Evening meals....too much !!

[Miki]

Well after many years of doing evening meals, from the South to the

North of France, we decided this morning, after yet another extremely hot and

hectic day, followed in the evening by having to cook for 14 people

(plus, for 4 friends staying with us and ourselves of course), that it is all simply too much and it is time for us to stop

offering evening meals for the July & August period. We will

continue though, to offer evening meals in the shoulder and low season

months.

I looked through our requests and in July and August (especially after

the 14 juillet until the end of August) we turn down far,  far

more guests than we accept. So if people say they only will stay at our

place if we offer table d'hôte, then we will have to apologise

to them and and wait for clients who want to stay in our area anyway,

with or without us offering evening meals.

We are of course honouring requests from those that have already booked meals during July & August.

I feel better already [:D]

[Viv]

Is that the royal 'we' doing the cooking?[:)]

I don't know how you can cope with that every day. I love cooking but having relatives for a week or so and cooking for them drains me.

 

 

[Cassis]

Can't say I blame you - I would only force Jude to do this (ha! ha! ha! as if!) if we were desperate for the dosh.  You might even get some time to relax.  Good for you.  Must go - Jude's calling me from the kitchen ...

[Cerise]

Miki - you have my sympathy - we are currently only doing light meals or barbecues after I thought I was going to be ill whilst trying to cook in this heat.  Just finished today's ironing and if this weather continues think we might start a trend for unironed bedclothes as well!!

Let us know how the new regime goes.

Maggi

 

[Miki]

Viv,

We in the term, I do all the running around etc and Tina merely sits and cooks... (and if she reads this, I am a dead man !!)

After once having a resto in the South West for up to 60 covers and

here for up to 40 persons,  running a B&B for up to 15 persons

maximum  is (was !) a walk in the park but now, we are used to it

and these days, with the peak season seeming to go on and on, it is

still very tiring for sure !

Cassis,

Once we converted this place to Bed and Breakfast from Hotel/Resto,

doing meals was never really for the money. The profit can be counted,

not from the

meals but the huge amount of trade one gains from offering TdH. The

percentage of places doing TdH against CdH only, is pretty low and is

usually but certainly not always, done by folks who know it will pull

in a large amount of B&B 'ers, who want to arrive, park the car for

the night, no need to go out again, have a bevy etc etc. Believe me, in

many cases, depending on the area etc, the overall effect on ones CdH

trade can be quite good indeed. BUT as I said, we think we should be

full in peak season, with or without offering evening meals but (again !)

only time will tell......will let folks know in September 2007 or even how we got

on this year as far as remarks from guests.

[Tresco]

Miki, as your guests are departing, you could ask them whether they would have booked if the evening meal wasn't part of the deal.

If you've decided to do it, then good luck, but it might be worth doing this little bit of informal research?

 

[Wendy]

Good onya Miki!. Evening meals make up a big part of our income, BUT, in weather like this it can be awful. I have to cook for a family of eight before I even start with the guests. And when people arrive at ten at night and want a meal....RyanAir do serve sandwiches and tea/coffee dont they?. Why dont people eat then or before they leave when they are travelling so late at night?. My worst was a family who arrived at 11.30 pm and wanted food for four people because 'RyanAir are a ripoff with the on board snacks'. I was eight and a half months preggers. Yes, I GOT OUT OF BED and actually did the meal...pasta and a pot of tea. And , yes, they certainly paid for the deal. Never again!. Since then arrivals after 8.30 dont get a meal since I  figure they have plenty of time and opportunity to eat before they get here. If they have booked a meal they must be here before that time. We do meals for resident guests though, but, not after 8.00pm. Good decision Miki and enjoy the break. I cannot wait until we dont 'have to' do evening meals.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

We do a lot of pre-prepared meals for our gite guests. This week, the

hottest so far as we all know, to my surprise, every property has

ordered a curry, even the Dutch group. These are not mild curries, but

perhaps there is an intuitive understanding that the short term

discomfort of eating something hot and highly spiced is outweighed by

the benefit of increased sweating.

It is tough cooking in this heat, but I find doing it wearing nothing but an apron helps a lot. If my mother could see me now...

[Miki]

Good point Tresco but whatever they reply...we really don't want to do

meals in peak season any more anyway. We reckon we have earned our

right to stop and  in an hour or two, we are going to have huge

prawns, meat on the BBQ and a lovely dessert and all at our own

leisure. I tell you it feels like a holiday tonight, in comparison

to  yesterday !

Wen, have no fear, I won't mock or feel superior, we have been through

what you are now doing and admiration is more the feeeling !, Oh

brother have we been there!!  The first few years I used to think

just how lovely it would have been to be flogging cars again. Up for

brekkers, then do the rooms, do lunches, do evening meals, do afternoon

snacks......do just about anything to bring the money in.  So when I say

we have earned the right to decide what we want to do now, it is not

with smugness but glee for us, certainly not against anyone following

our old trail......

