The Syndicate

Good for you!! Have one for me!

S~V~S wrote:If you're scared when you are not there, you need to replace the people who scare you with ones who don't. NOT use it as an opportunity to spend more time there then you already do, cause, you know, no one does it right but you.

I know you. If you don't feel comfortable delegating to those that you have, find a way to find those to whom you feel comfortable delegating.

I know you know me. And I'm doing that - I've moved the one I don't trust to working shifts where he does the least damage. But you also know me well enough to know the very fact that I have a "Lost Puppy." kills me. I keep wanting for that to change.

I keep wanting for him to be on the team. I know I have to accept the fact that he probably never will be, but it hurts. It hurts to loose a puppy.

wow. God - that brought down the party fast. - Most of that should have been in the journal.

Now I copy paste!


Sorry guys! Um...Yay!! cheep booze!!!

Epignosis wrote:I had the unusual hankering for a cocktail on the sweeter side, so I am acquainting myself with the lovely Billionaire. It is sweet, slightly bitter, and light in body. It is better than my day, which was bitchy, defiant, and had faint notes of blame-shifting and ass-covering.

I know that feel.

In the past two days I've had to have the hard talk with a new employee explaining that he's got one foot out the door if he doesn't start following attendance policies and then have a right and serious be angry with my management staff for general slacking.

Ok - not general slacking. Right pissing me off.

See - we have these evaluations 4 times a year. We had our first one a couple of months ago. Back during that one we were eligible for the highest grade. It's just like school - 100-90 = A etc. (you know, using the easy grade scale not that wonked one where a 94 is a B) - first time around we missed our A (which comes with a nice little cash bonus btw) bye 8 points.

Next round of evaluations started today. Dude hit 4 stores all over the city. I walked into work where my AM and my shift runner (part time manager/part time driver) are both working. TWO members of my management staff on the clock. Do a surprise self inspection on them because I want the baseline of what is happening when I'm not there right? We are eligable for a 97. That means if we do everything right the day he walks into the store - we will get a 97. I have 7 points of wiggle room. That's like 2 stupid things OR 1 bad pizza.

Between my two MANAGERS. - The people who set the example - I lost all my "image" points. One wasn't shaven and one didn't bother to tuck in his shirt. (see? stoopid crap cost me 3 points.) One remake of a pizza. Missdated food. Not enough dough proofed and ready to go to handle the sales volume (which ticked me off not only for the evaluation points but also because it meant my night was hosed because I wasn't set to run shift correctly)

Then all the stuff we always loose points on - (some of it is literally unconrtolable. We try as hard as we can, but we are a corner lot in a not great area. I can clean the windows 3 times a day and sure as you can bet, he'll come in 10 seconds after there's a hand print on the door.)

In one quick second, we went from a potential 97 to the 65 I ended up scoring us at.

So not happy. So SO not happy.

If I could get away with O/Cing for the next several weeks, I srrsly would. I'm skerred of what's going on when I'm not there.

In any event, I took my last 10 dollars and spent it on cheep booze because being a grown up sucks it.

Portland sounds like loads of fun!

Please don't die k vompy?

It's hard for me to know where it goes and where not. Nice to see it traveling though. Ohio and PA were notoriously yucky about what states could and could not sell their beers. Maybe it was just to each other.

well...like I said - the elliot ness a lot. Connway's irish ale is awesome. If you ever get the chance to have the Nosfteruato (for halloween only) it's well worth the money spent.

A Person wrote:

Hedgeowl wrote:http://beerlabelsinmotion.tumblr.com/

If Harry Potter drank beer, this is what it would look like.

Out of those I've only had the Edmund Fitzgerald, but I think Harry Potter should really try it.

Edmin Fitz is a Great Lakes beer!! When were you in Ohio to get that?!

(I like the Elliot Ness myself....and their seasonals are wonderful)

I just wanted to give a shout out to what I think may be my newest favorite "summer beer" - it's called Chainbreaker IPA (from Deschutes Brewery.) I like IPA's to begin with but this one is somehow both hoppy and light and citrusy. The addition of the coriander and orange rind make for an interesting combination that goes down refreshingly smooth.

My sweetie does not like IPA's like I do and this is the one he keeps sneeking sips of. (Edit: He just came home with 2 12 packs of a combo beers and just stole my last IPA. - that said, he replaced them with 6 other beers I like so yea.)

Also - at 7.99 a sixer, it's a good beer that won't necessarily break the bank.

addendum to beer - I tried Alaskan Brewery's Freestyle APA last night and liked it quite a bit. It was both light and hoppy, which was kinda surprising to me. Also - I forgot to add that I really really love lambic beer as well.


Ok - so wine 101. Here is my true boozy passion tbh. I tend to prefer the dryer wines to the sweeter ones in general, though once in a while a decent sweet riesling or gewurztraminer is nice change of pace.

White: I like a light and crisp white wine. A nice sauvignon blanc or pinot gris. (I've reacently come to really enjoy unoaked chardonnay as well.)
Red: I'm a Cabernet or petite sirah sorta gal.

