Wine Tasting and Buying

Colette’s Top Tips for September......

Wine tasting and buying

Well as the nights start to draw in and it becomes just that little bit too chilly to leave your jacket at home, you begin to realise that the seasons are changing, The beginning of autumn always comes as a bit of a surprise to me, I think it sneaks in when I’m still dreaming about holidays and balmy nights and then all of a sudden its dark at 7pm I mourn the loss of summer and am usually quite sad for a few days ,but then I remember how much I love snuggling up beside the fire with a glass of red wine when its cold wet and windy. But then the choice of red wine is always a challenge, which one should I drink??

I am so lucky with our wine supplier Boutinot wines of Manchester, not only do they have fantastic wines but they also invite me to attend Wine Tastings on a regular basis. It is really work, honest, as I have to develop a wine list for the restaurant and how can I possibly recommend them if I haven’t tried them all……………a few times each!!

So Tuesday I went to Manchester to attend the September event, this usually showcases some of the award winners and mostly the new additions to the portfolio along with some of the old favourites. I always try to go in with an open mind but I have to remember that I can’t possibly fall in love with a £60 bottle of wine as who would I ever sell it to. My aim for the day was to find a few reasonably priced white wines for the list make sure that the new vintages were as good as the last ones and the ultimate challenge a juicy mellow red wine with structure, good length, some tannins but only a hint of spice. I’m not fussy am I ??

I found quite a few that made it into my shortlist for the new wine list, surprisingly one is a Bordeaux. I always think I never know enough about French wines and Clarets in particular, so I try to steer clear but this one was young and not fully developed but so full of promise. Not very complex but so easy to drink which is never a bad thing in my book. I’m not sure if it will make the final list as our 58 Guineas Everyday Claret is very popular and I would hate to see it go as I so love the name.

However how do you know what to buy, and more importantly what should you pay? And how can you tell the difference between two wines that are seemingly identical. Let’s take two Merlots from Chile, they promise plum and damson notes, lots of juicy fruit and round tannins. So far clueless, that could mean anything as wine speak is as easy to understand as Mongolian, so do you opt for the prettier label, the one that has fewest bottles on the shelf (my sisters technique, thinking well someone else has bought them, that must mean they’re good, and strangely enough has backfired more often than not) or do you automatically reach for the cheapest as price isn’t everything and sometimes you’re just paying for a name

The most important lesson I have ever been taught about wine is to do with the pricing, not the ultimate sale price but the distribution of what your money will buy you.

Take a bottle of wine in a shop on sale for £4 and another on sale for £4.50, both have paid for the bottle tax, the label, the branding, the shipping, the staff costs and the profit for the supermarket and various other things that I probably could never dream of therefore the only variable is the actual cost of the wine in the bottle. Let’s say the cost of the wine in the £4 bottle would work out at 50p whilst the £4.50 bottle would work out at £1 therefore for just an extra 50 pence you’re actually doubling the value of the content so in most cases you will have a wine that’s of a higher quality. Just think of the difference if you paid £7 for the bottle.

However, as with everything, the great thing about wine is there is no right or wrong, just your personal opinion and taste and that’s what really matters. Next time you find a wine you like, take a note of the grape variety, the country and area of origin………….France is quite a big place, so note down the appellation and of course be bold, try some new wines if you’re worried about opening the whole bottle and not liking it then try some different wines that we sell by the glass and ask our opinion, we all like different things but you will find us unanimous in our desire to match you with a wine you will really enjoy and that complements your choice of meal.

This month we are running our usual prize draw that everyone who comes in to The Tree is free to enter. So keeping with the wine theme the winning prize for October will be a hamper of wine from Boutinot. A great chance to try a few new wines, all carefully selected for your enjoyment.CLICK HERE to find out how to enter.

Feel free to ask questions or comment below
Colette

Fab Recipe for Ragu alla Bolognese

Colette’s Top Tips for August.....

Tomatoes - See our fab recipe for Ragù alla Bolognese below 

I have become rather nostalgic lately of summer in Italy, I think its everyone’s stories of their holidays and what they did that have me remembering the good times we had at this time of year. As most of the produce is local, that means seasonal so you either eat it or find ways of preserving it.

The most memorable is the making of tomato sauce. In Italy, each family buys around 400 kg of very ripe San Marzano tomatoes to make into sauce.

They arrive on a lorry and basically just poured out on the street, where you have a lifetimes worth of buckets where they get stored overnight. 6 am and you're outside washing them and the matriarch of the family, or my mother-in-law, has a wood fire going with a giant trivet and pot of water. The tomatoes then get boiled for around 2/3 minutes to slacken the skins, and then put into colanders. My job, or usually the youngest family member, was to prick each tomato about 3 times for the water to drain away. Can you tell that being a foreigner I wasn't allowed to anything more skilled! Then they go through a type of blender which separates the pulp, the skins and the seeds. The pulp is then bottled and sealed. Some at this time get left plain; others have herbs and seasonings added. By this time it’s about 5 pm and you're aching all over. They are then placed gingerly in a drum which is filled with water and placed over a fire until boiling. The bottles are left to cool overnight and then stored for the family’s enjoyment over the course of the year. It was such a long hard day, but the enjoyment of eating fresh tomato sauce in the midst of winter made it all worth while. The next best thing is the conversations about yield, bottles, how many bottles broke etc. Keeping up with the Jones in Gamberale is just so different

Here is a lovely recipe for a pasta sauce, using Passata. Don’t worry you’re allowed to cheat and buy the Passata (tomato sauce)  from the supermarket 

  

Ragù alla Bolognese 

Makes enough for 8

• 2kg minced beef,
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage,
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste/puree
• 1 litre tomato passata
• salt and pepper
• crushed garlic 2 tea spoons

To serve: 

• pasta, preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta
• freshly grated pecorino or parmesan cheese

Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than ‘boil’ when it goes into the pan.

Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and the crushed garlic , and sweat over a high heat for 5—8 minutes without allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).

Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables, making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan. Leave for about 5—6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein and liquid and it will ‘boil’ rather than sear). Take care, though, that the vegetables don’t burn — add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop this happening.

Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10—12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, you should be ready to add the wine.

Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time.

Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1-2 hours, adding a little extra water if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce. Season to taste

When you are ready to serve the ragù, put it back into a pan and heat through. Cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragù and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan

Seasonal Produce

Colette's Top Tips for June....

Lately we seem to be getting inundated with advice from top chefs to eat seasonal produce. This is a great way to get maximum flavour for minimum price in terms of abundance, however how do we know what’s good to eat when shops have very conceivable type of food all year round.

This is when old wives tales really do come into their own, not that I remember very many, just the one about not eating mussels when there is no R in the month so guess what……………its June and we are not serving mussels. However we have Asparagus which is in the height of its British growing season. I personally adore it and it can be quite versatile in ways that generally are not put on menus.

One of my favourite dishes is Spaghetti Carbonara but why don’t you try making it substituting Asparagus instead of the bacon…………….delightful, even for a meat eater such as myself

Carbonara is so deliciously creamy that sometimes it becomes quite an achievement to find a wine that you can enjoy whilst eating it. I know that oaked Chardonnay’s have fallen out of favour lately but there can be only a few other wines which can accompany such a heavy dish. One of my favourites from the list is quite an unusual wine, being a Pinot Grigio from South Australia. It has a fantastic mouth filling creamy quality and is unoaked. However the label would have you believe that it’s dry and minerally……………..on which sliding scale did they measure it on.

You all know how much I love wine, I’m sure I’ve told you countless times but its all about your own tastes and preferences, however we do spend a long time trying out the wines we list (ok repeatedly) to find some lesser known jewels for you to appreciate. Next time ask a member of staff to recommend something new, you never know it might turn out to be your new favourite too

LTH meets SATC

Hello again

Hope you've had a great week. Its been a pretty busy week for us and as per usual the days have flown by. I'm so glad the days are getting longer buts what's happened to the weather, I've been freezing for the last couple of days.I'm sure that's just the excuse I need to book myself a holiday on a palm fringed beach somewhere hot, where I can watch the world go by whilst sipping a Margherita. I can picture myself now..........ahhhhhh. That's nice mmmmmmmmmm

However, back to reality, we're here in sunny Wales and I'm supposed to be writing about my week not dreaming about the future

However, I never thought I would say this but I am concerned about the world cup because according to every mailshot from my drinks suppliers and e-mail from random suppliers that I've never heard of, I need to get prepared NOW. Have I got my England Pack.................mmmm my postcode says Wales, who unfortunatley aren't competing, my passport says Scottish (no not really) lets move on and my hubby is ITALIAN and as he says at least 5 times a week when the conversation crops up..............we are the World Champions and in the next breath where is my World Cup that was behind the bar...................oops it kinda went into a box in the garage never to be seen again, but he has another 4 back ups in the office!!! I need a game plan to get rid of them too but please don't tell him. So now the question remains..................am I organised.............NO, will Scotland ever win the trophy...............NO unless it's in some parallel universe and do I care if England win..........NO sorry. I'm more interested in the WAGs but as Vicky and Cheryl will  not be there, I think we can bet its going to be a bit boring.So if we can't talk handbags and shoes how can we make it more interesting?

I think we should think of a girlie cocktail drinking competition to do with the world cup along the lines of SATC. We should get glammed up and have a Cosmo every time England score................nope that means we don't really get to drink anything. Let me think every corner and we would be hospitalised, every penalty, we would be bored, every time a footballer pulled off his top........................nice. Yep that could be a plan but that would mean we would have to watch it too. Noooooooooo life is too short. So girls if we want to survive the summer I think we should put our heads together and come up with a plan. Hair and make up, high heels and glitzy top, meal and a few cocktails at The Tree with our friends, a visit to the cinema to watch SATC2 and an eye full of Ronaldo when he pulls his top off.......Maybe that can be the prize draw for June..........now how do I get in touch with Ronaldo???

Twitter, Tweets and Twits

Hi again, sorry I had a week off and didn't blog as I had promised but its been so busy. I am so pleased everyone loves the new restaurant but sometimes its just too hard to pull myself away from the customers and focus on the boring bits that never get seen. Then again I am a master of procrastination. There is always something else that's just a bit easier to do, like updating my status on Twitter. Can you believe that I now prefer Twitter to Facebook. Nope I never thought that would happen either. It took me such a long time to get to grips with it but now I realised that I've accepted to host a Tweetup...............trust me to get myself into trouble in the virtual world. Must mean I'm a twit ??!!

