Holiday Tables: Bon Appétit to Guten Appetit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/travel/20journeys.html?_r=1&ref=travel

DURING the holiday season, the already difficult task of deciding where to dine in Europe’s major cities becomes Herculean. Many restaurants, especially the more intimate, independently run places, are closed on Dec. 24 and 25; high-end hotel restaurants are more likely to stay open but can be stiff, expensive and full of tourists.

“Although I love Paris 365 days a year,Christmas can be a tricky time to visit,” Beth Marlin, the editor of Paris-Insider.com, wrote in an e-mail message. “The week between Christmas and New Years can be disappointing for tourists who expect everything to be open (museums, restaurants) according to a normal schedule. It is possible to arrive somewhere and find a sign in the window that says ‘Closed until after January 1st.’ ”

That doesn’t mean that tourists should avoid Paris during the holidays. On the contrary, Ms. Marlin writes: “A walk down the Champs-Élysées at night with the trees lit up, or along the Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré can be downright magical. With the right itinerary, it can be spectacular.”

Sometimes it’s a matter of planning. Take, for example, Le Jules Verne, Alain Ducasse’s restaurant nestled overheard in the Eiffel Tower. While it’s open on Christmas Eve and Christmas, only a few tables are available for lunch on Christmas Day.

Here are suggestions for places to eat in five European cities. Some are open on Christmas Eve, some on Christmas Day, some both. And many are offering special menus. (Call ahead for reservations and to check availability.)

PARIS

Just a skip away from Jules Verne is the well-regarded Au Bon Accueil (14, rue de Monttessuy, 75007; 33-1-4705-4611; www.aubonaccueilparis.com), a modern bistro owned by the restaurateur Jacques Lacipiere. The chef, Naobumi Assaki, turns out precise, elegant food in a friendly setting.

On Dec. 24 and 25, the restaurant will be offering a five-course Christmas lunch menu (60 euros a person, or $87 at $1.45 to the euro, without wine) that brings to mind the sort of fare a food-loving French family might dine on at home, including oysters, chicken with a turnip purée and black truffle jus, a selection of rich French cheeses and a dark-chocolate mille-feuille.

LONDON

The quintessential holiday meal in London is all about mince pies and puddings. Food-obsessed travelers can pick up preordered pies and puddings to go (until late afternoon on Dec. 23) at the widely acclaimed St. John Restaurant (26 St. John Street, EC1M; 44-20-7251-0848; www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk).

The Christmas Feasting menus being offered by Fergus Henderson, St. John’s pioneering chef, are available only until Dec. 23. But the Butlers Wharf Chop House (36e Shad Thames, SE1; 44-20-7403-3403; www.danddlondon.com) is open on Christmas Eve and for lunch on Christmas Day. Not only does the traditional British restaurant serve up an excellent holiday meal with all the fixings (mince pies included), it’s perched on the Thames and looks out over the Tower Bridge. The three-course meal is £170 for two, or $272 at $1.60 to the pound.

STOCKHOLM

On setting alone, Stockholm’s grand Operakallaren (The Royal Opera House, Karl XII:s torg; 46-8-676-5800; www.eng.operakallaren.se), situated near the banks of the Norrstrom and next to the Royal Palace, is a winner. But when it comes to the Christmas Eve Julbord — a holiday version of the traditional smorgasbord that includes specialties like glazed ham and rice porridge spiked with cinnamon — it’s the dining room of choice for many local families. In fact, according to the restaurant’s chef, Stefano Catenacci, a reservation there for lunch on Christmas Eve is so sought-after that the next opening for a table in the main dining room is in 2011.

Fortunately the Operakallaren has a lot of extra rooms. “We have space left, but not in the main dining room,” Mr. Catenacci said. “There are tables upstairs in the banqueting room, and just yesterday we chose to open up the opera bar, a small room where you sit up to 80 people.” The Julbord at Operakallaren starts at 750 kronor to 980 kronor a person, or about $110 to $140 at 6.95 kronor to the dollar.

ROME

Though fish plays a part in the Swedish Julbord, Christmas Eve in Rome takes it to another level: a seven-course dinner in which each dish contains a different type of seafood.

Jessica Stewart, the Rome manager for Context, a boutique travel company that organizes urban walking tours, recommends Casa Bleve (Via del Teatro Valle, 48-49; 39-06-686-5970; www.casableve.it), a palatial winte bar within the former courtyard of the 16th-century Palazzo Medici Lante della Rovere.

This is the first year that Casa Bleve will be serving its version of the traditional Christmas Eve fish feast (for 145 euros a person), and it sounds like one worth seeking out. Courses include a seared mackerel with buffalo’s milk burrata and roasted tomatoes, an octopus and chanterelle mushroom soup with fried purple potatoes and pasta stuffed with red shrimp on a bed of artichoke cream.

On Christmas Day, when most Roman families are eating leftovers at home, Ms. Stewart suggests booking a table at the popular Hostaria dell’Orso (Via dei Soldati, 25C; 39-06- 6830-1192; www.hdo.it), which is open on Dec. 24 and 25.

MUNICH

Around Christmastime, this Bavarian city becomes a winter wonderland, with its Baroquearchitecture and twinkling markets filled with red-cheeked locals catching up over sausages and mulled wine.

It’s also famous for one of the most decadent and delicious Christmas meals Europe has to offer: the traditional holiday roasted goose, typically served with dumplings and red cabbage. The century-old restaurant Spatenhaus an der Oper (Residenzstrasse 12; 49-89-290-7060), in an elegant historic building overlooking the opera house, will be offering freshly cooked goose on Dec. 24. Try it at lunchtime so you have a chance to walk off those calories. A meal is 24.90 euros a person.

Still hungry on Christmas Day after all that goose? Head to the city’s historic center to join the locals for a glass of beer and weisswurst at a beer hall like the Ratskeller(Marienplatz 8; 49-89-219-9890; www.ratskeller.com) or Weisses Bräuhaus (Tal 7; 49-89-290-1380; www.weisses-brauhaus.de).

In Paris, a Louvre in the Hotel Lobby

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/travel/20cultured.html?ref=travel

Works by the photographer Natacha Lesueur are featured in a suite at the Hôtel Particulier Montmartre.

