the offer (i.e. 400 purchases) that could be redeemed over six months.

The three day campaign started on Wednesday (it's Friday as I write this), and by the end of Wednesday we had surpassed my wildest goal, and were already over 500 sold. The traffic to our Cozybar.nl website averaging about 20 - 40 hits a day, on Wednesday we had over 1,800 visits! As of right now, we've sold almost 800 (792), and there are still 4 hours to go. I am in shock. This has been an amazing promotion, and hopefully, it will be a big success in driving people into the bar - both from GroupOn, as well as the spill over of passersby now seeing people and thinking "wow, this place must be good, look how many people are there!"

Ten days in Amsterdam and counting

2011-09-12T19:51:00.004+02:00


The living room at our Amsterdam apartment

We opened Cozy Bar on the 1st of September. Getting to that point was no small feat for us. Martin came a week earlier to begin the preparations - buying inventory, cleaning, meeting with the bank, vendors, doing some marketing, building shelves, re-decorating - he was a flurry of activity. Fortunately, he had Elia, one of our Imprevu employees in Paris, there to help with everything while I stayed behind in Paris running Imprevu.

Prior to the opening to the public on Thursday the 1st, we did a "Soft Opening" as it's known in the hospitality industry. Invited guests from the neighborhood, former regulars of the 'old Cozy', and friends of friends. The VIP Open House was on Monday the 28th of August, and I came up from Paris that Sunday to start my 'tour of duty.' We were busy right up until we opened the doors for the VIP event.... still trying to get things ready. For the VIP Open House we served free Prosecco, tapas, and softs such as Coca-Colas and juices.

The turnout for the VIP event was better than expected. I feared we'd have only 10 people show up, but we actually had about 80. A good first start for the relaunch. But there still remained plenty to do - we needed to find a long term furnished apartment, get the marketing started, and still more little projects to organize the bar area and coffee area better.

Thursday's grand opening went pretty well also. A good number of people (600 EUROS in revenues), a pretty polished first impression of Martin, Elia, and myself - all being our charming selves - and with that, we were now ready to open on a daily basis (closed Tuesdays).

The VIP Open House

Amsterdam is such a beautiful place, with the canals and unique Flemish architectural style and churches. We were fortunate to find a charming apartment in the "Old South" neighborhood, a stone's throw from the Amstel river which runs through the center of town. It's a bit far from the bar - a good 20 minute Metro ride, or a bit longer by bus, and about 35 minutes by tram (my preferred mode of travel). Unfortunately I don't really have any free time to enjoy the city.

My typical day here is as follows:

11:45 a.m. wake up (begrudgingly), and fix breakfast. Watch a bit of CNN International, or preferably the History Channel. Check Facebook.

1:50 p.m. out the door and catch Tram 3 into the center, changing at Museumplein (next to the Van Gogh museum) for Tram 5 towards Centraal Station. I like to read my Kindle why on the tram, and look out the window.

2:30 p.m. walking through the Dam Square neighborhood to buy supplies at the Albert Heign market to make tapas for the evening. Our menu at Cozy features seven types of tapas, but I only make one or two per day - and serve them at Happy Hour. The tapas haven't really taken off yet ... I sell maybe 1 or 2 a day. But I make a small batch, and give out the remainder at the end of Happy Hour as a sample. We'll see. Hopefully they catch on (today I made a "Tortilla Espanola" which resembles a potato and egg omelette).

3:00 p.m. arrive at Cozy and set up the interior, and begin making my tapas for the day.

4:00 p.m. open the door and set up the outside (3 tables, 4 chairs). We're on a narrow pedestrian street, so the space for sidewalk seating is limited. Plus it rains about 90% of the time.

6:00 p.m. Happy Hour starts. I wish I could tell you that I get a big rush at Happy Hour. But actually customers come randomly, with most coming only if they see someone else seated inside. Otherwise they follow the classic psychological behavior of avoiding entering a place that appears empty. A bit of a Catch 22 for us.

9:00 p.m. Happy Hour ends. I turn off the main overhead lighting (a Martin innovation, to brighten the interior during the afternoons), and use only the mood lighting and light a few candles.

11:45 p.m. hopefully I've had a few tables come in and order cocktails or beer. I begin cleaning the coffee machine, and a bit behind the bar. These first ten days, however, I've rarely had any customers come in after midnight. Even on the weekend.

1:00 a.m. I stop service, and if there is no one in the bar, I close for the evening. The Night Bus from Centraal Station leaves at 1:11 a.m., and I can make it in 5 minutes.

1:25 a.m. I'm back "home" at the apartment, eating something (hummous and chips) and drinking something (wine) while watching CNN, BBC, or the History channel.

3:00 a.m. In bed - falling asleep ready to refresh for the next day.

In front of the bar inside Cozy

I head back to Paris on Tuesday the 21st of September. I'll spend the night together with Martin and then he'll head up to Amsterdam on the late morning train to begin his tour of duty here. Inevitably he'll establish his own rhythm and routine as well.

Balloon arch outside the door for the VIP Open House

Eventually we'll hire some staff here - but for now, with revenues so small, we want to limit our expenses. It will be nice to see this adventure blossom into something big. For now, we're taking it a day at a time, planting seeds with marketing and nurturing the clients that come through the door.

Our new second home

2011-07-26T22:49:00.005+02:00

The canal Oudezijds Voorburgwal - around the corner from our new bar in Amsterdam

Today I signed the papers to buy a bar, our second. It's not in Paris, however. This one is three hours away by high speed (185 mph) bullet train in Amsterdam. I won't go into the details of how we came across the bar - long story short, it was an amazing opportunity for us to do something that is similar, but different, to what we are doing with Imprevu in Paris. Plus, it takes us closer to our longer term goal of creating the 4 Bar experience.

Our new bar, called Cozy Bar, was created in 2010 by an American, Anthony Hodges. He did an amazing job in starting a bar from zero - a lot of toil, sweat, and tears to build a bar that this year was hailed as one of Amsterdam's hottest bars by "Time Out" magazine. It's a great space - very lounge-y with a full professional kitchen. It's just off of a main street, near several tourist locations, and about a five minute walk to the main train station.

It is going to be an amazing experience for both Martin and I as we continue what Anthony began, and build upon it to create a truly cozy bar, profitable and successful, with a menu that includes freshly made tapas daily (that tapas training is going to come in handy!). Martin and I will work like crazy for the ten days leading up to an early September launch, and then following the grand opening we'll take turns shuttling between Amsterdam and Paris - one of us will spend two weeks at Cozy while the other spends two weeks at Imprevu, and then vice versa.

Maybe we're crazy - but in the meantime, stay tuned for all of our adventures! And check out the cozy website at www.cozybar.nl

Things I've learned

2011-07-26T17:25:00.003+02:00

A few years ago there was a popular book that was entitled "Everything I Needed to Learn I Learned In Kindergarten" or some such nonsense. Apparently it sold a ka-jillion copies and the authors laughed all the way to the bank, selling such common sense twittle as "play and work nice with others" and "enjoy your cookies in life".

Well, that kind of learnin' doesn't prepare one for a life of running a bar, dealing with French administration and paperwork, gaining a level of confidence in negotiating with vendors, and doing it all while managing to live a life of fulfillment with the one you love.

I humbly don't claim to have all of the answers. Usually I don't even know what questions to ask, much less the answer. But since we moved to Paris from Los Angeles five years ago, I have indeed learned a thing or two.

Part of this journey has been one of self-discovery, of course. Validating what it is I'm good at, what I'm not good at, and what I can become better at (realistically) is essential in this education I've undertaken. When I was at university, back at the University of South Carolina, I unfortunately didn't take seriously enough my courses. I got decent grades, but the relevancy of what I was learning never seeped into my consciousness, and too often I was going through the motions of learning, instead of applying what I was being taught so that I would be better equipped in life when I left school to make it in capitalism's jungle.

So, for anyone who is interested, here is what I've learned - at least, it's the abridged, short version. The longer version is best enjoyed over a long conversation with a bottle of red wine, delicious food, and subtle lighting.

1. Be Flexible You can still pursue your passion, your life's calling, while realizing that the way to get there may not be the route that you initially mapped out. For me (and Martin), our end goal was to live in Europe running our own profitable company ... the company we created, 4 Bar et Cafe, has become successful. But the vision of what the company was going to be, at least initially, has changed. Instead of buying a space in Paris that was in the Marais and converting it into a Southern California inspired restaurant / bar / lounge, we bought an existing coffee house/bar adjacent to the Marais. We learned a lot from both the purchasing process (legal requirements, banking demands to secure a loan, what the market is for real estate such as rent per square meter, what a good ratio of rent to gross sales should be, what the labor market is like in Paris) that we probably would have still learned, but failed to learn fast enough to become profitable, if we had gone the pre-determined route. So instead we were able to learn with minimal financial harm, and we were able to survive both the crucial first year of operations, as well as the "Great Recession" and bursting of the real estate bubble.

2. Start small Our initial bar in Paris, Imprevu, is not huge by any comparative measure. We have 200 square meters of useable space and we have annual sales of about 360,000 EUROS (not including sales taxes). We can probably continue to grow this location slightly, but essentially we are "maxxed" out in terms of growing without significant investment (e.g. building a kitchen). But it was big enough for us to live comfortably, and to travel, and enjoy life in Paris. Initially we thought we would have a larger business - doing closer to 1 million EUROS annually, with a larger space, a larger staff, and unless we were ridiculously lucky, much larger risk of failing. Instead we had a "Goldilocks" approach, something that wasn't tiny, but something that wasn't huge either - just right for us to learn the basics. Will Imprevu ever become a 1 million EURO bar? Not unless we spent a small fortune in totally reconfiguring it - which given the investment cost and the rate of return expected makes no sense.

3. Find a niche and milk it There are hundreds, if not thousands of bars/cafes in Paris, and we've decided to compete as a cozy place to be with your friends or by yourself while enjoying moderately priced cocktails and unique hot beverages. The ambiance is eclectic, slightly bohemian even, the service is welcoming, and both Martin and I run a pretty tight ship with our employees. It took us a couple of years to realize what that formula for success was, but now that we've found it - we're going to milk it for all it is worth.

4. Don't walk away from opportunities Too often we live our lives based on a fear of failure, or not having peace of mind that we know all of the facts before we act. But usually opportunity has a very short window, and you have to go with your gut, and hope that your instincts and innate abilities will carry you on to success. For me, specifically, I saw an opportunity in late 2005. The housing market in Los Angeles was red hot. The condo that I bought in 2001 had doubled in value, and my gut told me that the market was peaking. There was too much "foam" in the economy, and I knew that if I put my place up for sale, that I could pay off my mortgage and pocket a big chunk of cash to finance Martin's and my dream (see #1 above). Looking back I was incredibly lucky that I sold when I did. We were indeed at the peak. Another opportunity came along in 2011. We found out about Cozy Bar in Amsterdam. Were we looking to buy a bar in Amsterdam? No. But we realized that the opportunity was too great to walk away from. I'm the type of person that can become overwhelmed by worry in the daily minutiae of life, but with the really big decisions paradoxically I can be serene once I've committed to an idea. Grab those opportunities that come along!

5. Find a balance to be able to enjoy life However you define life's enjoyment, never lose sight of the fact that none of us know with any certainty how much time we have on this tiny blue marble in the universe. So make an effort to live life to the fullest. Outside of a long day at work, make sure that you invest in your life outside of work as well. For me that includes going to the gym regularly (at least twice a week) to get high off of my endorphins, enjoying a delicious meal once a day, reading a good book regularly, staying in touch with family and friends (even if it is only via on-line), and quality time with Martin and my beloved Berko. I have to be stimulated physically (gym) and emotionally (Martin and family and friends) daily. Oh, and I need to be beauty as well. This is a huge deal for me. I live in beautiful city, with beautiful architecture, and I have to walk and appreciate this to not loe sight of the fact of the grandeur of nature and the nobility of man's search for the sublime vis a vis architecture, literature, music, and the arts. I need to be intellectually stimulated daily as well. So I have a book always in my bag, an interesting pod-cast always loaded on my iPhone itunes, and a circle of brilliant friends around the world who make me laugh. If you are 100% invested in your business and professional life, you will fail. You will absolutely fail, because you will burn out and lose your spark and inspiration. I don't know what that percentage is between work and personal - we Americans tend to over load on the work part, but for me it's about 60/40 work/personal. Find your own and nurture it.

Okay, those are the big five. Like I said, this is the abbreviated version. There are also the character traits that I've learned that I'm strong in, as well as the stuff that I absolutely suck at. Maybe that's a later posting.

Sunday along the Seine

2011-06-07T12:51:00.002+02:00

This past Sunday I walked with Berko along the river Seine - it was partly sunny, partly cloudy, cool, warm, one of those weird days where the weather could go either way. But perfect for walking. The quais along the river weren't filled with people as is usually the case - perhaps because it was one of those long weekends (Thursday was a national holiday) so all of the locals were out of town - so we walked from city hall (Hotel de Ville) all the way down to the end of the Louvre, stopping occasionally to sit and take in the sites and sounds.

I don't take advantage of days like this often enough. But it was precisely because of days like this that I fell in love Paris, almost 20 years ago (1993, when I was here for my internship), and it was days like this that I day-dreamed about when I was stuck in traffic in Los Angeles, or sitting in yet another boring meeting at work. So as the tourist barges drifted past, I sat and drank in the breeze, the moist air from the gurgling river, and the muffled honks and sounds of traffic passing up above on the boulevards.

Berko is perfectly happy sniffing and marking along the way as well - he only gets excited when he sees another dog nearby and wants to say "bonjour." Next time I do this, I'm going to bring along a book to read - this day I had bought the Sunday newspaper, the JDD (Journal du dimanche) to read, and aside from the usual DSK related news, not much else caught my interest.

I finished my lazy walk behind the Musee d'Orsay on Solferino street, just next to the PS (Parti Socialiste) headquarters for a nibble of quiche and glass of Rose. As I was finishing up a storm approached - low hanging heavy grey clouds - so Berko and I started walking faster and faster (he thought it was a game!) and we made it back home safely before the rains began.

Why I left the US for France

2011-06-04T20:37:00.001+02:00

Inevitably whenever someone in Paris finds out that I left the warmth and sun of Los Angeles for France, a look of bewilderment crosses their face and they ask "why?" To most Parisians it is a dream to be able to live in Los Angeles or America (but would in fact become a nightmare, I'm convinced, for them because of the unrealistic image they have of life in the US compared to the "nanny-state" of France). So the need to respond to this frequent question gave rise to me to actually put some thought behind my response.

The answer is a bit complex because there are a variety of "push" (reasons I want to leave LA / USA) and "pull" (reasons I want to go to Paris / Europe) factors. So I decided to catalogue them all, and give a percentage weight to them. Here is the result:

Job Insecurity (push) - I had been working at Nestle for six years, and during those six years we had gone through at least ten re-organizations. I had over the course of those six years at least eight different bosses, and I was tired of the constant state of insecurity. Don't get me wrong. Nestle was, and probably still is, a great place to work. But I never knew if I was going to have a job there in the next year, and at the very least, never knew if the boss I had yesterday would be the one I had tomorrow. There was no feeling of permanency there. And as one gets older, it gets more and more difficult to find a job if one is "let go" during a re-organization. I didn't want to be a 40-something professional having to start over. Much less someone in their 50's. This lack of job security isn’t just a Nestle phenomenon (although the constant state of flux and re-org there was even excessive by American standards); it is how business is done in the US. This reason alone was a huge motivator for me, and as the economy seemed precarious at best, the fear became more pervasive. I needed to be the owner of my destiny - not some corporation. This factor is probably 40% of my rationale for leaving.

Health care insecurity (push) - One of the nasty problems with life in America is the state of health care. If I were to lose my job, I would have lost my health care as well. Buying health care on the open market is prohibitively expensive, and if there is a pre-existing condition (in my case there wasn't), even more expensive, if you can get covered at all. Plus, as one becomes older, the health risks accumulate. Again, as I started looking at life after 40, the insecurity of not having a permanent health care safety net made me look at Europe, where universal, single payer health care is the norm. A significant push factor, I weigh this 15%.

The Bush presidency (disgust of America, and my refuge in a dozen zip codes) (push) - America today is not the America of my youth. I'm sure this hardly comes as a news shock to anybody. America today is crasser, more materialistic, more commercial. It's also more violent, divided, and angrier. Everyone seems to be angry and afraid at the same time. This zeitgeist of insecurity, fear, and malaise seems to have accelerated under Bush. Piggy-backing off of the 9/11 tragedy the religious zealots on the political Right have grabbed control of the social agenda. And it's not just a gay/straight issue... although that is a large part. It is the whole "reality" vs. "faith" based debate. Science and progress are being actively subverted by people who have a disdain for anything that is in contradiction to the book of Genesis. I have become embarrassed by my country. Its rankings in quality of living, level of education, opportunity, income, almost any measure available, show that the US has been falling from upper tier to middle tier and now in many measures is at near third world levels. It has gotten to the point where I feel comfortable in about only a dozen postal ZIP codes in the US. As much as I detest Bush and how much he represents the disgusting aspects of America that I loath, truth be told he is only about a 5% factor for my leaving. But he was a factor, nevertheless.

Ready for a change in my life (tired of LA) (push/pull) - There was a point a few years ago when I was driving, or more accurately, stuck in interminable traffic, and I had to think long and hard for about a minute whether it was April or September. The weather in Los Angeles is so unchanged from season to season, that the two months were largely indistinguishable to me (it turned out to be neither - it was May). Coupled with the aforementioned endless traffic, the fact that one needs a car to go anywhere in LA, and I was getting itchy for a change. Certain US cities (part of my axis of 12 ZIP codes where I felt comfortable) such as Seattle or Portland held an allure for me, as did NYC (of course), so it became more of an exercise with Martin as to where WE would want to move to as well - and since we enjoyed traveling in Europe each summer, we decided on Europe. This is about a 10% factor. Not insignificant.

Wanting to be my own boss/have my own company (pull) - I've always felt like I should be running things, even when I was working at large companies ... LOL. So it was just a matter of time before I needed to do my own thing. Was it a reason to move to Paris? No. But it provided the impetus for the change, and I felt empowered in my decision to move to Paris precisely because I knew I wanted to have my own company and be my own boss. So I wouldn't really put a percentage factor for this reason other than to note that it was a foundation for the decision.

