A Life Well Balanced?

We’re all exhausted, my hands are raw, my nails are shredded, and my feet are so sore I can hardly walk. Somehow, we made it through the first two weeks as new Dayton restauranteurs. All without killing each other, burning down the building or poisoning anyone. We have had our share of chef tantrums (him), staff silent treatments (me), stare downs (both of us) and pizza lunches. Luckily, to balance out the opening kinks and tiffs, we’ve had many laughs, happy customers and great lunches prepared by the chef.

Friday, we had an easy lunch service, followed by the good news at three in the afternoon that we now have our wine and beer license. I raced to various stores and even raided our home supply to be sure we could offer a nice selection of wine and beer.

We were ready! Though our current wine list is by no means extensive, we offer Weinhard Select Wines. These include a rose’, two different whites, and two different reds, sold by the glass, quartino (glass and a half), mezzo litre (2 glasses), or litre (bottle). These are the choices we made after tasting numerous contenders currently available. As I tell our customers, “the wine is the same as the soup, don’t get attached, it will change often.”

This list will expand as we work with wineries who, rightly so, need proof we are licensed. The same goes for beer; no proof of license, no beer distribution. I am scurrying to do all the proper paperwork, to be fully stocked for the upcoming hot summer days, when a cold beer will go great with our burger.

When politicians say that they are leaving politics, it’s usually because they realize they have no chance of reelection. Their public statements however are, “I want to spend more time with my family.” On the other hand, I would be saying, “I want to spend less time with my family.” Living and working together may have it upsides, but I haven’t found them yet.

Daniel is an amazing cook, a perfectionist and excruciatingly exact about the presentation of a dish, which I respect completely. I also try to gently remind him, that sometimes people are just hungry, and they don’t really care that much if there are five dots of basil oil gracing their soup or four. Often, I bite my tongue, because the look on the faces of customers when they see his perfect presentation, brings me up a bit. Managing the level of presentation with a customer’s starvation level can be tricky, it’s all about balance!

I finally had some time to myself yesterday at the Café. I broke down the mountain of empty cardboard boxes, dumped odd paper goods, ripped napkins, matched container tops to bottoms, and organized the packaging materials.

After a few days off, thanks to friends and a great manicure, I am starting to feel a little more human, sane and balanced. Yesterday my friend Susan advised me on some bookkeeping and accounting issues. Today my friend Suze sat with me for hours while we cleaned up, developed and published the new website. Another friend Bill took pictures of our food that we will eventually add to our newly developed social media.

Opening, running and maintaining this Café takes a village, and I am so lucky to have this village that I can always count on. The courts have the scales of justice, I have the scales of Waitsburg and Dayton! Thank you all!