A Sea of Pizza!

Ralph made this pizza and it was sooo good! I told him he should do it for a living!
Also, we are waiting for the registration of our business to become a reality...  soon I'll be moving down to Richmond for good.
I'm looking for an apartment, but I'm not too worried, because there are plenty of places to choose from, even though some are too expensive for my taste.  I found apartmentrating.com and it is been very helpful!  A place that is cheaper than the others, has only a 25% positive reports.  But I guess like everything, there is something good and something bad in every place...

To Richmond!

I'll be on my way to Richmond tomorrow.  We'll meet with the lawyer next week, to form the company and to finally get all legal to do the next steps...  I've been sick and busy, but mostly sick.
I'm certainly looking forward to this adventure.

Looking forward!

There is a list of things to do.  We need to get permits, licenses, certifications, estimates, revisions, check ups, legalizations, and everything else that anyone needs to get the ball rolling and open the café...  so far, things are looking good.  We need first to get the "OK" from an expert in restaurants to approve or tell us what do we need to do extra to the place we found, to bring it up to code.  Every time I talk so someone, they ask me other things, like for example: "is your menu already done?" ...  I mean, we have a very detailed lineup for what we'll have on the menu, but it is something that can change slightly and will change according to the demands of Richmond's clientele.  I am a firm believer that each place has its own identity, and my experience is more "New York" based... I'm very much looking forward to find out Richmond's own!

Feeling sick

I feel awful!  Perhaps is the fact that I hate my job more and more everyday...  I am so looking forward to get to RIchmond and start the new café...  There are a million things that I rather be doing, like getting in contact with companies and people that will be useful to us on the new café!  As one of the most important things, we need a cleaning company that has special high power cleaning, to make sure everything is as clean as it will ever be. I do have the "before" pictures, but I'm really looking forward to the "after the cleaning" pictures.  there are so many things that have to be done!
Still no coffee yet...  I woke up late.

The Cheesecake Factory

Yesterday I went to visit a friend in Long Island, and we went for a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  The food was pretty good, but the portions were way too big!  I couldn't finish my Caesar's Salad, even though My intention was to eat not too heavy so I could try the desserts.  I tried their "special", which was 2 red velvet layers, 2 layers of their classical cheesecake with creme cheese icing and white chocolate shavings, served with a very good whipped creme.  I regret not taking my camera with me, so I could show you, but in any case, you can check it out at their website.
That was pretty good...  but I have to admit, last week I had an incredibly good cheesecake at a local diner, and honestly I have to become friends with the manager to find out where do they make it.  If it is not made "in house" then I have to find out who makes it and bring it to Richmond to our place!  It is really really good!
And continuing with the lease of the place, we are getting a pretty good deal, but before we sign anything, we are bringing the Health Inspector to check out the place and tell us in what condition it is to run it as we want.  We think that everything needs a very deep great cleaning, but of course we are not experts on all the necessary details  to bring it up to "code".   Everyday I see so many things to do!!!  But we are very optimistic, I'm sure we'll do a good thing.
Update on the coffee: Since I work at home, I can't really go out while I'm on my shift, so, no coffee today.  And 2 of my visitors told me that Starbucks is not all what people say...  I'll keep you informed.

Meeting legality

I'm on my way to see my friend who is a lawyer, I need to ask her a couple of questions about the business.  I don't know if she'll be able to help me too much, since she is a criminal lawyer.  But I guess she'll tell me what would be a crime!
It is an exciting thing we are doing.  I got an answer and this blog is in the Richmond VIrginia Blogs.  I totally believe that bloggers have the inside scoop of many things related to the city they write from.  I already read some of them and I liked them.  I have to explore more.