AS a crisp fall evening settled over the hillsides of the Montmartre district, stylish groups made their way up Avenue Junot for the opening of a photography show called “Lost Highway.”

Antonella Di Pietro, a top executive in the Kenzo fashion house, popped in with a black-clad entourage and was greeted by the show’s organizer, the noted interior designer and art patron Morgane Rousseau. Sipping wine at an open bar, the novelist Basile Panurgias and a friend mused over grainy black-and-white shots of nocturnal Tokyo by the photographer Chantal Stoman. Upstairs, other visitors watched experimental videos — disembodied hands passing household objects — created by the artist Jean-Claude Ruggirello.

The scene was redolent of many of the openings that light up the Paris galleries each week. Only this wasn’t a gallery. It was Hôtel Particulier Montmartre, a two-year-old boutique hotel in a 19th-century town house. Somewhere in the five suites, presumably, there were guests performing activities unrelated to art — sprawling on beds, taking showers, watching television.

While Paris has long been celebrated for both its arts scene and its stylish places to stay, the two worlds have only occasionally rubbed shoulders. But the last two years have seen a remarkable cross-pollination of creativity and hospitality, leading to a host of new hotels that blur the line between exhibition space and crash pad.

Some, like the high-design Le Six, are using their lobbies to host rotating exhibitions. Others, like the majestic Beaux-Arts Hôtel Banke, are decorating their common areas with permanent displays. (Starting in 2010, the hotel plans to install an Indiana Jones-worthy collection of ancient art and antiquities from Egypt, pre-Columbian Latin America and other civilizations.) Still others have commissioned noted artists to create the décor for their rooms.

At Hôtel Particulier Montmartre, owned by Ms. Rousseau, you can scarcely open your suitcase without knocking over the work of a top-notch contemporary artist. Ring for the elevator in the lobby, and you’ll find yourself next to a wildly fragmented, color-soaked painting of a Medusa-like woman by Robert Combas. Slip into the suite called “Vitrine” (“Display Window”), and you’ll find an interactive conceit — a display case where guests leave personal objects on display as art — imagined by Philippe Mayaux, a past winner ofFrance’s highly prestigious Marcel Duchamp prize.

Even the lushly landscaped grounds are the work of a master: Louis Benech, who renovated the Tuileries gardens.

Many of the new art hotels are springing up in the Boulevard Montparnasse area on the Left Bank. During the 1920s, you might have found Picasso drinking at the Café Select, Ferdinand Leger painting in the La Ruche studio complex or Man Ray holing up at the Hôtel Istria. Today, the small lanes around Place Pablo Picasso — famous for Rodin’s statue of Balzac — hide newfangled art havens like the Hôtel des Académies et des Arts.

Its pedigree is impressive. According to Henry Mona, the hotel’s director, the building once housed the studio of the celebrated Japanese painter Tsuguharu Foujita, a friend and colleague of Picasso and Man Ray, and the street was at one time home to Modigliani.

Paying tribute to the spirit of the avant-garde, the hotel hired the French urban artist Jérôme Mesnager, who has gained fame for painting his signature “white bodies” — sinewy humanoid forms — on city walls from Togo to Tokyo, including the Great Wall of China and Red Square in Moscow.

Mr. Mesnager has installed the spectral creatures in each of the boutique hotel’s 20 rooms, on the building’s facade, in the courtyard, on the wall of the lobby (chock full of books about Montparnasse’s artistic heyday) and even the elevator shaft (visible through a glass wall in the elevator).

“They’re the hotel’s permanent guests,” Mr. Mona joked.

Bibliophiles, meanwhile, tend to head around the corner to the book-themed Apostrophe Hôtel, which has summoned artists to help it pay homage to Montparnasse’s rich past as a haven for writers like Ernest Hemingway and Henry Miller, explained the owner, Isabelle Lozano.

TO find it, look for the facade painted with shadowy black boughs and dark leaves. They’re the work of Catherine Feff, a French artist noted for covering Parisian monuments — the Church of the Madeleine, the Arc de Triomphe — with enormous sheets bearing expertly rendered trompe l’oeil scenes.

Within, the artist and photographer Sandrine Alouf (she prefers the term “atmospherist”) has lent a fun and kitsch touch to the hotel’s 16 rooms, each of which has unique décor that corresponds to its theme.

The “Urban Writing” room, for example, is a tribute to graffiti that contains a vast panel depicting spray-painted characters and subway-style tags — a transposition of a photo Ms. Alouf took in New York City. In the room called “Reading,” a photo of the pages of a rolled-up book has been enlarged into an abstract wall-size decoration that suggests the whorls of a seashell.

“We wanted to create something literary, but not too intellectual,” said Ms. Lozano. “You don’t need a Ph.D. to sleep here.” You might soon need a bestseller, however, to fit in. Authors like Gayle Forman and Erri de Luca have already passed through.

An even more extravagant commission came to Ms. Alouf from Five Hôtel, which last year decided to build a luxury suite devoted to a particularly intimate form of art — the art of love.

“We asked her: ‘Create the Seventh Heaven,’ ” said Karine Tournois, the hotel director. “A room about sensations, escapades, adventures, that’s even a bit erotic.”

The result was “One by the Five,” a roughly 500-square-foot apartment in a building just across the quiet street from the main hotel in the Fifth Arrondissement. Its marquee feature is the bedroom — naturally. Somewhere between stunning and kitsch, the entire ceiling and carpet of the large room are embossed with images of blue sky and wispy clouds. Between them, the massive white bed appears to float.

The romantic ambience can be heightened by using the room’s preprogrammed iPod, which comes stocked with songs by Edith Piaf among others, and dials that control the color and intensity of tiny star-like lights implanted in the ceiling and floor. The room also features a flat-screen TV. Entertainment comes courtesy of a small Webcam just above it.

“In other hotels you can admire yourself in the mirrors when you make love,” explained Ms. Tournois. “Here you can watch yourself on the big screen.”

To judge by the gushing comments in the guest book, Ms. Alouf has succeeded in her creative tribute to eros.