Another way that I manage to distract myself  is thinking about what to write in this blog. Usually accompanied by a panic attack and that I really have nothing new to share with you. Therefore I thought I would do some research..............no not my usual type like making myself a fab cocktail to tell you how great it is, although Jam Donut is really everyone's favourite. This time I meant to do proper research and read other hotel blogs to give me some tips and inside scoops. I was so bored after only 5 minutes of reading about the 100 top tips to use social media as a marketing tool...............yawn. I wanted a Hotel Babylon type blog and never found it. Maybe I have cornered that market as I try to think what i would like to hear if I were you??? Am I making any kind of sense today?

Well, I went back and re-read the blogs I had already posted, and I must admit I thought they were quite funny and entertaining, even if I do say so myself! But I have already told you loads, what else is there??? Panic struck, oh dear was I going to fall into the boring trap too?? Probably yes. So I made a mental list of the most asked questions from customers and maybe I could answer them but they change all the time. This week it's "who are the new managers"?? SORRY STILL US....................next is usually how Carmine and I met, but as that's a full page on the website, and I'm sure you have all visited About us on our website to read all about it, then I can't do that, next is why we don't still live in Italy.....................that would take tooo long so again we're back to the usual, food, wine, decor etc

So I've decided to tell you a little behind the choices of the decor. We wanted to have a little bit of our personality in the decor which is why we choose the pictures of Venice in the bar. You did know we lived there just after we got married although believe me its just like living anywhere else when you have to get up and go to work every morning. The one thing that sets it apart is the transport. Did you ever notice there are no pictures of Gondolas? I'm sure most think it's because it's too touristy or naff when the actual truth is I'm terrified of them. I HATE GONDOLA'S  If you don't already know there are only 4 bridges that span the Grand Canal, one of them only being a few years old, so 3 in my day, and if you want to get from A to B without deviating too far to the nearest bridge then the Venetians have an interesting transport mode. Gondola crossings that only go from one side of the canal to the other, so one day after I had been asking to get the romantic gondola tour Carmine, ever the rational and practical one,  said we should hop in one of these taxis, not that the fact it cost 1000 lire or 30p instead 15p had any bearing on the decision, but you know what he's like about spending money??

So anyway, we were helped into the gondola and that is where all my problems began. I was terrified,  there are no seats therefore you have to stand in this tiny vessel, whilst one poor bloke rows you to the other side I was convinced we would fall into the slimy oily water, we would get ploughed into by a faster boat. The other passengers thought I was a  nut case as I was crying, screaming and hyperventilating all at the same time, not one of my more elegant performances, thank heavens there was a lovely old granny that held my hands and calmed me down. After that I never once complained about walking or crossing bridges.

The are loads of great Venice tales, like when we cooked for Robert Redford, swoon.................
but mostly I remember celebrating my birthday in St Marks square, the feast of San Marco, 25th April when girls receive a single long stemmed red rose, my first ever from Carmine.................there had been a Valentine incident involving red tulips and this was to make amends! Poor Carmine has never lived that one down, who said all Italians were romantic and well dressed obviously has never met him, but then again, maybe all his talents lie in the kitchen!

Will look out for funny stories for the next blog

Colette

The Lemon Tree Website

Bella Italia

Hey there, what a beautiful day The sun is shining and finally I am having a well deserved day off. Well realistically I've been to work for just an hour so it's really just like a full day off for me. I was told recently that my job must be fantastic, just pottering about the restaurant, chatting to customers and propping up the bar !! Maybe its a compliment that I make it look so easy, at least that what Cary reckons. Instead of writing a confessions book maybe it should be a self help book with chapters on how to survive a 70 hour week,how to calm down an irate Italian Chef,  how not to eat all the muffins...............although so far I havent actually managed that yet!! How to taste 50 wines and not get drunk.............nope not managed that either. Ok so my alternative career path of becoming someone creative doesn't look feasible. Think I will just stick with running the hotel for now.

I am constantly amazed that alot of people don't know we're also a hotel being that we're called The Lemon Tree Italian Restaurant Bar and Hotel, well we're also asked if we're a Chinese about the same amount of times as we're asked if we deliver pizzas so maybe I really shouldn't be surprised

It was so much fun at the weekend as we had most of the customers going upstairs to see our bedrooms which have been re-decorated at the same time as the restaurant.I very rarley talk about the accomodation part of the hotel in my blog for some reason, I think it's because its easier to chat about food and wine but sometimes the best customer stories come form the hotel part. By no means can we compare ourselves to Hotel Babylon................honestly we have never poisoned a football team or anything but a few of the saucier episodes brought back some memories but maybe I shouldn't really share these with you just yet?? Lets just say that the lost property department can be a source of constant amusement.