This was a goodun tonight, call from 2 families travelling together and up from the south..

Call taken at 5.30 p.m "Hello, any chance of a meal for 6 persons,

Mother doesn't want too much and the kids will share a meal but must

have chips please"

Answer, "So sorry but guests MUST book in advance, as it says in all

correspondence (They booked in March) and we have now stopped doing

meals in peak season, also sorry but we do not do chips anyway"

"Oh................ well, where can we eat?"

What do you say to that....A restaurant was what I wanted to say but I

answered them with "We will let you know of several when you arrive"

Tina said they were off to Saint Malo for a McDonalds as the kids like them...............................

Now where did I put that spear, it will go up my nose quite easily if I try...............................

Oh and Tina has done what you did and got out of bed. to

cook.........you will laugh about it one day, we do but with a little

bit of grimace attached at how you were once treated by some horrible

guests ! 

No more now, we tend to look, think, decide and hopefully give an

answer that leaves the client happy but without the earlier feeling

that they thought they were the masters and we were just the slaves.

When the day comes, give some of them hell and get yer own back but

please only do it to the nasty gits, as there are lots of really decent

folks, are there not !

[Viv]

[quote user="Jon D"]It is tough cooking in this heat, but I find doing it wearing nothing but an apron helps a lot. If my mother could see me now...

[/quote]

 

can I please? pretty please?

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Jon D wrote "I find doing it wearing nothing but an apron helps a lot. "

Do you do the funny handshake as well?

[Tresco]

"Good point Tresco but whatever they reply...we really don't want to do meals in peak season any more anyway. We reckon we have earned our right to stop and  in an hour or two, we are going to have huge prawns, meat on the BBQ and a lovely dessert and all at our own leisure. I tell you it feels like a holiday tonight, in comparison to  yesterday !"

For me, Miki, you could have stopped where the Bold finishes. Having read your posts for a long time now (not just relating to the set-up you have now), I think you must be ecstatic just from having made the decision you have. Doesn't everything feel better, now knowing that that aspect of your work is going to end?

Good for you![:D]

 

 

[Wendy]

Great idea Jon! but, is that a ladle you have under there or are you just pleased to see them?.:))

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Viv"]

[quote user="Jon D"]It is tough cooking in this

heat, but I find doing it wearing nothing but an apron helps a lot. If

my mother could see me now...

[/quote]

 

can I please? pretty please?

[/quote]

I'm sure it wouldn't be allowed under Forum Rules. Or, come to think of

it, on grounds of good taste. I look quite dashing from from the front,

but from behind (so my dear wife informs me) it looks rather like

someone has badly parked a couple of pale pink Volkswagen Beetles.

I have to say that if anyone reading this forum reckons B&B (or, in

our case, catered gites) is some kind of passport to a quiet

life...I've been up since before six, sod all breakfast, no lunch and

I'm still waiting to meet & greet. To be fair, we were warned well

in advance and they are repeat guests, but boy do I want my bed!

[Miki]

Gîtes are for wimps Jon  [:D] [;-)]

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Miki"]Gîtes are for wimps Jon  [:D] [;-)]

[/quote]

And so, of course, is lunch. Also, I did manage a proper dinner, albeit rather late. Makes me a triple wimp I suppose.

It does bug me just a little bit  that some people (aquaintences

rather than friends) assume that we have  entered a state of

semi-retirement; Surprised looks when we announce that, yes it is

Sunday but that is also a pool cleaning, garden watering, light weeding

(nothing with an engine) and (probably) a couple of meals kind of day

as well. "How do you manage to work outside in this heat?" they

enquire. "Well, it's that or starve!" I answer with a wink. Always gets

a laugh.

Mind you, I wouldn't swap this life for the World.

[Miki]

[quote] Mind you, I wouldn't swap this life for the World.[/quote]

Given the choice......mind the gang way, Miki et famille coming through..................................[:)]

[Cerise]

The World Jond - someone has offered you the World and you want to cook for tourists?  Obviously they will be coming to take you away soon and I can have the World.  And by the way, before I go I want to take out that Miki who can afford not to cook for them too .........and, gibber, gibber, gibber - oh where was I, no not more ironing - I did 6 sets of sheets yesterday, why can't they sleep in paper bags, what do you mean they want food  ...... I must relax, everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to live this life, what do they think it is anyway, some kind of B & B .......  help, help, - Oh yes, sir of course we do meals.  Yes sir, even in the middle of summer.  Nice roast dinner sir, of course.

