Functionizin'

To quote (the dreaded) Morrissey, "I can smile about it now but at the time it was terrible." I don't believe I've ever experienced such profound, breathless, heart-constricting panic as I did last Saturday night and I hope I never shall again.

On Tuesday I spoke with M. and said that while I liked the mixology part of the job, the pressure was too much for me to take and I would be on the road to a major meltdown if I continued. I have to admit that I was apprehensive about giving my notice, but he took it very well and said that he appreciated my hard work and he understood that restaurant work was not for everyone. So, to quote (the dreaded) Shakespere, "All's Well That Ends Well."

Thus, after seven days, did I end Mixology and return to the other side of the bar.

There's mutiny at the IBB! After a series of utterly incompetant moves by the Queen Bee and her Pothead Son, the staff at the IBB are preparing to storm the barricades or, at the very least, get a spot on the last lifeboat and watch the S.S. IBB sink under its own mismanagement. And, what is worse, The Money behind the IBB is getting restive. Three baristas are leaving and only one replacement has been trained. The Pothead can't stay sober long enough to do deliver the paycheques on time ... or do much of anything else. The Queen Bee turns on the waterworks when her employees complain about the inept management. The bakers own the recipes for the rolls they make ... and when they go, the recipes go with them. All in all, a big time disaster is in the works.

M. and I have decided to move the salon up to the OCH after our baristas leave. The coffee at the OHC is indifferent, but they have plenty of seating and very comfortable chairs. One of the baristas is, apparently, the perfect caricature of the morose, all-in-black, Goth, staring glumly out into the middle distance, silently.

I've been looking over a vintage cocktail manual I have and several of the cocktails are based on an "Absinthe Substitute." I'm not quite sure what that is ... Pernod, perhaps? Speaking of absinthe, it's illegal in this country and most everywhere else, but I understand you can obtain it in Spain or perhaps Switzerland. For those brave souls who long to chase the Green Fairy ... and join the august company of absinthe drinkers of old ~ Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Henri Toulouse-Latrec and Vincent Van Gogh ... here's a site which provides several recipes for creating your own absinthe. Everclear or 100 proof vodka as a base? I can't imagine!