Romanticism of France - Walking to the corner bakery each morning to buy fresh croissants and baguettes, enjoying a cup of coffee along the way at a sidewalk cafe while reading the news in "Le Monde", savoring a glass of French wine, dressing fashionably while strolling the elegant streets of Paris, taking in an art exhibition or a concert ... these are the images that stayed with me after living in Paris during my graduate school internship. After living such a life, it was difficult for me to return to the alternative reality of life in America. In LA I would grab a Starbucks on the way into work in the morning, occasionally having enough time budgeted in the commute to enjoy sitting outside with my Mocha and reading a bit of the New York Times. But it wasn't the same. I missed being able to walk in a beautiful neighborhood, and seeing men and women walking in nice clothes. I missed the carefully manicured gardens and parks, the majestic monuments, the efficiency of the Metro. The French have a certain way of doing some things very well (and other things extremely poorly), and I romanticized those aspects of life in France that are wonderful. This was a significant pull factor, which I'll weigh 20%.

Did any of these reasons surprise you?

Springtiime in Paris

2011-06-01T15:52:00.004+02:00

Note to my gentle reader: This post is meant to be read while enjoying this classic anthem from Belgium's "Hooverphonic".

If you've spent any time with us here in Paris, you will most likely have had cocktails with us at one of our favorite sidewalk cafes, Etienne Marcel, which is perfect for people watching. These past few weeks in Paris the weather has been sunny, warm, and perfect for donning a pair of designer sunglasses and lazying the late afternoon/early evening with a glass or two of champagne, or one of the signature cocktails at Cafe Etienne Marcel. Berko even enjoys sitting and watching the beautiful people (or in his case, dogs) pass by.

Martin and Berko looking fabulous at Cafe Etienne Marcel

But we still have to work, no matter what the weather ... even when it's gorgeous outside (and dead inside our bar). We are into our fifth year owning our bar (my goodness, five years already!), so we're used to this sudden change in customer traffic, but it still makes for some long, long days. My habits are decidedly different than Martin's - he is good at repairing and tinkering things at the bar. I tend to do more preparation and cleaning, however. But after awhile there is only so much preparation and cleaning one can do! So I read as well. A lot.

Waiting for customers on a sunny Spring afternoon

Sometimes I get inspired to write - particularly after having read something provocative that challenges my thinking, or makes me sees things differently. I enjoy reading things from a French perspective, but find myself disagreeing usually with the author. The recent DSK (Dominique Strauss Kahn) scandal in NYC is one great example. Most French commentators are sympathetic with him, and forget the victim, the cleaning woman. They are also aghast at the treatment he was given by the police, whereas from an American perspective, he was treated just as anyone else, equal in the eyes of justice. So it's interesting to have the inevitable "DSK conversation" with my friends and acquaintances.

Enjoying a quiet afternoon on the patio of Cafe Beaubourg

We are still busy doing our Tapas Training - our most recent session was last Friday, where our trainer came to our apartment and we made Spanish style tapas (patatas bravas, with sauces made from scratch; garlic shrimp, a Spanish-style "tortilla", and a vegetable tartelette with a shrimp cream sauce). It's a lot of fun to cook together with Martin, we rarely used our kitchen for more than breakfasts, but we're continuing to get a lot of ideas for the 4 Bar concept.

Martin and our trainer making empanadas during our Tapas training a couple of weeks ago.

Makin' Somethin' Yummy

2011-05-25T17:45:00.002+02:00

Laying out the ingredients to make guacamole in our bar's kitchen

If you enjoy looking at food porn, and come on, who doesn't, well you're going to enjoy this post. One of the things that France actually does well (!) is to provide on-going training to employees. The employer pays into a fund annually, and then each year, the employee can participate in some sort of "free" training related to their career. Since our employees are full-time students and/or not interested in a career in the bar/restaurant field, we decided to use the training for Martin and me.

Tapenade (fait maison) on baguette toast topped with radish

When we eventually open up our 4 Bar concept here in Paris, which will have a real professional kitchen (instead of the glorified store room which is our current bar's "kitchen"), we will have a tapas menu. In anticipation of that eventuality, we decided to take tapas training. I know - you're saying to yourself, "this is the kind of training I'd love to volunteer for!" (Can you please put your tongue back in your mouth, your saliva is dripping on the keyboard).

Shrimp atop salmon slaw on a toasted baguette

Aside from the fact that the training lasts two hours a week (we scheduled it at noon on our delivery days), for five weeks, it's very enjoyable making everything from scratch, creating an enticing presentation, and then eating the creations! So far, we've made guacamole, homemade tapenade, shrimp and salmon bite sized tapas, and most recently, empanadas (hamburger with spices; tuna with olives; and chorizo with cheese).

Shrimp atop caviar d'aubergine on a toasted baguette

All of the recipes are taught one on one to us by our trainer, who comes with all of the ingredients, and all of the equipment needed (rolling suitcase, taking public transport from the suburbs ... ohlala, la pauvre!) I know that I'm learning a lot, and enjoying coming up with ideas as well.

Martin and our trainer, Nathalie, in our tiny apartment kitchen, making empanadas

Paris in the Springtime

2011-04-19T11:50:00.005+02:00

Note to reader: This blog posting is meant to be enjoyed and read while listening to the following song posted on Youtube.

Getting my smile on at the Place Vendome when my Dad was visiting

Sometimes you forget all of the crap that you put up with living in a big city in general, or in my case, a big city filled with French people. When the sun is out shining after months of hiding behind gray clouds and the air feels warm, the flowers are in bloom and the trees are full of leaves - you know that Spring has finally arrived.

Yes the French are still amongst us, but they seem more tolerable for some reason. These past few weeks have really seen some beautiful weather, and it makes me nostalgic for some of the ideals that I have guarded in my heart for why I wanted to move here in the first place. The search for a city that was meant for walking around, to be enjoyed on a daily basis for its beauty - Paris was and always will be that city.

One cannot walk along the Seine and not be moved by the enormity of the beauty of this place. And yet, juxtaposed with all of this ridiculous loveliness, is the empty husk of the modern Parisian. Devoid of cheer, all semblance of manners, self-absorbed and ignorant of their own ignorance, many (but thankfully not all) Parisians troll the same streets with a scowl on their face, their lips gripping a cigarette as they mumble to themselves.

Uggh. On the sadly rare occasions when I come across the bourgeois archetype that used to be my ideal Parisian - fabulously dressed, urbanely cosmopolitan and witty, an inspiration to those around them - this song by Francoise Hardy starts playing in my head. An echo of a by-gone era.

So I'm going to play "Comment te dire adieu" in a constant feedback loop in my consciousness as I make my way through my Parisian Spring day. I'm going to embrace the things that I love about Paris - the croissants and pain au chocolat, a coffee or a glass or two of wine at a favorite sidewalk cafe, the interesting and precious boutiques that line certain charming streets, the fashion sense of the few beautiful people that cross my path...

Today is a day for enjoying all of that and more. To live in such a "dog friendly" city means that I can bring Berko along with me for double the pleasure. So as I sit at a cafe this afternoon, with Berko lying on the sun dappled sidewalk, I'm going to enjoy my Cote de Provence Rose, and sing along in my head with Francoise Hardy.

Operation Surprise

2011-03-25T12:32:00.002+01:00

At Cafe Marly, the Louvre, with my dad and Berko

My dad's birthday is March 15th - the ides of March - and as usual, I called to wish him a happy birthday back in Houston. I asked what he was planning to do with the rest of his week, and he said most likely golf. I assured him that his gift (a Harry & David gift basket) was en route, and should get there no later than the 18th. I told him I loved him and wished we could be there together to help celebrate.

On Friday I went to open the bar as usual, getting there a bit before 3 PM to set up the patio with the chairs, and with the weather lately, it feels like Spring is in the air (the pollen certainly is!). I started going through the mail while standing behind the bar when at about 3:15 an older gentleman came in from the street.

"He looks a lot like my dad!" I thought to myself for a split second, before I realized that he was in fact my dad.

"Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?" I laughed and cried out.

"To visit you! You're my birthday present to myself!" he replied.

We hugged and cried and laughed together - what a wonderful surprise! Apparently he had been planning this with Martin since January, and the logistics were all worked out in advance. We stood and talked for about ten minutes when finally, Martin came in with a wide grin.

A couple of minutes later, I heard behind me someone yelling in English "Whammy!"

I turned around and it was my brother, Chris, and his wife!

Again the laughter and tears came. It was indeed a double surprise.

There would be other "smaller" surprises as well. Sunday night after our celebratory dinner for a successful Operation Surprise, I surprised them with a trip to the Eiffel Tower at night. Rhonda was in awe, as was my dad. Of course, pictures cannot do it justice, but if you ever get the chance to go late at night, try to schedule it around the top of the hour, to get the full champagne bubble effect.

From atop the Galeries Lafayette

The rest of their visit we spent walking around the Marais, the Right Bank, the Champs Elysee, the ile St. Louis and Notre Dame, and even the Left Bank (quartier St. Germain des Pres) a bit. Walking along the Seine on a sunny Sunday afternoon was the highlight for me and my dad. It was great to spend such quality one-on-one time together.

Place Vendome

Dividends, learnings

2011-03-04T12:24:00.002+01:00

At times I struggle between my American attitude embracing the free market, rugged individualism, and anti-big government versus the French way of doing things, which is almost the exact opposite. I can see the positives and negatives of each system, and at times I can rant endlessly about the excesses of either.

In France we (as business owners) pay an annual "tax" for training. It goes into a fund that can be used by us or any of our employees for professional development. We had never used it before, and every once in a while a training provider will come around asking if we are interested in taking a course. This past year I finally decided that maybe it's time for Martin and me to take one - so we signed up for a personalized one-on-one with a trainer to learn about hygiene.

Don't laugh. I know that it might be a bit of an oxymoron for an American to learn hygiene from a Frenchman. But the hygiene in question has to do with running a bar or restaurant, how to keep it clean, what the regulations are and to do a walk through of our place to see what we need to do differently. It was actually very informative, and we spread it out over two sessions, two hours each. Both Martin and I learned quite a bit - a lot of arcane information about superficial rules we need to follow (if we sell wine, we have to have at least five different kinds; we have to have ten different non-alcoholic beverages on display for sale; etc...) and ideas on how to get us better prepared for when we have a future inspection from the health and sanitation inspectors - we've only had one, and that was when we first took possession of the bar.

As for the dividends - we are nearing completion of the payments. Only a few left to pay, so if you haven't sent me your information, please do so immediately!

A typical day (version 2011)

2011-02-28T16:55:00.003+01:00

11h40 - awake from a dream (usually either my last day at Nestle in Los Angeles, but not really; or I'm working at the bar, but not really), and Berko should probably taken out to go pee-pee. I get out of bed and put on my trainer pants and Gamecocks sweatshirt, slide on my shoes and take Berko down for 2 minutes. He runs back up the stairs, and once inside makes a bee-line back to the bed where he jumps in and burrows under the covers, but first giving a big wet kiss to a still sleeping Martin.

12h15 - breakfast of toast with peanut butter (crunchy) and fig jam, a large glass of orange juice, berry yogurt with granola, and a couple of cups of Nespresso Cosi while reading The Economist. Soon I'm on-line on my Apple iMac notebook checking Facebook, and reading up on the latest headlines on Huffington Post.

13h02 - head off to Canicreche where I drop off Berko to play with his friends for a couple of hours while I go to the gym for an hour or so of weight training / workout. I'd like to say that I go more often, but realistically it is only about twice a week. Three times if all the stars align.

14h50 - arrive at Imprevu to open. Sometimes there are already a couple of people milling around outside waiting for the 15h opening. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to get everything set up inside and outside to open. After the doors are opened to customers, I'll call for an ice delivery, go through the mail, order for the weekly Thursday deliveries, or other misc. issues.

16h52 - by now the bar has been open almost two hours, and if it is cold and rainy, almost all of the tables are filled. I'll be playing my own playlist from my iTouch as music - a wide variety of music styles. If I need a particular pick me up, I'll search for a track that I have in heavy rotation. Right now it's something from the 1990's "Jesus and the Mary Chain". By now I will have had my third cup of espresso of the day, have been asked by ten different customers (all girls) "where is the toilet?", and have had to fake smile a thank-you to at least one idiot customer. But for the most part, our customers are pretty cool and not too much of a head-ache. We've been going through a rash of someone doing some passive-aggressive bathroom sabotage (graffiti, stealing the flusher knob so it won't flush easily anymore, etc...), but overall, no big problems.

17h40 - Martin arrives with Berko. Berko comes running from the front door past all the tables going straight behind the bar - tail wagging - to give me a big kiss. We get him set up with water and some food next to his bed next to the cash register, and start the busy happy hour period from 18h - 21h. By 18h our evening's waiter will have started his shift as well. So with Martin and me behind the bar making drinks, cleaning dishes, cashing people out, and making desserts, quiche tarts, and sausage plates we will be plenty busy as the waiter takes orders, greets and seats people, and busses the empty tables.

19h22 - Things have settled down enough for me to leave to grab dinner. Lately I've been eating more at Grizzli cafe than other places - because the restaurant next to the bar, Quincambosse, isn't open until after 19h. But tonight since it's a bit later, I'll eat at Thomas' Quincambosse - they make a surprisingly good Chili con Carne. But their specialty, Bohemian Choucroute, is always a crowd pleaser...I'll take along a book to read while I'm enjoying a bit of downtime eating my dinner.

20h03 - I'm back to work, and the bar is half filled with dirty dishes since Martin's been dealing with everything by himself. I quickly try to get caught up on the dishes so that he can leave for his dinner. By 20h30 things have stabilized and he leaves to grab his supper. Berko is fast asleep in his bed.

21h20 - Martin's been back for a while and the post-Happy Hour calm is settling in. People are heading out for their own dinners, and there aren't any "new" tables to take orders from, so we let our waiter go on his half hour break. I go out onto the floor to manage the tables and bus the recently freed up tables, while Martin stays behind the bar. Berko has awakened and wants to walk around (read: sniff and look for crumbs) around the tables. Inevitably one of our regular customers catches his eye and he ends up staying there for some TLC and attention.

22h45 - a small post-dinner rush begins to trickle in ... and Martin and I start trying to predict what the day's receipts will end up at. Usually he's pretty spot on - whereas I tend to guess too low. We stop the coffee machine service in a few minutes so that we can start cleaning behind the bar.

23h27 - I gather up Berko's leash and get him ready to head home. We walk back along the boulevard Sebastopol and he takes his time to sniff, pee, and mark his territory for the first ten minutes. After awhile I've had enough and we start walking a more deliberate route and arrive back home by midnight.

00h10 - I'm seated on the sofa, with a glass of Haut-Medoc and some humous and chips, getting ready to watch a bit of TV (if the cable is working) or a DVD (Modern Family season 1 I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed). I'll also have my computer up and start catching up on the day's events both on Facebook and elsewhere.

2h12 - Berko and I head to bed, where I'll do some last minute reading to try to fall asleep. Martin will arrive within the hour, and if I'm not asleep already, will chat a bit about where we ended up for the day.

3h03 - Finally asleep.

What's going on here?

2011-01-06T13:11:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note to the investors - your dividend payments are imminent, meaning, I'm going to make the first wire transfers in January instead of December. The cause for the delay was some end of the year cash flow issues ... we wanted to be paid up and current with all of our vendors, which includes our accountant (we were over 8,000 EUROS behind with them - yikes!).

Our biggest headache in 2010, by far and away, has been our dealings with RSI (Reseau Social des Independents) which is responsible for handling our healthcare and retirement pension as business owners. We've been making our payments to them ever since we moved here, but apparently "they" screwed up in their calculations and databases, so since the beginning of 2010 Martin and I have had to make over 20,000 EUROS in backpayments. Our accountants have been helping us figure all of this out with RSI, but honestly, it's a complete mess and as a result we've had a 20,000 EUROS unaccounted for expense we've had to deal with all year.

This past December was also our best December ever. Which is great news. Even after we closed for two days for Christmas Eve, Christmas, and closed early for New Year's Eve. So we're quite happy with that.

We hope our, and your, 2011 will be even better!

So if you are an investor, hang on tight, the first of the payments will be done in the next couple of weeks.

Together before Hollywood Bowl

2010-12-31T20:21:00.002+01:00

Together before Hollywood Bowl, originally uploaded by Paris_Mec.

I'm going through some old photos of Martin and me here on Flickr, and I've always liked this one (dated 2003)...

Happy New Year's - may your 2011 be better than 2010 -filled with health and happiness!

So this is Noel

2010-12-26T21:56:00.004+01:00

So much anticipation and work for so few hours of enjoyment, but it was truly a wonderful Christmas in so many ways. Of course, it's the first Christmas with our dear little puppy, Berko. He did quite well with Pere Noel. His stocking was stuffed with bones, chew toys, and he even got a bow tie to wear!

Martin's younger brother, Juan, has come for a visit with his wife, Nancy. We've been having them stay with us since Monday the 20th. For Christmas Eve, we surprised them with tickets to a production of "My Fair Lady" at the Chatelet Theatre. Martin and I have been going to the Chatelet Theatre's Christmas Eve productions the past three years. They always put on a great Broadway style musical, and this year was no different. It's difficult to fit into Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn - and the leads in this production did more than admirably. The male lead for "Professor Higgins" was the better of the two, but I really enjoyed my favorite songs like "Wouldn't it be wonderful", "Get me to the church on time", and "I've grown accustomed to her face".

Since we even didn't get a chance to buy the Christmas tree, much less decorate it, until Wednesday the 22nd, the opportunity to do my gifts for Martin and the food for the big Christmas Day feast was evaporating as fast as the snow that had been falling since Thursday.

Berko and I walked down rue des Archives to go buy some stocking stuffers after buying the buches noels (Christmas yule cakes), chapon farci (stuffed chicken), while Martin had already bought foie gras, salmon, Champagne, white wine, and various cheeses.

After the show we went to have a great dinner at "Le Zimmer" next to the theatre, and then around 2:00 AM we arrived home to unwrap gifts. Berko spent the night with his friends at the kennel for the night. Bedtime at 3:30 AM.

Christmas Day we started a bit late, and around 4:00 our friend Kevin Torre came by to help us celebrate. We started with smoked Norwegian salmon, foie gras, with crisp toasts, and a bottle of pink champagne. Afterwards, some sorbet bathed in limoncello as a pallet cleanser.

