jackal10

They can do it because they have a track record of making money for their investors before, so the perception is that the risk is lower. If you don't have the track record, since this is your first venture, you have to lessen the perceived risk some other way, by, for example, putting up most of the cash yourself, or dressing it as a real-estate deal.

I am an angel, although in the UK and mostly for high tech business, but I've lost money and at best broken even on restaurants. 1. 100K is way too big a parcel. Most angels either take it all, or invest maybe a quarter of that. 2. Talk to people who already handle money - your accountant or your banker. 3. Avoid Angel introduction services and NEVER pay up-front, only success fees 4. Its basically a real-estate deal, with a restaurant keeping it warm. Talk to your real-estate person 5. Who benefits from having a restaurant there? Who really needs one, enough to pay for it? Talk to the local community leaders. 6. You will need to put in enough yourself, maybe half, for it to really hurt if you have to walk away - as they say you need some skin in the game. 7. The other source is people who love your cooking. Maybe start doing private cheffing, and then ask some of your clients. Catering as a side line helps keep the restaurant alive in bad times. 8. Your suppliers might help or know of people. In the UK brewers often fund outlets. 9. There may be small business grants available, for example to provide disabled access. Traditionally funding goes in rounds. In high tech you give roughly 1/3rd of the company away each round. The rounds (and the company) increase in value as the company matures and the risks get less: a. Family friends and fools - maybe a few 100K b. Angels - maybe 1-2M c. Venture capital and other coporate 3-10M d. Stock Market offering. Not at the moment.

I think whoever said get some experience first was right. Maybe go to a cooking school; or do some stages. Best of all work with your prospective investors in some of their other projects, getting to know each other. Its a lot cheaper way of finding out if you like or don't like the life. If you are running a restaurant you neither eat well or have time for a social life. Many restaurants are family affairs for good reason: cheap labour and sunk capital cost. If you are not born to the trade, or have worked your way up through it, it is tough. If what you know about is food, then be a food critic instead. You eat better, and it is a lot easier life.

We drank 2000 Paradise Ranch Okanagan Merlot Icewine yesterday. www.icewine.com Very good it was too. Enough acidity to avoid being cloying, like some are. Being Merlot it was pinkish, but not at all like port. Very fruity - berries It stood up remarkably well to the molten chocalte fondant, but would have been even greater with a fruit based desert. Nice with the Stilton that followed.

My Birthday. Duck four ways (Atkins friendly) Duck pate (foie gras, duck, shallots) rolled in savoy cabbage leaves Champagne Consomme Viveur (upmarket Borscht - duck, beetroot, celery, with parsley and onion quenelles) Leg and thighs boned and stuffed served on wilted salad with confit tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelised apple slices, aged balsamic 1996 Nuit St George, Bernard Ambroise, Cuvee Veille Vignes Duck breast roasted, with Rumtopf fruits jelly, roasted cauliflower, sprouts, carrots, onion cream Lemon Syllabub Molten Chocolate Fondant, Mocha cream anglais 2000 Paradise Ranch Okanagan Merlot Icewine Cheese Coffee etc I've taken lots of photos etc but *@!* image gullet won't now let me upload them, saying I have too many....help!

Sorry, but according to some that is non-kosher (Hashek h'goy?), since some hold that imitation food has to be treated as the original, otherwise it might deceive people into thinking that the original can be eaten. Thus imitation bacon can never be kosher.

Very few restaurants make money. Its capital intensive, labour intensive, top-end limited, slim margins and fickle. The cash comes from the add-ons: catering, books, maybe TV appearances, and increase in property value. Doing it in rental property is making a tough deal even tougher. Also trade doesn't start on day one. It takes time for reputation to spread, and to get into the food guides. You maybe need to figure a couple of years of losses into the equation, or spend a lot on marketing.

Its a much older tradition than that - pre christian. Links to Saturnalia In some the king was king for a day, and then ritually executed...

Good Grips Y peeler https://www.oxo.com/catalog/index.asp?getcategory=00001070

There is a one on ebay for $1500, which is about right for a second hand one. Even allowing for shipping and installation, its not that much. Being mostly cast iron there is little to go wrong. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=20712

There is a whole culinary tradition of sweet things to serve with cofee, such as Petit four or Friandise. In some traditions spoons of sweet jam or preserves are served ...and of course a good cigar. You forgo these pleasures if you have coffeee throughout the meal. That said I usually have (except when eating formally) a large mug of coffee (iced in hot weather) on the go. I drink maybe half a gallon a day, and its a favourite beverage when in the heat of the kitchen.

get an AGA!!