Now we've been open a few weeks, the restaurant has been going well, we are now really starting to get busy which is just great and the accomodation bookings for the hotel part are really looking up too. We've managed to regain a few of our regulars . Some of the girls checked in today for the first time since we have been re-open and they were sooooooooo enthusiastic, I mean over the top enthusiastic rushing about into each others bedrooms to see what it was like and positively screaming with excitement.  I had thought this was slightly over the top until they started to spill the beans about the other bed and breakfast places they had stayed whilst we were closed. Not impressed that some places don't offer a choice of white or brown toast?? Can you imagine how excited they'll be in the morning when we give them fresh homemade muffins. I mean hotel breakfasts can sometimes be the downfall of a good overnight stay, now that we are also trying to encourage people to come to us for breakfast we are trying to pull out all the stops possible. Its just a pity I only focus on the unhealthy options, don't think I'll ever go mad over the choice of yoghurt, fruit salad and muesli. Bring on bacon sarnies, croissants and muffins :) I'm just about as obsessed with these muffins as I am with the "Twilight" series. I have to have an Edward moment every day. Its great when Carmine calls me "bella" which means beautiful in Italian.............okay so its not very often but I imagine its Edward and I swoon just a little bit more than usual, Have you checked out the photo of me making puppy dog eyes at him yet on the website. Yeuch, do I do thast often?? Maybe he was calling me "bella"................


Ciao Ciao

Colette

Its not all about winning, its the taking part that counts!

Domesticity reigns in my house tonight................yep I've been left to cook . How rubbish is that, Carmine has been so busy in the garden tidying it up in the hope of sunny weather and I'm left to organise dinner. Well I'm trying to recreate one of the dishes from the menu for the simple reason we didn't go shopping and the freezer at home is dismally stocked. We will be having Tagliatelle with a sausage and tomato sauce, minus the olives and Pecorino as De Pasquale Mansions doesn't run to exotic ingrediants. I really wish Carmine's secrets page was up and running on the website then I would have a better idea if I was doing it properly. Oh well, he always knows that I won't cook again if he moans too much. Vindictive or what??  Oh for those who don't know my house here is called "De Pasquale Mansions" and the one in Italy is "De Pasquale Heights" I forget why Liz named them that but its stuck and its what we call home,

Getting back to my cooking abilities, well I'm not that bad, nowhere near as good as Carmine obviously but If it's just one meal then I usually can cope fairly well, unless I'm left to do breakfast. That's where it gets dicey and the one day of the week we see how well the smoke alarm works. We had a bit of a competition going at work some time ago as one night I cooked Risotto for the staff and they said it was better than Carmine's ! Flattering but a sure fire way never to be fed again Then with her competitive spirit, Emma challenged Clare...........you would get the impression we had nothing to do?

Talking of Risotto, it has been fun to have a different flavour every day, so far we have had, mushroom, chicken and mushroom, mediterranean vegetables, seafood, squid ink and my favourite so far, Chicken and Asparagus.I'm sure that we'll probably have a competition to see what absurd creation we can convince Carmine to put on the menu. We do that sometimes, create a competiton for the restaurant staff just to give us a bit more of an incentive, not that we get bored or have an amzingly short attention span, but sometimes its just nice to do something a wee bit different. Usually the winner has early signout, a glass of wine or the likes. Just now I think the best prize would be a bottle of the Redorvelik Cider. Its got a hint of Strawberry and a twist of Lime through it. Now I don't particularly like Cider but this is amazing. Quite far up the list of staff favourites along with the chocolate beer I was telling you about last week. We really do have some amazing new products and Cary was telling me that she stumbled across the website for our designer champagne and seemingly this guy designs clothes too that are worn by Beyonce, Madonna, Paris Hilton and David Beckham. Ha, does that mean I'm finally cool, hip or trendy..........using those words possibly not. What is the word of the moment?? Ooh before I forget he's called Cristian Audigier and one of his designs is Ed Hardy............my thoughts exactly...........WHO?? anyway in keeping with our staff theme, we have a competition on the new website to win a fantastic bottle of his Rose Champagne. Just visit               http://www.lth-wrexham.com/ and pop in your details  and soon my blog will move there too although I will still post it here too as I know you would miss me if I disappeared. Actually, I'm still amazed how many people read it although on Saturday someone had visited the website and asked if I would be beginning the blog sometime soon. Guess she's not a facebook or twitter fan?? and here was me thinking I had finally become famous...............guess we'll have to wait a very long time before we have Champagne Colette, still it never hurts to dream

See you soon

Colette

Carmine says "A muffin a day is not the way to fit into a bar stool"

Well we did it, we're finally re-open. It has been great to be back at work and see so many of our customers and enjoy their look of joy as they saw the transformations for the first time. I thought my sister was in the room the amount of times I heard someone use her favourite word.............Stunning. No not me, the decor, or maybe the staff in their new uniforms?

 It was a hit with everyone and all my good luck cards and flowers brought a tear to my eye. Especially the hand made one from Joan and Raymond, I was so touched that people took the time to make us feel special when really thats my job. It was so good to be back doing what I do best, chatting to people,I'm amazed that I still have a voice after our 3 fabulous pre-view evenings although I did manage to get in a lot of practice when Cary came round for our marketing meetings. It makes it sound so professional doesn't it. Really it was the 2 of us having a good old chinwag over a dozen cups of tea and then trying out some of Carmine's cooking!