Stuffed chicken with scalloped potatoes were the next course, followed by an assortment of cheeses.

The traditional French feast ended with the buches noels around 10:30 PM - a slow evening of eating, drinking, laughing (and watching Chevy Chase's "Christmas Vacation", subtitled in French).

By the time I went to bed around midnight to call my parents, I was exhausted. But it is truly the most wonderful time of the year.

Lyon, and Paris, and snow

2010-12-10T12:24:00.003+01:00

As you may remember, I am a big fan of Lyon. I've never not had a nice visit there, and so when it came time for me to find somewhere to go for a brief break in December - Lyon came up the winner. I booked my TGV tickets on line and then this past Monday was whisked away to Lyon within 2 hours. My hotel this time was in the town center (Place Bellecour) at the Hotel Royal Lyon, a beautifully restored Belle Epoch hotel. The view from my room (above) was overlooking the square, where they had constructed a huge Ferris Wheel for the festival of lights which is to take place this weekend.

I found a great little gourmet restaurant, chez Suzanne, where I had a delicious meal on Tuesday, but otherwise I spent my day enjoying a lazy stroll along the Saone river which separates the center of town from Old Lyon (where I stayed last time). There are also some great shops and boutiques to check out in the center, as well as plenty of small cafes to tempt you for a wine and cheese break.

When I got back to Paris on Tuesday night, it was a lot colder, raining (turning to snow), and I picked up a happy Berko at the bar and took him home. When we awoke the next morning, Paris was transformed - it was snowing!

The city was blanketed with the billowy white stuff - and it made for an afternoon of beautiful scenes. I took the Metro to work since it was too slick for me to walk the one mile from the apartment to the bar, and took a few snapshots along the way.

Holiday traditions - Paris style

2010-12-02T14:03:00.002+01:00

This is our first holiday season with our Jack Russell puppy, Berko. Reviving the tradition started last year, our dear friend, Christina D'Angelo flew in from NYC to join us in stuffing our faces with the usual Thanksgiving fare at Joe Allen's restaurant on rue Pierre LeScot. The weather had changed a day or two before and it felt like winter - brutally cold, the half-moon glowing in a crystal clear Parisian sky - and we trekked from the apartment down rue de Turbigo with Berko in his doggy bag and winter parka to the restaurant. This year we were joined by our friends Maxime and Kevin, who wanted to experience this uniquely American holiday.

It's a bit difficult to convey just what Thanksgiving is to a non-American. One can go into detail about the history behind it all, which I attempted to over champagne during our "apero" before we left. But really, in its essence, Thanksgiving is a tribal moment. The extended family and friends gather around a large feast and enjoy each others' company - and perform certain rituals together unique to each tribe. Our little Parisian tribe has its own traditions which we are working on. It includes much laughter, champagne, dinner at Joe Allens, and this time, Martin and Christina started the festivities off with a late afternoon lunch at Angelina's - Paris premiere tea house for hot chocolate and other assorted decadent treasures.

So from our "tribe" to yours - we wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Dividends

2010-11-16T13:51:00.002+01:00

We will be sending our first dividends out in the coming days and weeks. Investors who have ten shares (valued at 10,000 EUROS in total) will receive a dividend of 1,000 EUROS. Investors who have fewer than ten shares will receive 100 EUROS per share. Thanks again for your continued confidence in us.

A bit of politics (sorry)

2010-11-02T21:41:00.002+01:00

As you may or may not be aware of, recently the French have been protesting the proposed, and now enacted, changes to the French retirement system (also known as "la retraite"). During Mitterand's presidency in the 1980's the Socialists lowered the French age for partial retirement to 60 years (meaning you could retire at 60 and receive most, if not all, of the monthly retirement pension you were allowed, which in most cases, was based on the average of your last three years of salary - usually the highest paid period in a worker's career). Then during the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jospin in the 1990's (and initiated by then Minister Martine Aubry, now head of the Socialist party) the work week was reduced to 35 hours per week. Altogether the French work less than just about any other country - indeed, it would be hard to find another country with better work conditions for workers.

Unfortunately, economically such a system doesn't work. The costs associated with a system that essentially "pays" people to not work is enormous, and now the French retirement pension system is facing insolvency. Of course, the French Left's solution is to raise income tax rate on the very rich, their answer to every fiscal problem, but the French "rich" is whom? According to a recent La Tribune story, the top 10% of French households make only 2,900 EUROS a month, and the top 1% make 8,000 EUROS a month. Not exactly a gold-mine for exploitation. So, the French President, Sarkozy, an immensely unpopular politician, has decided the best solution would be to gradually raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 (and to receive full benefits at 67 instead of 65). Compromises on allowing early retirement for particularly arduous careers would be allowed.

You would think that he was asking for a kidney from each person, the outrage was so intense! So the unions, the Socialists, the Communists, and the lazy, retarded youth (including the university students as well as high school flunkies) took to the streets to strike, mobilize, and otherwise try to bring the country - and as a consequence, the government - to its knees.

This was the backdrop of the last four weeks here in France. Down the street from our apartment, the local high school blocked our street with waste dumpsters, thereby snarling traffic, and making life miserable for anyone who needs to take the bus (or depend on deliveries). It's been chaotic, but not dangerous. Just annoying. In a typical French kind of way (the police stand by and do nothing, the "protesters" standing around doing nothing - it's a country of 90% doing nothing).

Of course, me being me, I have my opinion on the matter (I'm sure the gentle reader has managed to detect a bit of it in my analysis, so far), but largely keep it to myself, since I'm not French, after all. But the whole thing, in my humble opinion, is just so ... ridiculous. I have an old copy of Le Figaro Magazine from 1995 during the run-up to the first post-Mitterand Presidential election, and one of the top issues of the era was ... drum roll... you guessed it - the insolvency of the French retirement system. It's been a problem for 15 years. Not a huge surprise. And yet this minor change, while necessary, is anticipated to only fix the problem for another 10 years.

I could go and on about this, but it would be to discuss it over a glass or three of wine. Let me know when you want to join me for a discussion.

La Rentree, Amsterdam, and the case of the missing month

2010-10-02T12:55:00.003+02:00

Styling in Amsterdam - Sept. 2010

Near the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam

The beginning of Autumn in France unofficially begins the first Monday of September with "La Rentree" - the first day of work after a month's vacation. Soon afterwards, school begins for the kids, and by the end of September University students are going back to campus - unless they're striking about something. For Martin and me, the Rentree also signals the beginning of the end of our summer slow period in sales, and we slowly ramp up throughout the month. Our sales in August were about 17,000 EUROS (typical), but our sales for September were double that (34,000). As for our team, Olivier has returned from Australia - he left us last November to go "study" English abroad there, and as a result we hired Nicolas to replace him. We're glad that both Olivier and Nico will be working with us this Autumn/Winter. Elia will be rejoining us in October as well.

As we begin our busy season, I took one last vacation this past week - a three day/two night visit to Amsterdam. My first time there, and I was enchanted by the charming Dutch and their beautiful city. The canals truly are wonderful, and the Dutch Renaissance architectural style that permeates the city is truly adorable - each turn of the corner I wanted to take another half dozen pictures, the views were constantly beckoning for a photo! I spent most of my time wandering around the town, enjoying the misty rain on Monday and Tuesday, and the warm September sunshine on Wednesday. No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a pilgrimage to the Anne Frank house - the museum that encompasses the hidden attic where she and her family unsuccessfully tried to hide from the Nazis in World War II. I was touched several times as I made my way through the museum - here was a young girl of 13 who was able to capture her thoughts so profoundly that she has inspired millions of people, young and old. And yet, she was still just a young girl, who fantasized about movie stars (there are still magazine pin-ups, and postcard photos of the British and Dutch royal families). I left Amsterdam wanting to come back for more (which probably means I will be coming back).

I noticed that I didn't get a chance to post any blog entries in the month of September. I guess between Martin's week long visit to LA in the beginning of the month, followed by two frantic weeks of getting caught up both at home and the bar, and then my trip to Amsterdam, I just didn't have time to post anything. But it was a good month, truth be told.

ah sweet August

2010-08-22T12:56:00.005+02:00

Sunset in Mykonos' "Little Venice" - July 2010

One of our many lunches at the taverna at the beach in Mykonos

I'm going to keep this short. Mainly I just wanted to have something posted so that August wouldn't be a complete vacant memory.

So it's Sunday early afternoon ... Berko, my cute little Jack Russell who celebrated his 6 month birthday earlier this month, is busy at my feet, chewing on a plastic water bottle (one of his favorite distractions!). The apartment is clean for a cocktail party Martin is planning for later this afternoon while I'm away at the bar working. We hosted a BBQ at our place earlier in the month (or as my Houston sister-in-law corrected me, we "grilled" at our place, since BBQ is how one finished or prepares for the grilling via meat rubs and marinated sauces). It was a huge success. American style hamburgers, hotdogs, and our friend, Maxime, made home-made cupcakes. Afterwards we relaxed in our stupor drinking champagne. Ah la belle vie!!

But isn't that what August is for? Vacation and lazy days of summer and all? The weekend before August 15th Paris was like a ghost town. There were no lines at the local Monoprix grocery. The streets were vacant of cars and motorcycles. Only tourists. It was perfect. NO PARISIANS! So wonderful. We skipped town, of course, also. We took ten days to vacation in Greece (Athens, and then Mykonos), with little Berko in tow. Sublime. Well, the Mykonos portion at least. Athens was a s***hole. I'm pretty sure that's their official motto. "Athens, Europe's s***hole." But Mykonos was amazing. We enjoyed beautiful sunsets, gorgeous beaches of clear turquoise water, late afternoon lunches at a beach-side taverna overlooking the Mediterranean. Just writing this makes me wistful ... sigh.

The business has been as expected. It's summer. But we're surviving. The old team will be coming back to work for us this Autumn/Winter. Olivier, our favorite, returned from his adventures in Australia/New Zealand. He'll start next week. Nicolas, who's been faithfully with us since November, is going to take about a month off with his girlfriend and travel in France's southwest, and then begin again with us in mid-September. And finally, Elias, the charming singer, will start in October. Should be a really good season for us.

But in the meantime, we're going to savor these last drops of summer.

Our grilling party - August 2010

Summer reading

2010-07-18T14:07:00.004+02:00

Yesterday, Saturday the 17th of July, was one of those lazy summer days that seems to define the season - the sun was out shining in its brilliance, big fluffy white clouds lazily skirted around the sky, and the world seemed content to enjoy an afternoon exploring Paris. I had just finished my second Cara Black mystery in as many months, "Murder at the Palais Royal", so I decided to head over to my favorite bookstore in the city - Shakespeare & Co. It's just a stone throw's away from Notre Dame on the Left Bank, and its been the home for generations of young and aspiring writers in Paris. Young college aged kids work there while living upstairs in a co-op type of environment. Inside the narrow passages of wall to ceiling books invite you to lose yourself in exploring Hemingway, the classics, or contemporary fiction, like Cara Black.

I picked up my copy of "Murder in the Bastille" to have something ready to read at the beach in Greece next week. But I might have to go back before I leave to get one or two other things to read ... !

a little of this and a little of that

2010-06-20T11:37:00.004+02:00

June is the formal beginning of Summer, but it still has enough of Spring in the air to make it a bit unpredictable. It kind of makes life a bit interesting, and usually requires keeping an umbrella and or a jacket in hand just in case.

This June had plenty of the unexpected. With Berko, our little 4 month old Jack Russell, learning the importance of going potty and pooping outside (with appropriate rewards each time), we had plenty of moments for the little guy to "surprise" us. But he's been learning quickly, and after a pretty stern admonition from our vet to us that we needed to be more stringent in our training, we've had some success. Berko has been a wonderful addition to the family, and he's a lot of fun to have around - he sleeps a lot (thankfully) while at the bar, curled up in his doggy bed at the foot of the cash register behind the bar. But he loves interacting with the customers - wagging his tail, and wanting to play whenever the opportunity allows. About a week ago I took him with his doggy daddy, Diesel, to the big park at the Chateau de Vincennes (eastern edge of Paris). There he was able to run off leash for the first time, and the two of them had a great time chasing each other in the wide open field.

As for the business, June has had its share of decent days for sales, but mainly, as expected, it's been slow ... once the sun comes out people search for sidewalk terrasses to sit and people watch (myself included!). The past few weeks we've done some minor rework - replacing the patio awning, buying some new "used" furniture for the inside of the bar, installing a new security system.

I had a few days down in Biarritz for a vacation. I had had so much fun last year when I went at this time, that I wanted to do it again. This time, however, the weather was cold and rainy. Which forced me to do other activities other than go to the beach. So I joined a local gym and worked out every afternoon. Otherwise I read a lot of my Malcolm Gladwell books (What the Dog Saw, and Tipping Point). A nice relaxing time away from Paris and its troubles.

...and so this was my May

2010-05-30T11:04:00.003+02:00

Martin et Berko

Dad and his Pastis - Houston, 2010

For the record, this month had its share of ups and downs - as I'm sure yours did as well. Here are some random recollections of the month that was May 2010:

Friday night, May 28th: the weather has changed from warm and almost summer-like, to cool and rainy - which is good for our business since the patio "terrasses" are no longer being sought out. I left after midnight, with Berko, to go back home, leaving Martin with Manuel, our new waiter, to finish the evening at the bar. Apparently, after I left, the cash register broke down ... this is the second cash register we've bought in the last 18 months. Each time it has broken down on a busy weekend. So, Martin had to deal with everyone wanting to leave at closing without an automated transaction, and then brought up the ancient old cash register we keep in the office to be able to use until we get the "new" broken ones fixed. It's dealing with crap like this as a business owner that stresses me out (I'm getting a cold sore - I'm certain it's because I was worrying about this yesterday).
At the beginning of the month we received word from our accountant about our financial situation for 2009. In France, you have to declare your earnings for taxes by middle of May the following year, so we received ours as expected the beginning of the month. Good news - we made a 40,000 EURO profit for the year! THIS IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. It represents about 12% profit margin, and is a complete reversal from 2007 and 2008 (negative 40,000 loss and breakeven, respectively). So we were very relieved and happy to hear the good news. In June, once Martin is in NYC for a bit of vacation, I plan on putting together both a board package and a shareholder update to share the good news, as well as to propose our dividend payment schedule for this year.
Life with a puppy is always exciting. Our little Berko is growing up. He's already at 4 KG (when we got him he was just about 3 KG), and is learning the basics of being a happy dog (sitting, going pee-pee and poo-poo outside, not biting, learning to play with his toys by himself). Sometimes he's succeeding, sometimes he's not. Our big accomplishment this month was in getting him to sleep the night in his own bed in an adjoining room (the bathroom). We've gotten a lot of advice - our vet here in Paris is of the old-school, tough love philosophy - which Martin and I are loath to follow 100% (we prefer the hugs and kisses and rewards approach). After his last vaccination, he was finally allowed to be able to interact with other dogs at the doggie daycare - his first day there (for only an hour), was a bit stressful for him as he was immediately swarmed by the other dogs - sniffing and inspecting our little guy!
I was able to go to Houston and visit (surprise) my parents this month. My brother and nieces picked me up at the airport (after a 20 minute delay with INS because apparently there is someone on the terror watch-list with my name ... at least that's the excuse I was given). After a big dinner at a Mexican restaurant to satisfy my immediate craving, we drove to my parents' home where I surprised them. It was a nice visit of about 5 days - I got a chance to relax and laugh with both my mom and dad, sitting on their patio and reminiscing about things while sipping wine (and Pastis, for my dad!).
At the bar we are getting our awning for the patio and our neon "Imprevu" window sign replaced by our 'brasseur' (beer vendor). The awning serves little purpose now when it rains since it is dotted with holes ("neighbors" in the buildings above throwing their cigarettes down). This will be a nice improvement for this summer. We just had a new alarm system installed as well - although honestly I'm not 100% sure that it's working right - and are getting a new secured door for our storage reserve.
I have been enjoying watching "Glee" on DVD since I came back from Houston. I had heard about it from my friends, and it is one of my favorites now (I need to get the part 2 for this current season when it comes out, presumably this summer). I've also been enjoying reading some "trash" fiction (Le Carre's "Most Wanted Man") which I picked up during my Frankfurt trip last month. Plus, keeping in touch with friends on Facebook, obviously.

Berko playing on balcony

2010-05-10T11:39:00.000+02:00

First of May, may it be wonderful

2010-05-01T12:06:00.002+02:00

I have to admit something, and it's something I share with my Dad. And no, it's not the fact that we both sneeze unexpectedly, and loudly (sorry, neighbors!). Actually, we both really enjoy being out on the balcony of my apartment overlooking rue de Turbigo. I have a couple of chairs and tables out there, with a geranium (difficult to kill - last year's azalea and lavander lasted about a week). Today, I went out there with Berko and had my breakfast and morning coffee(s) in the Spring sunlight. Down below, marching in the streets, the communists passed by demanding more - always more. Sigh.

So as I enjoyed a ridiculously sweet grapefruit (from Florida - thanks free trade!), orange juice (Tropicana, an American brand, thanks capitalism!), toast with French fig jam (thanks local disgruntled French farmer), and Nespresso (thanks marvelous Swiss food giant, Nestle!), Berko and I watched the masses pour down the street from Republique towards who knows where (hysteria?).

The sun was shining, the weather beautiful, and yes, despite all of the problems in the world - ranging from Greece slowly flushing the EURO down the toilet, to the Gulf of Mexico where BP is destroying the delicate marshlands of Louisiana, I was content on my balcony. Savoring my little corner of Paris, and wondeful-ness.

Puppy Love

2010-04-24T12:42:00.003+02:00

At Berko, our cupcake boutique we love so much in Paris, the sales staff were taking pictures of our Berko

At the bar we had a waiter, Armand, who's contract ran from January through March (he wanted to move to Amsterdam in April to work through the summer). Armand was a lot of fun to work with, a good kid with a lot of energy, and one day he was talking about his brother, who has a Jack Russell. It seems that his brother's dog, Diesel, had just squired a litter of puppies. Both Martin and I had always wanted a Jack Russell, we'd talked about even when we lived in West Hollywood. But it never seemed like the right time.

Now, however, it seems right. We can take him with us to "work", and the business is stable enough now where we don't have the constant headaches and pressures we had a year or two ago. So we started thinking about it and decided it was perfect - we knew the "father", Diesel, who had a great personality and was adorable. So we checked out the litter, and ended up picking the oldest puppy, who was a spitting image of his daddy.

