Saturday, June 24, 2006

Yesterday at QuiXote's

Now that I have been in the Restaurant business for just over one month I think I finally found some enjoyment out of the dumbest thing I have ever done in my adult life which was opening a restaurant to begin with.
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I am enjoying having the people I know and like come into the restaurant to eat and chat. Believe it or not it has taken me a whole month to find this redeeming tidbit in the mess of opening and operating a restaurant.
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Below is Richard and his dad. Richard is a property manager here on the North Coast and manages a few condo complexes. I am sure some of you deal with him on a day to day basis.
These folks below have a place here and are back and forth to the states. It is real nice to see them when they are in town. I enjoy chatting with them and they have taken part in the fund raising we do here in the Dominican Republic to benefit the poor children. Matter of fact they bid and purchased at our last auction a Plane Ride in Maine amoung other things and the person that donated it was also in the restaurant at the same time and pictured below their picture. Say hi to Mainegirl and her daughter. You will never meet two nicer and more beautiful women anywhere in the world! This is the second time I have seen her this year which thrills me to no end. I have had a crush on her since the first day I met her and she becomes more beautiful every time I have the pleasure to look at her. My Gawd, look at her daughter. She is going to be a heart breaker and everyone that had the pleasure of looking at her last night said the same thing. She has dimples that are as big as the Grand Canyon when she smiles which is a "LOT", thank the heavens!

While having dinner a friend of ours Shad was brought up. Shad, his wife Felicia and two children live in Cabrera. So, we of course call him to say hello. Amity and her daughter are off to Samana today and are going to hopefully stop at Cabrera to get the quarter tour of Shad Ponderosa which is a lovely place to visit. I stop there very often and actually every time I am in that area.

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If Shad makes the mistake of NOT being there when I drop in unannounced I steal his vegetables to punish him for the slight:) Great guy, great farm and all around great stop on the Escott North Coast Tour! .

It was a pleasure to finally find some redeeming value to opening a restaurant. Yesterday was a very pleasant day and I had a smile on my face after seeing many people I enjoy in the restaurant. Another great family was also in and are regulars. Lee and Joanne along with their beautiful daughter. I keep forgetting to grab a picture of them but I will next week when they come in again.

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Yesterday on http://www.lifeinthedr.com/forum there was a thread that had a reference to another thread on DR1. When I followed that link to see the reference I saw a mention of AZB talking about some guy that flashes a big wad of bills to pay a 20 peso bill. He didn't mention my name but he has before and I can only assume that he is talking about me again. Seems to be the passtime of some people to take shots at people that won't respond.

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Only time I would see AZB was in Santiago. This moron couldn't ever understand that the only reason I would leave the seaside to go to a smelly hot dirty city in the middle of the country was to shop. That is the only redeemable feature of Santiago other than a stop at the Hillbilly Estate which is a favorite of all visitors to the City. He actually knows that I hate Santiago and everything about it and understands the only reason I am there is for construction materials. Of course I carry a WAD of money with me. You have to actually "PAY" for the stuff you buy. I was never the type of person to pound out what I wanted with credit cards I had no intention of paying off and being a dirtbag like some other people here. Perhaps one day people won't take free shots that are NOT free in the end but I doubt that they will ever have the sense to realize it isn't right.

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I guess he is just jealous that he has to work there at Dominican Wages even for a professional. He tried to do business in Puerto Plata but failed and had to move to a city so he could find more people that would come to him. I don't know why he was a failure as there are other Chiropractors here on the North Coast who are successful but alas he went broke and had to move to the interior to make a few dollars. Poor guy is jealous of others who didn't come to the Caribbean to live in a dirty hot city and since he is stuck in Santiago talks about it like it is the second coming of Jesus to make himself feel better about his poor living situation. Poor guy also has to make himself feel better by conquering poor bario gals who are impressed with his 15 year old Corolla:) Next time I am going to bring a wad of pesos that will be big enough to choke a horse just to piss him off further!

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Hasta Pronto!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Look of our new menu

This is the new menu cover albeit in the wrong size but this is the design. It will be a hard cover with inserts of 8 pages. Breakfast menu, lunch/dinner menu, wine list and drink selection menu plus maybe a will come up with a introduction of how it all came about and why, where and the howabouts. . Just another one of the things needed to make a nice restaurant falling into place. Carina of PocoLoco Design in Puerto Plata did the artwork and design which follows what we have been doing and fits in just right!
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Actually I think the horse/rider should be bigger. I am going to call her now. Ok, horsie is 4x bigger now. I love it.
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Hasta Pronto!

Appearing shortly

Say hello to Donny and Sancho. This is a sculpture finished in Bronze Dawn was commissioned to do for a family. The head of the family was the first president of the National Bar Association. His daughter was the first woman admitted.
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She was allowed to make three. One for the family private collection, one for the Huntington Library which is a museum in California that has so many wealthy patrons that every donation has to be judged and approved before they take the donation. This piece is in their permanent collection.
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The third piece is going into the Permanent Collection of QuiXote's Restaurante in Sosua. I just spoke with a friend who is bringing down a container and he is going to let me add this to it. I will make this the centerpiece of the Restaurante.
This piece is very large. I was only able to move it by bear hugging it. I can't lift it off of the floor and hardly can walk in a straight line. Look for #3 of 3 to be on display sometime this year.
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I got a call from the guy in Santiago about the Granite Bar Top yesterday. When he was here doing a pattern he tried to step me up 30,000 pesos on my pick. I said NO, AIN'T POSSIBLE. WHERE IS THE CHEAPER ONE. He points to it and I say I will take it. He called me yesterday and said it was 50,000 more than he quoted me. I hung up on him and won't ever deal with that dope again.
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I am still waiting for the woman that was here the other day to give the quote on HER measurement for granite. She will get my business if she is able to do business like a human which is entirely way too difficult.
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I got the rest of the light fixtures installed recently in the main dining room. Looks great and especially at night when the lights are on and outside is dark.
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Hasta Pronto!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Disnalda Passes 2nd Grade!