As the Americans would say, he and the kitchen team were really "awesome" last weekend. The food came out looking and tasting fantastic and they worked really hard to make it all appear quickly and correctly, so hard infact that they were so tired they bailed out of coming into work and we were left to come for 7am on Sunday morning. I don't think I've ever been in the restaurant at that time, it was a surreal experience. By the time Sunday evening came along the staff wanted to hospitalize me as i was drinking COFFEE. A phenomena never seen in 7 years of living in Wrexham

As you know Sunday was our "Official" re-opening day and we had quite a few people come in at various times during the day, so thank you for your support. A few of them tried the waffles at brunch and they looked amazing but as I had already tried them at least twice in every conceivable combination I wasn't tempted to steal them and run away..........I had vowed after the taste tests and easter eggs that I would never again eat anything sweet..............EVER, until Carmine decided to have a muffin making day, so yesterday we had choc chip, apple, sultana and cappuccino flavours, then today we HAD to try white choc chip, mixed apple and sultana and a savoury version with sun dried tomato and basil. I really didn't want to hurt his feelings so I dutifully ate a piece of each and then I had a sneaky one later with a cup of tea. Bliss. Well it will be a different story if I'm no longer able to fit into the bar stools,the staff know which one's I'm talking about!!!!

As the last week has been a bit of a whirlwind, it was great that Eleri managed to bring round the photo's today. They're fantastic and I managed to see everything that I had missed on Thursday night. I actually got to see what had gone on in the kitchen as I never made it down there till about 8.30. actually if truth be told I've hardly been in there at all as the staff tell me I'm interfering and to stop confusing them. I wish they had told me this earlier as with only 5 out of 270 photo's being of me, one of them is me being the "waitress". Do you think it's because I'm not photogenic or because Paddy loved to hang out in the kitchen with the hope he would get some extra samples of the food?? Oh okay, I never claimed to be Claudia Schiffer but if I had my choice, my first place to habg out would be the bar and not the kitchen. Can you imagine what the humidity would do to my hair? Well maybe that would be an improvement on the time I got squid stuck in it when we lived in Venice...............yeuch

On a more serious vein, as most of you know, on the web site we had a competition for a VIP table of 4 at our re-launch and this was won by Alison Ashbrooke who came with her partner and friends. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves and even tried our Chocolate beer with their desserts. Scrummy. I was going to post some photos of them but as they were dancing on the tables at the time.....................kidding. I do hope though that they are busy telling everyone how wonderful it all was, or at least the parts they remember.

Before I go I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog for the past 10 weeks whilst we've been closed and that you continue to do so as many of you have asked that I keep it going. Infact many of you seem to be able to recall parts of it virtually verbatim which is very worrying but also very gratifying. Some others have decided that I have enough spare time in which to write a book..............are you mad?? It takes so much time to write 4 paragraphs but maybe if I get to 1000 blogs "Confessions of a Restauranteur" will be next. Just remember don't say or do anything too silly or you might find you're the topic for next weeks blog. Take a leaf from Warren, Alistair and Garry's book, when Carmine is cooking your meal and wielding a knife, promise to support AC Milan, whatever the occasion


Hope you all pop in soon

Colette

I do, I do, I do dum de de dum

 I feel as though this is my last night as a single something as next week will be all about the re-opening. It feels as though I'm planning a wedding and moving house all at the same time. I've got the photographer booked, the flowers ordered the decorating is finished but I don't have a fancy new frock or a sparklie ring, and most definatley not a honeymoon booked in the sychelles although just now a week in the Priory would be more beneficial.

I have taken to drinking incessant cups of tea to calm my nerves, usually its just because I'm such a tea jenny although to be truthful now the builders have left its not quite so good as they've taken their Yorkshire teabags away with them. The staff are so fed up with my usual cry of "Who's  making tea" I can't say who makes the best as I would get killed, but they all do an amazing job.

We all went out to dinnerwith the builders  last week to say thank you for all their hard work , we took the plumbers too, so they wouldn't feel left out! It was such a good night and my last night of freedom for a while anyway. We hit the high spots of Wrexham, some bar down a back alley with Karaoke..................now my singing skills have never been much to write home about, I'm never going to be on X-factor, its my ability to know the lyrics perfectly, well at least the ones I make up in my head. Even after 3 years the staff still laugh at my rendition of the Katy Perry tune with cherry chopsticks??!!
Needless to say I decided to wear to my glasses to see the screen just to be on the safe side!

Today for the first time in ages we finally got some amazing food, as the staff say..................this isn't just any restaurant food....................this is Carmine food!! mmmmmmmmm
We had a run through of all the new dishes on the menu so we could advise all the customers which dish they should try. Well it really depends on who you ask but one of the most enjoyed was the Lobster ravioli in a creamy tomato sauce with prawns and scallops, which would go beautifully with the Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand we tried on Tuesday. As I was saying earlier, I have such a stressful job.

I really hope you will all try to pop in over the Easter weekend to see what we've done with the place and you love it just as much as we do

In the meantime I will leave you with a toast from the "best man"

It is the end of one chapter of life and the beginning of everything else.........

So wish us luck
Colette
xxx

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending

Am I pleased that we've got to the ending part!  I'm so frazzled, now that we're almost complete things are really beginning to change every day, infact every time I walk through the front door there has been that little bit more progress made. Thankfully we're going towards the good weather so the fact the heating still isn't finished isn't making me hyperventilate!




We have had a few difficult days, last week disaster struck. The menus went to the printers and they were all wrong, they wouldn't print the way we envisaged then so we virtually had to start again with the colours and the design. Well, e-mails were flying, tempers were rising and I was literally tearing my hair out, now that everything is resolved, and it all looks much better then before. Light and airy and fresh. Just like me tomorrow after I go to the hairdressers to repair the ravages. Pity she can't do my face at the same time.



