Parking

I guess I am in a blogging mode :) or it could be that I am trying to show off to you some of the pictures I took of a little wildflowers I found while walking from my car to the restaurant. Today was my day off. I was going to stay home and hang out with my sister's family and eat some yummy food but I had to go to work because one of my workers called in sick. Don't get me wrong - I love working at the restaurant and always feel happy to be there but spending quality time with the family is great and also a must! so yes, I was a little sad but after finding a pretty good parking spot today then I found this little flowers - it's so pretty and instantly, I felt happy!

I love these wildflowers - especially the one that are lonely :)  I don't know why but I have this special fondness for the one that grow in hard rock, dry soil .....




...... and can still be so vibrant and pretty!


so to connect this with Hot Pot Heaven I thought of writing about parking at McCully Shopping Center.

Everyone hates the parking situation at McCully Shopping Center - that including customers and employers/employees. The customers hate the parking situation because it's always crowded - especially during lunch and dinner hours.  Us, employers/employees hate it because we can't park in the complex! Our car is on the blacklist so if we parked there - they will tow us. So we have to find parking in the neighborhood. There were times when I had to drive around for 15-20 minutes and still no parking  - and this was what happened to our cook once. She drove around for almost 20 minutes and couldn't find parking. Scared that there would be customers waiting for her cooking, she took the risk and parked in the McCully complex! well - after finished cleaning up and ready to go home for the day at 1:30 in the morning -  her car was no where to be found! The security then told us, "it was towed". Jimmy and I took her to some place in Sand Island Road Access to get her car back. $175 was wasted and we didn't get home until 3:00 A.M. - to this day she is still sad about it and we still tease her whenever we see "the security" - it always makes us laugh. Well, thanks God it's all better now. We now all know what to do so we usually finished by midnight  rather than 1:30 in the morning and our cook now walks to work. She lives about 15 minutes walk away and Khanh Son gives her a drive home afterward.

... and for me, I have been trying to make light of the parking situation.
1. Our loyal customers are aware of the parking situation and so they come earlier or later in the night.  First, they don't have to worry about finding parking and second they don't have to wait for a seat at Hot Pot Heaven. Oh, you don't know how grateful I am for this because I get so nervous when our regulars have to wait - I usually run to the kitchen and hide in there until I can go out and tell them they can sit now.  It's also good because when they come in during slow hours,  we can give our loyal customers better service and time to talk to them. Plus, it makes them feel good that they can help us during slower hours.
2. It's a good exercise for me to walk from and to the car (though most of the time, Jimmy moves the car for me at night so I don't have to walk in the dark - yes, he is very thoughtful :) Lucky me!)
3. I get to see the pretty wildflowers along the way (just like the above pictures).
4. The staff at Hot Pot Heaven always talk about who get the best parking spot of the day and how they race to compete for a parking spot with other workers at other restaurant. We always get a good laugh out of it. Just a funny story - one time, Khanh-Son, our best fridge filler - and the prettiest girl in the kitchen (she said that herself), asked me if I could take her to her car because she parked very far that day. As we walked to the sidewalk she said, "oh, look like I gotta take you because I am right here" then laughed her head off! Yes, she found a prime spot that day and just wanted to tease me!

It's almost 1 A.M. - time for bed! Good night!

Another try ...

I can't believe it has been almost 6 months since I started those first posts - I was very inspired then and wanted to write nightly but I failed so miserably. I will make it a goal now to write weekly.
So many things have changed since the last time I posted and I am glad most of them are good things.  First, Hot Pot Heaven is now running smoothly and everyone that works at the restaurant are now knowing exactly what to do – it’s a big step consider none of us was working in a restaurant before. We are now also having a regular customer base. Whenever I walk into the restaurant I for sure would be able to recognize customers at 7 out of the 11 tables that we have. Thank you for the wonderful support everyone. Second, Jimmy’s mom isn’t overworked anymore! When we first opened, she worked 24/7. Jimmy and I are both very glad for it. Last but not least, Jimmy and I are now engaged! The restaurant somewhat helped us solidified our relationship – if we can get through the craziness of running a restaurant together, I think we can run a relationship together J - so we both think.
I will write more about our start up process as we go a long but let me share with you a little about our restaurant through pictures.

The inside: 11 tables total - each can sit 4 comfortably but sometimes we squeeze 5-6 and our customers still gracefully agree





Our money makers: the two fridges - we hope to keep them well stocked at all time but sometimes we get "slam" so hard we we couldn't keep up with the customers - but please feel free to let us know what you need and we will bring it to your table.



The kitchen - this picture was taken on April 9 - after 8 months in operation - I am very very proud to say that we have a very clean kitchen - thanks to our staff who scrub the floor every single day - with soap then clorox.

Except for the vegetarian and beef broths - the base for all of broth is freshly stewed chicken broth - which is stewed nightly!

Our cleaned and dried color plates - ready for use

Another thing I am VERY proud of is our bathroom - we are trying our best to keep it clean and neat and PRETTY :)

Clean restaurant, clean kitchen, clean bathroom and YUMMY FOOD - All these wouldn't have been possible without my hardworking staff.  Every single one of them work as if it's their family business. Jimmy and I are very lucky to have such a wonderful staff! Thus, Jimmy and I are trying our best to treat them as family.

Past and present employees - this was at our Christmas party - missing my two nieces.
THANK YOU.