Newspage 7th February 2018
Pain upon completion
It has been a mainly enjoyable week being back hands on the CIS office this week. Monday morning and sure enough a few relief jobs piled in and on the database I found familiar names and faces who I could call up to offer work to on Skye, Lanarkshire and Aviemore.
Johanna Watson is back from moving house in Moffat on Friday this week and we have a full day of meetings at the office.
Two chefs are coming for a visit and a cup of tea and a blether.
The first one I first encountered in about 2007 when this excellent CV crossed my desk up on Skye at the old offices in Wentworth Street, looking out the window from the second floor to The Tongadale Hotel and sitting a couple of doors away from the Cale Hotel where I would occasionally frequent of a night for a pint, a game of pool or a shot on the puggy.
I got the chef organised for some interviews at good establishments on Skye which were on our books at the time; Isle Ornsay Hotel, Duisdale and perhaps Ullinish. The chef took a job at The Three Chimneys via another agency. Ouch!
Again a couple of years later, the even more glorious CV with a few years as junior sous chef at The Three Lums popped into my inn tray again. Another chance to make a permanent placement. Nope, it wasn’t to be. Off he went to the Horseshoe by Peebles, through another source, not us! Failure yet again.
Eventually the chef came to meet at our new premises in Moffat maybe in 2010 or 2011 and we had a good chat about the near misses. It turns out that he took his first ever job in Scotland at Monachyle Mhor after seeing one of our adverts in a Polish newspaper with Marcin who I used to put out adverts with back in 2003 and 2004. CIS paid for the advert and we split any placement fees. The good chef, had seen our website and apply for Mnachyle Mhor, not been a failure at all.
Over the last six or seven years, he has done a lot of relief jobs via CIS and has been excellent wherever he has worked, whether it is fine dining or bistro food, no problem, pitches up, does the job and gets an excellent reference. Dziukuje bardzo.
He is a modest man, so not going to name him, but how pleased am I that he has asked me to be a reference and sign a document as he applies for UK citizenship.
Catching up with a friend.
The other chef is Bobby, who hasn’t done so badly himself and is after a couple of bottles of our beer, which I am sure we can manage.
We still have 35 relief chefs out working which is 14 more than last year.
Relief is steadily coming in and we expect to get busy earlier as Easter falls this year towards the end March 1st April.
Lots of permanent jobs coming in so if you are looking for a change please get in touch with Jessica or Tom and email your CV to recruitment@chefsinscotland.co.uk or call 01683 222830.
We are getting lots of relief chefs registered for the busy season ahead.
Out and about just now –
Johan Sikkema is at The Lovat Arms Beauly
James O’Brien has been back at Ardanaseig Hotel in Argyll
Stacey Donnelly is back at Skeabost Hotel in Skye
Blair Mackay was helping at Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey and has just started back at Eden Court Theatre
Sarah Pozzi, Oliver Mould and Steve Moffat were helping Orde Catering with an outside function in Kelso.
Keren Tweedie is at The Morrings Hotel in Fort William
Glenn Richards was at The Newton Hotel in Nairn
Michael George is booked to go back to Cullen Bay Hotel
Scott Macintyre is at Muckrach Lodge Hotel in Speyside
Paul Sellers is finishing up at The Cumbria Park hotel in Carlisle
George McCallum is at Inverlochy Castle Hotel near Fort William
Ionel Rizea is back at The Old Mill Inn in Pitlochry
Ally Elder is back from Thailand and is straight out to The Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William
Michael Staniland is at The Blackadder Hotel in Berwickshire
And Lauren McConnell is over in Stornoway at The Caladh Inn
Lots of excellent feed back
Thanks for all your hard work Chefs!!!
1st February 2018 Newspage
The first month has passed by and it still is cold but with a little more sun staying later into the day and it is almost light at leaving office time.
Tom is brewing a test beer for our tasting evening in Lockerbie on the 23rd of March. It will be a further exploration of the “twa dugs” theme; although Poco, the little Spanish Bodeguero has taken to trying to nip the back of Tom’s heels. Poco is currently in the back of the van with Bentley the Basset.
I am waiting for a meeting at four pm and have made a start on cleaning the fish tank in my attic office which has given us an idea for a new name for the beer.
“3Fished”
We are hoping to get building works started shortly in Lockerbie and wait patiently for the drawings to come back and can then meet the builders.
Pricing is being done on all the equipment needed also and it will be an exciting few months as we push on towards actuality.
The Shares in Lowland Brewing are selling and if anyone wants to see the prospectus or indeed buy a share or to team up with a friend and buy a half share, or five pals chip in for one share, we would be delighted to hear from you.
The Chef recruitment office is a little quieter this week, before the take off. Johanna Watson is moving house and has purchased a house in Moffat and will be off from tomorrow afternoon. Jessica is working through permanent head and sous chef recruitment and got an excellent amount of permanent placements last week, six in total which is a great figure.
I will go back into the main CIS office for some time from Monday and will pick up relief work to allow some continuity with the permanent work.
I will do my best not to upset anyone.
Many thanks for your continued support and patience.
Michael
Cooking a meal
The evening has moved on now
The MID WINTER SUN has long since set
And the two dogs are both sleeping gently
Beneath so comfortable snores and small movements
Earlier, before ten pm we sat and drank a bottle of Chablis
A chardonnay which cost £10 and was bought in Aldi in Carlisle
The meal had been simple to reflect our swim at “The Pools”
Which are not as arty as our usual haunt at The Crichton in Dumfries
The potatoes were boiled, after dicing finely, leaving to cool in the fridge
As we chatted in the small galley kitchen and chopped shallots and garlic
And we were happy. The electric; sautéed bacon pieces, bought cheaply from
The Spar in Carlisle that morning as the smells of coriander and parsley hinted
Of an hour when we sat and chatted with the evenings lights hanging gently
Whilst winter contemplates what tomorrow might bring.
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