“Wow! The perfect honeymoon room!” wrote a couple identified as Michael and Mikaela. “We’ve slept in Heaven and partied in Hell!”

IF YOU GO

Hôtel Particulier Montmartre, 23, avenue Junot, 75018; (33-1) 5341-8140;www.hotel-particulier-montmartre.com; doubles in December from 390 euros, or about $565 at $1.45 to the euro.

Le Six, 14, rue Stanislas, 75006; (33-1) 4222-0075; www.hotel-le-six.com; doubles from 300 euros.

Hôtel Banke, 20, rue La Fayette, 75009; (33-1) 5533-2222; www.derbyhotels.com; doubles from 225 euros.

Hôtel des Académies et des Arts, 15, rue de la Grande Chaumiere, 75006; (33-1) 4326-6644; www.hotel-des-academies.com; doubles from 189 euros.

Apostrophe Hôtel, 3, rue de Chevreuse, 75006; (33-1) 5654-3131; www.apostrophe-hotel.com; doubles from 162 euros.

Five Hôtel, 3, Rue Flatters, 75005; (33-1) 4331-7421; www.thefivehotel.com; doubles from 129 euros. The “One by the Five” suite (www.onebythefive.com) is 960 euros.

Yesterday’s New York Times featured an interesting piece on the psychology of menu creation. It’s something that perhaps only large chains are giving serious thought to – sending their menus and executives off to “menu boot camp” and learning about the four types of diners – but perhaps none of them really should. Obviously the goal of a business is to make money. To do that requires satisfying customers and success does seem to be measured in profit margins. But, the use of psychology in creating menus here seems to focus on increasing two very bad behaviors.

First, the menus are revised to encourage individuals to eat more… the idea that we should actually “mindlessly eat” (as is suggested by the title of Brian Wansink’s book) is a very VERY scary one given that obesity is a major health crisis in America. Programs such as Weight Watchers actually ask you to focus on what you eat and how much you are consuming – because then you actually do consume less. The idea is that we won’t naturally keep eating after we’re full, to the point that we’ll feel sick. But, the presentation of so much appetizing food on a menu can cause us to order more than we should (as our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, as the popular phrase goes) and then, when the food arrives, we feel some sense of obligation to eat it all (yet another piece of wisdom I picked up from my years on Weight Watchers).

The feeling that we ordered it and it’s ours, and we have to pay for it so we should eat it is intricately tied to the next bad behavior encouraged by these restaurants. Concerned about the economy and reduced spending of Americans – a record number of whom have been unemployed this past year and many more who consciously feel the pinch – restaurant managers and executives are investigating ways to present prices to maximize customer spending. This includes presenting prices near the end of the menu and using “friendly” numbers without dollar signs (apparently the use of the period to indicate cents is left to your discretion as it seems to have little effect on customer spending).

Ultimately, the psychological research behind may be sound (I have NOT read too much beyond this – it seems to use the same research methods I am familiar with and use, but is published by and conducted by those in hospitality and tourism fields, so let’s assume here that it is methodologically sound, for the sake of argument), but should it be used this way? It seems to be an ethical question with no easy answers. After all, though these restaurants may be subtly fooling customers into bad habits, the overspending of these customers leads to financial comfort and relief for the business owners themselves and who really gets to determine who should profit and who should face the brunt of the economic crisis?

[Link to the original New York Times article - "Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners" by Sarah Kershaw, December 22, 2009, here.]

It was a year back in Nepal. I was working in my office and all of a sudden I got a call from Sandeep Dai (brother ). Dashin (a festival celebrated by Hindu) vacation was not very far- was just a couple of days to come. He invited me to join with him to  the mountainous region of  Nepal -Mustang. Sandeep Dai was in Jomsom when he ringed me and was conducting a program in Jomsom Mountain Resort. I just accepted his invitation without hesitation and packed my backpack to start  the adventurous journey to Jomsom alone. It was really good to be in the mountainous region as the pollution of Kathmandu was not able infect the heights of Mustang.

I was in Jomsom with Sandeep dai for couple of days and we travelled back to Tukche. It is a beautiful thakali village in the upper Kali Gandaki valley with Annapurna mountain  on one side and Dhaulagiri mountain on the other. The streets of Tukche are paved by stone. Most of the Thakali villages are paved with cobblestone.  Thakali people are famous for their hospitality and food.

 I am in a way related to this village as my maternal grandfather comes from this village. He was supposed to be the enlightened being as said by my mother and maternal uncle. I was there to see my grandfather’s monastery i.e. Mahakali Gumba. It is one of the oldest Gumba in that region and it needs renovation as well.

After exploring Tukche we entered to Laxmi Lodge to have a lunch. Sandeep Dai comes from a field of travel and tourism. Some time around 15 years back he used to stay in the same Lodge while having a round trip of  Throng La Pass (Annapurna Circuit). We were warmly welcomed to have a meal. Every Nepali loves a typical Thakali Dal, bhat and tarkari (nepali meal ) and a warm welcome with a smile .

We stayed there for a couple of hours and Sandeep Dai started to take some snaps  of the Lodge and the natural beauty of Tukche. We took all the information of Lodge and the life style of Tukche and decided to post it in a blog. It was the karma (task)  that was supposed to be done earlier but due to my laziness  I ignored it most of the time. But at the end at least I gave an initiation to write and compile it.

Gone are those days when Mustang used to be the forbidden kingdom(upper Mustang was forbidden for foreigners) and there were no means of transportation. People relied on their feet and horses to travel on a small trail. Now at least it is connected with a road. Though the roads are dusty and frequently have land slides in rainy season its adventurous to travel. But it’s more adventurous to have a trek rather than travelling on vehicle. 

Pictures speaks more than a thousand words. Thus, they are  self-explanatory. All the pictures that I have posted are photographed by Sandeep Dai.

A typical Thakali Kitchen.

view of mountain through the window

 Lodging is quite cheaper and rooms are neat and clean.

Dine at Tukche

Serene Natural Beauty

Travel information  on the wall

Mahakali Ghumba needs renovation

A family picture (Laxmi Lodge & View restaurant)

It was a wonderful experience to be in Tukche. I would like to thank the whole family of Laxmi Lodge & View restaurant for providing such a delicious meal .