The thing with wine is that Epi was quite right. There are some fantastic bottles of wine out there in the 10-30 dollar range that will even out shine more expensive bottles. And yes, I have tasted 100 dollar a bottles of wine. You pay for the name. The wine is wine. For example, there is a fantastic shiraz by Layer Cake but I'll never pay more than 16 dollars for it and my favorite Pinot Noir is called Pinot Evil and it runs about 8 bucks a bottle. The box wines have come a long way baby as well. They are particularly handy if a) You're not going to commit to a whole 4 glasses or b) you cook with wine a lot. The vacuum seal on the box wines will keep the wine fresher for a longer period of time. The reds particularly start to turn as soon as you open them. If you're not going to drink the whole bottle in like 2 days, look into the box option.

Here's the other thing about wine. You'll rarely see me order it in a restaurant. Of all the things in most restaurants booze is the most marked up. It's one of the tricks the restaurant plays. To keep prices on diners down and reasonable, they mark up the bar products. Of all the bar products the worst of the mark ups happen in the wine section. (It's been doubly worse lately as wine in general has been given this whole new trendy work up so as it grows more popular more businesses take advantage and charge a few bucks more for it) That bottle of Layer Cake up there I like so much? Yea, it usually retails at a grocery store for between 15-18 dollars a bottle. I've seen it in restaurants for up to 30 dollars a bottle. (And you don't even want to know what I paid for it back in the day when my boss would let me order wine to work and pay cost for it. I miss that particular perk most of all....)

In the end, the best part is that the best wine in the world, is the one you most enjoy drinking. There are more varieties than I could even begin to list here. The fun for me is going to a store like total wine and looking around and reading the tasting notes and trying new things. For the most part, vodka is vodka, gin is gin etc. With wine, there are such differences in aging and casking and what's added to the wine from vinter to vinter that while two bottles of wine may both be Cabernet's they may have completely different tastes. One may be more oaky than the other, one may be more fruity, one may be more chocolatey.

Because I love cooking so much, I love to play with the tastes of the wine I'm serving and the flavors on the plates. If I am serving a particularly citrusy white wine for example, I like to have a salad that has hints of citrus in it as well. That sort of thing can keep me happy all day long!

linkie - I roll that way too with wine JC - I tend to drink more white in the summer and more red in the winter. Tends to match how I cook though too. Big roubst meals always feel better to eat to me in colder weather.

Oh my....this thread...how I love it..... it's like it was put on the internets for me and me alone. Get ready for a long post following my disclaimer.

Disclaimer. I grew up in restaurants. My first job was bar backing for my mother at 13. I was curious. I often asked "what's in that?" "now what are you making?" the result is that, by the time I was 16, there wasn't a drink I didn't know the recipe for. Including all the "extra" stuffs my mom did that made her drinks taste so distinctive from the other bartenders. I was one of the senior servers there by 17 and I would often train new bartenders because I knew how to close, and they were old enough to poor. I trained many a bartender saying "pick up this bottle and pour it till I say stop." while waiting to turn 21. By the time I was 19ish? My bosses said "eff it, you know what you're doing, you're close enough just make the damn drinks." (I worked in a place that was not likely to have the cops called. Like ever.)

So um...yea. I like da booze. I used tell people that "Bartering is just like cooking, but with booze." I also used to say "Much like you should never trust a skinny chef, you should never trust a bartender who isn't just a little bit of an alcoholic." I do try to keep the functioning part the priorty of being a functioning alcoholic but, in the interest of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that I do enjoy the spirits. Like a lot. And also I have training. Like a lot. /Disclaimer

My favorites by category:

Beer: I'm with Epi here. I'd be lying if I didn't say I've drank more than my fair share of Miller Light and Coors Light and PBR. Sometimes even some of Milwaukee's finest. (And if you want some truly awesome "bad beer," might I suggest Steel Reserve with Extra Gravity. They sell the tall boy cans for like 2 bucks a can and I swear, three of them will get the job done for even the toughest of tolerances.) In college, I drank an insane amount of Rolling Rock. I pretty much ended my Rolling Rock addiction after they moved the brewing company away from Latrobe, PA out of solidarity for my PA peeps but every once in a blue moon, I get nostalgic and get some.

As far as "good beer" goes, I have a soft spot for red beer. Killian's being my favorite for like ever. Till I came out here and had the wonder that is Old World Brewery's Four Leaf Irish Red. Which tastes a lot like Killian's but somehow better. They had a limited edition run of the red beer aged in red wine oak barrels and can I just say? It was better than the nector of the Gods. Such a beautiful pairing of beer and wine flavors. I just can't even...

My sweetie is a beer drinker, so I'm slowly becoming more exposed to more beers. I have had a few stouts that I've enjoyed but can't really drink more than like half of one (I do love cooking with them though!) I've learned to enjoy some IPA's though they are not all created equally and I do love some Newcastle and some other brown ales as well.

Ok - so my sweetie just came in and apparently our tomorrow plans have been moved to today so....

Stay tuned for Bea's favorite's lists:
Red wine edition, White wine edition, vodka edition, rum edition, gin edition, tequilla edition, whiskey edition, and cordial edition.

(Interesting side note: The only booze category to date I've not tried is Scotch. I've just never made the leap yet. Whiskey edition was the last edition to the bunch.)