Adrianna and Martin, enjoying a docile Berko on Sunday afternoon at Porto a Roma

As for a name - that proved a bit of a challenge. We wanted something unique (like us). And cute, but not TOO cute. One afternoon while we were enjoying our usual Sunday brunch at Porto a Roma, we started talking about how much we enjoyed going to get cupcakes at Berko on rue Rambuteau. Suddenly it hit us! Berko! What a perfect, unique name. It's easy to say, and not easily confused for a puppy or dog. And it captures the essence of what we hope he will be - a wonderful little delight just like a cupcake!

Martin and Berko

Since he arrived in our lives on April 11th, it's been quite the adventure. That first Sunday was difficult for him - separated for the first time from his dog family. He cried a lot. Trembled in fear. My heart just broke looking at both how cute and vulnerable the little guy was. But soon, he was gaining more and more confidence with us. Although from that first day, he demands to sleep in the bed with us. Sigh. That's a fight we'll put off to another day. As for now, we're taking it a day at a time - teaching him his boundaries (no biting, no barking), although potty training is proving difficult because of his age (only 2 months old, he can't be fully vaccinated to be able to go outside until his 3rd month).

Berko, his first Sunday home, on April 11th

Spring tales

2010-04-24T12:25:00.002+02:00

Spring has arrived at la Republique here in Paris. My allergies can attest to that... this Spring they seem to be even more irritated by the pollen. But when it is sunny, with a slight warm on the skin in the still chill of an April afternoon, Paris is alive with "terrasses" - people flocking to the sidewalk cafes to capture a few rays of sun while chatting, smoking, and sipping their coffees.

Even our little bar, with it's small terrasse of five tables, takes as much advantage of the arrival of Spring. We change our menus to a summer menu - highlighting smoothies (using a new recipe this year of fruit chunks courtesy of Nestle/Davigel), extended happy hours until 9:00 PM, and new summer cocktail specials. We've begun using our Facebook presence a bit more - and plan on using it extensively as the Spring becomes Summer - to try to lure our loyal customer base back from the terrasses elsewhere inside to the cozy friendliness of Imprevu.

In the meantime, both Martin and I are taking advantage of the slower business to travel a bit, and enjoy time with our new puppy - Berko!

When it's sunny (and even when it's not too sunny), this is our favorite hang-out ... Cafe Creme

Springing forward

2010-04-08T16:00:00.002+02:00

So what's been going on at Imprevu since my last post almost a month ago? Plenty!

Daylight's savings time in France is two weeks after the change in the US, and as we sprung forward a couple of Saturday nights ago, we've been charging headstrong into Spring. The business had another great month with March sales of 41,000 EUROS - which tied our previous March record in 2008. So we're very happy that the strong sales have continued through our peak season.

We have been working on changing the menus for the warmer months, increasing the prices on some things (desserts, milkshakes - our seasonal specialty - and a few other low volume items), and reducing our prices on beer so that we can be more competitive during happy hour. We had a good, honest discussion with our brasseur, the beer distributor, that we'd like some help in cost savings that we can pass on to the customer with a longer happy hour period during the summer. We also asked for a new awning for our patio - since the one we have now is pretty ratty looking and doesn't really do much of a job keeping the rain out.

We also have begun the search for our summer team member. Both Elias and Armand will be gone by the beginning of May (Armand's 3 month contract was not renewed because he wants to work in Amsterdam for the summer; Elias' contract was already renewed once and can't be renewed a second time, plus he wants to have his summer free). Nicolas will begin an internship the first of May for his degree, so his availability will be severely limited for the next few months.

Finally, a big lifestyle change for Martin and me. In a couple of days (April 11th), we will be the proud parents of a Jack Russell puppy, which we've named "Berko" after our favorite cupcake store here in Paris. Expect to see plenty of pictures of him in the coming weeks and months, since he'll be our "mascot" at the bar, staying with us through the day there.

Best February EVER

2010-03-04T14:01:00.002+01:00

We did the math, and looked up the prior history from the last three years, and it's official - this past February was our best one ever. Yeah! Following a stellar, record breaking January ... we are definitely in a good mood.

To celebrate we each took a quickie "luxury" vacation (separately, alas) - Martin went to Barcelona where he stayed two days in the brand spanking new W hotel on the beach at the foot of the Ramblas. Then I took my beloved TGV down to Lyon (2 hours) here in France where I stayed at the perfect Cour Des Loges

I loved Lyon - it's a beautiful city, gastronomic capital of France (even if I don't take full advantage of it), and the people are less obnoxious than Parisians (LOL).

Hopefully you had a great February as well - let's make March the best one ever as well!!

No pictures - but a small rant

2010-02-20T02:05:00.002+01:00

Usually I like to post a few photos to my postings, but today (or rather tonight, since it's 2:06 AM) as I write this, after a full day of work at the bar, I have a few rants to throw your way, my gentle reader:

1. RSI - the quasi-public organization that is set up to service the health and retirement payments for independent business owners, such as ourselves, has been a thorn in my side for the past year. First they screwed up my "identity" by having a duplicate Social Security number created for me (I blame my accountant for starting this ball rolling, but they deny any responsibility ... typical). So I had to go to the RSI offices three times to convince them that I was me - that this other "fictitious" me was an error, and that I didn't owe thousands and thousands of EUROS in unpaid charges. Fine. That was then. Now, "thanks" to the acquisition and not very well done integration of the retirement group into the RSI "family" of organizations, I've discovered that I'm several thousand EUROS late in my retirement payments. After a lengthy discussion with an RSI "professional", I'm on the track to becoming up-to-date in my payments. But what a freaking headache. Urgggh.

2. If anyone knows of a competent plumber in Paris, I'd like to meet this person. We've gone through at least three plumbers for work at the bar, and each one is some variation of retarded (sorry, Sarah Palin). This last one we had the other day was the least retarded of them all, but hardly anything to get excited about. And the ridiculous amount of money they charge for their services ...!!! Ohlala.

3. Our coffee machine (espresso machine, actually) at the bar is on the fritz. Of course, each time it breaks down it's during the weekend, and of course, this being France, our brasseur (coffee / liquor provider) isn't open the weekend, and don't have an "emergency" function built into their service contract - so we have to figure out how to live, in the winter, without hot water drinks. Good times.

Times like this I don't like. Fortunately it's only 5% of our lives. Thank goodness.

Audrey Tautou Chanel No 5 Commercial (2'20'' version)

2010-02-12T15:44:00.001+01:00

One of many reasons why I love Paris and France, the beautiful Audrey Tautou, Chanel No. 5, and train travel ... all in this wonderful short commercial. Enjoy!

A bit of snow with the cold

2010-02-11T12:45:00.003+01:00

Another brace of cold weather has hit Paris the past couple of days. When I was walking home from the bar the other night, it was snowing so hard you could hardly see in front of you. Unfortunately, the surface temperatures weren't cold enough for the snow to stick much, and by morning there was just a bit of snow clinging to the ground and exposed railings.

Yesterday was my day off for the week, so I decided to take advantage of the wintery wonderland ... and walked down rue Vieille du Temple, past the Picasso Museum, to rue des Francs-Bourgeois, where I had lunch at Bistro Camille. I had a wonderful homemade vegetable soup with crusty baguette slices, and then tender sliced duck breast in a honey glaze sauce with mashed potatoes. Each time the door to the cafe opened a shock of cold air rushed through, and reminded me of the snowy cold outside.

Picasso Museum on rue Vieille du Temple

I ended my afternoon walk over at Starbucks on rue des Archives, where I warmed up again with a hot Mocha while reading my magazine I had bought. The afternoon faded to night, and I grabbed the metro to head back home ...

Gray and beautiful

2010-02-08T13:29:00.003+01:00

Whisps of clouds at varying levels of altitude, hints of misty rainy drops, and a cool but not frigid dampness in the air - that is the gray weather these days in Paris. I love days like this, walking the streets and seeing heavy dark clouds in the horizon, with the beautiful architecture around me, makes me smile on the inside. Oh sure, this kind of winter weather is good for business, too, but it's not the primary reason why I like it. Bundled up in a scarf, with my iPod on in my headset, I'm transported to my own world ...

Some of the things I like to do on days like this -

Listen to moody music like Goldfrapp's "Utopia"
Find a nice sidewalk cafe and sit under the heater, people watching while reading and sipping a coffee
Walk through a park like Place des Vosges or Luxembourg Gardens
Browse in boutiques along rue des Francs Bourgeois

A quick bit of good news

2010-02-01T00:17:00.002+01:00

For those of y'all keeping score at home, this January (2010) might well be our best month ever in sales since we bought the bar in 2007. We won't know for sure until Martin runs the numbers (he's doing the closing tonight), however, since we had 5 weekends this month it's a pretty safe guess that we came in well over 40,000 EUROS (42,557 EUROS in March 2008 was our best month ever - SO FAR). Even if we don't beat that record, we feel like we're really doing well ... the team is working hard, getting along, enjoying themselves; the customers are literally lining up to come in when we open at 3:00 PM somedays (today, Sunday, I had four tables, about 12 people, waiting to get in when I opened the doors); and Martin and I are smiling more times than not (our brief vacation trips to London, Amsterdam, etc... seem to be helping as well!).

So for all of the gloom and doom about the economy, or the complaints about the bad weather (it's winter, it's supposed to be bad!), we're very, very happy.

Random stuff

2010-01-24T12:33:00.002+01:00

I went to the dentist this week, first time in a couple of years. I was expecting bad news, but instead the dentist said no cavities. However, because of my overly enthusiastic brushing, my gum line has suffered. This isn't the first time I've been told this. My former dentist in Los Angeles used to have to do some corrective work, putting a synthetic polymer enamel between the gum-line and where the tooth was unprotected. This dentist here in Paris did the same thing - for 20 teeth!! The final bill - 700 EUROS, which will mostly be reimbursed by Social Security (the public health plan), and the difference picked up by my private insurance (la mutuelle). Here is a vivid example of the difference between the US system and France's. In the US, I had no idea how much it cost, because my insurance at Nestle paid for the treatment. As a result, I'm pretty sure my dentist did some non-essential treatment (x-rays every other year, high-end "preventative" care inserting special time released tablets inside the gingiva to rebuild the gums ...).
On the business side, we've been busy during this, our high season. Every weekend we get filled up and have to turn people away. It's exhausting, yes, but we enjoy working with this new team - Elia, Nicolas, and the third newbie, Armande (pictures on their way). Martin and I are happy, the customers are for the most part cool, and we are thankful for a strong, healthy winter business.
Martin and I have been taking short "micro" vacations this Fall / Winter. So far, Martin has gone to Berlin with Jeff Stine, London, and Amsterdam. I've gone to Bruges, and now London twice (most recently back this past week). I really love London. I find the people so friendly, polite, their accent charming, and it's just nice to be somewhere that has an Anglo-Saxon perspective to work ("do your job well"). I make no apologies for wanting to visit as often as I can - and with the Eurostar offering a train voyage in under 3 hours for 77 EUROS, it's hard not to go!

A Christmas Story (part 2)

2009-12-27T12:48:00.003+01:00

Martin, getting his coupe of champagne on ...

Christmas night was the Opera. Or should I say, THE Opera ... the quintessential, the gold standard of every opera house in the world - the Paris Garnier Opera. We had bought tickets a while ago to see Rameau's "Platee", a 17th century Baroque comedic opera. Our seats were incredibly expensive, but we were on the main (orchestra) level, in the middle. A rare indulgence for us - we decided to live it up.

We dressed to the nines, and arrived for the 7:30 show, ascending the storied steps of the old opera building. Inside the beauty of the architecture nearly takes your breath away. The opera itself was interesting - as was usual, the story was a flimsy pretext for the music. Ostensibly the story about a pond frog named Platee, who is convinced that her beauty is so renowned that everyone who comes to the pond must be a suiter (and not just a fisherman or an idle passer-by). Jupiter, the Greek god, decides to pretend to marry Platee to play a trick on his jealous wife, Juno. Once Juno sees how ugly Platee is, surely she will realize that all of her jealousies are groundless. And that is basically the story. The interpretation done by the Paris Opera was true to the story, but incorporated contemporary staging and decoration into the set - which gave it an interesting update, even if the music was still the originally glorious Baroque.

I can highly recommend a visit to see a production at the Paris Opera. Be prepared to pay a lot of money, but it truly is an investment on yourself well spent.

A Christmas Story

2009-12-25T14:06:00.003+01:00

Outside of Galleries Lafayette, the week before Christmas ...

Yes, it was the night before Christmas ...

Martin and I worked up until the wee hours of the 23rd at the bar, and then looked forward to two whole days off together - the first time we've had days off together since August (!)

We had each done some last minute shopping leading up to Christmas. Galleries Lafayette seemed the best bet to find something on Martin's list (anything Ben Sherman, Energie jeans...) but I was a bit disappointed with the selection there, at what bills itself as the World's Largest Department Store (over 100,000 shoppers per day, double that in the days leading up to Christmas).

I ended up finding a couple of cute things for him, and had lunch in the cafeteria on the top floor, overlooking a gray skied Paris, with the Eiffel Tower looming off to my right. At times like this I really love Paris.

Finally the 24th arrived, and we both took advantage of the gym being open to have a work out before commencing with the day's program. Late afternoon we started getting into the holiday spirit by getting dressed up for an evening at the Theatre du Chatelet, to see Rogers & Hammerstein's "Sound of Music". But before we left, we relaxed a bit enjoying a bottle of Champagne, snacking on foie gras and a wonderful terrine.

The show was a lot of fun - I smiled listening to "These are a few of my favorite things", "Do-Re-Me", and the other popular songs from the musical. For Martin, who had never seen the movie version, it was doubly fun to see his reaction to the songs and the story - predictable, but thoroughly light and enjoyable. During intermission we escaped to the main lobby bar for a couple of coupes of Champagne.

We had reservations after the show next door at "le Zimmer", a somewhat posh restaurant catering to the theater goers. We were seated in a corner table with a view of the main room, and opted for the "Menu Fete" for Christmas. Shrimp ravioli in a lobster sauce as appetizer for me, followed by lobster on a bed of rice pilaf. Martin chose the smoked salmon as appetizer, with a rare Chateaubriand cut of beef accompanied by gratinee potatoes. Oh, with Kir Peche apperitivos, and a bottle of Merlot from Chile. Dessert was the house tiramisu (Martin) and a raspberry giant macaron (me). Absolutely lovely. Two hours of laughter and conversation - just enjoying each other's company without having to think about work at the bar.

We made it home around 1:30 AM, and were soon fast asleep in bed, waiting for Pere Noel's coming over the night (our stockings were carefully laid in anticipation of his visit - I know I was a good boy this year)!

First days of winter

2009-12-22T13:35:00.003+01:00

Near the bar, at the Centre Pompidou

Snow greeted me this past week ... I awoke on Thursday morning to find Paris amidst a blizzard of heavy snow flakes. The streets below the apartment were beds of white, and the grey sky promised a few more hours of heavy flurries.

Martin left to open the bar, and took these pictures on the way in - I just love snow in general, and Paris when it snows in particular! It didn't last too long - by Saturday the last traces had melted away, but for two glorious days, we were in a winter wonderland!

'Tis the season of St. Nicolas

2009-12-06T11:06:00.003+01:00

I doubt that he's a total saint, but we are happy that we hired Nicolas as Olivier's replacement. Nicolas is a full time student, studying sound engineering (for music, film, television) and prior to his studies worked for about a year in Ireland for HP, so his English is pretty good. He's a hard worker, has a pleasant personality, and takes direction well. He's also conscientious and professional with the clients.

November is all about ...

2009-11-29T12:38:00.004+01:00

... all about new and old friends getting together. For me, my high school reunion is this year - it's my 25th reunion, but before you do the math, I graduated from high school when I was only 11 years old (!). I know, I was incredibly gifted as a youngster, and you are incredibly gullible if you believe me. Anyway, due to a series of twists of fate, I reconnected with an "old" former classmate, Christina D'Angelo, who lives in NYC these days. She decided to come over to Paris for a Thanksgiving break from her hectic life managing one of Manhattan's best restaurants, and we ended up having a truly wonderful time together - Thanksgiving dinner at Joe Allen restaurant on rue Pierre le Scot.

... being thankful for one's health, family, and friends. I'm especially thankful for having Martin in my life, who is so wonderful. I'm lucky to be so loved by both him, as well as my parents, brother, and dear friends both near and far.

... Martin's birthday (the 11th), which we celebrated this year with a nice leisurely lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in the Marais, Grizzli, on place St. Martin (appropriately enough). The wait staff knows us by now, after having come for the past 3 years, and we always get a warm welcome from the owners. The day of his birthday I surprised Martin with a fresh bouquet of flowers and his presents.

As for the business - we're having another exceptional month. November is tracking to be our best November ever, and we're enjoying our new employee, Nicolas (more on him later...). If this is what our winter is going to be like, I can't wait for December!

Off to Ozz

2009-11-23T13:07:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was Olivier's last day with us at Imprevu. He gave his notice a month ago, and will be leaving this Thursday for Australia, where he'll be studying English at a university near Brisbane (and surfing in his free time). Of course we're happy for him, and this wonderful opportunity he has, but at the same time I'm a bit saddened, because he was such a delight to work with - very conscientious and politely professional with the customers. He was probably the best employee we've ever had. And he was always willing to help with something - putting things away, restocking the refrigerators, doing dishes, cutting the charcuterie, and anything else that needed to be done during brief lulls in the action. He will be sorely missed.

We interviewed in the meantime to try to find his replacement (not possible!), but we think we found a good candidate in Nicholas ... keeping my fingers crossed! In the meantime, for all of the times we laughed, and struggled (Police, Firemen, backed up pipes, difficult customers... ) - thanks for the memories and your service, Olivier! And best wishes in Australia!

Time to call the police

2009-11-07T14:21:00.003+01:00

I try to be positive in my outlook, but sometimes the day just conspires against the best of my intentions, and this past Wednesday was one of those days. Things were already a bit dodgy because our dishwashing machine went on the fritz the previous Saturday night, so as a result we've been washing all of the coffee cups, cocktail glasses, tea cups, and assorted bar accessories by hand (a call to the wholesaler where we bought the machine 18 months ago to have a technician come ASAP went unheeded ... our phantom repairman never appeared on Wednesday).