Ok, I know some of my predictions are being recycled but I think its a good to remind people of the important things to look out for within the new year, even for those who first read my blogs or notes on my facebook profile.

Unfortunately its all bad news for us, but at least you will be able to know whats will be happening ahead. Either they came true or not, well that either means the worse is over or the events has already being unfolded.

Just to remind you that I don’t have a crystal ball with me and these events are just speculative possibilities.

Anyway there’s always steps where you can be prepared for the worse.

For Australia:

The Swine flu may reemerges again. Inflation will being to emerge in both prices of goods and services due to the excess money supply being floated around, prices in oil and energy will be on the increase.

The recession came have true to our door steps for the first time in twenty years, so far the stimulus only delays the recession as the levels of debts remains a all time high. Many sectors such as retail and hospitality will be the hardest hit. Record numbers of loan defaults, mortgage defaults, unemployment will rise, more households and business headed for bankruptcy. Also the housing market and university sector will collapse.

Victoria’s state election is going to be a very tough battle between John Brumby and Ted Baileu as support for both parties will be fairly disappointed.

The Crime rate in Australia will be on the increase due to the real economic downturn starting to emerge financial hardship are becoming more common. Race hate related crime will be on the increase against those who have immigrant backgrounds, a fight for jobs, private processions and privileges.

Myki and those new trains are disappoint many Melbourne commuters for months ahead as the new operator Metro will be facing the same problems as Connex did.

The ANZ, Westpac among of the big four banks and many other small competitors may become insolvent due to record amounts of debt, systemic failure of their fractional reserve banking due to customers fleeing to safer banks such as the commonwealth bank or the Australian post office if the new CEO decides to turn the post office into a non fractional reserve bank.

Online savers accounts from foreign financial institution such as HSBC, ING direct, RBS, Ra boo bank, GE and Citi group will be under serve difficulties as the change of getting your money back is zero per cent.

The government depositary grantee will not be able to granteed for every dollar being lost for every customer, even despite the deposit is under $10,000.

Communication censorship will continue within Australia on TV, Radio, digital radio, Internet, Mobile content, Newspapers and etc.

For the world’s economy:

Well the point is anything can happen in any moment of time, so just be prepared for whats going to happens in rest the world. Stock markets will be in free fall, investors panicking and people are taking desperate measures to safeguard their losses or recouped losses.

According to the Trends Research institute founder Gerald Celente says”
Oil could possible surpasses its all time highs as the sacred sources of oil are in hostile regions like the middle east, a on going war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen fights against each other and oil refineries may be in the firing line.

A new terror attack in the United States due to the continuing conflict in Afghanistan and near by Pakistan.

A new war emerges as either Israel wages war against Iran or Pakistan becomes a new battleground against terrorism as these Islamic militants starts targeting important location around the nation, it might a civil war within Pakistan. Any events like this nature can happen in political dangerous areas, maybe a war within the region may not occur.

The US financial sectors are in a real meltdown due to bad debts being made in the past and massive government spending and regulation continues, as the complete collapse of the US economy continues. Major Financial or enterprise failures, as revenue falls companies will heading for Bankruptcy.

The US will suffer high inflation due to the Federal Reserve adding billions of money out thin air which is not backed by savings, gold or producing nothing and monetary crisis as the US currency is not longer the world reserve currency as many countries, investors and global citizens who holds US dollars will try to dump it as the currency loses value.

Many countries in the developing world and some in the western world such as Spain, Greece and Ukraine will face huge economic difficulties and its citizens standards of living will deteriorate.

The dumping of the Greenback where many central banks like the Bank of India, The bank of Japan and the Chinese central bank with huge holdings of US notes in their reserve will try to get rid of it, by replacing with other currencies or gold reserves from the IMF.

Major natural disasters that could hit advanced economies in the events such as floodings, Tsunamis and earthquakes.

The Audit of the Federal Reserve as Congressman Ron Paul still pressing ahead with his plans to expose the Fed’s wrong doings.

Obama gets ill, there were some rumors of health complications such as breathing difficulties since he is still smoking in secret.

It’s now Good Luck from me, as all of us will enter a more difficult year.

Cheers Khoa Huynh.

PHOTO COPYRIGHT ROEL LOOPERS. WWW.PROFILEPHOTO.COM.AU

This is a story that I heard several years ago, that somehow has stayed with me and helped me maintained focus in what is really important and where our focus need to be in our everyday business life, hope you enjoy it as much as I have in the last few years since I first heard of it.

Have a very Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous and Productive New Years 2010!!!

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “Only a little while”

The American then asked, “why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The Mexican said, “with this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”

The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “i sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing: and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico city, the Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your-ever expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this take?”

To which the American replied,”15 to 20 years.”

“But, what then?” asked the Mexican

The american laughed and said, ” That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become rich. You would make millions.”

“Millions?.. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Mrs. Claus and her new friends at the cookie decorating activity in the Zermatt Resort Tea Room. View the Zermatt Resort activities page  on the resorts website to view DAILY HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES for the Heber, Midway and park City areas through the Holiday Season. Reservations and additional activity information is available at the resorts front desk and through the concierge. Make your reservation early if planning to attend any of the weekend buffets or New Years Eve event!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Direct Ski Shuttles are available to take guests from the front doors of Zermatt to any of the four local ski resorts in the area, Deer Valley Resort, Park City Ski Resort, The Canyons and Sundance.

If you have not booked your holiday get away, it’s not too late! Remember Zermatt Resort offers their “Best Rate Guarantee” and also one of the most flexible cancellation policy in the industry to accommodate last minute holiday changes in your schedule.

Lawrence Heim, CPEA, Director with The Elm Consulting Group International LLC, will speak at the 2010 Annual Hospitality Law Conference on February 3-5, 2010 in Houston.

Mr. Heim’s presentation will be part of the “It Ain’t Easy Being Green” track at the annual conference.  The presentation will review business risk concepts to be considered when evaluating when and how to develop and implement a sustainability program in the hospitality sector.  Topics covered include relevant activities and exposures to be condered within such a risk assessment considerations and scoping and ideas for quantifying the economic value of reducing identified environmental, helath and safety (EHS) risks.  In addition to presenting, Elm will also be an exhibtor at the conference, showcasing the company’s EHS and sustainability consulting expertise.

