Ciao Bella!

We are back from our wonderful vacation in Italy. The four musketeers, me, Mike (my husband) and my parents traveled all over Italy...Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples, Pisa, Murano, and Capri...whew!

Here's a very touristy-type picture at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but I really just couldn't resist being a one of the many people getting their signature photo with the tower.

I've settled back in the normal grind of restaurant life after a week of jetlag. Getting really sleepy at 7 p.m. was pretty rough in the middle of dinner service. Good thing our employee lounge (the storage closet) is near by :)

I love summertime so much! Late sunsets, lightning bugs, s'mores, cool drinks, and most importantly...no snow! So here are some fun things coming at the resturant.

What's to come this summer at Thai Orchid Cafe
-Summer specials
-Outdoor seating
-Fresh vegetables and herbs from the TOC Garden

Some other fun news:
We are the #1 Restaurant in Lexington, KY on TripAdvisor.com

Click here to read the reviews!

Married & Back to work

Ok, so here's the scoop on the latest and greatest in the life of T.O.C (Thai Orchid Cafe)

In my own personal life, I celebrated one of the greatest days of my life, my wedding day, featuring my wonderful husband, Mike.



It was a Buddhist/Baptist ceremony with three Buddhist monks and a Baptist minister blessing our union and making for a very unique experience for all involved.

After a nice, nice break in St. Lucia in the Caribbean, I was relaxed, recharged and happy to get back to work.

I read an article in the NY Times today about people who get into the restaurant biz. Here's the article:
"Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping Into the Restaurant Business" - NYTimes.com:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print

It really hit close to home because each day we face many challenges that will either make us or break us. Even in this bad economy, I feel really lucky to see a steady growth in our little restaurant. I credit that growth to the sheer will and drive of my family and I to make it work. No matter how hard we have to work, it's going to make it. With a positive attitude and a dedication to quality and service, I think it's a winning formula. Nothing complicated...just do all that you can to create a wonderful experience for your customers and results will come.

It's about 1:30 am and I will attempt to get some much needed sleep. More to come soon.

Ciao!

Dream Garden '08

Ah yes, it's that time again. Garden time!

Last year's garden was a big success. Oodles of home grown tomatoes, basil and hot Thai peppers flowed into the Thai Orchid Cafe. I love summertime for many reasons and growing fresh veggies was added to my list last year.

Here's a run down of what we got growing this year.

18 tomato plants --romas, pink germans, grapes, pink girls, big boys (love tomato names)
19 sweet basil plants
8 green bell peppers plants
4 rows of spinach
4 rows of sugar snap peas
2 rows of romaine lettuce
2 rows of bibb lettuce
4 summer squash plants
3 zucchini sqaush plants
Lots of Thai Hot peppers (being planted this week)

So we will definitely have our hands full this summer. Come visit the restaurant around July/August and you may walk away with some of our fresh veggies. They will be coming out of our ears.

One reason for the bigger garden this year is my aunt, who we have nicknamed 'Rabbit', solely on her diet. She eats pretty much a no-fat, no-salt, no-sugar diet. Which leaves raw veggies as a big portion. She's the only one I know who gnaws on plain lettuce as a snack. She has inspired me to eat salad with no dressing. Which isn't that bad actually.

I love being able to grow some of our own vegetables, cook them, and serve them in our restaurant. You can't get any fresher than that. It's a whole lot more work, but we know we are serving high quality food.

Adorable!

My sister, Tahn, and Baby Elise at 8 wks.

More pictures of Baby Elise will fill many more of my blog entries. She's just too cute to not show off to everyone.

This week has been much easier since my mom has been back in action here at the T.O.C. (thai orchid cafe). She does so so much here, it's amazing. And not a day goes by that I'm not insanely grateful for everything my parents have done for me and for this business. It wouldn't exist without them.

Now that there's a grandchild in the picture, my mom has her sights on retiring and being a full-time babysitter. I don't know when that will happen, but I would be so happy if we could accomplish that somehow.

Restaurant life is tough in many ways. One being that it's hard to get away. We (as in me, my parents, and my aunt) all put in about 13-15 hours a day working, 5 days a week, and about 8 hours on Saturday. But to me, it's worth it. Along with it, are many benefits. There's a great Mastercard commercial that I love. No corporate ladder to climb, no competition to beat out for certain positions, no bosses to impress...it's very stress free in that respect.

So for me, the sacrifices are worth it. Every minute I cherish.

Time to play catch up!

