Bill Isaacs, one of our local artists, produces some great fun paintings which we sell for him in the CafeBar.  One range that he does is variations on Vetriano’s “The Gentleman’s Gentleman” so we have pictures of the lady holding her umbrella while the two gentlemen dance  and another with the right couple dancing but with a big wave bearing down on them and quite a few others have passed through our hands.  Great fun and worth a look over a cup of coffee.

We have been having some trouble with the tiles in our kitchen floor, the upshot of which was that we had to replace the walkway section with a different style.  Tileworld in St Austell were all booked in to refit the new tiles but this meant we had to lift the old ones first.  We started planning this back in the early summer as we had to close the kitchen for 3 days, 1 day to lift the old tiles, 1 day to fit the new ones and leave them to go off and then the last to grout them.

As with all good plans this one started to go wrong right atthe beginning - I had to chase George to get a couple of his guys up here to do the work but luckily I had come in my working clothes and brought my lump hammer and bolster chisel with me.  The first 30 to 40 tiles came up really easily but after that it was inch by inch - luckily Norman, one of our kitchen porters, had a mini kango in the back of his car which was a great help but it was still really hard work.  Not so bad for Neil and Ronnie who are more used to it but I must admit I was really struggling: blistered hands, wrist strain from the hammer and then a big knuckle on my left hand because my aim wasn’t always that good!

Once we’d got the tiles up we then had to get the last of the adhesive off the floor - we started with the chisels scraping away but this was going so slowly.  I tried to find a power tool to help but nothing available that day, I did manage to buy a couple of manual scrapers which were better but not quite good enough!  We got hold of a bigger kango with a tile lifter for the Tuesday which we did use to remove all the adhesive but this put us a day behind.

Wednesday brought the tilers who really got going and laid all the tiles by lunchtime - they even managed to grout them all by mid afternoon too so we were almost back on track!  This just left us with all the cleaning to do this morning as you can guess how much dust the kango caused.

We have our Probus club in for lunch today and we suddenly realised we may not have time to cook anything for them with a choice menu like we normally do so we have had to offer them a buffet instead which we could prepare ahead in our pastry kitchen.  There will be lots of work for the boys today to get ready for dinner tonight as the whole menu as well as the cafe bar menu needs to be got ready from scratch - think they’ll deserve a beer by the end of the day and it won’t just be me with an aching body!

I had a call from Nigel, our wine merchant, yesterday lunchtime - would I be interested in doing a blind tasting of 9 vintage champagnes.  I was about to say yes please can I come down now when i really had to stop and think about the business.  we had over 50 guests in for dinner so should I stay and help look after them or was it right to further my education?  I told Nigel that I would have to say no but would have a chat with Kristin when she came in to see how she felt about the evening.

Luckily for me she was quite happy about her team for the night so quickly back on the phone to Nigel to book my place.  I just about managed to get there for 6.30 start time when Nigel explained the background to the evening.

Nigel had been talking to one of the champagne houses about the different vintage champagnes they offered and was questionning the quality / price differentials between them, Louis Roederer Cristal 2000 retails for £125 yet the Gosset 1996 retails for £40.99.  Nigel wanted to see if we could tell what differences there were so we all had to try them in turn and make notes on them and then rank our top 5. 

It is very rare for me to get the chance to try 1 vintage champagne, let alone 9 at the same time so we set about our task with great enthusiasm.  The 20 of us for the evening were a mixture of the shop staff and guests from local hotels and restaurants, we discussed quietly amongst ourselves and there were some startlingly different opinions - which is how it should be, the wines are all different even though they are all grown in a small area and from the same blend of grapes.

The overall winner was Bollinger RD 1996, which I found quite rich and very distinctive - this was my 4th ranked champagne, I must admit my favourite was Dom Perignon which didn’t come out very well in everyone elses ranking.

The Gosset 1996 did quite well but wasn’t in the top 3 so perhaps there is something in the price after all but was the Cristal 3 times better than the Gosset?  I guess it is about choosing the right drink for the right occasion.  Have a look at Nigel’s shop site to choose your favourite www.wwrw.co.uk

I posed myself this question the other day when one of the girls told me she had had to cut herself out of her trousers!  We did understand the real reason for this emergency surgery but you can’t let an opportunity like that go past without making something of it!

Keith, our owner, has just sent us all a copy of an article from the Guardian bemoaning the lack of dressing up when people go out to dinner.  This is quite a contentious issue with guests and restauranteurs / hoteliers alike and on both sides of the argument.  I do know of a couple of very nice hotels around Cornwall who do still insist on jacket and tie for dinner and they are very successful, I also know some very good restaurants which are extremely successful (1 is next door!) that do not operate any dress code.

My personal view is that people should feel comfortable in what they are wearing, this does not mean however, that I think people should take this as carte blanche to go out looking like they have just got out of bed or off the beach.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable at No 10 or Buckingham Palace in an open necked shirt and a pair of chinos, I would think a suit and tie would be more appropriate there, when going out for dinner with my wife I would rather be in something more casual but still in keeping with the style of the establishment.

When people are kept in suits and ties all day at work it seems a little churlish to make them dress up again, especially when they are on holiday - it may mean a whole extra suitcase!  Quite often our guests will pop in to the restaurant to see what other people are wearing or will ask, we always say it is up to them and it is quite surprising the number of more senior guests who are then really quite pleased that they don’t have to wear a tie!  If they themselves feel more comfortable in a tie then neither we nor the ambience of the restaurant makes them feel uncomfortable.

Read Linda Grant’s article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2171411,00.html and decide for yourselves!