Elm is the only EHS/sustainability consulting service provider partipcating in the exhibition and conference presentations.

The Annual Hospitality Law Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity that brings together more than 350 private attorneys, human resource professionals, in-house counsel, loss-prevention personnel, risk managers, and hospitality owners and operators to learn about a host of legal issues pertinent to the hospitality industry.

The 2010 Hospitality Law Conference covers the areas of lodging, food and beverage, human resources, and loss prevention.

A Cyber Hotel!

What’s that you might be wondering?

The hospitality industry is developing so fast that it’s constantly innovating in order to impress the customer. The latest are hotels with all the latest technology available to the customer.

Needless to say, those working in the industry have to constantly upgrade their skills and knowledge base to keep up with emerging trends.

The output? Cyber hotels in Hospitality Management Schools!!!

In a nutshell, these are spaces where the latest technology is made available to students of hospitality courses so that they can, in essence, be better prepared for what technology awaits them in the real world.

Of course, not all schools have these facilities and Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa’s students are a privileged lot that can avail of the school’s up-to-date equipment and infrastructure that enables them to learn how to track and interpret changing customer behaviour using tools such as webmetrics and web analytics. Students thus become proficient in using tools for business mapping processes, decision theory and critical path analysis, or market research modeling.

So, big deal – you might be thinking?

But what if, you had to service a customer using a Smart Card, and you had no idea how it worked.

Might be wishing at that point that your school was more hands-on eh?

So, if you want that tech-advantage over others in the field of hospitality management – you know where to find it!

RN Nursing Club Members Laura Beattie, Zoe Spyralatos, and Carrie Ludwig selling baked good to support the Roswell Park Breast Cancer Resource Center

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the newly elected President of the Trocaire College Student Association. My name is Amanda Tredinnick. I am a full-time third semester RN student. I am also a mother of two, and I work in the Palisano Learning Center as a Peer Tutor for Med Essentials 1 & 2. I am very excited to have been elected into this position, and I look forward to working my hardest to represent the students’ voices at Trocaire. 

There have been some changes in officer positions for this year, but the majority of the students elected last year are still on the board. 

The officers are listed as: 

President: Amanda Tredinnick 

Vice President: Lila Ahmed 

Vice President: Chris Kopera 

Vice President: Lakeisha Page 

Secretary: JoAnne Batugowski 

Secretary: Kimberly McQueary 

Treasurer: Jessica Brown 

We also have several students that are going to be representatives for their title, such as an Evening Student Rep, Multi-cultural Rep, Traditional Student Rep, Non-Traditional Student Rep and even a Single Parent Rep. We even have reps for our Transit Road location, The Russell J. Salvatore School of Hospitality & Business. 

Some of our officers will have their picture taken and posted on the TV screens in the Trocaire hallways by the front door as well as the cafeteria. This way, we can be better identified for students or faculty. 

There are several issues that we plan on addressing and hopefully resolving this year as well as some fun activities planned. Just a few are: 

• IT and Computer Issues
• Parking at Lorraine Academy Elementary
• Smoking & The Grounds
• Better communication of upcoming events and changes at the school

There are some exciting activities coming up for students to take full advantage of… 

• We had our Student Association Dance at the Pearl Street Grill on November 20th. Food, Dancing, and basket raffles made for a wonderful evening.

• There are plans to have more free lunches provided by Student Activities

• A Family Appreciation Day. Fun for the whole family!!!!

Trocaire Student Association Meetings are held once a month and are open for any student to attend. There will be fliers posted around the campus as well as notices sent out online and posted on the TV’s in the hallways. 

I hope that we can all work together to make this a great and successful year. 

Thanks,
Amanda Tredinnick – Student Association President

Let me first give you a little background on the necessity to address this issue. In the last couple of months, I experienced quite a bit of grief from some who felt that I had betrayed a small business owner. For some reason the people felt that because I am black, the only business I frequent should be black owned businesses.

 Admittedly, I have no problem supporting black owned businesses. I think it’s fair to say that most people are biased at some point in time towards the places they choose to do business with. People normally gravitate towards who or what they’re familiar with. So with that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that more whites support white owned businesses, blacks more black owned businesses, and asians more asian owned business. But I haven’t actually done the research to support that statement, because this isn’t the problem I have.

 The greatest issue I have is when I’m expected to support a lower-quality business, all in the name of staying black. Let me be perfectly clear, and I hope this does not sound negative, but “The only business I support is good business!“ If doing business with a black owner is comparable to doing business with a white one, I will do my best to support the black business. But a line has to be drawn, when expectations are built on the idea that I should patronize a black owner, despite his/her ability to deliver quality goods and/or services to compliment it.

 As an entrepreneur, I expect people to utilize my services because they are of superior quality, not because I want them to pity me or because I’m black and they can identify with me. I want them to know that they are getting the best they can afford and if I can’t deliver, I welcome suggestions for improvement. Now, I can understand that many small start-up businesses don’t have access to capital to allow them to necessarily compete with well-established businesses. But it’s for that reason that when you consider opening a business, you create a business plan and hopefully it will include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats) analysis, so you can adequately recognize your weaknesses and properly address them or at least use your strengths against your adversaries.

For example, maybe you’re a small business owner who doesn’t have enough capital to do a huge advertising campaign or may not be able to offer the product at the lowest cost. But he/she should work to deliver impeccable customer service, to make up for the price increase. To be honest, I’ve often paid a little more for a product at retailers or restaurants, because I thought the quality service warranted the price. But I think it’s unreasonable to ask someone to support their businesses strictly on the principle of them being a certain race.

 No matter how you look at it, great business is great business. And just like love, it doesn’t come in a specific color. Realistically, you will never win over every customer, but that shouldn’t hinder you from always striving to.

For those in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors, the next 75 days are surely exciting and nerve wracking.  Hundreds of thousands of guests will descend on Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler and everyone will be spending money.  How will you serve them?  What will you do to standout?  What if it’s too busy and you can’t handle the rush?

