kick ass voice & stripping old man

Eiko says...

Ladies and gents, my apologies for the absence. Once again, I have many excuses, but they're all lousy, so I'm not going to waste your time, or my precious finger energy by listing them up.

Knowing how word spreads faster than light here in JP TFI, I'm sure most of you have heard about how Dawn and Yasu and I are getting an apartment together. It's likely that I mentioned that at least twice somewhere on this blog. But whatever! The exact date is the 1st of September and fast approaching!! I need to start packing and purging....AGAIN! You know, I've been doing a lot of moving around recently--from T.O.M Home to Icthus Home to Lodge Home, and now I'm off to a brand new beginning with Dawn and Yasu and Kippins, and that's all within 10 months! But more than needing to pack and purge, ( which should be fairly easy since all the clothes and the stuff and the clutter haven't left the fit-cases since coming here ) I need to get my ass a damn good job! Okay, forget the 'good' part. I just need a damn job that doesn't pay poop. Pray that I find one.

The above was the updates. Below is everything else.

I've recently caught a pretty bad 夏風邪, and consequently, I sound like a man. No joke. A very sick man. Give me a ring, and you'll know what I'm talking about. You probably won't even recognize my voice.

I'll answer the call and you'll be like,

"Woah, FREAK! Give Eiko's cell back to Eiko!"

And I'll be like,

"Dude, (or girl friend or whatever) this is Eiko..."

And whether you believe me or not is something else.

I'm actually on my way to recovery, but in the hight of my summer cold, my head hurt, my throat stung, my nose was runny, my stomach was upset, and to top it all off, I was on my bloody monthly. I was also slightly emotional over a certain personal something, and all of that combined made a very miserable me. The worst part about the cold was my throat. I think what really gave my voice that extra husky, raspy touch was going to karaoke, and not just drinking the drinks and eating the snacks, but singing for 5 hours straight! If I didn't have a throat cold, singing for 5 hours wouldn't have given such fantastic results. Unfortunately, there was the throat cold issue. I had loads of fun regardless, but we must not forget the consequences.

Cafe Marche--The Unexpected Strip Show

We have an older customer who I'd agree to count as a regular. He drops by often enough, although mostly during the Friday and Saturday nights when we have the live music going on. He's 80-ish-years-old, and he reminds us of his age each time he drops by. Did I mention that I've never seen this man enter our cafe sober? He only drops by after he's drunk himself tipsy somewhere else. Anyhow, one Friday evening, he swings by Cafe Marche, tipsy as always, and orders a beer, and than another beer, and then whisky, and then wine and on and on and one he orders. I'd say it was less then 15 minutes until he started singing and clapping his hands AND dancing all over the cafe, trying to get the other customers to join him, and making little to no sense when he orders or tries to make conversation! His moment of glory (and embarrassment if he'd remember anything at all the next day) was when he starting stripping! I'm not kidding. He stripped! Thank the good Lord he kept the stripping to the upper half of his body. I gave Stephan a quick worried glance, but Steph was laughing his head off. I was like 'cool!' and quickly joined him. I mean, this skinny, genki yet crazy, old ojiiichan started taking his clothes off, stood in front of the stage where J.D. and the other band members were performing, and spread his arms wide, and began jigging, saluting people, and making a huge fool out of himself! The other customers had quite the show, and were laughing as well. I kind of felt sorry for the ladies he was trying to persuade to dance with him. Once the ojiichan realized he wouldn't get any luck from the customer ladies, he came over to me and began insisting that I dance with him. I had to give him the, no-can-do-I'm-working-talk. He was too high to be offended. Alcohol is indeed a magical beverage.

2010 summer vaca day 1,2,3,4

Eiko says...

Welcome to the first of my 2010 summer vacation post! The very one and only Boris is here to contribute to the fun, and together, we are wreaking havoc on the Adachi-ku night streets and loving every moment of it. We live a complete night life over here where we sleep half of the morning away, and laze the rest of the afternoon through with movies and naps and snacks, and we reserect from the zombie life that we lived all morning and come alive after the sun sets, and hit the streets--like vampires! Eff the Collins! They're #ussies! The Matsuoka vamps know how to rock the night life. I mean, my great grand dad knew how to party better than Edward, and I don't even know my great grand dad!