So Wednesday ended up being a particularly "special" day - guests accidentally breaking glasses, moving around from one table to another without telling the waiter, asking inane and stupid questions - all par for the course. But this past Wednesday seemed to have even more than usual. Even Olivier asked me "is it just me or is today a bit weird?"

We have one table (#25) which seats 8 - 10 people. It's reserved for groups of that size, and in the Autumn/Winter, it is always filled. Wednesday was no exception, and we had a group come in and over the course of 2 hours ordered over 100 EUROS of wine and beer. Around 10:30 I asked Olivier to go around the corner to buy some limes since we were running low, and the table asked him as he was leaving if they could pay - as always, he told them to go pay at the counter.

One of them came up paid for his portion (31 EUROS in beer). I was busy with other tables so I just assumed the rest were slow in getting to the bar counter. Soon Olivier returned and he said "So table 25 finally left!" (they had been a bit 'difficult' with him).

"No, they still haven't paid," I replied.

We both looked around at the table and there was no money there - they had left without paying. Almost immediately Olivier left to go prowling around the neighborhood for any sign of the group. He came back about 10 minutes later with no success. We were both in a sour mood by now - I, because, these jerks had left without paying the remaining 93,50 EUROS of their tab; and Olivier, because he felt like he had let me down.

I had had enough of the day's stupidity, as well as the huge mountain of dirty dishes I was needing to wash by hand, so I closed earlier than usual - around 1:30 while Olivier was sweeping the patio terrasse outside, he saw one of the group out front getting onto their motorcycle. He went up to them and said that it seemed as if they had "forgotten" to pay their tab.

The girl he was talking to was being belligerent and was more than a little tipsy. Her boyfriend was more calm and collected. I went outside to explain that in fact they had not paid their bill, and she continued to blather on that she had, or that her girlfriend had paid for her, or that it was okay, I could speak in English because she can speak in English, blah, blah, blah. But she wasn't going to pay.

I took the motorcycle key and went inside to call the police. I just wanted to get paid.

"Hello, Police for Paris 4th district."

"Yes, I'm a bar owner in the 4th and I have customer who refuses to pay their tab."

"How much is it?"

"100"

"Ok, we'll send someone right over."

Within 5 minutes a big police truck comes rolling down our narrow lane. Five policemen come into the bar where Olivier and I are continuing trying to convince her to pay the bill. She starts to become belligerent and hostile to the police as well. After 10 minutes of this, and after I showed the police the tab, with the amounts that had already been paid by her friend (the 31 EUROS) along with his receipt, her friend agrees to pay the rest so that it will be done and he can leave. After he pays, she continues to be "desagreable" and the police tell her it's time to go - it's done. But she refuses.

"If you don't leave with your friend right now, you'll be leaving with us."

She starts smarting off at them, and they get their handcuffs, 'cuff her and lead her out and into the waiting truck!

Olivier and I started laughing.

"What a night!" he says.

I just smile in agreement.

What's in the news?

2009-10-22T08:25:00.004+02:00

For all of you American's who are surrounded by news stories about the politics of Washington's reform of health care, or the Balloon Boy, or even cable television's equivalent of the Balloon Boy (Glen Beck), the stories that are being talked about here in France are :

President Sarkozy's 22 year old son, Jean, was "elected" to head the Economic Development agency responsible for La Defense - the big business district to the west of Paris. Even though he hasn't demonstrated any ability (he had to retake his second year at University) and he clearly only got the job thanks to dad, he'll be in charge for a multi-billion EURO budget. If it quacks like nepotism, and waddles like nepotism, it must be nepotism. This "scandal" is eating up a lot of the oxygen in the media (mainly because it involves Sarkozy, whom every left-of-center figure detests publicly).
France has one of the highest rates of suicide anywhere in the world, and the recent "epidemic" of suicides at big firms such as Renault, France Telecom, is raising questions as to why - one theory is that these quasi-private companies (until recently very much owned and controlled by the state) have moved too quickly to a "liberal" (read: capitalist) economic model, where the individual feels lost and powerless against management. Labor unions are jumping up and down demanding laws to further restrict management's ability to increase productivity.
H1N1 virus - otherwise known as "la Grippe A" here - continues to make the front pages of the newspapers almost weekly. Apparently France is well prepared with stockpiles of vaccines, and plans are in place for the epidemic.
It's football season (read: soccer) here in Europe, and as usual, the French team sucks. The French Rugby team, however, does well, and the city of Paris would like to build a new stadium just for Rugby, tearing down an older facility built in the 1920's, but which has a lot of sentimental value. In this battle, the Socialists (the city of Paris) are against the UMP (Sarkozy's party) and the Greens.

Bruges

2009-10-05T15:06:00.004+02:00

The French countryside near Calais

Well, Jeff Stine has left for Oktoberfest, but while he was here, all too briefly, we enjoyed a wonderful visit. As I noted in my previous post, we took a road trip to Bruges together. It was my first time in Belgium, as well as my first time to the British Channel coast. The weather was beautiful, with just a hint of Autumn in the air.

The sun setting over the channel as we made our way back to Paris from Bruges

Bruges at night along the canal

The city of Bruges is in the Northwestern corner of Belgium, near the Netherlands, and is a Flemish (Dutch speaking) city. It's known for its chocolates (!) and lace embroidery, apparently. Today it's mainly a tourist destination - a lot of British retirees coming for an overnight bus tour it seems - since the historic center of the city is beautifully restored to its Medieval glory.

The town has a series of canals that interlace the city center, and Jeff and I mainly wandered around looking for cute cafes to either have coffee, wine, or something to nibble on (Belgian waffles). Overall we had a nice experience, a relatively quick drive from Paris (about 3 hours).

The next day we drove along the coast of France from Calais (where we had lunch) and then down the coast towards Boulogne-sur-Mer where the countryside broke at the Channel coast, and the white cliffs of Dover just barely visible 12 miles across the water to the west.

Friend time

2009-09-26T11:02:00.003+02:00

Jeff Stine along a canal in Bruges, Belgium

Along the Seine one glorious afternoon in September

It's not often that I can spend time with really good friends ... but when I do, I try to focus as much of my free time as possible on making the most out of every moment together. So, with Jeff Stine visiting from NYC these past couple of weeks, I haven't had a chance to post much in my blog since his arrival. I tend to keep daily personal updates in my Facebook account, but here on my blog I usually go a bit more into what I'm doing or thinking related to the business. Although that's not always the case - mentions of vacations and friends also sneak onto the blog.

So with Jeff's visit, we've done little side adventures (Chateau de Vincennes, an overnight trip to Bruges, Belgium, a visit from Patrick "Patsy" Faracci), but mainly it has been just a series of easy conversations and laughs over great food and wine in the evenings. Which is really all I wanted anyway - to spend hours together reminiscing and exchanging viewpoints on life and subjects fare and wide.

Once in a while, I wish I could just hit the pause button on life...

New team

2009-09-13T13:18:00.002+02:00

One of the two newbies ... Elia

My last post a few days ago was apparently my 200th post since I created this blog over three years ago, and as I commented about my reflections that Martin and I are evolving into a new, better version of Imprevu (which I called, version 3.0), it is only fitting that this post (no. 201) should be a turning of the page as we begin our new adventures at the bar.

Our two new waiters, Elia and Olivier, finished their first night of working together - prior to last night they had only worked with me or Martin individually. So I was a bit apprehensive to see if they would gel and get along - it's not automatic for workplace "friendships" to happen.

Olivier, natural state

Of the two, Olivier is clearly the "alpha" ... he's more of a leader, whether because he has worked a couple of years already, or because he has been at Imprevu for a few days working before Elia started, or because of some other innate traits. But he also seems to have a fun personality - he brought home-made carrot cake last night for all of us to enjoy, and it was remarkably good. He likes to smile, but he works hard and does a great job of managing the room, greeting customers and handling any of their questions.

So the first weekend of them both working together went off without any major problems - they're still learning how we (Martin and I) want them to do things, and there are still areas of improvement for them as they settle into the job, but on the whole, I think it's going to be a nice Autumn / Winter for the new team.

We made an offer

2009-09-06T12:29:00.003+02:00

The other day (yesterday?) I posted about how we had begun the interviews for our new staff... since then I've been reflecting on the fact that we are launching "Imprevu version 3.0" this Fall - when we bought the original Imprevu (version 1) back in February 2007, we inherited the original team of three. Soon, all but 1 left, and during the resulting transition we hired a mix of good and not-so-good employees to create version 2.0 (the Serge / Paul-Louis / Thibaut era). With the departure of Thibaut, we really are wiping the slate clean and will have a chance a to have a really fresh start.

We extended an offer to one of the candidates ... Olivier is his name, and he will (hopefully) begin his contract this upcoming Wednesday. We are genuinely excited about him joining us, and since we had a really good weekend in sales - Friday was 1,500 and Saturday 1,700 - we are looking forward to having his help, because it gets pretty crazy with just two people doing that much business.

I also (finally) made a page for the bar on Facebook ... if you'd like to follow what we're up to in more real time than through this periodic blog - check out our page (Imprevu Cafe) on Facebook.

End of the August doldrums?

2009-09-04T13:21:00.003+02:00

Closing down for that week in August was one of the best things we did ... it really recharged our souls to be able to get away like that. But the rest of the month was terribly slow - as expected. It's always hard to remember that it is going to get better, because by the end of the month it seems like we've been sitting in the doldrums forever. Having day after day of only 200 or 300 EUROS in sales were getting old, especially since the bills kept coming in.

This year we have been focusing on our cash - flow situation much more attentively. In August of last year, basically this time, we were months behind in our bills (rent, payments to our suppliers, to the accountant) and we only really climbed out of that hole this Spring. We're back to being a bit late again, but I guess that's the normal swing of our business. We should be fine again at the end September if things pick up.

One big help in our cash - flow management has been the reduction in salaried help. Again, in 2008 we had 4 people on payroll in August (two were in the process of being let go, one was on medical disability, and the other, Thibaut, stayed with us through this August). As of August 16th, 2009, however, Thibaut is no longer employed with us. He gave us a month's notice in July, so now we are actively looking for one full time waiter, and a part-time waiter who will be working only Friday and Saturdays.

We've had a lot of interest the past couple of weeks ... at least 20 resumes have been submitted, only about 4 or 5 of them of interest to us. We started interviewing last night the two candidates that we thought were the best fit. What we're looking for are "kids" who have an easy smile, not necessarily any meaningful work experience in a bar (since we'd have to have them 'unlearn' their bad habits), and an acceptance of the idea that they will be working very, very hard (until 3 AM) ... disavowing them of the notion that it's "fun" to work at a bar. We can make it fun, because at heart, Martin and I have fun working there. But it's not a place to have fun as an employee.

The first candidate is a kid named ... well, I should probably mask their identities, let's call him "Edouard". He is in college studying music, wants to be a musician someday, but in high school scored high in physics, which is what his parents would like him to pursue. So he's a smart kid, with a bit of an independent, artistic side. He's a nice kid, too. Always smiling. We know him because he's been our customer for years now - he lives around the corner. We put him through the paces in the interview - telling him it's night and day between being a customer and working at a bar. He gets it. He's bright. So, we're going to have him come in on Monday to do a "trial" night - to see if has an aptitude for it.

The second candidate is "Oswald". Good looking. Nice smile. Already has a diploma in Hotel-Restaurant services. Most recently worked a variety of internships at the Crown Plaza Hotel at Republique, near our apartment. He was looking to gain some experience in a bar setting, to round out his background. Nice resume, and we put him right to work last night for his "trial." He hustled the rooms - we were busy (finally!! It rained and the weather cooled off dramatically yesterday) and he handled it just right. Managed the room like a pro. A quick learner, too. If we corrected something he was doing wrong, he didn't make the same mistake twice. We both liked him - and I we think he might be a keeper.

We still have three more candidates to interview - one of them a girl who used to work at Starbucks, which is a plus - but we felt that these first two were our strongest candidates which is why we lined them up first. So, we'll see ...

The long pause

2009-08-18T20:46:00.003+02:00

The view from the shoreline at Cambria

The French call any break for relaxation, a "pause." Which I guess makes sense. I'd been needing a long pause for the past few months. The short little vacations that I was able to take earlier in May and June only whetted my appetite for something more fulfilling.

Martin and I had decided to close the bar for a week in August. Based on our last two years of experience, we knew that Paris basically shuts down in August - the only people left are those supporting the hordes of fanny-packed tourists that mob from one site to the next. Since our core clientele were not tourists, we risked little in closing for a bit. Plus it would be the first time since we moved here that we had both taken a long (read: one week) vacation together.

So we hatched our plan. Martin would leave first for a week to Los Angeles to visit his family and friends while I stayed behind and worked at the bar. Then the following week we'd close. I would hop on a flight from Paris to LAX to join him there, and we'd spend a wondrous week together doing nothing but relaxing. Finally, he would fly back to Paris, and I would fly to Houston for a week to visit my family.

We decided to spend our week together at one of our favorite hidden treasures - Cambria. The astute readers of this blog will remember that it was in Cambria that we spent one of our last moments in the US before flying off to Paris - we came for a celebratory visit in 2006 after Martin's graduation from University, and haven't been back since. So, with our very good friend, Greg, we decided to rent a beach house and just relax and be silly for a week.

I did manage to squeeze in a couple of visits during my abbreviated (12 hours) stay in Los Angeles. I was fortunate to be able to have dinner with my good friend, Brent Cross, and his husband, Martin, at Long Beach that first night. Brent and Martin had visited us in Paris a couple of years ago, and since then have married and bought their house in Orange County. We had a lot of catching up to do. Then for breakfast the following morning, over an American sized plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes accompanied by a bottomless cup of black coffee, we met with Milly Gore ... a dear friend (and investor) who has also been able to come for a visit in Paris.

By noon on Monday the 3rd of August we were well on our way to Cambria - four hours up the coast from Los Angeles, about midway between LA and SF. Just next to the Hearst Castle. The highlights of our week there:

- Harmony Winery - Just a stone's throw from Cambria, we always stop there to stock up on wine for the stay. It's a beautiful setting, and after a few samples, we settled on the Barbera, a lovely "blush" (I call it a Rose), and a couple of whites. Thanks to Greg, and his membership in the wine club, he got some great deals. And we got some great wine!

- I rediscovered the joys of reading summer "trash" novels. I picked up a couple of books when I had my brief layover at Houston Intercontinental ... A James Patterson novel ("Sam's Letters to Jennifer"), and then a thriller from James Rollin's ("The Judas Strain"). Reading these books made me appreciate how creative, and prodigious, these authors are. James Patterson squeezes out a novel about as fast as I change my socks it seems like. Granted they are formulaic and anything but high literature - but they are a lot of fun to read and make for perfect reading while laying out in the Cambria sun.

- Spending quality time with Martin. I miss these moments together when we can be silly, forget about work at the bar, and the headaches associated with running your own business, and just enjoy each other. We were able to jog together most mornings along the fog enveloped shoreline, spend lazy hours together in the jacuzzi sipping champagne, and fall asleep on the sofa in each others' arms while watching "Mommie Dearest."

- Greg is always worth a visit. He is Martin's best friend, and just as sweet as can be. He can't let five minutes pass without a catty comment or a good joke, and after a couple of glasses of wine or good Bloody Mary, he loses what little inhibition he had! I'm so glad we were able to enjoy our precious week away with such a good friend!

- Lunch and dinners along the coast, watching the sun set, while eating lightly battered fish and chips, or a delicately seared seafood entree ... for someone who has fantasized about food for the past several months, I hit the jackpot in Cambria. We ate very well ... and if it hadn't been for those morning jogs, I would have gained some significant weight!

What's not to love about Mondays??

2009-07-20T21:40:00.003+02:00

Ok. I'm a bit prejudiced, because Monday is my day off (this week). But honestly, Monday is all about a state of mind. Seriously. Well, maybe that's just the wine talking (I had a couple of glasses of Rose Cotes du Duras before I wrote this).

My Monday started off a bit odd. I'm the kind of person who usually remembers their dreams each night. And yes, I know, nothing is more tedious than sitting there and listening to someone talk about the dream they had last night. Suffice to say that my dream last night was about owning a restaurant with Martin, he was in the kitchen, and I was in the "salle" with the customers - all 20 tables of them - and I had to go from table to table taking their order, and then subsequently apologize to them for their order taking so long. I woke up exhausted.

But after a nice breakfast and a few cups of Nespresso, I was good to go with my day off. My new friend, Mathieu, texted me to see if I wanted to go see a movie. "Sure!" I responded (in French), and we decided to meet at 3:45 to see Woody Allen's new "Whatever Works" playing at Les Halles.

I'm not a Woody Allen fan. I don't really know why, but I was open to liking this movie, and I really enjoyed it. Implausible love story? Sure. Caricaturization, nay, cartoonization, of various groups of people? Of course. But I did enjoy the film, and left the theater with Mathieu in a state of semi-ecstasy. The film is about a middle aged guy, played by Larry Craig, who is the quintessential misanthrope. He falls in love with a cute young girl half his age, who manages to soften his harder edges and break him out of his routine a bit, and, without giving away the ending, manages to live "happily ever after." Lately I've been feeling a bit of the misanthrope, particularly with the certain breed of customer that seems to dominate during the slower summer months, so I took away from the film the desire to turn the page and rediscover a bit of the love story in life.

Jeff Stine, enjoying a Mimosa during his visit in the Spring of 2008

After a quick stop at Imprevu to see my love, Martin (which is always a good pick-me-up), I decided to take a different route home, and wound up finding a cute little park near the Place des Vosges, from which I called my dearest best friend, Jeff Stine, and chatted for the better part of an hour. I sat on a park bench, watching a trio of 6 year old boys kick a soccer ball around, scanning the surrounding neighborhood with its 17th century church and beautiful "hotels particuliers" and my soul smiled. Of course, talking with Jeff is the easiest way to get into a good mood. But it really just was one of those priceless moments of pure zen-like tranquility.

I walked home, stopping by a tiny Italian trattoria to buy some food for dinner - and then by 8:00 was seated on my little apartment balcony, eating, drinking my Rose, and reading my new "New Yorker" magazine - completely loving life and wishing that everyone could be so lucky!