In 2002 I was so fortunate to help manage a Roots store in Park City Utah during the Olympics.  This retail location (1 of 5 in the area) was small, under 1500 square feet, but due to a smash hit product; we had lineups of about 500 people waiting to get into the store from 10am daily until close at midnight.  The store was processing over 5000 shoppers each day, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in receipts, which lasted for more than two weeks!  How did we manage all those shoppers and what did we do to make the Olympic spirit come alive?

1. We made it Fun!  Since 300 to 500 people were standing outside at any given time, in the cold, we decided to make it enjoyable. Using a bullhorn we told jokes, sang songs, and handed out hot chocolate.  I would page lost shopper “Hugh Jass” or announce that the Official Olympic Thong underwear had sold out.  Sure it’s sophomoric and off-color, but people loved it.
2. We Celebrated being Canadian.  Since the store was sort of a beacon for Canadianness we embraced it.  We taught Americans how to speak Canadian: add eh to the end of your sentence, how to pronounce toque, what a toboggan is.  Again, you may think that’s sophomoric and stereotypical, but visitors told us repeatedly that our store was a highlight of their Olympic experience.
3. Put Athletes First. If an athlete came by we went out of our way to let them know how much we admired their competition at the games.  We invited them into our store, gave out gifts and made a fuss over their families.  I heard at other venues athletes were shutout and/or families were given a hard time. Why?  Isn’t the whole point of the games ultimately for the athletes?
4. Innovate, Innovate, Innovate.  Our smash hot product was a hat. We were selling tens of thousands of units daily. There was a no-fly zone around Salt Lake for private aircrafts, so we hired a Learjet and packed it full of Garbage Bags filled with hats (you can’t put boxes on a Learjet, the small fuselage limits capacity, but you can stuff it full of bags). We landed the Learjet 2 hours north of Salt Lake in Ogden Utah and trucked the bags of hats in after midnight. It worked very well.
5. Acknowledge screw ups, apologize and move on.  If something goes wrong, and it usually will when you’re trying to host a world class event with hundreds of thousands of guests, then just apologize and move on.  People are amazingly forgiving but hate to be ignored.

That’s it. Have a terrific Olympic Games and remember to have fun.

Welcome to our blog about Cafes and service in Whangarei, New Zealand. Each week we will feature a different local Cafe and express to you our scintillating insights and opinions. The measure for our little foodie project is always The Breakfast. Partly because it is the “most important meal of the day” but mainly because we like eating it, and we figure we can be more objective on a (theoretically) empty stomach. One of us always orders the typical “Big Breakfast” – not out of any scientific practise, more out of habit – and the other orders a variable item from the menu, so our readers (hah!) should be able to have a standard measure across town plus get a little bit of insight as to what local cafes are offering that’s slightly different. We think it’s only fair to warn you that we are extremely fussy people that notice all the little details – and the big ones! – and eateries will not only be judged on their food, coffee, service and value, but also food presentation, decor and cleanliness.

The car was bigger than I expected.  A Kia Pride, the hatchback version.  It actually had a rear seat, amazingly, that a grown man could sit in with relative comfort, even if only for a short time.  Better than the Daewoo Matiz or Kia Morning we had originally reserved: I’ve seen Jazzy scooters with more crash protection.  Still, when your face is at bumper height for a tractor trailer, the Pride’s little 1.5-liter engine doesn’t inspire too much confidence in your ability to escape impending vehicular doom.

The pride of Kia.

Still, the Pride served our purposes fine.  It handled the Gyeongbu Expressway well, even in the driving rain, and was remarkably fuel efficient.  I calculated the turbodiesel engine as getting somewhere in the realm of 39 miles a gallon, a combination of highway and city driving.  Acceleration was sharp and sudden once you depressed the pedal past a certain point.  No cruise control, unfortunately, which would have helped immensely with the plethora of speed cameras on Highway 1.  Still, certainly more enjoyable than driving a big Kia Carnival.

The Gyeongbu Expressway was socked in with rain and fog.  We saw signs for cities but even the giant apartment buildings, stretching off to the distance like a crop of steel and concrete, were invisible.  Just lots and lots of rice fields and wooded mountains, with old farm buildings here and there, with white walls stained with dirt and old-style traditional tile roofs.  Kia Bongo trucks were parked here and there on narrow one-way roads that divided the rice fields, while the farmers went mucking out in the sopping-wet, harvested fields.

When we got to Gyeongju our little excursion took an unexpected turn.  Chris was at the wheel, maneuvering through the streets.  I was on the lookout for a hotel or yeogwan for the night.  As we turned down a narrow one-way street, really no more than an alley, a man tapped on our window.  He said something to Chris, who told me, “He says we’ve got a flat tire.”  The Korean word for puncture sounds like “pong-kuh,” which registered in Chris’ mind enough to make him take a look at the tire.  We pulled over into a side alley and got out to assess the damage.  The right rear tire was indeed flat.  How long it had been down was unclear.  It hadn’t blow out, though, which was a good thing.  We were parked in front of a yeogwan, which has basic rooms where you can spend the night sleeping on a heated floor.  The old man stood under his umbrella and gestured for us to get the car out of the alley way.  So we pulled over into his parking lot.  He stood there watching us as we examined the tire.

I found a shim of metal, perhaps aluminum, that was sticking out of the tire, air hissing from the hole.  Where had we run over it?  On some side street?  Whatever the case, it wasn’t usable in its current state.  We decided to see if we could change the tire.  Thankfully, the Hertz rental office kept the spare in decent order, although judging by the employees there, I doubt any of them had ever examined it before.  The spare had certainly never been used.  Chris had never changed a tire, so it was up to me to get us mobile again.

“You always said you like it when things go wrong when you travel.  You just got your wish,” said Chris.