Whatever!

Day #1 (29th)

The Adachi-ku Hanabi taikai was the perfect kick start to my vacation! Since it was raining buckets all morning, not to mention the terrific wind that was blowing everything in it's path away, I honestly thought that they'd cancel it. But a few hours before the designated time, the rain stopped and they carried on as planned! Okasan ordered an amazing amount of sushi, and the home bought the drinks. Beer is the ultimate omatsuri beverage EVER--a definite must-have. As if that weren't enough, (well, there never really is 'enough' when it comes to food) J.D. made awesome fried chicken and even more sushi! You can't go wrong with stuff like that. Boris came in just time to enjoy the yummies! Kampai to an amazing vacation!

After we finished dinner, we went out to Gusto for a late night out. We chilled and chit-chatted over a drink bar until an ungodly hour, and finally got home at around 4:30 AM ish. Yup. I was serious about the "night-life" thingie.

Day #2 (30th)

Slept in, and had a brunch over a movie called "After Life". It was interesting. I think I liked my granola that I was eating better than I liked the movie. But than again, my granola was pretty damn good! Boris has a to-die-for recipe for the best granola that you could ever imagine eating, and she made me some of this kick-ass granola! I'm loving it!

Anyhow, after the movie, we napped. I was woken from that nap by Ken, who had a proposition to make:

-Proposition

"We have around 30 customers and we were hoping you would lend us a hand with the waitressing. Stephan says he'll pay you and give you a free meal from the cafe."

I think I mumbled something that resembled I'll think about it, and rolled over and continued my nap. After a few more minutes of Zzzzs, I rolled out of bed, and decided that it wouldn't hurt to have some extra vacation money, although my first thoughts were along the lines of 'no ways am I working a shift in the cafe during my vacation!' Well, I ended up agreed to taking the shift despite it being my vacation and Boris was cool enough to lend the cafe a hand too!

With the time we had before our shift, we made a tiramisu for the movie night we were planning with Dawn and Yasu, and then I ran Boris through the steps of waitressing at Cafe Marche, and got her outfit together. The steps of waitressing at Cafe Marche is nothing complicated. Just gotta keep your eyes peeled for the customers happiness, memorize your standard lines, be polite and SMILE!

Boris and I had the 6 to 8 shift, and I was shocked to enter the cafe that was jam packed with 30 customers! That's a ton of people considering the fact that our cafe looks packed with just 20 customers!

A secular band was performing, and all of his fans decided to show up! The majority of the fans were women, and for very understandable reasons. The guy was cute (although very short), and had this knock out wife and adorable child! They were by every standard, the 'looks' couple for sure. I guess the wife explained the male fans that showed up that evening.

Anyhow, it was hectic and confusing, but knowing that we were getting paid was very comforting. After our shift, we watched 'The Italian Job' over the tiramisu that boris and I made. Loved that film! We got to bed at around 2:00 AM. Not so late.

Day#3

Woke up fairly late, dragged ourselves out of bed and had a brunch over a movie called "Bunny and the Bull". I laughed so hard, it would have taken the place of an abs work out!! Very quirky, hilarious and sweet all in one film!

After lazing around a bit more, we walked to the only mall in walking distance, window shopped, and stopped by a Mc. D on our way back, which we stayed at till 10:30. Walked home and called it a night.

Day #4

No sleeping in today! Got up at normal time and went out with Dawn and Yasu to check an apartment that we had our eyes on for a while. It seemed like a dream when we found it online, but when we actually walked through the house, and saw exactly how fantastic it really was, I just knew we had to live there! I want it so bad! Pray that there are no complications in getting this baby!

Got back and watched "Man on Fire", another epic by Denzel Washington, over a brunch. Loved everything about this movie! It's a must-see if you haven't yet. After that, Went out for a bit of shopping and ate a meal at Cafe Marche with Boris. I appreciate the cafe a lot more when I enter it as a customer rather then the waitress. And that's as far as day 3 goes, because now, I'm blogging, and I'm not so sure about our future plans! Will update you all with more as it comes.

