4th week at Flipside

Monday evening was spent helping with the interview process for the cafe staff. Over 100 had applied online and Chris had weeded that down to 24. 22 were scheduled to arrive, at the cafe, at 5 minute intervals. I greeted them and asked them to fill out a questionnaire and provide a resume and references, then they moved on to Taylor who instructed them how to froth milk at the espresso machine and drizzle over the donuts. Jill then had them mix batter for the donuts. Mainly these 2 were looking for willingness, ability to follow instruction, precision and cleanliness. Finally they had a brief interview with Chris. 14 people showed up and after a brief comparison of impressions there was a consensus on hiring 7. Next references had to be checked and then positions offered. Training will start Feb 6 - its really moving along.
Tuesday I went shopping for kitchen stuff. I had a list of things from Taylor, the chef. Some I recognized (mixing bowls, spatulas ....), some I did not (ISI chargers, tart pans), but an assistant took me around the huge store on Spadina and helped me fill my trolley. If I ever need anything for my kitchen that is the place to go they have everything you could even imagine needing!

The rest of the day was spent checking on the kijiji ads and putting together the furniture that had been delivered. Chris had ordered a small number of each so she could decide whether she liked the colour, sturdiness and comfort before ordering more.

She loved this large trestle table and will probably order a second. One of the things that happens in cafes in Toronto is business meetings and this would be ideal for 4 to 6 people to sit around with their laptops and have their meeting (with donuts and coffee)

Wednesday morning I painted the other section of the kitchen floor. The electricians had been in all day on Tuesday but were not coming back until Thursday giving me a brief floor painting window.

Hooking and Beans weekend

The winter hooking weekend wasn't as well attended as usual. We all have busy lives and co-coordinating a weekend that we are all available is quite difficult. Four of us walked, hooked, chatted, laughed, knitted and ate too much.

Friday was a dull, grey, but mild day for our beach walk.

The ice is beginning to form up along the shore line.

Making for some interesting sculptures.

We walked on the beach Saturday as well but by then there was drifting snow, cold temperatures and a wind. It was a short walk with a couple of snow angels thrown in.

Sue was working on a cushion that she started in Cheryl's "Rug in a rug" class at Apps in September. She alternated this with knitting a toddlers sweater.

Heather was also working on a cushion, of her own design, of 3 crows flying over fall tree tops.

Brit finished hooking Martina Lesar's Sumac Leaves pattern. She was also knitting socks.

I have about a third of the stone wall left to do on my adaptation of Connie Bradley's "Counting Sheep"

Rasta was, of course, investigating everything, sleeping on everyone's beds and walking over them and annoyingly playing with his squeaky mouse. Now he is exhausted!

As usual, we took turn cooking. I do love it when someone else cooks. Oddly, this year, every meal we had beans or lentils. Enough said about that.

We didn't get as much snow as was forecast but we did wake to this

and all shoveled the driveway before anyone could leave.

There is a lunar eclipse tonight but I doubt I will stay up to watch it. I took this out of my bedroom window of the shadows cast by the full moon.

Crafting and the 3rd week at Flipside

Its not all Toronto stress and work, last weekend Brit and Nicola were at my place. Nicola has been looking for Quilting courses but they are usually during the week. We are guessing that most quilters are retired. So we asked Brit if she would be willing to teach for a day and she accepted the challenge.

On hooking weekends the cottage is full of wool and yarn. This time it was full of cotton material and 3 sewing machines (if you count mine which is a very poor relative of the other 2). Here Brit is teaching me to use hers, just to hem some monks cloth. She was teaching me Swedish Weaving on it.

You wont see this often. Machine sewing is one of my least favorite occupations. I did what I needed to learn that day and Nicola finished up the material I will take away on holiday with me. It is a transportable craft, which is what I was looking for.

Brit taught Nic the "paper piecing" technique for quilting. Starting with this simple one.

She then went on to create this. She kept exclaiming at how PERFECT they looked.

And finally; this one. All very precise and PERFECT! Nicky was a very happy camper.

It worked out very well and something the 3 of us may try again. A very relaxed way to learn.

Rasta loves Nicola's sewing machine travel case.

Then it was back to Toronto and the ongoing cafe renovations. Monday I was "cafe sitting" as the rest of them were in the U.S. at a trade show.

I was there to let the plumber in and he got the sink and the ice maker installed.

