Post pie round-up

Well whew! that is behind us again for another year! The restaurant I help run does a BIG thanksgiving business every year. Very tasty, and Very Popular. You see it is a big thing for us, providing away-from-home-americans a little holiday cheer. Most people do travel to their home countries for Christmas-- or go visit friends. But very few folks can get home for Thanksgiving AND Christmas. So we provide a traditional thanksgiving feast. reservations only.

It means a lot to us. We keep the cost low and the Comfort food level high. And we sell out. Every year.
this year was no exception, and now on the Sunday after I am just recovering. We serve turkey lunches for a week, turkey caterings, turkey take outs and 4 full seatings for dinner on both Thurs and Fri. nights.

The team held together well, though by the fri. night second seating the stress was starting to show. Everyone kept their good spirits though, and the food was delicious and well recieved.

Many restaurant people complain about working the holidays. But I look at it as a chance to celebrate with a really big extended family.

Our Hawaii location also did about 100 people for dinner on thanksgiving day.

I am proud that we could help people enjoy their holidays. And I admit I am a bit tired and happy to put it behind us for another year.

the Tally in Tokyo
725 or so Total meals
about 50 pumpkin pies
and 600 Kilos of Turkey!

Last week we had the honor of attending the engagement party for two dear friends, shoko and sean! it was a lovely dinner- formal but relaxed. tasty french inspired food, good friends and family. Everyone seemed to have a nice relaxed time. And the after party involved 3 bottles of Dom! - very delicious stuff.

It is nice to share these moments with those close to us and we certainly wish them every happiness now and long into the future.

Cheers from Les Hydropathes

This was a delicious evening. We went to one of our favorite little spots a Belgian restaurant in Shibuya. They have a GREAT beer menu, loads of different kinds in bottles and on tap. The two we tried on this evening were a Raspberry Lambic Beer and a Blonde. (the blond was a double glass potion- check out the picture below! ) The store is called Les Hydropathes.

I love fruit beers, on another trip there recently I had a peach lambic, also delicious!

They must have about 40 different types of beer. All from belgium, and the staff are also fun and friendly. Strangely this little gem is in the basement of a department store. There is also a great book store on that level that has art and design books it is called Logos. Good stuff.

Yummy season

I love this time of year, fall turns to winter, Christmas on the horizon and a silly little thing that makes my day-- GINGERBREAD LATTE. Now I know there are some people that don't like starbucks. I am not one of them.

I don't go everyday, but I like their products, and staff, and atmosphere. I think they have a great thing going. And I especially like to try their new inventions and seasonal products.

I live in japan where starbucks just turned 10 years old. Some of the USA varieties that I like don't make it in the market here. This fall, Starbucks Japan cancelled the Pumpkin Latte for halloween and did a green tea- something instead. :-(

but thank goodness The gingerbread Latte is happily on offer again this year. Not particularly good for the waistline but soooooooooooooo tasty. It makes me feel festive. And since I work in the restaurant business and this is a very busy stressful time of year a little festivity is a very welcome thing.

YUM

cost cutting and profit mongers endanger all of us

BAD DONUTMAN!!!!

I have long suspected that as the saying goes, "money is the root of all evil" except I think it would be better stated Greed is the root of all evil. Scandals concerning product saftey have abounded this year in China, the USA, here where I live in Japan. And the root of the problem is that the owners are just plain greedy. It is not enough to make millions, they want billions... and they put their reputations and the health of the public at risk. It is the same with all kinds of product, there is no longer a sense of pride at a good product and a happy customer. And it is not enough to make a good living, owners of corp. chains want to be mega-weathly. And they don't care how they get there.

the latest scandal just breaking in japan involves the japanese company that runs Mr. Donut.

Japan's food safety scandal hits Mister Donut TOKYO
- A widening Japanese food safety scandal hit an internationally popular doughnut chain on Wednesday, with Mister Donut acknowledging it used out-of-date syrups in some of its drinks earlier this year.

Mister Donut - the iconic franchise launched in the United States in 1955 and brought to Japan in 1970 - served "Fruity Milk" drinks made from expired melon-and strawberry-flavored syrups at shops across Japan, its operator Duskin Co. said.

The syrups, some almost 30 days past their expiry date, were used to prepare 1,075 servings of Fruity Milk sold at 181 Mister Donut outlets, according to Duskin spokesman Akira Kita. The drink was pulled from stores Wednesday.

Read the rest about this, the latest in world-wide bad business practices- here.
Consumers need to stand up for their rights and saftey and governments need to severely punish companies that break the public trust for increased profit.