[Coco]

I'd like to be able to say the same - no meals in July and August but being that bit further from the sea than Miki, we still need to encourage people that pick us over others because of the TDH.  We have a French lady coming in tomorrow night who wanted food but when I said 4 courses she was horrified!  "In this heat?  I couldn't possibly manage 4 courses"  So I suggested 3 and she then suggested that I had been living in France too long - could she just have one - perhaps a salad.  I willingly agreed but explained that it wouldn't be such good value for money.  She was more than happy to accept salad, wine and coffee for 14 euros instead of 4 courses, wine and coffee for 22.50.  I've never offered it before because Brits tend to divide the courses by 4 and want to pay accordingly, ie, little more than 8 euros for one course (which I most certainly WOULDN'T get out of bed for!!)  So at the moment, in this weather, that's what I'm offering; salad, wine and coffee for 14 euros or salad, ice cream, wine and coffee for 16 and I've now got 8 takers this week!

[Miki]

[quote user="Cerise"]The World Jond - someone has offered you the World

and you want to cook for tourists?  Obviously they will be coming

to take you away soon and I can have the World.  And by the way,

before I go I want to take out that Miki who can afford not to cook for

them too .........and, gibber, gibber, gibber - oh where was I, no not

more ironing - I did 6 sets of sheets yesterday, why can't they sleep

in paper bags, what do you mean they want food  ...... I must

relax, everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to live this life, what

do they think it is anyway, some kind of B & B .......  help,

help, - Oh yes, sir of course we do meals.  Yes sir, even in the

middle of summer.  Nice roast dinner sir, of course.[/quote]

[:D] [:D] [:D]

You mean you give them bed sheets and not only that, you iron them as

well !!!!  Before you know it, they will be wanting running water and

toilet paper next......[:)]

Too late Maggie, we are on the World and only room for us..ha, ha and they're coming to take us away ha, ha...........

Did I tell you ? I personally got blamed last week for having the wrong

postal code by a Frenchman with a GPS thingyjob who ended up 100 metres

away from our house. Bluddy French postal service, I shall be having a

mot with M le facture.  Fancy giving us a wrong postal code, makes

you wonder how for donkeys years or more, letters have arrived here,

doesn't it ?

[quote] before I go I want to take out that Miki who can afford not to cook for

them too [/quote]

On a slightly more serious note, it is not simply about being able to

afford it, we really do get truly cream crackered and for the sake of

ones health, if nothing else, working 16 hours a day continously

through a hot sweltering summer, soon starts to wear one down until in

the end, you come to think that as long as you keep £50 ahead of the

poverty line, then put yourself first. And as I said, we have worked

like that for many, many years and now we have that buffer and we are

going to kind of dictate the rules for a while,  that's if we can

of course.......... early days !!!!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Cerise"]The World Jond - someone has offered you the World and you want to cook for tourists?  [/quote]

Absolutely - I mean, can you imagine the problems getting good staff?

Then again, if I were Supreme Ruler of Earth I could appoint J-M Le Pen

and that irritating little little tick who won Star Ac the year before

last to be responsible for cleaning a particularly vicious public

loo in Chittagong that I once was obliged to use in extremis, which experience still haunts me to this very day.

Anyway, I like my job. I get satisfaction - we get people in knotted up

with stress and we send them home again in a condition of deep serenity

(we add ketamine to the food - joke). Much better than my last job,

where I do not believe I added a great deal to the net sum total of

human happiness. Plus I didn't see much of the children.

Hmmm...perhaps that is just a bit too Zen.

[opas]

Do you think I could get away with telling my family that I don`t do meals in this heat!

Yes, probably......youngest would live on cereals and ice cream, eldest  on Salad, mayo, bread , yogurt and biscuits. The man of the house would do himself a 3 course each meal[:'(] (he normaly cooks anyway) and me well, I`ll raid the fridge or the biscuit tin as and when or eat Mr Os left overs at midnight or dawn!

[opas]

Delete. double post.

[Miki]

[quote] Do you think I could get away with telling my family that I don`t do meals in this heat [/quote]

Well you might be able to, if you had done 40 plus machine loads of

washing and all the associated ironing that week plus changed or

cleaned up to 40 odd bedrooms that week. That's without all the

constant maintenance inc gardening, 100 plus breakfasts and quite a few

other tasks around the property other than

that........................cooking for 4, even in 120º F is a walk in

the old park, n'est pas [:)]

[Cassis]

[quote user="Jon D"]

It does bug me just a little bit  that some people (aquaintences

rather than friends) assume that we have  entered a state of

semi-retirement; Surprised looks when we announce that, yes it is

Sunday but that is also a pool cleaning, garden watering, light weeding

(nothing with an engine) and (probably) a couple of meals kind of day

as well. "How do you manage to work outside in this heat?" they

enquire. "Well, it's that or starve!" I answer with a wink. Always gets

a laugh.

[/quote]

A state of semi-retirement?  Most of our UK visitors seem to think we are both on permanent holiday.  Cue hysterical laughter from both hosts.