Investor Newsletter

2009-07-03T23:51:00.002+02:00

I sent out the Investor Newsletter to our investors yesterday, so if by chance you did not receive your copy, feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to resend it to you ... or if you are interested in receiving it as a potential future investor, I'd be happy to give you one as well!

The fantastic discovery

2009-06-25T23:37:00.005+02:00

Buck at the Bordeaux train station - waiting for the train to Biarritz

I decided at the last minute (okay, a few days in advance) to take a nice vacation in Southern France. My first choice, Bordeaux, proved to be problematic since all of the hotels were already booked - I later found out that the annual wine convention was being held. So, I decided to adapt and booked a hotel in the the Southwestern corner of the country, in Basque country along the Atlantic ... in lovely, Biarritz. It's only another 1 hour and 40 minutes by high speed train from Bordeaux, so altogether the train trip was a 4 1/2 hour trip. A friend of mine from the US, Michael, was in town and game for joining me on the trip since Martin had to stay behind and run the bar.

The view from our hotel room ...

We arrived around 5:00 PM on Monday afternoon, and checked into the Hotel Cafe de Paris in Biarritz. It's brand new, only been open 3 weeks, and wow, what a great stay! The staff was wonderful, and the view from our room - absolutely amazing. You could hear the ocean surf crashing below, and the breeze was tinged slightly with sea air. Perfection.

Actually perfection was the chilled Rose wine that we enjoyed on the hotel patio, snacking on a plate of tapas.
Soon I was totally relaxed, and ready to wander around a bit to explore Biarritz. We headed down to the beach and walked through a small commercial district until we found a charming little Basque restaurant with sidewalk seating and an affordable menu.

I ordered the daily special - a grilled fish with sauteed pototoes. Delicious. For dessert, a basque cake (a soft, but dense, white cake with raspberry jam layered inside it).

Dusk came around 10 PM and we walked back to the hotel - taking in the breathtaking sunset over the Atlantic.

The next day we got up and had a breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat, and coffee at the hotel patio, before walking south along the coast, past the charming old port, to the next beach, below the palisades overlooking the bay.

This two hour walk along the beach ended up being how I got a really deep suntan ... er ... sunburn. By the time I made it back to the hotel to put on some protection, it was too late, and the damage was done.

We got back to the center of town in time for lunch at a really charming Basque tapas bar called "Bar Jean". We ordered a big plate full of tapas, and a couple pitchers of Rose wine from the region, and just drank in the ambiance.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach below our hotel - with me hiding my back and shoulders beneath a towel while reading my New Yorker magazine and people watching.

The next day, Wednesday, we checked out and took the train back up the coast to Bordeaux, to spend the afternoon exploring a bit of this amazingly beautiful city. We arrived in time for lunch and sat at a sidewalk cafe in the town square facing the cathedral and town hall. Afterwards, we walked around and found the Wine Museum where we collapsed into our chairs and sampled some wonderful regional (Bordeaux) wines.

It was an amazing trip - I look forward to going again sometime soon, if anyone wants to go with me !!

Staying in touch

2009-06-18T12:58:00.002+02:00

This past Sunday, the 14th of June, was particularly beautiful ... sunny, slightly cool in the shade, otherwise warm in the sun, and since it was my day, I decided to go somewhere completely different for a change. Back when Martin and I first moved to Paris, we used to go on an excursion to the big supermarket, Carrefour, just outside the periphery of Paris proper - it usually involved taking two different buses, about a 40 minute trip just to get there in order to save a few EUROS in our groceries (we've since discovered Auchan, which is much closer and easier to get to). Anyway, the bus would take us past Bercy and the cute little neighborhood always stayed in the back of my mind as a cool place to check out someday.

I went by Metro this time - the line 14 express Metro stops there - and spent a nice afternoon walking around, getting some sun while laying in the grass on my back, crossing the pedestrian bridge that connects Bercy to the Left Bank (and the hideously monstrous Francois Mitterand Library), and capping it off with a soft drink at a cafe in Bercy Village. Definitely worth going back to and spending a long lazy summer day relaxing.

Similarly, there are past friends and acquaintances who stay in the back of my mind - people I used to work with, date, or otherwise knew years ago - who on occasion come back and find me either by email or Facebook. I love these kinds of encounters, where someone "finds" me again and we re-establish contact. Since the summer is particularly slow for us, business-wise, I've taken to jotting down memories and chronicling my life in a little notebook (Moleskin) ... suddenly I'm filled with these names and events from 20, even 30 years ago, and with the help of the internet, can do a bit of digging around to see if I can still find a particular restaurant, or zoom around on Google Earth.

So if you read this and we haven't chatted in a while, stop for a moment and send me an email and let me know what you've been up to! I love hearing from all of you!

Catching up

2009-06-08T10:08:00.002+02:00

On the balcony of the apartment, with my lavender plant behind me

Like I said in my last post, May was a bit of a lost cause for us. Our barman, Thibaut, took the month off for vacation, due to our request since he was long overdue for one and May has a ridiculous amount of holidays (jours feries) so that if he had worked on those days we'd have to pay time and a half. So as a result, just Martin and I worked basically non-stop. We had a serious plumbing problem when a pipe burst in the basement "cave" one night, requiring a plumber to come at 3:00 AM on a Friday night (yeah, you already did the math, it was VERY expensive). Plus we had a couple of private parties that we tried our best to deal with despite it being just he and I. Oh, and the visit(s) to the Prefecture for our carte de sejour.

Well, we made it. It's now June, the Obamas have come and gone from Paris (unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see them!), and our lives are getting back to normal. As we enter the lean summer months, there will be fewer and fewer busy days, and less and less revenues, but at least we are much better positioned for it than last year or the year before. We're going to take a couple of vacations, if we can make it work, and do some projects at the bar ... as well as start taking the tentative steps towards finding a new location for a future restaurant/bar -- the "true" 4 Bar experience.

I bought a lavender plant back in April for the balcony at home, and despite all of the neglect, it still has managed to hang in there and flower. Kind of like us ...!

pffff - where does the time go?

2009-05-22T12:54:00.002+02:00

It's already almost the end of May - can't believe it. This month was always going to be a difficult one, because we told our sole remaining employee to take the month off for vacation - he had already accrued over 4 weeks in the past year. So, it's just Martin and me holding down the bar. The other thing that makes May a bit unique is that it is loaded with long weekend holidays. There's May 1, of course, and then Victory in Europe Day (May 8th, I think), and then the Day of the Ascension (May 15?). Anyway, just about every weekend in May is an excuse for the French to make a "pont" (bridge) and stretch it into a 3 or even 4 day weekend. As a result, few of our regular customers are around, the weather is typically warm and sunny - in short, it makes for slow business.

So Martin and I just muddle through the month - one of us opens, the other closes. Sundays and Mondays we take turns to pull a long day, so that the other gets a day's rest. Plus there's the usual headaches - still trying to get our documents for the Prefecture (3rd meeting at the end of May), various repairs (a serious plumbing repair in the cave is required), "Metro" inventory and shipping day, taxes to be paid... and few moments for some quality free time.

I've been spending a lot of my daydreaming moments fantasizing about my upcoming US vacation in August, as well as doing some planning for a trip or two in June or July similar to my Lyon break. But in the meantime, I'm just trying to get through May...

Everybody needs a vacation ... once in a while

2009-04-24T13:02:00.005+02:00

There are some things that France does poorly (avid readers of this blog will be able to find several citations). On the other hand, France does some things really well - transportation, specifically public transit, being one of them. It has been about a year since I took my last vacation, down to Montpellier, and both Martin and I have been itching for some time off. Unfortunately, due to our now much reduced staff, we are unable to do that together - so we are taking separate individual vacations this Spring. My turn came first, and I chose to go to Lyon.

Why Lyon? Well, I wanted to go somewhere that was easily accessible by high-speed train (TGV), and I had never been to Lyon. Also, it was too early to go off to the beaches - it's still a bit chilly in the air. So, I decided to dash off to Lyon for a quick 24 hour excursion. I booked my tickets online, and then Wednesday the 22nd, I arrived at the Gare de Lyon train station to climb aboard my TGV. A mere two hours later, after reaching speeds of over 250 km/hr, I arrived. A beautiful sunny afternoon.

For the uninitiated, Lyon is France's second largest city, with about 2 million people spilling over the banks of the Rhone and Saone rivers. It's in the heart of wine country, and is also France's gastronomic capital. I stayed in a new 4 star hotel just north of the city center, and everything was easily accessible by a 5 minute bus ride directly from the hotel.

I spent my first afternoon (after checking into the hotel and having a delicious chicken club sandwich on the hotel's bar patio) wandering around the city center ... I took the bus from the hotel to the City Hall (Hotel de Ville), and from there walked down the peninsula of the city center towards the main square (Place Beaucour). The city center resembles the island of Manhattan a bit, since it is bounded on either side by the two rivers, and ending where the two meet (which becomes the bigger Rhone as it flows to the Mediterranean). Bridges span the rivers, some having been constructed especially for pedestrians.

Around 7:30 I found a nice little cafe bar alongside the Saone to have a couple glasses of Rose and relax. The sun was just beginning to set over the mammoth hill facing the city center, atop which stands a big church and a radio tower that looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower (though smaller) in Paris.

I chatted a bit with the barman at the bar about where would be a good place to grab something to eat for dinner, and he recommended the tiny little restaurant next door, which I went to and tried something new for the first time -- "quenelle", which is a fish casserole, topped with a sauce (I chose a mild cheese sauce). And a glass of red Cote de Rhone. And a dessert (chocolate cake fondue). I was on vacation.

After dinner I walked back towards the Hotel de Ville to catch my bus back to the hotel. The coolness of the night was wonderful, and a lot of other people were out enjoying the Springtime weather since several restaurants were overflowing their patio "terrasse" seating and spilling into the streets.

Thursday I got up and checked out of the hotel by noon, and then took the bus back to the city center where I had spied a Starbucks the day before ... I filled up on a muffin, black coffee, and orange juice before embarking on my day's adventure - to explore the "Old City."

The Old City of Lyon is on the Left Bank of the Saone, beneath the big hill with the church and radio tower. I crossed the bridge to discover this charming area of the city, with its narrow cobblestone streets, simple but classically beautiful architecture painted bright fresco colors of orange and terra cota. I wandered around taking in all of the sights and made a few notes for a future trip, hopefully with Martin, of places to check out in the delightful Old City.

I felt like I needed to climb up the big hill overlooking the city to get a better view of the area, and after a bit of a hike, made it half way up (I found a cute little park overlooking the city), and took these pictures ...

That little adventure needed to be rewarded with a break, so I walked back down to the Old Town and stopped in a relaxing sidewalk cafe to have a glass of white wine and read the day's "Le Figaro" newspaper. And to people watch. And soak in the delicious warmth of the sun. I was on vacation.

Soon it was time to gradually make my way back towards my final destination - the train station. But first I needed some lunch. It was about 3 in the afternoon, and I stopped at "le Bar Americain" in the City Center to have a cheeseburger and fries.

At 7:00 PM the TGV pulled into the station for the non-stop service back to Paris. I climbed aboard and plopped into my seat, read a bit, took a little nap, got up and went to the club car to have a last glass of wine and chicken wrap sandwich before getting home.

A very relaxing, perfectly enjoyable - but all to brief - vacation. I came back to Paris recharged, smiling, and delighted with my decision to discover the beauties of Lyon.

Once a year

2009-04-17T12:44:00.003+02:00

Every year Martin and I have to renew our carte de sejour with the Prefecture. The carte is basically the equivalent of the US Green Card, and it is my official identity here in France, allowing us to stay, and to work. Most cartes given are for students, and they don't allow the holder to work. A small number are given to foreigners for asylum, and an even smaller number are given to foreigners to work (if you are a citizen of the EU you don't need one).

Because it's only valid for one year, we have to go to the Prefecture every Spring to restart the process for renewing it. Here is a list of documents we have to provide:
1.) Original and a copy of the carte de sejour;
2.) Original and a copy of your valid passport;
3.) Proof of residence with the original and a copy of your residential rent bill showing your name and address, and your EDF-GDF (electricity and gas) bill for the last three months;
4.) The prior year's income tax (avis d'imposition sur les revenus);
5.) An original of your company's Kbis that is less than three month's old (the Kbis is basically your business licence);
6.) A copy of your commercial lease / contract;
7.) An affidavit from your insurance company that your business is insured;
8.) The form for your Professional Tax and affidavit that it was paid;
9.) Affidavit each from URSSAF (Social Security), TVA (Sales Tax authority), and RSI (Employer's pension) that we are paid in full for the prior year;
10.) Affidavit from accountant stating how much we paid ourselves in the prior year;
11.) The Balance Sheet and Income Statement from our business for the prior year.

Our next meeting with the Prefecture is at the end of the month, and we basically have everything but the RSI affidavit (we owed some money inexplicably from last year that we've since sent them them checks for - once they are cashed they should send us the affidavit), as well as from TVA and the Professional Tax (I've talked to them and they're sending them to us in the mail - hopefully they arrive soon!).

As you can see, there are a LOT of documents to have prepared, and we never know if it is exactly what the bureaucrat is looking for when we get there ... last year it took 3 separate trips to get everything in order. This next appointment will be our second already for this year.

Springtime has come to Paris

2009-04-07T01:40:00.003+02:00

One of my favorite flower shops - this one is on Rue des Archives

We've had two consecutive days of weather in the mid 60's, sun, and surprisingly for Paris, smiles! I'm enjoying the turn of events, even if it means a momentary loss of sales (our business is anti-warm weather, unfortunately - or fortunately, since Paris is usually grey and rainy). So today, it being my day off, I decided to embrace the fullness of this Spring day and take some pictures while I was at it.

The day started with a quick business meeting - Martin and I meeting with Thibaut, our barman, for a monthly recap and look ahead. Then, I did the bank deposit for the weekend, while Martin opened. Afterwards, I walked back home and once back - I decided to spend some quality time on our balcony and read a while, soaking in the sun.

But after a while I was getting hungry, so I decided to head out and try a new Italian trattoria that had opened up around the corner from the apartment on a cute little side street. Martin and I enjoy going to a little cafe called "Creme" and this place just opened in the last month next door to it, so I decided to try it out. They have wonderful foccaccia pizzas, and it was just the perfect portion to satisfy my craving for the moment. I headed down rue des Archives to go find a little cafe to sip some wine and people watch.
Rue des Archives is a wonderful walk ... it is a straight shot from the townhall for the 3rd arrondissement down to the main city hall for Paris, which is the anchor of the Marais. Along the way you pass some exceptional architecture - one of my favorites being an old 16th century "maison" which was the home of someone who's benefactor was the Marquisse de Guise ... I'm sure that means something to someone, but I just enjoy the fairy tale look of the place!
Around 6:00 I made it to my sidewalk cafe to sit and people watch, read my Economist magazine, and sip a delightful Rose wine. The sun was still shining, the people walking all hither and fro talking on their cell phones, chatting with friends, walking their dogs, holding their kids' hands ... it was a parade of Parisians, and I had a front row seat.

After my glass, I decided to go get some dinner in the Montorgeuil district of Paris (the 1st arrondissement), on Rue Tiquetonne, where I've found a wonderful Thai restaurant that makes my mouth water just thinking about the succulent padh thai noodles, cashew chicken, and spicy papaya salad.

It was a great, sunny, wonderful day!

April in Paris

2009-04-01T15:14:00.003+02:00

Me, stuffing my cupcake hole

It's been almost a month since I last posted on here ... time flies, I guess, when you're swamped! Here are some highlights from the last month -

No more "Metro" days! We worked with the commercial rep for the big wholesaler Metro to be able to order our inventory through him (fax or email a spreadsheet with the product numbers and quantity), and then they deliver to us within a couple of days. Unloading all of the inventory off two pallets and arranging in our little stockroom still takes quite a while (4 hours), but it's a heckuva lot easier than the old method of renting a truck, driving there, etc... Our first delivery went pretty well, so we're going to continue in the future about once every five or six weeks.
Renting of the downstairs "cave" continues to go well, and could be a nice revenue enhancer during the next five or six "lean" months as we head into the warm season.
We're introducing a new menu for the summer, featuring fresh squeezed juices and smoothie mixes using a new high tech extractor that Martin bought at Metro. It might attract some new customers who go to the new high end gym, L'Usine, just around the corner.
I'm putting the finishing touches on the Investor Newsletter for our investors. I was delayed a bit because we've had to focus on getting all of our documents in order for the renewal of our cartes de sejours at the Prefecture. Unfortunately, we didn't have some of the necessary documents yet - so another trip is in order by the end of April.

On a personal note, we have mixed feelings about the arrival of Spring. It brings sunshine, warmth, flowers, and smiles - but at the same time it also promises a drop in sales and a slowdown in our business. So, we're going to try to enjoy ourselves where we can these next few months, with a couple of short, and badly needed, vacations around Europe. Martin is planning a trip in early May to Budapest, while I'm probably staying closer to home - going to some cities accessible by high speed train like Lyon, Geneva, and Amsterdam.

We are still loving our little slice of heaven here in the Marais. A new "cupcake" specialty boutique just opened on rue Rambuteau called "Berko". They sell designer cupcakes, and I can quickly see that it's going to be all the rage before too long!

ECBNCM strikes again

2009-03-01T02:50:00.003+01:00

The "terrasse" room, because it's next to our "terrasse" (patio)

Tables 11bis - 14 as seen from Table 9 ... Table 9 is a "reserved" table, but inevitably somebody tries to sit there each day, and I have to go and "kindly" tell them, 'sorry, but this table is reserved'

The bar, with Anthony from ECBNCM sipping his coffee and talking to the ridiculously handsome barman (lol)

The view of the entry (and tables 1 -5) from the bar

Filling an order of tea with a Perrier

Our friends, Antony and Jonathon, over at ECBNCM marketing agency came by for a visit the other day (ECBNCM, by the way, stands for eux c'est bon, nous c'est miex - they're good, but we're better, in English). They took some pictures of the bar for us, and we're planning on using them to do a couple of small projects this spring. If you've never checked out their website, do so - they just relaunched it, and it looks amazing. www.ecbncm.com

(belated) Anniversary

2009-03-01T02:32:00.002+01:00

It was on February 16th that we took possession of the bar Imprevu, and began our odyssey as small business owners here in Paris. Time flies. It's so hard to believe that we're beginning out 3rd year doing this thing ... we still feel like we're learning a lot each day, but it's always an adventure!

