Getting started on the building and thinking about cocktails

OK gang. Time for a bit of a catch up on where we are up to.

I went shopping for a bar top today, I've already bought a whole heap of alcohol so I have my priorities right. I had tried to call the wood yard guy but he wasn't responding although he was reading my Whatsapp messages. So I took a drive out into the hills to a wood yard. Nobody was around, not even a cat. So I called him a few times and finally got to speak to him. Closed until the end of September sir. OK lesson learned on to plan B.

I found some nice Beech wood about an inch and a half thick at a good price so I think I'll go with that.

We have had quotes for the internal modifications and should start on that soon. In the mean time I am going to start stripping out a lot off fixtures and fittings in prep for the alterations.

The picture below shows you where we will be pushing the wall back to reduce the size of the kitchen and increase the size of the bar.

If you look at it from this angle we will be pushing the door back and removing that wall at the bottom of the stairs which will open up the stair case.

The old cabinet is going to Gabriels house, it used to belong to his grandmother. This will make way for a wine rack in the alcove.

Also this week we begin moving out all of the stuff that we don't need into storage.

Just a few words about the kitchen. We mainly need refrigeration (read the blog on ice) in there and don't need too much space for food prep as we will only be doing meat and cheese platters. We do plan to offer something like baked camembert but again, that is just a small oven.

Which brings me on to the drinks menu. You will not believe the time and effort (and tasting sessions) that need to go into this, or maybe that is me enjoying the tasting session and being a bit of a perfectionist, I have to keep repeating them to get them right. As I said before

am going to stick to original recipes wherever possible, you won't believe how many different variations are out there already.

So my three favourites are The Negroni, the humble Martini and an awesome BANGING Mai Tai built to the original Trader Vic recipe of 30ml dark rum, 30ml amber rum, 15ml triple sec, 22.5ml fresh lime juice, 7.5ml orgeat, 10ml sugar syrup served over crushed ice.

I know that Aimie likes a Cosmopolitan but what are your favourites? Maybe I'll ask on our facebook page or feel free to PM me.

That's all for now.