As I said on the UK mad cow thread, its not the cows that are mad, but the government...

I use a food processor all the time for small batches. I don't bother with the plastic blade. I think the regular steel does a better job. Use a slack (soft) dough - 70% hydration Pulse only for 20 sec. Leave for 30 minutes. Add the salt, pulse for another 20 secs Its primarily time and hydration, rather than agitation that develops the gluten I don't find water temperature affects things much. Standard recipe for a food processor is 3 cups flour, 1.5 cups sponge (half water, half flour by volume+ sourdough), 1.5 cups water. Everything a room temperature, and providing extremes are avoided the water temperature doesn't seem to make much difference. Being lazy, I often leave it in the food processor bowl for 4 hours (sourdough) for the bulk fermentation, otherwise tip into an oiled basin and keep at 85F. Fold the dough every hour during bulk fermentation; shape into bannetons, retard overnight in the fridge.

Its clearly possible to have strong beliefs and be interested, even obsessed, with food. One can argue that the some of the difficulties make people more aware of what they are eating, and its place in the cosmos. However some belief systems (Kashrut, Atkins for example) preclude certain experiences, and while emphasising others. They can increase the elements of ritual associated with food, and have complex interactions with both guilt and pleasure (and guilty pleasures).

Ice wine is made from frozen grapes, which concentrates the juice. Doesn't mean that it needs to be served frozen. Personally I think it would be lovely with Foie Gras, slightly chilled, and also made into an aspic.

http://www.skylighter.com/mall/sparklers.asp Ohh, not that sort... You can get some bargains from small producers. We currently use Gallimard Pere et Fils Cuvee de Reserve NV (Gold Medal winner at International Wine Challenge 2000) for the house, and very nice it is too. We drank lots over the holidays, and at GBP 12.60 (say $20) a bottle there is no need to feel too guilty.

Ah, happy days! There are tales that could be (but won't) be told... The Kite was an interesting area of low-rent and ethnic shops, bulldozed for the monstrosity of the Grafton shopping centre, as if Cambridge needed another identikit shopping mall. Waffles (started by Patrick and Virginia de la Charite was the place for Sunday breakfast - two poached eggs on a wholeweat waffle. They migrated to Castle Hill, but it was not the same. They ran a Morroccan restaurant upstairs for a while. Its now another Indian restaurant. 22 was started by Ethel Minouge (who had also started the Costume History Shop) and Paul Lawrenson. She ran (and I believe still does) various Irish pubs in Islington. If anyone sees her say Hi from me. David Carter, the current proprietor, used to teach catering at the local FE college. His predecessors, the Sharpes have Sycamore House in Little Shelford.

Go ethnic: Chinese: The Peking in Burleigh St. I believe they have also recently taken over the Tai Yuen in St John St in the city centre. Otherwise Thai, Vietnamese, or Indian. All fairly standard. Loch Fyne is, well, Loch Fyne seafood, opposite the Fitzwilliam museum. Also near there is Browns, adequate but hard to hear yourself. Three Horseshoes is excellent, and I've heard good reports of the revamped Tickell Arms, but service is variable, although not as rude as it famously was under Squire Tickell ("No trainers, tee shirts, earings or long haired lefties") How long are you in Cambridge for? Maybe we can eat together?

Could your caviar have been keta (salmon roe) dyed black?

Welcome! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your environment? Where are you? What is a typical day?

Cheapish interesting eats: Wagamama (soup noodles) New World in Gerard Place (dim sum) Fish and chips (various) Bel Phuri house in Drummond St (veggie) New Tayyabs Some of the catering colleges run cheap restaurants Breakfasts at a greasy spoon

This is so good! Happy New Year!!

Thanks! Was the pork belly pre-cooked? If not I'm amazed it would be tender in only 20 minutes cooking. I braise mine for hours...

That simmered pork belly dish look delicious. How long did you cook it? Can you give us an outline of the recipe? Thanks!