So Martin reminded me on the morning of the 16th "today is our anniversary!" and I looked at him kind of weird because actually January 8th is OUR anniversary, but in the sense of the bar, he was right. "Let's do something special!" he suggested, so we decided to have lunch together (a rarity, alas) at one of our favorite restaurants near the bar, called "La Verre Luisant".

Over our leisurely lunch we made tentative plans for the next 12 months - planning some projects and initiatives that we'd like to get done in 2009 for the business. Since we're playing very cautiously these days, we don't anticipate any drastic changes - but we do have a couple or three ideas up our sleeves to keep things moving forward.

For any investors who might be reading this post (and I hope you are!), I'm working on the draft for the next investor newsletter. A large portion of that will focus on what we envision the next three years to look like, both in dividend payments, as well as growth (hint - we're going to be staying in Paris, but hopefully taking it to the next level...).

We've had an amazing two years so far, and we are both so lucky and fortunate to have been able to do what we're doing each and every day. Yes, of course, we have our bad days. But more often than not, we have a blast working at the bar together, and we know that our customers enjoy coming. 2009 is going to be a tricky year with the economic crisis, but we're determined to pull ahead.

Random thoughts on a rainy Tuesday

2009-02-10T13:02:00.002+01:00

Me at Starbucks, yesterday, on a rare day off...

It's been a few weeks since I last posted - mainly a function of being so relentlessly busy working at the bar. Since September we've effectively reduced our staff to just Thibault, and in mid-January we formally terminated our contract with Fabien, the employee who had been out on sick leave since September.

By far the biggest problem we've had with running our business is the rigidity of French labor law. The utter inflexibility it creates for small business owners is such that we have changed our ideas on how we want to hire and treat employees. Originally we wanted to be innovative and "enlightened" as employers - to be the employer of choice because of the way we treated our staff, how we paid them through a combination of a base and incentive bonuses tied to performance and sales, and how we engendered mutual trust with them through greater responsibility and coaching.

Now we see that this approach is not possible here in France. The employer / employee relationship is too adversarial, and the legal mechanisms given to the employee as "protections" make it impossible for us as employers to implement effectively any of the practices we had wanted. So as a result, we are left with using the same techniques that the rest of employers use, and don't expect much, if anything, from our employees.

Of all of the reforms that President Sarkozy is considering, none are in the realm of addressing this core weakness with the French labor market. When he campaigned he talked of creating a new "individual" contract (all employees work under a contract), but nothing has come of it. Such a radical reform would immediately draw the ire of the powerful labor unions, and likely bring the country down to a screeching halt.

So instead of replacing our terminated employees with a part-time worker, Martin and I are instead working six hour days each, usually around 12 hours a day, to make up the labor difference - and save money, in the process. By April the winter "high season" for us will be over, and things should be easier from a work perspective, but since September, all through the winter it's just been work, work, work for us.

Strike ! (again)

2009-01-29T15:45:00.002+01:00

Black Thursday. That's what they call it here ... when all 8 of the biggest unions agree to go on a general strike. The airports, trains, public transport bring Paris down to its knees. The strike today was called to protest the Sarkozy government's response to the economic slowdown, as well as the usual long laundry list of things they don't like about the Sarkozy reforms.

As I type this I can hear the hundreds of thousands marchers at Republique as they make their way towards the center of the city. The strike - nationwide - is supported by about 70% of the French. They (the strikers, the unions, the opposition party Socialists) don't really have a counter proposal or idea on how to reverse the slowdown. Sarkozy's government has already proposed 35 Billion Euros in additional spending (the Socialists want to increase that to about 50 billion), bail-outs to the already heavily subsidized auto industry, and other lesser measures. But really, there isn't much either the government or the Socialists can propose and still stay within the narrow debt bands that the EU requires for EURO member countries.

Real change, alas, that would free up the labor market and allow greater mobility (and the potential for greater salaries) is not on the table. Such reform will never happen, because it isn't part of the French psyche. Sarkozy's reforms have brought about as much change as the French can stomach - and it is negligible in the scheme of things (overtime is no longer taxed, is about the most significant thing he's done that I can tell; but that doesn't make me, as an employer, want to hire any additional people).

For all of the French love affair with all things Obama, and the love is real, what they don't seem to get is that Obama represents change ... something that the French are loath to embrace, and which they would never, ever accept in a French version of Obama. Sarkozy represents (or, rather, represented) change as well, and he is nearly universally reviled here.

Of course, the French have a phrase: "la plus ca change, la plus ca reste pareil" - the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Indeed.

L'Obama - nouveau cocktail de l'Imprevu

2009-01-20T23:38:00.002+01:00

Our good friends Anthony and Jonathon at ECBNCM agency created a flyer for us as we launched a new cocktail to celebrate the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America - Barack Obama! The cocktail, created by the Imprevu team, is inspired by Obama's history - since he was born in Hawaii, it has pineapple juice, for a liquor it uses Whiskey, which ostensibly comes from Abe Lincoln's Illinois (ok, maybe not so much), and since he is a Democrat, we use a splash of creme de curacao to give a blue color. Shake well and ... voila!

Snowy Monday in Paris

2009-01-05T20:10:00.010+01:00

Today is my day off. It doesn't come often, but when it does, I like to do it with style. Today was no exception. I awoke to the soft tin-tin of rainy drizzle. It was already past noon (give me a break, I closed last night!), and I crawled out of my warm bed to see through the shuttered windows that it was actually snowing. Snowing! It NEVER snows in Paris. Oh sure, it tries on occasion, but it's usually too polluted (or so say the Parisians, but no more so than NYC) or too warm for it to actually stick. But today it was snowing and sticking and I was going to enjoy it as long as I could!

I got dressed in some actual clothes, instead of the dirty pair of cheap jeans and tee-shirt that I usually wear when I'm working at the bar (the last two years have taught me that tears, stains, and dirty grunge are the norm while working, unfortunately). I put on a pair of cuff-links my parents bought for me from Venice (Murano crystal, donchaknow), a warm sweater and khakis, and headed out to meet Martin for a leisurely afternoon lunch.

About five minutes' walk from the apartment is a charming little cafe called "Creme", which roughly translated, means "Cream" (LOL). It's a very local kind of place, which is to say that there are (thankfully) no tourists there (do I sound like a Parisian snob, or what?). We've slowly been falling in love with the place, mainly because it's (1.) nearby, (2.) affordable, (3.) cute, (4.) has great hamburgers, and (5.) has a cute waiter.

So I arrived while the place was packed for lunch. The snow was still falling and I was just entranced with the moment. Everything was perfect. The weather. The sky. The music. The crowd. It was just one of those moments you wish would never end. After a short wait, I was shown my table, in the corner next to the window, where I sat down and patiently waited for Martin. I ordered a Kir Peche (which, roughly translated, is a Peach Kir...LOL), and read a three day old "Le Monde" that I'd been carrying around in my Ben Sherman messenger bag (Christmas gift from Martin).

Finally, after shoveling down a bruschetta, Martin arrived, looking dapper as always, and we enjoyed lunch together (a fabulous bacon cheeseburger with thin fries ...). We talked about the usual stuff - what we'd like to do later this year for vacation, work related issues, friends, family - and then he suggested that we walk together in the snow, maybe go to the Tuilleries.

"Fabulous idea!" I replied.

So after finishing my glass of Rose (and helping Martin finish his second Kir Peche), we bundled up for our little adventure.

First stop was the little park just in front of the Mairie (town hall) for the 3rd arrondissement, which is across from the restaurant. I love walking through this park when it's nice weather, but today it was deserted. Nobody. Not even the Chinese, who normally congregate here to sit and gossip!

Martin isn't exactly camera shy, so he told me how he wanted to be photographed. After a couple of shots I told him that I was getting frostbite and that he'd just have to live with the shot!

After the park, we headed to the Metro and rode to the Louvre/Palais Royal, where we got off to go to the Tuilleries Gardens. I love the Tuilleries, almost as much as I love Luxembourg Gardens. It didn't disappoint. The snow was everywhere - and surprisingly, there weren't a lot of tourists!

This one is especially cool - it looks like an impressionist painting almost! We could have spent hours walking around photographing, except it was ridiculously cold, and Martin needed to get to work at the bar. We parted ways at Metro Chatelet...

So today was one for the memory books... just a beautiful, wonderful, surprising day.

On the town - at Christmas

2008-12-26T22:43:00.003+01:00

Ah - there's nothing like having two days off in a row!! For us, our Christmas break, short as it was, started on Wednesday the 24th. We both slept in a bit and then each left to do some last minute Christmas shopping for the other! After a couple of hours, we met up for a late lunch at Porto a Roma, our usual Sunday haunt, to enjoy some homemade Italian food before they close for a couple of weeks. Next, we came home ... or at least I did, to start doing some laundry. Martin still had some errands to do. We were supposed to head out for a surprise he had for us - and so around 7:00 PM we left the apartment and walked a circuitous route through the 3rd, down rue de Turenne towards Rivoli, and past Pizza Momo towards Hotel de Ville. It was a nice evening, not too cold, and the lights on the buildings just added to the beauty of the moment.

St. Jacques church, near the mairie for the 4th arrondissement

Hotel de Ville lit up Christmas Eve night

By 7:50 PM we were at Chatelet - he had bought us tickets to see "On The Town", the Leonard Burnstein musical that was showing at the Theatre du Chatelet. The seats were great, orchestra level just off of the stage - and by 8:00 PM the show started. The story of three sailors "on the town" in Manhattan during WWII, it was a lot of fun - funny dialogue and great singing, acting, and dancing. The theater group must be from Carnegie Hall or touring from the US, because the accents (and names of the performers) were all "American."

The dome of the Chatelet Theatre

Martin - all smiles as we await his surprise

Outside the theatre after the show

Originally we had talked about going to Midnight Mass at Notre Dame for Christmas Eve night, but since we hadn't eaten since 3:00 in the afternoon, we were getting kind of hungry. So instead we just walked by, took some pictures of the cathedral as the crowds gathered to go inside...

Along the Seine, with the Chatelet Theatre in the background

Once back home, we had a late dinner - traditional French food that I had bought earlier in the day while running my errands - a chapon (stuffed hen), gratins dauphinois, and spinach soufflee on a crepe. Oh, and a nice red wine!

Not surprisingly, since we were both good boys this year, Santa came in the night, and dropped off our gifts! But we couldn't open them quite yet, since we were hosting Thomas and Ladida, the owners of Quincambosse restaurant, over for Christmas afternoon. The apartment was a disaster area, so we spent three hours cleaning and getting it ready for them to come by ... by 2:30 PM the door sounded, and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon of champagne, foies gras, salmon, and cheeses around our dining room table.

After they left we headed over to the movies at Les Halles, where we relaxed and watched some mindless entertainment (Keanu Reeve's "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). Finally, once home from the movies, we were able to open our gifts and relax... it really was a wonderful Christmas together. We hope you enjoyed yours, too!

Having a Nestle kind of day...

2008-12-15T17:59:00.002+01:00

At least once a week I dream at night that it's my last day at Nestle. I used to work at the US headquarters for Nestle, in Los Angeles, and my (recurring) dream takes place there, at the office. Only it's not really the office, but some subconscious recreation of "the office" - a different building, but the same people. Inevitably in my dream, I wander around the office seeing old familiar faces and friends, my old boss, but I really don't have anything to do other than to wait for the end of the day. Sometimes there's a bit of drama in the dream because I haven't packed everything yet, but typically it's just a nice dream where I get a chance to say good bye to everyone. Strange that I have this dream so frequently (I had it again last night), and I'm not sure what it must mean.

Having said that as a prelude, right now I'm munching on Nestle chocolates that Martin bought at the market last week, and enjoying a warm Nespresso cafe after having gone to the new Nespresso boutique at L'Opera here in Paris. The new boutique is on the same Metro line as our apartment, so it's easy to get to. And the place is IMMENSE. It is two stories, tricked out with all kinds of modern gadgets and displays. It has the look and feel of a swanky W Hotel lobby. In fact, when you buy your boxes of Nespresso coffee capsules (a.k.a. "crack" cocaine, since they are so freakin' addictive), the Nespresso sales representative is dressed in a Nespresso suit. It's fitting that George Clooney is the spokesperson for the brand - his image is on all of the bus posters and in the movie theater / television commercials.

So, yes, I'm having a Nestle kind of day. And if you happen to be one of my former Nestle co-workers (Judy, Justin, Naomi, Michael, Debra, Theresa, etc...), I dreamt of you - again - last night.

Some call it Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T14:08:00.002+01:00

We left the cafe on Thanksgiving Thursday in the hands of Paul-Louis and Thibault as we started our Thanksgiving adventure. Cold, with a bit of snow spitting in the wind, we made our way our past Republique towards the 10th arrondissement, adjacent to the the Canal St. Martin. The restaurants were all booked in advance, but Martin was able to find one that had advertised online with the FUSAC magazine. But first, an aperitif was needed, since our reservation wasn't until 10:30 PM.

Martin had been to a bar in the 10th called "La Prune" which he likened to Imprevu ... so I was curious. We arrived at the tail end of happy hour, and the place was filled except for a seat at the bar counter, which was perfect since we could watch and comment on how they did things ("look, their bottles of liquor are suspended from the ceiling" "see how they make their T-Punch" ...etc...). The staff was friendly, efficient, and the place definitely had a certain charm. It reminded me of Imprevu on one of our better days.

We chatted briefly with the owner (it's been around for 10 years), and then after a couple of drinks (each) and a plate of tapas, headed up the canal in the bitter cold towards "Le Saint Martin" - our Thanksgiving destination. Mind you - this is completely an American holiday, for the French it is just another Thursday. So we arrived at decidedly French sounding "Le Saint Martin" on time to find it completely busy. The decor was charitably 1960's - it looked like it had been around at least that long with its plastic veneered wooden panelling and flecked mirrors lining the dining room. Soon we realized why this restaurant was offering a Thanksgiving menu ... because the owner was an American woman.

She was definitely overwhelmed by the customer traffic this night, and her staff was barely able to keep up. I told Martin that I sympathised with her - we've been there many a nights as well at Imprevu where the dishes were piled high and the tables keep coming! Thankfully I was already relaxed from the aperitif and appetizer at La Prune, so we patiently waited for our table.

Over dinner of carrot soup, turkey with dressing, mashed potatos and gravy, green beans, and pumpkin pie (oh, and a bottle of Haut Medoc red wine), we relaxed, laughed, and reminisced about our lives here, and the many daily adventures we've had (and usually succeeded in). We have so much to be thankful for - not the least of which, each other - which we too often forget to realize in the hectic rat race that is the norm. Some call it Thanksgiving, I'm just glad that we were able to enjoy this little rest away together, huddled together at a quirky place alongside the canal St. Martin.

A quick tip of the hat to Goatfeathers

2008-11-24T20:13:00.002+01:00

Yeah, I'm sure 99.9% of y'all have never heard of Goatfeathers, but for the unitiated, it was, and still is, one of the best places to go out for drinks with friends in Columbia, SC. Back when I was attending university there, I used to go to Goatfeathers often - it was part coffee house, part bar, part bohemian, part Southern - but totally unique.

"Dang, it would be cool to own a place like this someday!" I used to think.

Fast forward several years, and that's what I find myself today doing - owning my own version of Goatfeathers in Paris, France. We don't have the selection of cheesecakes, appetizers, and beers that Goatfeathers has, but we're pretty dang cool in our own way... and while we're struggling a bit now, we'll come out of it stronger and, hopefully, smarter on how to grow the business for the future.

So, here's to Goatfeathers! Thanks for the memories, the inspiration, and hope to make it back there someday!

Google Earth (part 2)

2008-11-24T19:44:00.002+01:00

The other day I wrote about the cool "Street View" feature on Google Earth. Here's the pictures I saved from it while looking at Imprevu ... when you're in Google Earth / Street View function, you can do all kinds of toggling with the photo, either by clicking on the camera icons on the screen, or moving the arrows in the top corner...

I'm still pretty amazed by the clarity of the pictures... it's a really amazing feature.

Funky town

2008-11-24T18:25:00.003+01:00

Hello Monday. Sigh. It's cold and drizzly today. Apparently it snowed outside of Paris yesterday, but it has to get even colder for it to break through the heat bubble of the 20 arrondissements. It's a funky time in a funky town. I've got my classical music playing on Radio France, while trying to keep warm in a sweater and sipping my red Bordeaux. I'm enjoying a bit of time off today, even though I went in earlier to help Martin out a bit.

Serge, in happier times, trying to finish off a keg of beer ... just kidding. Kind of. Not really.

Funky times because we're still not doing that well financially, although we're definitely better off now than we were in the midst of the summer. I remember wishing back in August for November to get here!! But now that we've almost finished the month, I realize that we still have a ways to go before we can feel comfortable financially as a business. We're still behind in our bills (rent is now two months late), although we're "basically" up to date with our taxes (sales tax, social security, etc...). We're busy, but sales are still significantly off from last year. So it just feels uneasy - funky - since we're not where we want to be.

Martin and I in less funky times ...

Funky because we're laying off folks - Serge's last day was Saturday. Paul-Louis' last day will be this next Saturday. So, although we're glad to be rid of the cost, they've been with us for over a year, almost a year and half, and so they feel like a part of Imprevu in a way.

A funky town because, well, Paris is a big city and it has its share of freaks. We seem to attract our fair share. On days when I'm not in top form (lately, usually), the more eccentric the customer, the less patience I have. I'm talking about the mildly inconvenient customers who ask "where is the bathroom" as they stand in front of the huge "bathrooms -->" sign ... or the customer who immediately sits at the "reserved" table, or the customers who change tables every 10 minutes, for no apparent reason... you learn to spot the real freaks after a while. The ones who arrive who want to immediately order a beer at the bar without sitting down I say "sorry, I can't serve you" without giving a reason - but history has taught me that they are usually already drunk, or needy talkers who will drive me crazy as they talk to me while I'm working, or who end up only having 2,30 EUROS in pennies and can't pay the full 3,50 for the beer...

And I'm in a funk. I haven't been to the gym in weeks. Until just recently I've been unable to get a good night's sleep without taking sleeping pills. And I find myself missing friends, family, and whole decades (this afternoon I was reminiscing with Martin about how much I love the 1970's, particularly the kitschy Christmas specials that would be televised on one of the three networks ... such as Andy Williams' Christmas special...). Maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's hormones, who knows ... but I need to snap out of this funk soon!