I was eating it up, I must admit.  I try to prevent the worst from happening but, for some reason, when it does, I get kind of excited.  So I got out the jack and its requisite parts.  We couldn’t figure out where to put it, though.  I couldn’t get the jack to work underneath the car, on the frame next to the wheel, but I did manage to jack the car up plenty high by fitting the notch in the middle onto what, in retrospect, was some sort of towing bar in the rear.  The last tire I changed (and only in practice at that) was on my old 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis.  The Beast’s jack had fit into a notch on the solid steel bumper and my mind for one reason or another concluded that was the logical place on the Kia as well.  We later discovered that, amongst the Arabic instructions on the jack, there was a a diagram indicating that we were to place it in front of the wheel, on the right outer side of the car.  Oh well.  Our way worked all right.  Chris stood over me with an umbrella as I tried to keep the poorly-fitting jack pieces from coming undone.  Little by little, the jack eased the car upward until the rim was no longer squashing the tire.  I then attacked the flat, trying to look like a pro.

The only issue was that the lug nuts wouldn’t come off.  I don’t know what mechanic last touched the wheel but he’d got those lug nuts on there so tight they wouldn’t budge even a millimeter.  Chris does karate and is stronger than I, but even he couldn’t loosen it.  With his last hard pull, he even managed to knock the little car off of the jack stand.  Great.

The old man was back now, watching us like a very judgmental hawk.

“There’s no way we’re getting that off,” I said.  “We need to find a mechanic to help us take it off.”

“Yeah, but what about our insurance on the car?  We might void it if we try to fix things ourselves.  Hertz might have to send someone,” Chris said.

That was true.  I had no idea of knowing if that was the case, though.  The rental agreement was completely written in hangeul.  So we had to give our boss, Jae-mo, who helped us rent the car, a call.  But we still needed to explain to the old man what the deal was.  He wasn’t happy that we were blocking his already-cramped parking lot.  Chris raised our friend Jihyun on the phone and she, like a saint, translated our predicament to him.  Surprisingly, he wasn’t mad.  We could keep the car there as long as we wanted . . . so long as we were staying at his little hotel.  Fine, we could work with that, we decided.  It ended up being ridiculously cheap, about 25,000 won per night.  We got the car into a parking space, thankfully without destroying the tire by riding on the rim.

But Jae-mo was out of touch.  We waited and waited.  No reply to either calls or text messages.  We ate samgyeopsal (fatty bacon barbecue) at a local restaurant, a little family run affair.  Soju and beer washed away our concerns with the car.  Still no word from Jae-mo.  We’d have to fix it in the morning.

We set out into the clear and cold of the next day determined to find a tire shop.  The tire wasn’t severely damaged, just one tiny slit; if we could patch it properly and the patch held, Hertz would never know the difference.  We found one gas station but, despite the cars parked outside the garage doors, they apparently didn’t fix tires.  The man inside the office pointed us up the road.  After about a half kilometer walk, we found a tire store, right at the corner where we’d turned the night before.

I delivered my rehearsed line: “Tah-i-oh eh pong-kuh nassayo.”  Language classes don’t typically give you vocabulary for dealing with vehicular predicaments, so I was thankful I’d found my lost phrasebook in my backpack.  The fellow who greeted us was all smiles and bows and seemed to understand, but he brought over his partner, another young guy.  He knew a few words of English but not much.  I tried to explain again and point out the location of the car.  I even whipped out the business card of the hotel.  There was confusion as to why we needed help though.  He understood “puncture” or “pong-kuh,” and seemed to reply with something to the effect of “Put the spare on.”  Well, yes, of course.  But how could we explain lug nuts and that they were too tight?  Neither guy seemed to understand.  Finally, Chris got down next to another customer’s car and pantomimed the difficulty of getting the nuts off.  They seemed to get it then.  They conversed and one got in his car for some reason.  The first bows-and-smiles fellow brought us some instant coffee from the push-button machine in the office.  We were all grinning about the situation.  They found it kind of amusing, actually.  I’m sure they were thinking, “How did this foreigners get a car and why are they in Gyeongju in December?”

The second fellow pulled his own car up next to the office door and said something quickly.  I only picked out “han myeong,” and realized that he probably saying one of us should ride with him to work on the Kia.  So I hopped in his sweet ride and we took off roaring through the streets of Gyeongju.  And by roaring, I mean more in a sonic way than in reference to sheer speed.  His car had fancy rims, an airfoil, and a loud, rattly ‘glass-pack muffler that seemed about to bounce off.  Fancy racing-style seats and instrument display rounded out the interior.  Brown-Eyed Girl’s latest single, “Sign,” was blaring from his audio system.  I knew some of the words of the song and he thought it hilarious that I could sing along with it.  As he took off quickly into traffic, whipping a u-turn in the middle of the street, I realized that some things are the same everywhere.  Whether it’s America or Korea, young guys at service stations in small towns will always pimp out their cars with ridiculous accessories.

His method for fixing the spare I would have never thought of, mainly because of the probability of mucking the whole thing up.  To get the lug nuts off, he put the wrench on, then braced himself on the roof and jumped on the wrench.  Sure enough, that did the trick.  He apparently didn’t worry about whether that could mess up the wheel.  Thankfully for my rental agreement with Hertz, it didn’t.  Soon the spare was on and I followed him up and down one way streets through Gyeongju, barreling down the middle of roads and dodging delivery scooters, back to the tire store.  They quickly patched the tire and even put all of the jack equipment back in the proper cases.  We insisted on paying them for their efforts but they refused.  Free tire change, it said on the sign.  We insisted twice but they wouldn’t accept.  Even after they’d used their own gas to drive to our car.  It was true hospitality, both of the rural and Korean variety.  Never have I ever met any people who are so enthusiastic when it comes to service.  They never get tipped in this country, but they (at least seem to) enjoy serving you all the same.

So if you ever happen to have a flat in Gyeongju, check out the tire center (I believe it’s Hankook) on the way into town from the museum.  It’s about a block or two before the railway station.  They are great guys, really and truly.  And even though Chris and I couldn’t have a conversation with them, all of us managed to express ourselves.  Language is a barrier indeed.  But sometimes, when you realize it’s pointless to try and climb that wall, laughs, smiles, and charades will get you a lot further.

One morning when everything was going well, I get this phone call from Mr Fitchell. Now it only takes one bad egg to ruin the batch, and it was no different today. You can receive 100 compliments and it makes you feel good. That warm feeling inside, that internal pat on the back. BUT… it doesn’t last all day. Now,  you can receive ONE complaint and it will ruin you for the WHOLE day. Dunno how that works. OK, sorry, back to the story.