News:

I applied for Baskin Robbins! Pray I get the job! I neeeeed it!

tsukareta atsui yo~

Eiko says...

I just showered off an insanely busy night shift at our cafe! We had over 20 customers ordering the dinner sets, the alcoholic beverages and otsumami all at the SAME TIME--literally! Well, they can go ahead and order away, but it doesn't mean that they'll get what they want the moment they order it. Unfortunately, some seem to forget that we are merely humans running the cafe.

I got a lot of:

"Can't you see that we're thirsty? Where's the beer I didn't order yet?!"

"We're drinking here! How do you expect us to drink without any food?"

"I ordered 5 minutes ago! I'm hungry!"

"Dude, notice that you're among 20 + customers with only one of me, trying to serve y'all! Take a hint and quit waving your glass at me! I also only have two hands. Patience would be very appropriate."

is NOT what I said, although I might have felt like it at one point or another.

Instead, the words that I found myself repeating over and over and OVER again were,

「大変お待たせいたしました。」

「大変失礼いたしました。」

「申し訳ございません。」

Also, the air-conditioning decided to go on strike or something because they started acting up, and soon, we had many customers complaining about the heat! Hell! It was cooler outside than in our little cafe, and that speaks volumes! If it really was cooler outside, than the customers sure had something to bitch about. I mean, counting all the staff and customers together, there were around 30 people in the cafe, it's Tokyo, people were drinking and eating, there was live music that everybody was grooving and clapping and moving to, AND the cooling system went bonkers! BUT! Just imagine how hot it was for me, and all the Marche staff who were on duty! We were all running around, taking and serving orders, apologizing for late orders, wiping up messes, washing dirty dishes, and making sure the customers were happy, SWEATING buckets! I soaked my shirt through! Ew!!

We really need to do something about our air-con problem. Like YESTERDAY!

On a happier note, Stephan brought home a ton of mangoes and watermelons that are just what you want to eat on a sweltering summer day. It's fruit heaven here at Lodge Home. I'm loving it.

never to wake up again...wahhh

Eiko says...

Everybody, a tragedy happened yesterday morning. My baby laptop put himself to sleep, never to wake up again. The doctors (a.k.a Sam and J.D.) are trying everything, but I can tell by the look in their eyes, and the tone of their voices that my laptop has permanently moved on to 'the other side'. I think he was tired and weary of this world. I should have hidden that pistol more carefully. Damn it!!

Anyway, I'm in mourning now, and I'm planning on mourning for a few more days. I mourn the loss of the lonely nights which I used to spend with my laptop, watching a film, browsing YouTube, blogging, etc. It will take a while to get used to 'single life'. I don't think I ever will. Which is why I'm planning on buying a new one!! That is of course, after I get a job and save up for one.

Speaking of which, I'm looking for a job, and I've got a few options. Be nice, pretty please, and pray that I get a good one.

New Stuff:

*David Stine left for the States a few days ago, and before he left, we all had a bye-bye party for him over beer and whiskey and stuff. Will miss his strange ways and addicting humor. Have a great time over there, David!

*A good friend, Yuri-chan, came over, and me and Aich had a girls night out with her over drinks and yummies. I haven't seen that girl in ages! I hope you find yourself some good luck in Nagoya! Come visit us again!!

*Me and Aich are presently going through a highly addicting TV series known as, "Desperate Housewives", much to Kenny Benny's horror and disghust!! He finds the series repulsive. I don't know what he's talking about!! Aich and I managed to find time to squeeze in 3 full episodes today, despite the busy schedule and all! Just shows that you make time for what you really want and believe to be important. We're insane!

*The lovable Dawnie and Yasu and Kippins are moving in the day after tomorrow!! I'm happy beyond words!