This is the scene of Garden Kids School Commencement which took place and is still taking place today. Dawn called me from there and I got there just in time to be able to take a picture of Disnalda receiving her certificate for completing 2nd grade.
I had to take this on Telephoto and was just walking in when I heard her name being called up to receive her certificate.
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She is now finished with school for the summer but we are getting her tutoring from her math teacher over the summer to help her along a bit more. Although she has finally gotten in stride I want to help her take a few steps ahead now so she won't have it as hard in the future.
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Dawn is going to bring her to QuiXote's so I can take some more pictures of her before she brings her back to her home in Charamico.
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She is now looking forward to her birthday party this summer which will be held at QuiXote's Restaurante in Beautiful Downtown Sosua:)
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Ok back to work for me and it is real quiet again in town. Only served a half dozen breakfasts so it is real slow compared to the 25 to 35 we have been serving on a daily basis. Couple of more folks just wondered in so maybe although it is 11:20am already breakfast isn't over for us yet.
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I just got off the phone with my buddy Herbert from NY. He has a new condo about to close here in Sosua Gawd willing and I have to contact Guido Perdomo to see if it is ready for me to get done. If so I will close it today for him. He is bringing down some booze for me next week when he returns home to the Dominican Republic. He picked up a 28 year old Scotch for me and will bring another Grey Goose unflavored for me. Man it kills me to buy the French Vodka:)
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I had another friend from Canada bring me a Crown Royal and a 12 year old Canadian Club this week also so the list is growing and will grow further next week when I have 4-6 people bringing me Booze's that I don't have.
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I have to redo the Booze list and post it so you all can comment on what I am missing.
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Yahoo mail has been down all morning and I haven't been able to retrieve my mail yet today so if you are expecting a reply I will do so as soon as it is possible.
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Hasta Pronto!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

My Day off and a Granite top again...

Well different day and same crap. . I have to admit I am getting a little bit smarter with my work here in the DR. This is the second choice of Granite that I picked out which was supposed to be the same price as the first piece but the guy decides when I am ready to give him a deposit that he has to recalculate the price of the damn thing and I never got one since he hasn't called me back since he made a pattern on Thursday.
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This time instead of going to Santiago I went to a place in Puerto Plata. This way I was able to combine the trip with my shopping for the tile I need to rebuild the front of the restaurant which of course they didn't have the freakin tile either for the 3rd week in a row:).
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So, today the woman from the shop in Puerto Plata is supposed to show up to measure and perhaps make a pattern for the Granite if we can agree on price. Of course that is IF she shows up. I called the fellow from Induca who gave me a price on a storefront for the inside of the restaurant so I can make an air conditioned dining room who also hasn't shown up for two weeks last night and he said he WILL be here today by 11am. Hah, think I will hold my breath?
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Don't fret people, they don't just treat gringos like this. I stopped off at a friends store and she was waiting for Verizon to show up for the telephone. She was complaining to me that they don't show up on time thinking that SHE is Dominican and will be late anyway. She complained to me about this yesterday. Poor gal thinks she is being discriminated against:) These people all do business in this manner and to me it is a surprise that they are able to stay in business but alas, different culture and different expectations.
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Well both the Granite woman along with 2 helpers and the StoreFront guy showed up today. Man am I lucky or what? Not only that but the guy making my light fixtures showed up also and said he is returning at 1pm to hang lights. Can you imagine me getting everything done I wanted to get done today? Wonders will never cease here in the Dominican Republic.
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Today I am going to try to go to Taco Tuesday. Haven't been there in a while and would love to chill out with my friends there. Whoo hoo!
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Hasta Pronto!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Gentleman sitting on the right celebrated his birthday last night with 7 of his friends and family in QuiXotes.
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I put them in the back room and they had it all to themselves and hung out here for about 3-4 hours. Great to have them here and glad that they enjoyed themselves. We made a make shift last minute birthday cake.
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Yesterday was one of our busier days and although I had one person working the floor and another in the bar at the end of the night I was exhausted. Today is Sunday and tomorrow we are closed again for a day off. Tomorrow I go on the search for a Granite Top for the Bar AGAIN. The guy finally came on Thursday to make a pattern and we picked out another piece of granite and he tells me it was 31000 Pesos more than the original one I picked out which I couldn't have because he said it broke too easy after I made a special trip to Santiago to pick it out. I told the guy NO WAY. Show me something for the same price. He did and I was going to give him a deposit and he said no he has to recalculate. Well if he doesn't come back to me by end of business today I buy from someone else. I don't have enough time for people that waste my time and hold me up which by the way constantly happens here. Business is very hard to do here. . . Starting to get finished with the outside renovations. Some day I will actually finish:)
. This is the new look of the outside of the restaurant at night. We put out 8 outside lights not including the floresant lights behind the QuiXotes Sign.
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The restaurant was pretty crowded last night. Had a lot of people from outside the hotel and that pleased me to no end. I have not promoted a thing yet as I am still wanting to complete the work I started first.
Hasta Pronto!