Thank heavens for Cary, she swooped in to save the day and got everyone back on track. I'm sure I've seen her out and about in her wonder woman outfit or was that my imagination running riot after a mad conversation?? Must ask, maybe we can get her to post a photo with pants on over her trousers!



I'm feeling a bit strange tonight writing the blog as I've discovered there's more people that read it than I first thought. So many people have said something about what I've written and the builders have assured me that they were infact suffering from a tropical disease caught in Blackpool rather than the man flu that I reported last week. I stand corrected and I do apologise. Can you tell they read the blog too now and give me grief? I’ll miss them when they've gone, we're taking them out tomorrow for a farewell dinner which should be fun and not so dangerous as they finish work on Friday then I'm left alone to make sense of it all. I hope I get a manual on how to do simple things like turn on the lights.



Well opening day is coming ever closer and although I know it'll all go ok, I'm now worrying about silly things and this has been contagious Poor Liz is having nightmares about not having enough tables for all the customers.............mmm this is my daydream. Lots and lots of people coming to see what we've done and loving it too. So I hope you'll all be forming an orderly queue outside us on Easter Sunday for when we re-open. We'll be serving our very first brunch so If you love waffles, pancakes and breakfast in general then we're the place to be, can you imagine Italian coffee, continental surroundings, Michael Buble playing on the I-pod and the Sunday papers.................who needs to do the weekly shop anyway

Chandeliers and Big Ears

It’s that time of week again when I get to tell you all about what’s happening at work and home and know that I haven't told you it all before.....I hope. The staff are fed up of me repeating myself but I honestly can't remember who I tell what. As long as they all turn up for opening day then its all okay. Oh yeah, I should tell you too. It’s Easter Sunday the 4th April. How exciting is that. Finally we're almost there, I can't wait.




The interior is really amazing, we have this Chandelier above the staircase that is simply stunning, it has Swarovski type crystals on it and falls in a spiral. Just now its a bit too long so when they clip off the excess I think I might just make a bracelet for myself but I don't know what to do about the bulbs..............might need to rethink that one



I don't want to tell you too much about the interior and spoil the surprise but I think you'll hardly recognize the place You will hardly recognize the staff either when you see them, we eventually managed to choose a uniform and I must admit they will all look fantastic and very chic, which immediately makes me think that I too need a makeover...........mmm Carmine can I just borrow your credit card please



I think everyone is now feeling the strain of the project, even the builders were poorly this week...........with a virulent strain of Man Flu. I went in on Tuesday to see them all looking very dejected and sorry for themselves. So being very caring, I went to the portacabin to make them a cup of tea, normally I just drink tea, I never make it. That’s what staff and husbands are for isn't it. Also I hadn't realised I had to wash all the cups first, not that I would have retracted the offer if I had realised, anyway I'm sure they were just playing on it for sympathy because as soon as the young lady that I was meeting had arrived they all became rather chatty and perky, Then sat there blatantly eavesdropping on the conversation! Honestly I've rarely seen such an immediate transformation.



Tomorrow, I have quite a nice day planned. Meeting the florist at site, then meeting the staff for lunch, some interviews for new part timers , then having a tutorial on how to work an i-pod and download music in-between all of the usual e-mails and telephone calls. Speaking of that, the phone will be turned back on next week so you're free to call and reserve a table. Now I bet you're glad you read the blog



Have a great week and who's making the tea??



Colette

Decorative Grasses and Pint Glasses

Well Spring has finally sprung and with the majority of work inside the Lemon Tree almost complete our attentions were focused on the flower bed at the front. Now I am notorious for killing plants so the actual thought of Gardening brings me out in a rash........well maybe that's just  the sensible shoes I have to wear whilst actually doing anything, so with keen gardeners in the meeting, my feeble pleas of false nails and high heels fell on deaf ears oh ............and being the only female maybe had something to do with it.
Anyway, my favourite suggestion of the day was astro turf but sadly to say I was overruled so now frantically searching for dear little old men that want paid in beer.............and unfortunately Google has let me down




On the brighter side I met the terribly glamorous sales rep for our beer products and she had brought me some presents. Beer, beer and what was it again, oh yeah the pint glasses..............we are having crystal pint glasses, can you believe it. They are so amazing, so get in quick before the staff have broken them all!! Maybe I should have opted for the plastic ones!



The builders have been amazing so far and really nice when we go to visit them on site, Steve the foreman is ace at making tea, not that I judge people on that skill alone, really........ So in the spirit of being hospitable, I decided to use them as guinea pigs, although in a caring and sharing way, just incase any of them ever read this!



We have been looking at expanding our repertoire and changing a little bit of who we were to promote a chilled out and relaxed atmosphere by offering more of a continental style coffee shop during the day and weekends where you can come for a late breakfast or coffee and cake to read the papers, so I made muffins and as I was very overenthusiastic with the doses, I ended up with 36, I took them to the meeting with me. Well they obviously enjoyed the more traditional of banoffee or the one with forest fruits but my more unusual almond and marzipan offering was looked at a bit askew. Maybe I should have stuck to white choc chip. I also made Caerphilly, sundried tomato and spinach one..............yum. I'm trying to convince Carmine that they have to go on the menu and so far I'm winning, I think...............maybe



There are now so many little things to co-ordinate that its becoming a teeny bit complicated to keep a grip on it all, I have now taken to dreaming about it so much that I forget what I've done and what I've dreamt so I might try and write the blog again tomorrow. I wonder if it would be better then too, although I now have a little fan base that look forward to reading my Wednesday night blog.............ok it consists of my sister and niece but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.