Cafe Marche News:
The little stage that situates in the right corner of our cafe is living up it's worth! Aside from Up Country's weekly performance on Friday and Saturday evenings, we are staging a variety of other bands as well, both secular and TFI, amateur and professional.
The music is one of our biggest attractions, and when we have live music playing, customers flock!!! On top of the music, the fact that we serve alcohol is a recipe for busy nights for the staff at Cafe Marche. The other night, one of our regulars invited 7 friends to chill out at our cafe to the live music and food and drinks. The same night, we had a family who reserved 6 seats for a Birthday special. That night was crazy busy! Aside from these two groups--who ordered up a storm,-- we had our usual customers, who kept us, the floor staff, very busy! Around the second session of music, we had intoxicated customers dancing jigs, hitting on the waitresses, and singing along as if they were at karaoke! Keeping tabs on orders that people randomly yell at you from across the room, and remembering who yelled those exact orders, in the midst of live music and dancing and horny men being horny, is NOT the easiest thing. But whatever. It can be fun.

We have our insanely busy days, where all of the Marche Staff feel as if they are going to go nuts, and we also have our insanely slow days, where we feel like we are going to go nuts because of sheer boredom. But considering the fact that we've only been in business for less than 3 months, I'd say we're doing a great job. Keep praying for us! This whole thing is a new experience for us. It's very exciting.

Marche and stuff

Eiko says...

I was on one of those walks with Boris, when all of a sudden, my mobile that I had stuffed in the back pocket of my jeans started freaking out--buzzing, and ringing and making a racket. (I purposely picked a loud and annoying ring tone as motivation to answer quickly and silence the horrible noise!) I picked up, and it was Aich calling from Lodge Home.

I was like,

"What's up?"

And she's like,

"I'm good. Oh, hey, you're blog is linked to Mama's Blog!"

And then I literally yelled,

「ウソ!　マジで?!」

The first thing that came to mind was, did I post anything offensive? Was Maria addressing some of my ungodly, adolescent attitudes that Mom and Dad are always ranting on about, that were mirrored in my posts? Was I being made as an example to the entire TFI of WHAT NOT TO BE LIKE? I was desperately trying to remember what my latest post was about, but honestly, I couldn't. Because I was panicking!

Aich quickly assured me that Maria wanted to point out our new coffee shop adventure at Lodge Home, and since my blog had pictures of Cafe Marche, she had linked my blog to that post. Whew! Good thing I didn't write up post that's been on my mind to blog about for a while, titled 'Vampires All Around Us'! Close call!

Cafe Marche

Aaanyway, from what I heard from Lodge Home, Cafe Marche is becoming more popular. The live music on Friday and Saturday evenings are a big hit, and the cafe is quite busy during that time. Last I remember, Heart to Heart will be performing on that tiny little stage in the near future! I can imagine Cafe Marche being jam packed! It will be so cool!

And below are some beauty shots of the baked snacks we serve at the cafe. Thanks for the photos, Sam! Great stuff!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brownies

プリーズ・ミー・ホット！！

Eiko says...

Aich was waitressing the other day when a customer, (an older man) enters the cafe and casually says ,

「ホットください。」

Now, looking at all the facts, Ai-chan is waitressing at a coffee shop, and naturally coffee is served. So the request for 「ホット」really could only mean that he wanted a hot coffee,...or a hot cup of tea. BUT! Either the question was instantaneously translated to English in Ai-chan's mind as, "One hot please", or "I want it hot", or "Make that a hot", or Aich was thinking about something...funny, it came as a shocker, and she was stunned for a few moments. "Wha? Hot? Sorry, we don't have that on the menu." More like, we don't do happy services here. Buh-bye!

And while waitressing today, the same thing happened to me. An older man walks in and sits down at table 5. I bring him a glass of water and the menu, but before I could offer the menu to him, he made it very clear what he wanted in one word. 「ホット」And I'm like, sure! With a waitress smile plastered on my face.

「少々お待ちくださいませ。」

He wants it hot...riight.

But who doesn't, coffee or otherwise?

And all this reminds me of the time when I was working at オムライス亭. My senpais thought me and Boris were so cool cuz we could speak English. and they would often try to communicate with us using all the little High school English that they knew. Yuta, (the cuter one of the two) desperately wanted a melon soda, and we had just finished talking about how they would be totally irresistible if they were fluent in English.