Let me paint Mr Fitchell for you. Mr Fitchell is one of those guys who travels around with his mistress and thinks he’s a-bit-of-a-high-roller. With his snout in the air as he walks past you. Just acknowledging you with “the glance”, emotionless. You know the one.

OK, OK, getting back to the phone call. “I WANNA SPEAK TO THE MANAGER”! he blasts through the phone.

Me: Good morning Mr Fitchell. Yes, you can speak to me, how may I help you?

Fitchell: This room must the noisiest room I have EVER stayed in, and what with the blinds? (new blinds), and this bed is just terrible, two singles stuck together, don’t do that, don’t do that! I have stayed at hotels all over the world (heard that one before?) and this must be the worst! When I stay in hotels we usually get upgraded, don’t you ever do that? We are never staying here again!

Me: I am so sorry to hear that Mr Fitchell (trying to sympathise) I could look at moving you to another room if it wouldn’t be too much of a convenience for you.

Fitchell: NO!

Me: Well, if there is anything I can do for you please let me know and I would be more than happy to sort that out.

Fitchell: “Hangs up”

Now, this guy usually tags along with Mrs Town. She uses the room for displaying clothing garments and I usually throw in the luggage rack for free. She has never complained about anything, she is lovely and sweet and a pleasure to have around the hotel. On the other end of the spectrum we have this guy and has the audacity to start grilling me about everything and anything which I knew for a fact that she would be fine about everything. I honestly think he had pre-written this list. This list that he was reading back to me vehemently.

As  they were checking out he was still going on about “the list” saying they were never going to stay here again. She was giving me a look as if she was saying “I am so sorry for this guys behavior”. I like to think she was thinking “man this guys an idiot, why is he making a fool out of himself and me! And this charming man is taking all of it on the chin”.

So…guess who I received a call from the other week? You’d like to think Mr Fitchell wouldn’t you? No, it was Mrs Town. And she was lovely. I checked her in a week later…without the tag along. Phew.

According to conventional wisdom, businesses must offer something unique in order to compete successfully, the rub is that this task is becoming more difficult as products and services become more similar. The only solutions, this line of thinking continues, are to differentiate your offerings through branding and the communication of emotional values or to completely change your industry’s rules.
While there is some truth in each of those assertions, I belive they have been overstated and over generalized and have distracted firms from listening to their customers and consistently delivering on the basics. What customers want is not more differentiation but products and services that are simply better at providing generic “category benefits”-those routine benefits customers expect to get when they make a purchase. Failure at this, is one of the prime contributiors to today’s continuing high levels of customers dissatisfaction. The good news is that this dilemma presents a low-risk, high-return opportunity for most businesses-provided top executives buck their conventional wisdom and rethink what people really want from a product or service.

One Week to Christmas Day

Hi, I’m Ginger Gingerbread-Man, and my search during the holiday season is to find ways to keep those good Christmas feelings all year round.

Today was a special one, for me and for the youngsters at the Gingerbread Daycare Center.

They welcomed me as I came in, and they gripped my hands closely until I sat down with them.

I told them stories about the festive season, and how important gingerbread is to Christmas celebrations.
I reminded them about how the aromas and tastes of spicey gingerbread keep folks’ Christmas memories and feelings fresh all year round.

Mostly I explained to them about the twin spirits of Hospitality and Giving.
I explained how making batches of gingerbread cookies are part of both Hospitality, when we welcome guests with food, and also Giving, when we experience abundance through our generosity.

Meeting these young gingerbreads today gave me a chance to make me feel good about Christmas all over again, and to pass on those good feelings to them.
Sometime in the future, these youngsters in their turn will pass on those good feelings about Hospitality and Giving to other young gingers.
I think that teaching children about the things that are important to us is another way we can keep the good feelings of Christmas alive all year round.

It’s been a long day!
See you tomorrow, – Ginger

Every guest who comes to Arabian Nights Dinner Show has a completely different perspective than those of us who are involved in planning, producing and executing a flawless show. However, our amazing performances are just a part of the show production. There are many unsung heroes who work very hard to ensure that the magical nature of the show draws smiles and awe from the crowd.

Seamstress Ella Ovchinnikova adds her “magical touch” by applying glitter by hand to a skirt used in the Winter Wonderland act.

Preparation for the Arabian Nights Holiday show begins more than 6 months prior to the opening night for the production.  Costumes are conceptualized and designed long before the show rehearsals begin to ensure that the performers and horses create the mood and characters envisioned by our Director.

Costuming is an integral part of any musical production and the Arabian Nights Holiday Show is no exception. With more than 13 distinct types of costumes featured in the Holiday Show—and several variations of each costume for men and women—the task of creating the costumes is as daunting as it is magical.

The Costume and Cosmetology staff at Arabian Nights works feverishly for weeks to design, build, modify and sometimes rebuild costumes that must not only look amazing, but be functional for performers riding horses in a variety of acts. Anthony Figueroa and seamstress Ella Ovchinnikova designed and built the majority of the costumes featured in the show.

Some of Arabian Nights’ costumes have multiple components, such as wings, headpieces, special shoes or removable parts that allow performers to do a variety of different stunts and riding maneuvers throughout the show—and all costumes must be easy to change in and out of between acts!

There is nothing we can’t design and create at Arabian Nights Dinner Show—we have an unlimited supply of fabrics, accessories and tricks up our sleeves.

When all is said and done, there are more than 60 unique costumes featured in the Arabian Nights Holiday Show, and this year alone we’ve added 20 new costumes designed for the Winter Wonderland spectacle and Blizzard acts in the show.

The Arabian Nights Holiday Show offers nightly performances from November 24, 2009 through January 3, 2010. To learn more about Arabian Nights Dinner Show, visit www.Arabian-Nights.com or buy your tickets online at tickets.arabian-nights.com.

About Arabian Nights Dinner Show

Arabian Nights is an exciting dinner show located in Orlando, Florida, that brings a fairy tale to life on horseback—featuring beautiful horses from around the world, showcased in the world’s largest indoor equestrian arena for a permanent show.