I'm glad I get a little encouragement off someone as per usual my gaffes have now taken on epic proportions, the builders were in hysterics when I asked " Why Can't you just give me an extra 10 inches" I meant the desktop, can't think for the life of me what they thought I meant..

On that note I'd best go before I get into any more trouble
 
 
 
Talk to you all soon
 
Colette xxx

Happy Smiles and Dirty Sexy tiles

As Plato said "Wise men talk because they have something to say


Fools talk because they have to say something"



Mmmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder which category I fall into??



Well, to be truthful I'm rather terrified of writing my blog this evening as there are going to be so many more people reading it now as we sent out our first newsletter to keep all our customers up to date and gave them the link to read the blog.............dear God why oh why did I agree to this?? We also put it on the front page of the new website where you can check out the logo and some photos, and a competition to win a table for the re-launch party...........now that's not to be missed!



Anyway, seriously I cannot believe how close we are now to Easter and our proposed date for re-opening. Yikes, whilst the builders continue at a great rate I seem to be languishing behind and getting no-where with all the things that need to be done. I thought it would be great fun to have 3 months off work...........yeah right. I have been learning so many new things it's scary and yet very empowering too. However tomorrow, and thank god I really am busy I was invited to a seminar on Web site analytics.....................yawn! What does this have to do with running a restaurant and hotel? Well seemingly quite a lot and I would tell you, honest, but I don't think I was paying attention that day!!



You may remember that , last week I was meeting up with the staff for the first time since we closed and it was really nice to see them again, although we were to discuss all the important things like uniforms, tag lines and training schedules, they started to misbehave , and quiz me on what was going on at the hotel. As per usual no-one could make a decision on what not to wear so I have more or less decided for them. I'm supposed to be their manager, not their mother!!!



Today we met up with the bric brac specialists ................yes there are companies that only provide this service. Mad, I know, actually they were two lovely young men and that at least managed to put a huge smile on my face as most of the builders leave the sexy out of the title. More on the tiling later. As I was saying the two lovely young men that I now forget their names, well I was a little bit flustered when I was introduced, have some great ideas but I will keep it a secret for now as you need to have some surprises for when we re-open!



Also met with the furniture supplier and boy are you just going to love the seats. I'm sure my restaurant booking sheet will have additional information bits like.................want to sit on those seats..........want to be in that coloured room. It is going to be so amazing



As I said earlier, the tiling is coming on really well in the restaurant area and by the end of next week I think they will be more or less finished with all the decorating jobs. Then it just comes down to the finishing touches and the dreaded cleaning..........well that'll be for the staff!



Talking of the staff, they too have been busy........

Carmine has more or less finished the menus, I've done the wine list, Clare has come up with some new cocktails, Liz has kept us all in order and is keeping us going with her home baking and Jokin, Robyn and Emma have been running hither and tither to find out critical information for me. Definitely a team effort and If you're reading this and fancy a career change........... Maybe you want to join our mad cap team, well visit www.lemon-tree.net to find out more





Can't wait to get back to work



Love

Colette xx

Bedazzled, Bejewelled and Bewildered

Hey there, it's that time of week again when I share all the inside news from the building site, the marketing meetings and generally what's going on in our life. Please form an orderly queue to tell me you don't care




Last week we really got excited about new ideas for the menu and this week has been focused on the new logo. I really really like it; well I should as it was my idea...............although I may not admit to it if no-one else likes it. Black, silver and Lemon and these will be the new colours on the web site which is under construction as we speak..........well we hope so as Mick can be slightly unpredictable! He would call it creative. It's going to be such an improvement on the old one, with loads of new features and maybe a cooking tutorial from Carmine. That should be fun, take one egg, add some something bleep, mix with bleep bleep. Maybe we should just revise this strategy??



Anyway, onto the serious things, Work is progressing well, last week there were wires dangling from the ceiling to be replaced by sleek silver recessed lights which will dazzle when they're on. Think we all may need to invest in some sunnies for work and be like Carmine with his ray bans on inside or out whatever the weather!! The wall lamps gleam with little diamante circles that glint daintily................no girls we can’t all have matching earrings too!!! Let’s hope we haven't forgotten the dimmer switches.



There is just so much information and so many things to do that everyone is feeling the strain and a few senior moments have crept in with everyone looking blank and bewildered at certain times during the meeting.................Yes I know that's my permanent facial expression but today for the first time I wasn't to blame. So who did forget to buy the bed for the new room..................oops! I'm sure the new carpets will be comfy



We're meeting up for a coffee and gossip tomorrow with the staff, if they can pull themselves away from facebook and bejewelled blitz to talk about the finer points.............uniforms. Everyone wants something different in colours that may or may not match the sludge green wall in the bar...........it is actually nicer than that, honest. Would I ever tell you lies? I'm sure we will need the diplomacy skills of the united nations to decide on long or short sleeves, never mind the ensuing battle on ties, aprons waistcoats....................the list goes on



See you next week with a report from the front line of fashion fixes...............do you think Gok will help us when he comes to visit



Take care

Love

Colette

Wine, hearts and spare parts

Euripides said "Where there is no wine, there is no love" so he would have adored my Valentine's weekend. It started on Thursday, so a bit earlier than most and took us to Manchester to the annual wine tasting where there are around 400 wines on show. So just to make sure that our wine list has something for everyone I spent a lot of time tasting and tasting and hic..........tasting. It's a hard job but someone has to do it!!
Needless to say Friday was a bit blurry but had some bubbles to make myself feel better.