「永子、プリーズ・ミー・メロン・ソーダー」

Now, of course I understood exactly what he wanted, (a melon soda) but somehow my mind didn't really catch the 'melon soda' part of the incorrect phrase, which left me with, "Eiko, please me." Grammatically speaking, "Eiko, please me", is correct, and "Eiko, please me melon soda" is not. Yet somehow the correct sentence was a just a tad bit disturbing. I carefully explained what 'please me' could mean to Yuta. He smiled kind of bashfully, with a, 「あっ、そっかー」and continued to purposefully make the 'please me' mistake whenever he wanted...well anything.

Aaanyhow.

The cafe is running smoothly. We've got plenty of room for improvement, but improvement is happening everyday, and that means progress. The baking side of things is going pretty smoothly. The baked stuff really sold well yesterday and the day before, and consequently, that meant staying up late baking for the next day. It's a good feeling though, when you know that the customers like what they taste to the point that they keep ordering more and more,...until well, I have to put up the 'sold out' sign.

That's it for now.

recent photos

Eiko says...

A beauty shot of cafe marche at night! Imagine being dead tired on your way back home from work, and you saw Cafe Marche looking ever so hot, with live music being played inside? I would totally stop by!

Up Country singing on a lovely Friday night!

The other day, we had Cafe Marche's one month anniversary, after we closed shop, and we all chilled over lot's of sushi and beer. It was just what everyone needed as we were all such 'troupers' of late, and we all deserved the shiner prize! We all ate and drank far past our stomach's content, that's for sure!

Me right before the evening shift. Yeah, I'm tired. I can't sleep so well these nights.

Cafe Marche Pictures

Eiko says...

Here are the long awaited Cafe Marche Pictures!!

Enjoy!!

Blueberry Muffins and Butter Cookies.

My personal favorite out of all the sweets that are baked for the cafe are by far the blueberry muffins.

We actually stopped baking the Butter Cookies, mainly because it takes too much time to roll the cookie dough out and shape them. There was nothing wrong with the taste, but time is of the essence! We mainly stick to easy drop cookies, and we freeze the batter so that we have batter on hand whenever we are all sold out.

Here are the Banana Muffins.

They have chocolate in them, and they started off to be the thing that sold out fastest. Ew! I personally hate the combination of banana and chocolate. I don't particularly like the Banana Muffins we bake and sell here, although I sort of do understand why the customers like them. If it were up to me though, I would either substitute the chocolate for walnuts, or just junk the Banana Muffins altogether.
Yup. That's me.

I usually spend at least 3-5 hours in the kitchen baking for the next day, or making cookie dough to freeze for later use. Although this isn't every night, there are times when the late customers decide to buy all the leftover sweets because they liked what they taste, and I have to re-bake everything after closing hour! (happened today) I feel a great sense of satisfaction and smugness and gratitude when almost everything is sold out, but it also means staying up until way past midnight, baking the last batch of whatever I may be baking last.
That's Mr. Takada-san, and Mr.Akiyama-san. :)

Chef and waiter.
Notice the stage in the far corner!

J.D., Sam and Aich barely fit on it! It's tiny!
Chiba Tenchou, busy in the kitchen.

The kitchen is also tiny. There's barely enough space for 2 people to move around, and there's a lot of back and butt bumping and squishing together when you try to get by somebody.
We have live music every Friday and Saturday,

but not outside... Great modeling though.
We sell a variety of stuff here on the display shelf that we situate outside of the shop.

The mothers are particularly attracted the fruit and vegetables we often sell here.

Jame's beautiful creation!
We have a table set outside for the smokers.

And this is just for decoration.

P.S

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there! Much love coming your way from me! Muah!

Cafe Marche News

Cafe Marche Updates

As I'm sure most of you know, Lodge Home (the late T.O.M Home) has been in business for 2 weeks now. Cafe Marche is welcoming a variety of people from all walks of life, and taking all things into consideration, we are doing wonderfully.

The Cool Stuff:

*We have regulars

*We are meeting the neighbors that we didn't know existed all these 5 years and a bit that we've been here!

*The people that like us, or the cafe, or the food here, bring their friends, and their friends bring their friends, and a happy network is in formation, and is fast expanding. Just the other day, we had over 40 customers within 24 hours! Nice stuff!

