Wed Sept 17

Got back to the island last night. couldn't wait to see the progress so headed downtown first thing. Looking great so far! Ceiling beams are almost finished, ceiling and walls are painted and look really good. It IS more of a greyish color but still like it. Kind of hard to tell in the dim light but so far so good...

Up at 4:30 with brain already racing and more to-do lists forming. Cloudy and slight rain and very muggy. Cleared a little by 5:30 and was a spectacular sunrise. Took a couple hours to get everything unpacked that I brought down and stuff settled into place.

Headed into town with first stop at the golf cart place. Called Sherry first, permits still not approved. Darn. At cart place found out the cart I was wanting to buy was just bought by someone who DID get a permit. WTF? I love my island BUT....

Down to the restaurant. Met with contractor, went over all that had been done while I was gone, told him what a great job he/they were doing, elicited a big smile. He seems like a good guy. And so far has done what he said he was going to do, when he said he would do it and cost same as what he quoted. Rare but much appreciated. Wonder if he knows anything about getting a cart permit? hmmm.....

Met with electrician - going to add some ceiling fans and outdoor post lights. Went over to hardware store to get the materials. Four fans, six post lights, circuit boxes, wiring, switches, etc. OUCH. Hadn't budgeted for that so let's see, where can we cut? I know, I'll pretend like it's lent and give up rum punch from now until NEXT Easter. And who says a person can't live on microwave popcorn? High fiber, no cholesterol - win-win. Should almost cover it. sheesh. Oh well, will look great and add a nice intimate ambiance....

Went in to office to turn in receipts, forgot to get one at hardware store, back to hardware store, back to office to turn it in. Then back home to continue working on menu / ingredient list. Sun out now and turning out to be a great day. Tiny bit of a coolish breeze every now and then so all good.

Note to self: stock up on microwave popcorn. Lots. Already depressed at the thought of a rum moratorium. =(

It's only 11am and feel like I've already put in close to a full day and still lots left to do. Better get to it...

Couple hours working on menu then back downtown to pick up some more stuff. Forgot two interior lights - dang. On the way picked up a couple of chicken tostadas from Celies Deli on Front Street. I love those things. (Couldn't resist, microwave popcorn starts tomorrow). Met with accountant, need to set up credit card processing with the bank. Okay, more copies, more paperwork but has to be done.

Back to condo. Little bit more work then back downtown to check on progress. Ceiling fans up - look great! Couple of post lights up - great also! Okay, this could work...

Stopped in at Greenhouse to pick up some things - in a cooking mood. Great place - kind of pricey but good selection and quality. On the way home remembered that I told Arquel (my fisherman guy) that if he could get some big fat shrimp and some crab I'd buy some. There he was, right in front of Marina's waiting for me. No big shrimp today but he had some great looking crab and pretty nice snapper.

Was wanting stone crab claws but what he had was spider crab. Never heard of it but looked good and smelled really fresh so bought it. He also had some really nice snapper filets so got those also.

He handed me the crab and said it was three pounds. Well, it didn't feel like three pounds. So I went into Marina's and weighed it. One and a half pounds. Went back out and started to chew him out. He was totally taken aback and said, no way, it's three pounds. We both went in and weighed it together.

Guess what? Three pounds. It was one and a half KILOS. Was reading the wrong dial. Oops. Sorry Arquel. Totally negated any bargaining on price position I might have had so apologized, paid, we laughed, all good. Note to self: check dials on scales before lambasting hardworking fishermen. Especially Arquel, hasn't let me down yet.

Back to condo, steaming the crab, need to do a test run on the crab cakes...