To catch a thief

The VPD caught a person in the act of trying to break into hastings on Sunday. Do not pass go, go directly to jail! I wonder if this is the same person who broke in before? Good job VPD

Hastings update

Another break in this am...these guys are determined, yet there is nothing to steal.

Final review of the plans this week. There are only a few things to fine tune like hot water tanks, plumbing lines and some minor electrical items. It looks really good. While we wait for the final kitchen exhaust drawings, we can start with security upgrades and the last little bit of demolition.

Scuplinfish (our designer) has come up with a brilliant alternative for accessibility at the front of the store. The design allows for a wheelchair ramp, which also makes it easier for persons with baby buggies to enter. The other alternative was a small electric lift on the side, but I think this will look much nicer. The center of the ramp area looks like a planter, but over the long term, it will have a thick glass window that allows for a view straight down into the cheese caves.

Hastings Update

The climb is slow but steady with all of the engineers and technical design folk. I'm glad someone made us think about the fact that we don't want our kitchen exhaust blowing into the air intake. So just where exactly does one find out which way the winds blow? I found out that the government of Canada has a 1-800 number you can call at $2.99 per minute for all your weather needs. Weather operators were waiting with the answers. Sexy...

We're basically trying to get all of our ducks in a row before we start any work. We've sorted out quite a bit of stuff. During the process we had to flip the design so to speak, meaning the kitchen is now on the east side, and the store is on the west side.

We took a brief trip last week to NYC to check out the Fancy Food Show, and also to have a look at wine bars. Why would we want to do that you might be asking yourself. Well...we wanted to be sure about what we were doing before we committed to opening our own cheese and wine bar at Hastings. 20 restaurants and 4 days later and we were convinced. It will take some time before it is open, but sometime in 2009 you can look forward to Au Petit Chavignol.