*The live concerts are a big thumbs up! The alcohol drinking crowd love the Friday and Saturday evenings when Up Country performs live music at Cafe Marche!!

*We have a good reputation for yummy baked goodies!

*And there's tons more.

Need working on stuff:

*The menu needs some tweaking.

*Our service towards the customers needs to be more professional.

*We need to make sure that we are making a decent profit from everything that we sell here.

*We are very short-staffed.

*To name just the tip of the tip of the massive ice-berg.

Stuff YOU should know before dropping by.

And here's the stuff you would like to know if you are planning on paying us a visit. (this information will get to everybody officially in an upcoming AHM)

If you are not planning on ordering a drink or something to eat at Cafe Marche, than please do not enter the cafe. The Cafe Marche is not an extension of Lodge Home. We are running a business, and therefore, we will be treating you as a customer, and we will also charge you.

The "we will be treating you as a customer" part is very important.

Upon entering Cafe Marche, (like any other cafe)

You should expect the 「いらっしゃいませ～」greeting instead of the, God-bless-you-brother-greeting, you are used to hearing from Family members.

We will lead you to an open seat, and after a,

「こちらがメニューになります。ご注文がお決まりになりましたら、お呼び下さい」, we will expect you to order something to drink, or eat, or both. (Just for your information, the cheapest thing on the menu is a cookie, or hot soup. Only 100 yen!! *wink*)

English is generally a taboo in the cafe, (esp. English spoken at volume 10) as most customers shy away from, and feel out of place when English is being spoken between the staff, or even between customers.

Oh, and naturally, hugging, (and kissing too) isn't encouraged. Like I noted earlier, this isn't an extension of a Family Home. We're running a business. So if you want to do the hugging, the kissing, the God-bless-you-brother/sister-stuff, and catch up on how things are going with the reboot, the changes, the ministries, etc., than 4th floor and 5th floor are the places where that will be happening.

If you're interested in how we run the cafe, than by all means, please don't hesitate to drop by Cafe Marche and check it out! But keep in mind that you will be "checking it out" as a customer, and consequently, you will be spending some money.

If you've been to the cafe, and you were met with the "God bless yous" and the hugs, than that was a MISTAKE! It was a mistake, because customers shy away because of it, our business suffers, and the Mission will suffer in the long run, as the only customers that will be dropping by are people who are cool with the hugging stuff, like TFI members, and foreigners. But that's not exactly what we have in mind.

Whoop! That's how it runs, baby! Keep yourself updated by checking this blog out. I'm working on posting the pictures, but my comp has some issues, so it will have to wait.

Oh! Just one more thing.

Stop calling Lodge Home!

What I meant was, stop calling our Lodge Home's Phone number, as it is no longer Lodge Home's phone number. It is Cafe Marche's number now, you will be contacting the cafe instead of the Home. If you want to get in touch with Lodge Home, call the mobile phones of the members of Lodge Home. Because otherwise, you will most likely NOT get through to whoever you are trying to contact. This will also be included in the upcoming AHM with some numbers you could ring if you must.

Cafe Marche updates

Eiko says...

Cafe Marche Updates

To be honest, I didn't think the whole "cafe" idea would really work or take off, but it is indeed working, and I'm happy, and busy, and exhausted, and excited because of it.

HAPPY

because although I abhorred the idea of being in the kitchen baking cookies and whatnot all day originally, the customers really like what they taste and they come back for more! When someone likes what you create enough to pay money for it, and esp. when they keep coming back for more, whether you enjoy creating them or not, is quite satisfying.

Once when I was waitressing, an old man came in and ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin. He asked for two sugars and no cream. I officially labeled him a 'weirdo'. Nobody, under any circumstances, should put two sugars in one tiny cup of coffee, especially if they are going to junk the cream. Later on while I was wiping the counters, he calls me over and asks,

「お姉ちゃん、このマフィンいくら？」

Then I go,

「はい、マフィンは一つ150円になります。」

Then he goes,

「これ３個ちょうだい。おいしいから。」

Although a stray thought of being responsible for the contribution to the man's waistline did cross my mind, (eating 4 muffins all by yourself does that to you) I instantaneously relabled him from 'weird' to 'totally cool'! I mean, he liked the muffins I baked! Not only did he like them, but he was willing to pay for them!