So yes, I've been very bad about keeping the blog updated, but I wll keep trying. Some updates are better than none, right?

This little cutie is Elise, my 2 month old niece. She is growing up so so fast it's amazing. She was born on Super Bowl Sunday and she changes every time I see her. She's been doing so great..her parents are grateful for the few extra hours of sleep they get each day...it's still not much though.

Since the little one was born, my mom has happily taken on Grandma duties, going to Cincinnati to help take care of her.

This has left me to step up to take charge of the kitchen at Thai Orchid. I was a little nervous at first as I am with most new steps I think. But the fledgling must fly sometime on her own. I really worked hard to pick up the jobs left open with my mom's absence and I think it has been going great. Mom is gone for only a week at a time at most. I'm worn pretty thin by then with our limited employees....5 on a fully staffed day.

Even though the economy is not doing great right now, I think we're holding our own thanks to the loyalty of our regular customers. They themselves come to eat often, while also spreading the word about our little restaurant. Most new people come through friend recommendations, which is the best way to build a strong customer base in my opinion.

Mike and I's wedding is only 3 months away, which I can't believe. I can't wait....although I don't feel so prepared for the events of the wedding itself. But it will work out, and we'll all have a great time.

The Blog is BACK!

After an 8 month hiatus, my blog is back! I feel like it has taken that long to really get settled back into normal resturant life.

RENOVATION:
We spent almost 3 weeks over the Christmas holiday renovating the restaurant and it turned out beautifully. Everyone loves the new partition wall which gives the place an even cozier feel. Come and check out the new place.

POST-SURGERY:
My dad, Kat, pictured above, has made a remarkable recovery from his surgery last March. He's doing 1000% times better than he was a year ago and gets stronger every day.

BABY NEWS:
In other family news, my sister, Tahn, is having her first baby in just a few weeks. It will be the first grandbaby for both sides of the family. So I'm really looking forward to meeting my little niece very soon.

ENGAGEMENT:
This summer I got engaged! I will be marrying my sweetie, Mike, in July , just 6 months away! Woo hoo! We met through our involvment in Lexington Habitat for Humanity. So there are big things happening in 2008 for all of us!


WELCOME, AUNTY!
I also want to introduce the newest member of the Thai Orchid Cafe squad, Aunty!

This is Aunty (pictured right), aka. Dr. Yavarace Young. She is my mom's sister and has just moved back to the U.S. after working as a pathologist at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
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So after a year and half in the restaurant biz, I've learned so many things, about passion, sacrifice, hard work, hard work, and even more hard work. The job has long hours, but its rewards are incomparable. And now that I feel like I have a routine and am starting to get the feel of it all, it doesn't even feel like work sometimes.

So I will try my best to keep things posted and updated on the blog. Things to look forward to, renovation photos, a new menu coming in the next few months, and more fun news from the restaurant.

Expect the unexpected

It has been about one year since we signed the lease for the restaurant. We spent 3 months remodeling and then opened up in August 2006. I knew people said the first year of any new business is the hardest, but I never thought it would be like this.

Since opening in August 2006, so many things have happened unexpectedly. Two days after opening, Comair Flight 5191 crashed in Lexington, where my mentor and friend, Pat Smith, passed away in the crash. I was crushed and devastated.

Then in mid-January of this year, my dad fell ill. He had lost over 20 lbs. over several months and had developed some very suspicious symptoms. It was several weeks before there was an accurate diagnosis. During that time, some doctors predicted the worse. His symptoms pointed towards pancreatic cancer, where he potentially would only have weeks or months to live. It shook my world like nothing else. It was one of the hardest times for our family. On top of that, the restaurant was broken into and robbed while we were closed. Talk about being kicked while you're down.

Later, the doctors found it was a cyst---a benign cyst that could be fixed with surgery. Dad had his surgery about a month ago and is doing great. We had to close the restaurant for many weeks so that my mom and I could be by Dad's side 24/7. He is on the road to recovery and we are all so so grateful that everything has turned out ok.

Now, the restaurant is back open for good! I'm so excited to be working again and to get the place going in full swing. I see only good things for our future. We have been through a lot, but leaning on each other, we have made it though.

I can't be more proud of my family. My sister, the doctor, saved us all by taking us up to the best hospital. My mom never left my dad's side and is still driving the momentum of his recovery. And my dad has been so strong and brave through all this pain, uncertainty, fear. It just amazes me how incredibly lucky I am to have my family! Go fam!