Words cannot explain...

I wish I had super insightful words to explain the week we had this past week... but the exhaustion has taken over my body & mind & I am at a loss... So I will do my best to express the uniqueness that was this week- a week unlike any other in the 5 years at the restaurant.

To start, Monday was Megan Muldoon's last day as a server at the restaurant. She had been with us since the first summer we opened. She was not only the best server that Cerulean has ever seen but she had become a close friend & last summer, our neighbor! We shared hours upon hours at the restaurant working, drinking after a long shift, & solving all of life's great dilemma's. We discussed dreams, aspirations, challenges, politics, social justice, food, wine, dogs, goals in life... to name a few. There was never a dull discussion with Megan. We have seen her through her first year of marriage, getting a dog, graduating from college, and now, graduating from her Master's program in counseling. She will be greatly missed at the restaurant. There will never be another 'trendsetter' like Megan Muldoon.

The other great thing about Megan was her husband Jeff. He has also worked for us at the restaurant for multiple years in the kitchen. He developed the name "tapa papa" after progressing from not knowing how to slice a lemon to sauteeing multiple pans at once & cooking for 120 on a regular basis. The couple is moving on to Ohio where Jeff is enrolled in Podiatry Med School. What an amazing couple. I will deeply miss our neighbors...

Jeff's last shift @ Cerulean

Muldoon's moving (morning) day : (

This week also smacked me with the realization that summer is quickly passing by as well as my front of the house staff. I held 5 interviews this week & I don't even think that is enough. I will probably have to interview more. We currently have 2 trainees in route to their dinner server 'certification' but that does not even scratch the surface of what I will need for the fall. This is going to be the biggest turnover in Cerulean history & I can't say that I am thrilled. However, I know there are great people out there & I can see the silver lining imagining that this second wave of people have potential to be as great as the first.....

Friday marked a day of madness.... unforgettable, to say the least.... We catered a wedding for 500 this Saturday. Outside. Under a tent. In a field. Well, by Friday morning, everything for this wedding had been delivered: CASES upon cases of food, wine, beer, etc. Plus the tent, chairs, & generator to the field.

the catering tent with generator

the reception tent, buffet/bar tent, & gift tent

We were back and forth all morning & early afternoon making sure everything was in place. All 1100 plates, 1500 forks, 500 knives, & over 2000 pieces of glassware. Not to mention the food that was packed floor to ceiling in our coolers at the restaurant. I was praying all day that someone would not get pinned in there from something unstable!

Well then at about 2.00p on Friday, the boom hit. Literally. We were ambushed by a severe thunderstorm followed by a tornado...

this was on our deck about 5 feet from our huge glass window!

wedged

a little dishevled 

bean bag puncture wound

...accompanied with power outage.... and a full reservation book for the dinner shift.... and a full cooler with thousands of dollars of food for the restaurant AND the wedding we were catering the next day....

BIG PROBLEM

... so staff arrived at their normal time for work only to find a dark kitchen & stale air in the dining rooms. Oh yea, did I forget to mention that it has been 95 degrees plus here all week as well. Friday was no exception. 

Anyway, with 100 on the books, no electricity which means, no phone system, no air conditioning, no light to prep food, no cash drawer to settle out lunch, no computer for staff to clock in & out.... we made due & pulled together just like the Cerulean Crew always does....

kitchen moved their prep outside

front of the house set up the dining rooms & then pretended to take over the kitchen

and then we all waited patiently for power.... outside at 90 degrees was still cooler than waiting in the restaurant

And as with any good story, the irony of the situation came out when we were able to bring the generator that had been rented for the 500 person wedding & delivered that morning- from the field, to the restaurant. After a few cell phone calls to early reservations accompanied with apologies & negotiating.... we hooked up the generator to the restaurant & VOILA- by 6.00p we were back in business!

if only it had really been that easy!

And we were the ONLY ones back in business. We found out later that the rehearsal dinner for the wedding we were catering was moved to a cookout @ the bride's parents house due to their restaurant choice being without power all night! I write this on Sunday as others are still without power...

So the night progressed with a full house & cases of food saved from spoilage. Praise the Lord! Friday night survival.... now on to Saturday.... 

However, right now Saturday will have to wait... exhaustion has truly set in & that will be saved for another post! 

On another positive note... the bullies have been in stick heaven since the storm!