Buying a B&B

[fifi]

I have stayed in B&Bs where they printed up pamphlets or recipe cards for some of the specialities they served. They are some of my favorite "souveniers". I especially like the ones that include some story regarding the origin of the recipe that reflects the personality of the host. Cookbooks are nice, but these are so much more personal.

BTW... I know that those have been responsible for several referral guests because I share them with friends that are planning to travel to the region. That might be something to think about. These days, it is easy enough to include pictures of the dish, the view, the "inn" or something to evoke fond memories.

[gsquared]

Great idea, Fifi. Thanks!

[gsquared]

Sorry for the delay in posting. I fear that I succumbed to the ailment of the lotus eaters. Lazy, hazy days, walking the dogs on the beach and somehow tempus has simply fugited. In any event, here is the next instalment.

We arrived at Mes Amis on a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine, to find the place in an uproar and the current owners in a complete tizz. Boxes everywhere. People running hither and thither. Furniture being loaded. We wandered around, rather bemused by the hubbub. Eventually they left, leaving us to await the arrival of our stuff the next day. Early the next morning our furniture arrived, followed in quick succession by the flooring people, the new linen, the new crockery and cutlery, Garrick the garden man, the new patio furniture, the equipment for the laundry, people to install the new fireplace in the guest lounge and four guests. We apologised profusely for the state of the house and decided to accommodate them free of charge. The furniture could not be placed inside as the flooring people had to clean the terracotta floors preparatory to sealing it. When they were done, we still could not unpack, as they were due to return the next day to apply the sealing coat and everything would have to be carried outside again. I had cunningly packed a bottle of bubbly and some red wine in the car, so at least we could toast our arrival as the sun set on our first day.

The only way to eat a ten ton marshmallow is byte by byte. That is how we tackled the problem of getting our houses in order. The first priority had to be things that affected our ability to receive guests and areas that guests use and can see. After that we would do the behind-the-scenes areas. This strategy worked well. After four days we were set, with only the Artist’s studio left to sort out. Greg the handyman was painting the roof and the outside, and Garrick the garden man was planting and installing irrigation. We could now settle down to attending to important stuff, such as sorting out breakfast. I had intended to take pics of the moving in process, but the exigencies of getting things done put paid to that. You can have a look at the completed product at www.mesamis.co.za.

Breakfast was the first real problem that needed urgent attention. The previous owners provided a breakfast buffet of sorts and it was clear that this would have to change immediately. It simply is not practical to set up a buffet when the number of breakfast covers varies between 2 and 20. The first step therefore was to change to a full service breakfast. I decided to split up breakfast into components and then look at each aspect critically:

Coffee

Fruit juice

Fruit

Bread

Cereals

Cold meat and cheeses

Eggs and associated dishes

Coffee

We found a filter machine with two hot plates in the breakfast kitchen:

It produced 1.5litres of filter coffee in pretty short order. I tested the holding time for filter coffee. When brewed into a glass coffee jar, the coffee could be held on the hot plate for around 20 minutes. We obtained a thermos jar that extended the holding time to about 45 minutes. This was clearly going to be a problem for breakfast that starts at 7am and ends at 10am. The machine could only brew 1.5litres and there was sure to be considerable wastage. There would also be additional wastage relating to keeping an opened pack of filter coffee fresh. I decided to move my Saeco automatic grind/espresso machine into the breakfast kitchen.

This had the obvious disadvantage of it taking longer to serve coffee, but I felt that the advantage of serving a really good cup was more important. We would also be able to offer a wider range of coffee. The Saeco can brew from a dose of preground coffee and we could therefore also offer good decaf. This would leave my personal kitchen without a coffee machine, clearly an intolerable situation, so I had to buy a second smaller Saeco. The first morning we put the Saeco into service, I realised that we had an additional problem. The crema in a large cup of espresso leaves a deposit around the empty cup. This meant that we could not re-use the same cup to serve a second coffee to a guest. Four guests went through 16 cups. We would have to buy a LOT more cups. At least the decision to go the Saeco route was vindicated: the guests loved the coffee.

Fruit Juice

I am picky about fruit juice. It has to be unsweetened and fresh. Easy solution: while oranges are plentiful and cheap, limit our offering to freshly squeezed orange juice. The Magimix’s orange press attachment produced around two litres of juice per large pocket of arranges. We will keep a jug or two of pure apple juice around for variety and for those guests who may not enjoy orange juice. We should be able to find cheap oranges until beginning October, leaving us lots of time to source juice for use when oranges are out of season.

Fruit

This was relatively easy. Simply offer whatever may be in season and plate it attractively. Winter is not a good time for soft and tropical fruit, so we would have to make do with grapefruit, the odd papaya, grapes and the like and use the rather expensive hothouse fruit and berries such as strawberries and kiwis for garnish.

Bread

This was my biggest nightmare. I am not a great baker of bread and was seriously apprehensive about our ability to offer freshly baked bread.

To be continued……..

Edited August 11, 2004 by gsquared (log)