This dude is now a regular, and has come over 3 times in the past week. Yup. Totally cool.

There was also a mother and her daughter who came by our cafe because they heard from their friend who ate here, that the baked sweets were good. They bought 3 bags full of them!

Stuff like that make me very happy. And 'happy' happens quite often these days.

And 'happy' leads to '

BUSY

When I'm happy because the customers buy the sweets, it makes me very busy because it means more time in the kitchen,...baking. Our oven is small, and it is less then perfect, which means hours in the kitchen baking for the next day. Often this happens from after 10:00 PM all the way till past midnight. I do get time in the day, but when the customers decide to buy more than I originially expected them to, that means baking hours after my 5~10 PM shift.

Naturally, busy leads to

EXHAUSTED

I want and need more sleep. I also want mental and spiritual rest.

But I'm

EXCITED

because things are picking up around here, and the future looks bright. I can see this cafe really going somewhere. We do have regulars, and new people come by our cafe everyday. The fantastic JD and Aich sing on Fridays and Saturdays on the cute little stage we have in the corner from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. This goes well with the alcohol that we serve, and we even had a intoxicated customer dance around to one of them good oldies.

Cafe Marche and Baking ... stuff...

Eiko says...

I open the door to the 3rd floor where we bake all of the cafe's yummies, and I'm hit with the sickeningly sweet smell of sugar, vanilla, and chocolate, and I feel nauseous. After being in the kitchen all day baking cookies, muffins and the like, I feel sick just smelling anything in the baked-snack category! The worst part about the whole deal is that my room is situated right next to the kitchen, so I can't really escape the smell without breathing, and since not breathing is NOT an option, I am forced to smell everything that I've been baking all day. PLUS, the smell is in my hair and clothes!! Definitely no escape there!

I would open the windows wide for ventilation, but Mr. and Mrs. Narita don't like the warmth of the room escaping, and therefore, I am stuck in a stuffy, sweet-smelling kitchen, suffocating... slowly... slowly...

Like I mentioned before, we are extremely short-staffed. It's no secret. After giving the kids devotions tomorrow, I have 10:30 AM till 5:00PM to get as much baking finished as possible for the next day, and from 5:00PM till 10:00PM, I have a shift at the cafe. Everybody else is cooking the Home's meals, doing clean-up duty, taking a 5~7 hour shift at the cafe, teaching and caring for the kids, doing the dishes, home laundry, shopping, etc.

I am going to become a complete coffee addict.

I am going to start hating anything with sugar in it very soon.

I am desperate to find a way to keep my hair from smelling like whatever I was baking. Perhaps I should wear a hat of some kind while I'm in the kitchen?

I am going to have to seriously figure out a way to get my exercise time in there... Might start waking up earlier... or there's always the option of working out after we close shop.

This is my very random Cafe Marche/Baking-woes post.

Cafe Marche

Eiko says...

I want a camera!!!

I've been taking tons of super cool pictures of the Cafe Opening with my keitai, but I don't have a cord to connect my keitai to the computer, and sending pictures to my E-mail is way too pricey, so the blog posts from now until I get someone to send me pictures, will be BORING! Pictures are the LIFE and BREATH of a blog, especially when the blogger isn't so literate, like me.

Anyway, Cafe Marche is looking great, and dear Uncle James came to our rescue once again and added his artistic touch to the decor.

I was actually not so sure about how popular our cafe will be, but it seems like word had spread that we'll be opening a cafe, and there are quite a few neighbors that are interested in bringing their family and friends over. The fact that there aren't much "hang out" spots around, and that we have live music on the week ends is totally to our advantage. You all oughta drop by and give us and our cafe a visit. You'll be impressed.

And my mind is in complete confusion.

Writing a blog post during a home meeting where everyone is picking daisies, and no one is sticking to the pre-planned agenda is NOT a good idea. I'll write more faithfully from now on, so keep checking my blog out.

Will write more later.