Chocolate, False Claims, & A Cultured Pearl

Whatever the weather, every March the RB Annual Chocolate Festival is a huge draw and this year was like no other. Although the doors opened at 11:30am, there was not a parking space to be found in town by 9am. This included my street (parking is free in the off season though no one is guaranteed a space - resident or visitor) which was filled before I left for work.  Fortunately, I left the car parked in front of the building.  I may be crazy, but not stupid:

The weather was nasty on Saturday morning with heavy rain and gusting winds; by the time the festival opened the place was already packed to the limit within 20 minutes. The festival was supposed to end at 3:30pm, but there were so many visitors waiting that it remained open for another 1.5 hours.  No joke!

The restaurant was already short staffed for the lunch shift on Saturday when another server called in sick. This day historically, has been very busy - we were already completely booked for dinner - so I let the Locosguys take the lead. We had 4 good servers and 2 novices on the floor and their stations were assigned accordingly.

While all this is going on, I received a call from a frantic quean who claimed he had left his coat at the restaurant the previous night.  I checked, and he didn't.  He called again and this time he was missing his cell phone and was "certain" he left it at the bar.  He hadn't.  A few minutes later he's back on the phone insisting  he was absolutely, positive that he had left his iPad, Kindle, and shoulder bag last night.

By this time I was up to my eyeballs with last minute minor emergencies and was sure this guy was high on something besides life.  I said, "look pal, if you can remember where you spent the night maybe you should call there because none of your belongings were found here." He said I was being rude and that I probably stole his things myself. (I do not work nights)  I said, if that's what you believe, you certainly made it easy for me, didn't you."  He hung up.

Today was comfortably busy with everything - front and back of the house - running smoothly. I enjoyed a quick AS (after shift) cocktail and headed out.

As I returned home I ran into a neighbor who works at the Cultured Pearl, a popular, pan-Asian restaurant around the corner.  She was getting ready for work and suggested that I stop by; today being the annual sushi feast and I might enjoy a few appetizers. I haven't been anywhere outside of DL in years, but I changed into something a bit more comfortable and took a walk over. 

There was a large crowd on all 3 levels (only the roof garden was closed) enjoying all kinds of goodies. There was no sign of Donna, so I took a seat at the sushi bar and ordered a glass of wine and an appropriate snack.  Leaving the barman to choose.  He smiled and returned with a delightful something consisting of rice, seaweed, and ahi tuna.  It was delicious and went down well with the wine (he also chose for me), but it was getting crowded and I had my fill of crowds this weekend, so I asked that he let Donna know that I came by.  A nice initial experience out in the local world. I did it, enjoyed it, and will do it again soon.

And so it goes.
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