 Valentines Day came without hearts and flowers from Carmine, whoever said Italians were romantic had obviously never met my other half. I hoped that even though there was a complete lack of commercial romance in my house he might choose to cook something special that he was thinking of putting on the menu and I wasn't disappointed. We had Grilled asparagus, topped with poached egg and Parmesan shavings, Fillet Steak with a creamy sauce that had apples and Truffles through it, and then I had to laugh at dessert...........for me it was Crème Caramel but the Italian version with rum called "Tremarello" which literally translated means wobbly. And at that point I most definatley was: with the starter we had a bottle of Pink Champagne from Lallier and with the main we had a robust Montepulciano D'Abruzzo from Terre del Aligi, which is made by personal friend Adriano Spinelli. It’s fantastic and was the last bottle we had brought back from Italy. I think we'll have to make an SOS call and get him to ship some over pronto.


Monday arrived all too soon with a whole new challenge, we set of to our marketing and Web development meeting in Dudley and although it was very constructive and informational I sat like a spare part when asked some basic questions................hands up who has heard of "Kerning"..............no me neither but seemingly its the space used between letters. Let's hope after that you will all like the new site and colours that we're hard at work developing.



The building works are coming along really well, the reception/work station desk is now in and they have started to construct the bench seating in the new bar area, I'm sure this will be the prefect place to have some after work drinks and will soon become the place to meet up in Wrexham especially as we are developing our Cocktail list..................Sex in the Sea anyone?? Luscious Lemon Fizz Bombs, a Goodnight Kiss or Morning Glory.................thank heaven's we have bedrooms for those incapable of returning home!!



Can't wait for it all to be completed and  will have more design news for my next blog



Love 'n' stuff



Colette
xoxo

Fairy Lights and reality bites

Wednesday has come round again very quickly..............where does the time go? Well I think I lost a whole day on Sunday as I started a novel and literally didn't put it down until I finished it. Yep all 659 pages of romance, business, perfume, trips to Paris and hotel decor.................so I really was doing research again!!!! Pity I didn't have any of that Italian wine to hand.

Armed with all my new found insights I went off to my site meeting today not knowing what they may have been able to accomplish in such a short space of time.........

Firstly we were ushered into our luxuious meeting place aka the portacabin for a brew and a chit chat. Who's done what, timescales and I can't do my job till you've done yours etc, when my attention was sparked by a rather heated discussion on fairy lights. Now bearing in mind, there's me and 6 blokes you would think I would have more to say on the matter, oh no, everyone had an opinion on how many, how twinkly (kidding) and where they should go!!

Soon enough we were allowed into the main building where they had already built my bar, I was just like a kid in a sweet shop and made a fool of myself like usual and pretended to serve beer. You would never imagine I've been doing it for real for over 24 years. Yikes.............Am I really THAT old?????
Anyway, they have been doing a great job and whilst it's still a shell you can see where it's going.

As Mario Testino was unavailable, Carmine took the photo's to let you have a sneaky look at what's been going on and they have been posted on Facebook, so check us out there, become a fan and you never know what surprises we may have in the future

See you all again soon and remember that The Lemon Tree fairies are smiling down on us always

Colette xxx

Sparklie shoes and builders boots

Surprise everyone, I have left the dinosaur age and have set up The Lemon Tree blog page. This is just to keep you all up to date with all the news and give you sneaky previews as they happen.

Well as most of you may know, Carmine and I went to Italy for a well deserved rest after closing down the restaurant in January. He went ski-ing and I sampled lots of differents wines...............all in the name of research you understand. The first few days I had flurries of phone calls and texts and then I eventually managed to relax and left the builders to do their thing!!! Knocking down walls and ripping out carpets.
Today I went on site for the first time and the builders had got me present...............how sweet!! Yep a great big hulking pair of Builder boots and even in the right size. I'm sure they knew my passion for sparklie shoes and killer heels but got me them instead. Plodded around the site but my eyes were like saucers.....It looks AM_AZ_ING and they've not got very far. I forgot the camera(boo), but I'm going back next week so I promise to take loads of photos for you all to see. My favourite room is most definatley going to be the family dining area in where the pot wash used to live. It looks so big with all the walls knocked down and its got 4 beautiful gothic windows letting in loads of light. I hope you will love it as much as me.

On the other fronts, you will now see that The Lemon Tree has a facebook page so I urge you all to become fans and later we will have special offers only for you and also I Tweet or Twit or something?? Yep you can also follow us on Twitter. Cary who is leading our marketing campaign spent 6 hours with me today setting all these fun things up so yes I can now say that I am paid to go on Facebook

Will blog again soon

Colette xoxo