I was also there to receive deliveries; a prep table, wine frig, beer frig and pile of stuff from the donut machine manufacturer.

and the most important delivery, this monster; the donut maker.

In between I started painting the kitchen floor (the second coat, the next day looked a lot better) and filled wall holes with drywall compound, while I waited for the Bell man to install the router. We now have internet!

The following days Taylor and Shane put together the donut machine,

figured out how it worked and went to do a trial run only to discover that the oven socket in the kitchen wouldn't fit the machine's plug. Sigh - another job for the electrician. Plumbing has also been "fun" with a new leak found every time the water gets turned back on.

Aside from the kitchen floor, I was also putting primer on the walls that had been painted with blackboard paint and stuffing steel wool in ever tiny hole I could find (old building, mice! say no more...)

2nd week Flipside reno

Back in Toronto again to help with the cafe. As all the furniture is out and there is no internet any computer work has to be done in a neighboring cafe. There are a number of them in the Distillery District.

The Distillery District, as a destination, was developed by the same company that built the surrounding condo buildings. That company continues to manage the area and exerts considerable control over the kinds of businesses and what can be done to the buildings.

It is entirely pedestrian with parking lots surrounding and industrial looking art scattered around. These rainy day photos do not do it justice.

There are lots or art galleries, a theatre, retail and restaurants.

Flipside is at #12 Case Goods Lane with a Millinery shop beside, in #10, and Artscape studios across the lane.

Down there, on the left,

is the door. No official sign yet

but signs in the windows for those who stop by looking for the cafe that was in this location before.

When I got there on Monday the serving area had been demolished and the previously painted floor ground down to its original cement.

A mess of wiring and plumbing in the serving area and also in the kitchen. I took no pictures of the kitchen as it was full of everything we had moved in there last week to clear the floor for the grinding. The cement guys were supposed to seal it to protect the equipment in there; dishwasher, frigs, freezer, oven, but they didn't and it was covered with cement dust.

This is a panoramic shot of the front wall. The blinds are down on the windows and door, making it quite dark. Chris plans on putting seating/storage benches along the front wall.

I left on Thursday with Taylor and Jill cleaning out the kitchen, cleaning the appliances and washing the kitchen floor ready for me to paint it next week. Chris and I had spent all of Wednesday traipsing around restaurant supply stores and ended up buying a 60" stainless steel prep table (to house the espresso and fancy coffee machine) as well as a wine frig and a beer frig.

And so it begins - starting Flipside

Chris got possession of her cafe space just before New Years and I spent a few days there this week helping with the initial stage - clearing it out.

The panoramic shot, above, was taken when we first went in and were sorting stuff to be junked (by the demo team), on the left and stuff to be kept, or sold on kijiji, on the right.
The entrance wall (where I am standing) has 2 small windows and 2 wooden doors. It has been painted white but looks badly whitewashed. Chris has just learned that she cannot take it back to the original brick without using a very expensive "waxing" technique. It should not have been painted in the first place so she also cannot freshen up the paint. So it will stay as is.
The ceiling is huge exposed wooden beams as it is the bottom floor of a 3 story, old industrial building. The metal pillars have been painted white and sit on large stone bases. Behind the counter is an exposed red brick wall and the rest of the walls are painted drywall.
Since this photo was taken, we have moved all the saleable items to Chris and Jason's garage (5 trips in my SUV and 1 in their car) and they are up on kijiji. The expresso machine has gone to be refurbished. The demo crew has come in and gutted the serving area, counters in the kitchen (it is to the right of the serving area) and the little closet to the left. Chris has had meetings with contractors and electricians about rebuilding the serving area with some walls and half walls and building benches along the entrance wall (these will also hide some rather crumbly stone work).
The painted floors are being ground down and polished this weekend.
There are plans in the works to make a "living wall" of hanging plants and herbs (to be used for the savory donuts) on the right hand end wall and perhaps an etched mirror of her logo on the left hand end wall. Decisions are being made on the fly as she wants to be open the first week in February.
It is a lovely space, about 1000sq ft, not too big (feels cosy) and not too small (she doesn't plan on seating for much more than 24 at first, although she is licensed for 44).
It is both exciting and terrifying and Chris and her team (a chef and an organizational assistant) are working hard and adjusting to each of the "hiccups" along the way.