Looking forward to Valentine's Day

Its been an interesting afternoon , here at the cafe. Right after Henri called the order for the scallops into our supplier, the weatherman started to predict the worse storm of the year for Valentine's weekend. As the scallops are to be fresh not frozen , he was less than pleased with the news.

When I opened the cafe this morning, there were flyers from an organization ,Avaaz ,against Valentine's Chocolates, taped to our door.Our official stance on this is this- if you care so much about Human Rights, what about the right of the small business person to make a living. Anyone who does any kind of chocolate work , sells candy, or even, hot chocolate is hurt by such a boycott. Yes, we may be doing business with the major suppliers such as Godiva, Herseys, Lindt, Cadbury but we aren't they. To declare a major boycott after orders have been placed is, I feel, counterproductive. There are only so many suppliers, even fewer that don't taste as if they have been hanging out in a cow barn. There are five major confection holidays Halloween/Samhain, Yule/Christmas, Valentine's Day , Easter/Ostara, and Mother's Day. If you care about Human Rights, why not declare your boycott in July and let the retailers think about it till they place orders for Fall. Give them time to investigate the claims. Because the chocolate that Avaaz is protesting has already been purchased by the little guy or woman-so you aren't hurting the suppliers or the evil government forces that is claimed in the flyers and on the website but your neighbors and local stores. So the effect of the boycott won't even be felt for six months at best at the supplier's level and may , a year if ,at all on the governmental. When did initiative become a sin? You haven't saved a single life over seas but you may have been instrumental in harming a small American business. Count me as one of the sinful.

So speaking of sin- I asked about the price of the truffles as we had not quoted one . $2.50 each or 6 for $12.00 . Call if you are placing multiple orders because I think Chef can be persuaded into a better price for larger orders, especially if allotted more time to assemble, Saturday would be an excellant day to place those orders as I intend that we step out for an evening out and a bite on Friday.

Even wicked Capitalists have to have some fun and a good meal from time to time.

Bon Soir et Bon Apetit ,
Arina Copain
Office Manager