Thursday night (Thanksgiving in the US) Martin and I are trying to find a place to celebrate with a traditional dinner. Our first choice is already sold out. I'll keep you posted :)

Neat thing on Google Earth

2008-11-21T02:58:00.002+01:00

So I found this video clip on YouTube about this cool feature on Google Earth called Street View. I had heard about it before but didn't really think anything of it - but apparently they've now pretty much done all of Paris.

What they've done is taken a picture of every street in Paris from the street, so you can see what exactly it is you're looking for if you're looking for a certain address.

I looked up both the bar (9 rue Quincampoix, 75004 Paris) and the apartment (83 rue du Turbigo, 75003 Paris) and it's amazing the quality of the photos (in 360 degrees, as well!).

When they drove past the bar we had our little sidewalk sign out front announcing our tea selections - I was trying to tell from the sign, from the weather, when they must have done it ... I'm guessing it was early summer from the looks of it... a cloudy afternoon.

the good and the bad

2008-11-19T00:26:00.002+01:00

I'm trying to see both the good and the bad with each passing day. It's always easy to focus on the negative - particularly when things aren't going so great. Yeah, the economy is in the toilet, and sure, people can be rude and / or stupid a lot of the time ... but life can be pretty good if you try to put things in perspective and see the larger picture.

For instance. You've all heard the old saying "what doesn't kill me, only makes you stronger" - given everything that we've been through these past few months, particularly the really, really lean months, we definitely feel like we've accumulated enough scar tissue to weather about anything these days. This past week we were summoned to a Parisian court. We were served a notice that on Thursday the 13th of November at 9:00 AM we will have to meet before a judge who presides over "businesses in difficulty."

Such a French notion - une entreprise en difficulte - it certainly isn't anything we aspire to be, but that's what we are. Two things tipped the authorities off. One, we had a big loss last year (2007). Two, we were late in making payments to the Social Security entity (URSSAF).

Leading up to the court date I had difficulty sleeping at nights. I couldn't stop thinking about it - what were they going to ask us? what was going to happen? yadda yadda. Worse case scenarios kept playing in Technicolor in my head at night as I lay in bed.

Well, the judge couldn't have been nicer. He asked some basic questions, and as we answered them, sometimes struggling for the just the right word, he said, "you can speak in English if you'd prefer." Wow. What a nice gesture. That totally put me at ease, and I spoke briefly in English, but then reverted back to French.

The meeting ended after about 15 minutes. We have a follow-up next year in six months to gauge how the company is doing. We hope everything that we've done to right our affairs will have paid off by then.

In the meantime, I'm still trying to just take it one day at a time.

A peak at a Friday in November

2008-11-09T14:28:00.002+01:00

This past Friday I took a few snapshots as we started the evening. It's a bit cold outside (around 50 degrees Fahrenheit), drizzly, so a perfect combination for a decent evening. Serge was tending the bar, seen above drawing a beer, and pretty much all of the tables were filled up by 7:30 as our guests settled in for an evening of conversation and laughter over cocktails, beer, or hot chocolates.

Meanwhile downstairs in our "cave" (French term for underground basement) we've begun showing old black and white films projected onto the big screen (currently showing Alfred Hitchcock's "39 Steps") while music is playing - old standards from Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee. It's a different atmosphere, different vibe, and people seem to like it.

Thibaut, our lead barman, hurt his hand during "Metro" day (the day we go to the big wholesaler "Metro" and buy our liquor, juices, and other sundries) so he's had to be a server instead of barman the past couple of days. Frankly, he's better as a barman, but the guests like his breezy, friendly attitude.

We have a lot of regulars who come in and spend hours studying, or reading, or just sitting with friends. One of them is Benjamin, below, who comes practically every day with his friends (sitting at table 21).

So I'm in line at the grocery store...

2008-11-07T08:15:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I was running around after I posted my blog updates on here - doing the bank deposit, stopping by the post office to send a registered letter, buying lemons and limes at the market - when I stopped at the corner "Daily Monop" (the mini version of Monoprix, the big French grocery chain) to buy a sandwich to eat once at the bar.

In line in front of me were four young French black guys, and they were chatting with the young black girl who was the checkout clerk. I was minding my own business, just quietly waiting there, when the last guy in line moves to pay for his drink.

"So, I guess we have a new President now!" he said to her in French.

"Yes, yes! It's very exciting!" she responded in French.

"Yeah, it makes me change my opinion of the United States," he laughed and they both smiled.

Amazing. Two young French black people, feeling hopeful about the USA because of Obama.

When it rains ...

2008-11-06T13:42:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was one of those days that happen ... like shi*, it happens.

First, some background.

We received notice that the Prefecture (the governing authority in Paris) was going to make an inspection of our security measures at the bar. The inspector would arrive at 3:30 on Tuesday. Martin talked with the former owner of the bar, with whom we have a really good relationship these days - particularly since he's our primary landlord as well, owning the 9 rue Quincampoix building in its entirety - on what to expect.

"Make sure that all of the Emergency Exit signs are working... Fire extinguishers should be visible and have been recently maintained by a certified agent ..." etc...

The list was rather lengthy. So Martin and he worked together for the better part of the early afternoon trying to get things in order for the inspection.

She arrived and spent a 1/2 hour touring the bar, upstairs, downstairs, making notes ("you have too many chairs - your capacity should only be half of what you have now"). Sigh. They will always find something to criticize. That's their job, I suppose. Martin handled her with his usual deft charm and we hope, any negative comments on her part will be minimal. We'll find out in a month.

In the meantime, I had gone in early to help - we were already having our afternoon rush soon after he opened at 3:00, and by 4:00 PM it was definitely busy. Dishes began stacking up and we were running out of milk. Martin left once the inspector left to go buy some more sundries, and when he returned, the girl who had rented the basement for the evening had arrived to set up.

I had forgotten (as had Martin) that we had rented it out to her for the evening. Yes, it was noted in our handy dandy daily agenda, but because it was a Wednesday (we hardly ever rent it out on Wednesdays) we just forgot. Plus, she was going to do a photographic exposition - our first - so she had come with some friends to hang over 50 framed photos in the "cave" and get the rooms set up for her showing.

Martin went down to supervise a bit - they were able to do it all themselves thankfully - and they actually did a good job of converting the "cave" into a unique exposition space. Over the course of the evening she had over 50 people come through, and she sold over 1,000 EUROS of her photos. She was happy. We were happy because her invitees spent about 500 EUROS on drinks!

Around 9 PM we had a guy show up asking where the HSH Association was ... OOPS! Normally, on the first Wednesday of each month we have a social group, "Homo-Sweet-Home" (HSH) come for their monthly social. There is about 20 to 30 of them come, and we usually have them in our downstairs "cave." Well, this month obviously they couldn't, and we had completely forgotten about them (the election distracted our attention!). We were already at capacity upstairs - every table filled. So we had to act quickly ... the big table (#25) in the room adjacent to our patio we had the five people there leave (they'd been nursing their drinks for a couple of hours already), and slowly over the next hour another 20 people came for the HSH meeting. It looked like a clown-car in that room there were so many people crammed around our "big" table. I was worried that the Prefecture inspector was going to walk by and see a million people at our place - between the photo showing and the HSH meeting, and our normal crowd, we had A LOT of people at the bar.

And it was just Martin and I working.

We ended up pulling in 1,700 EUROS for the evening. A record for us having just two people working (a normal ratio for us is 500 EUROS for each 1 person working).

We closed and did the cleaning, trudging back to the apartment like zombies at 2:00 AM.

No rest for us though. Today is deliveries (for me, that means meeting the beer and ice cream deliveries at the bar at 11:00 AM) and METRO day (for Martin, that means going to the METRO wholesaler and buying our month's inventory of alcohol and sundries), plus working at the bar.

I need to be there in an hour - so I got to close out this post!

Reflections on an American election from Paris

2008-11-06T13:07:00.004+01:00

Martin watching CNN International at home election night

To say that the US Presidential election was followed here in Paris is an understatement. Leading up to Tuesday's landmark election, Parisians were swept up in a wave of Obama mania... hoping for his election. Customers at the bar would ask us what we thought. "Did you vote?" "Do you think he will win?" ("He" always being understood to be Obama).

The uniqueness of the American electoral system with the college of electors and the winner needing 270 electoral college votes was understood by a large part of the population. All of the major media did a great job of educating them - so that many could speak intelligently about the polls in Pennsylvania, or even Virginia. I always found it interesting to see our bar guests painstakingly read their newspapers, whether Le Monde, Liberation, or Le Figaro, inevitably turning immediately to the section on the US election for the past several weeks (months).

Martin and I voted by absentee ballot earlier in October, sending the ballots back to the County Registrar in Los Angeles. It's no big secret who we voted for, and we were prepared for a long night of watching CNN to follow the results. We each had our predictions by how many votes Obama was going to win (my guess was 345, which included the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska, Omaha; Martin's guess was a 353, which included North Carolina). With munchies and a bottle of Champagne (we vowed not to open it until Obama took Ohio, which was the proverbial nail in McCain's coffin), we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning watching the dazzling CNN graphics and analysis from Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer.

We watched CNN, but all of the media covered the elections here - TF1 had live coverage as good as any US cable channel, and both the BBC and SkyNews had live coverage as well. The next, Obama's victory was plastered everywhere ... all of the newspapers had huge headlines announcing the win. People were wearing Obama t-shirts and Obama "Yes We Can" buttons around town. It was really quite remarkable. And these were French people - not Americans!

Martin and I were both hungry for change in the US ... it was one reason, of many, that we felt we were ready to leave for a while to live in Europe. But I was unprepared for the enthusiasm, interest, and yes, hope, that Obama's candidacy and now, election, brought to the French. They really do have a jealous love for the US - American pop culture is huge here, particularly with the young, and they devour all American technology (Facebook, iPhones, iPods, etc...) with a ferocity that rivals any suburban kid in the States. The idea that an ethnic minority could become the most powerful leader in the world has a particular appeal to them as well, since the growing population of darker French from the former colonies now living here feel especially unrepresented by the political class. That will probably change in the next few years, although the likelihood of an French Obama rising anytime soon is nearly impossible ... the French political system is too sclerotic and too beholden to their political dinosaurs in each of the major parties.

Sundays in Autumn

2008-10-26T23:57:00.003+01:00

Ah Sundays! When I was a student I used to hate Sundays, because it meant the weekend was about over, and soon, I was going to have to get ready to go back to school on Monday. But when you work pretty much all the time, like Martin and I do now, we take the small pleasures in life anytime we can grab them!

For me Sundays are a magical time now. One of us typically has the day off (today, it was my day off), while the other one works the evening. Which means we can sleep in, and enjoy a few hours together. We've developed our own Sunday routine here in Paris. After waking up and getting dressed, we head out of the apartment towards the Quartier Beaubourg. It's a short 10 minute walk, and today, we realized that Autumn is really arriving - finally.

Last night was French daylight savings time, so we gained an hour of sleep (we both worked 12 hours yesterday at the bar - a fairly healthy 2,100 EUROS for the day, not great, but okay for an October Saturday. 2,500 would have been a good night). It was supposed to rain today, instead it stayed cool and cloudy. The leaves are turning orange and yellow now - some of them have already fallen.

As we headed down rue de Turbigo we took a few pictures. Autumn is my favorite time of year - in the US, it means high school and college football, cool crisp mornings, beautiful foliage, pumpkin pie, and Thanksgiving - here in France it means better sales at the bar, cool crisp days, rain, and beautiful foliage! But seriously, I do love the Autumn.

Martin and I arrived at our usual Sunday afternoon restaurant - "Porto do Roma" on rue St. Martin - and ordered our appetizer (a delicious ciabatta) and main dish (spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna, and parmagiana) along with some Italian Rose wine. We read (me: this week's Economist; Martin: the weekend edition of the International Herald Tribune) and talked about our work, travel plans maybe at Christmas, our friends, family, and politics. It's a wonderful time together, which is all too rare anymore given our schedules, but I cherish these Sundays together. After a lazy lunch, we parted - he left for the bar, and I left to enjoy the rest of my day off.

Continued rumblings

2008-10-26T23:41:00.005+01:00

Lately I've been in a particularly sour mood. The kind of mood that I don't like having, but for the stress and the constant disappointment with the nimrods who work for us make the mood a normal state of being.

The latest saga in our story has to do with the employee who is on "medical disability." I put that in quotes, not to be particularly snarky, although it is, but because he's trying to play us. He's milking the system. Yes, he has epilepsy. But that doesn't mean that he can't work. He just doesn't want to work. In particular, he doesn't want to work nights. So, he's been able to find a doctor who says that he can't work nights, and that he's on medical disability. Which means he's still our employee (read: we still have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for his cotisation sociale = health and benefits = each month). Plus, we lose whatever limited "productivity" we would gain from having him work while it is busy.

So he came in to the bar the other day to give me his doctor's extension for another month of no-work, and then proceeded to order and drink a beer, two coffees, and smoke out on the patio. While there enjoying himself on the patio, he had a "seizure" (read: he put on a show for anyone who was able to watch of him collapsing and rolling on the floor, to prove to everyone that he is unable to work). Panicked customers came in and told me that someone collapsed on the patio. I called the firemen, which I have to do under such a circumstance, which only raised the bar on getting attention. I refused to play along, however. I stayed calmly inside and continued serving my customers, pretending that nothing was going on just 20 feet away on the patio. But it drove me crazy - I was simmering for the better part of two days afterwards because this jack*** was trying to play me.

On a side note, I've figured out the answer to that mystery that has always plagued me. How is it that the French are always more productive when measured in output (GNP) per capita against the US? For years the US has lagged behind France in productivity per worker, as reported by the OECD, and it's because the French will do anything possible to not have to hire someone. They will buy a machine, will improve a process, shorten hours, anything - anything but hire a (lazy) French person to work. Now I see why. I'm enlightened.

Giving it another shot

2008-10-16T13:50:00.002+02:00

Since we've bought the bar, there has been a restaurant around the corner (rue de la reynie) that has been - as of next week - three different places. It's one of those places that for whatever reason never quite works. I don't know if it's the location, or if it's because the rent is too expensive, or if the service/quality sucked - who knows, but I've never been able to figure out the problem.

Anyway I was reading in the latest issue of Sensitif magazine an interview with two young guys who are opening a restaurant there. They already have a piano bar on the other side of the square at Centre Pompidou, and now they're opening up this place. As I've walked by it these past few weeks it looks like they've spent a lot of money redoing the entire space - it should be interesting to see what it looks like when they're done.

But it kind of begs the question - where does their money come from?!!! Not from the banks right now, obviously, with the credit crisis. And the money they would get from their piano bar is no where near enough to fund the work they've done on this place. Color me jealous, I guess, because I would love that we had enough capital to open our restaurant - but it's just not possible right now. I wish them luck - but I'm really, very very curious how they've done it!

P-O'd

2008-10-13T13:37:00.002+02:00

No, the title of this post is not some strange French abbreviation, which they are fond of - nearly every article in Le Monde is about some abbreviated French government entity; even political / literary personalities are often known by just their initials such as "DSK" (Dominique Strauss Kahn, the head of the IMF ... International Monetary Fund). No, this refers to me and Martin being fed up, pissed off, if you will, with the French way of doing many, many things.

It came to a head this past week and culminated this weekend. I've already been completely a bundle of nerves and stressed out from the past several months of financial hardship due to the slow summer months' sales. But here is a list, at the top of my head, of what we've had to deal with this past weekend:

The ice machine doesn't work anymore. It broke down about six months ago and we had a repairman come out to fix it last time at a cost of 250 EUROS. A new one begins at 300 EUROS (at the wholesaler METRO, which is a day's worth of traveltime and standing in line). So we've been buying ice in bulk from an ice vendor each day until we can get back to METRO.
One of our laziest employees, has decided that he can't work nights anymore. Since we are only open from 3 PM, and we are contractually bound (French labor law, got to love it - NOT) to provide him 36 hours a week of work, he needs to decide what he wants to do. He's decided to get a doctor's excuse not to work for the next few weeks. So we have to pay him "disability" while he "rests" (read: goes shopping with the shrew of a girlfriend and then come by the bar for coffee and to smoke). So we're down one person for the work week.
Another of our lazy employees decided to call in sick on Saturday night, which we had scheduled a private party in the downstairs "cave" for a friend of Martin from Mexico. So Martin ended up having to work instead of enjoying the evening hosting the party. We had a great night in sales, but the fact that he had to work because the employee called in "sick" pissed us both off (this particularly employee only works twice a week to begin with, and worked the night before with no evidence of being under the weather).
A third employee of ours (we only have 4 for those of you keeping track at home) we called to see if he could fill in for #3 above, but he's been SLOWLY recovering from a minor surgery two months ago (removed a small cyst in his back). He said he could work for "a couple of hours" but wanted to work behind the bar and not do the tables. I told him he'd work where I told him to work.
The police came by on Friday night after we had closed. I had already left for the evening, but the "problem" was that we were getting ready to put our garbage sack on the curbside where all the other garbage goes for the garbagemen to pick it up in the morning like they always do. No. -- "You have to put your garbage out an hour before the garbage men come" (so make sure you get up at 5 AM!), unless, of course, the garbagemen are on strike or show up late... so they gave us a verbal warning, instead of fining us. Meanwhile, if you need the police because you have a drunken homeless guy who won't leave your bar and stop harrassing your customers, you can expect to wait 90 minutes before they show up (which is what happened to us about 3 months ago)...

So Martin finally said that he'd be fine with us moving on someday to somewhere else.

"I wonder if they're as lazy in London as they are here in Paris?" he asked. "There's a lot of Eastern European workers who've moved there, who hustle and work hard."

"Plus a lot of Spanish and Portuguese," I added. "Remember how that's basically all there was who were working at 'Pret-A-Manger' in London the past few times we've been?"

So we started fantasizing about someplace where labor was cheap, the workers worked hard, and the police weren't idiots. It helped relieve the pressure for a while as we dealt with the evening on Saturday, but we are pretty fed up with things right now.

Today we're sending out the letters to fire our two part time employees. We followed the procedure and they should be out within a month. As for the stupid, lazy one who is on medical leave, we hope and pray that he's the next one to go. We might be freeing ourselves of sloth and to realize some cash savings, but it will require us to both work even more hours to make up the slack.