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.

The Reason...

During the summer of 2009, I traveled to Vietnam with 39 Vietnamese American young adults. Was it a mission trip? some people called it that when I explained what we did -- we helped build houses, water resevoirs, and digged wells (notes the word "helped" because that was all we really did - helped! and most of the time we didn't really finish the job -  we started and left the rest to them) - hung out with orphans and played with them. For me though it was a learning trip. I learned so much about my country through this trip.

I was born and raised in Vietnam but I was very sheltered. I lived with my mom in a small village in the south until I was 11 and except for traveling to Hue (central of Vietnam) to see family once a year we NEVER EVER went anywhere else. At the age of 11, I was sent to a convent where everything happen within the walls of THE CONVENT -- so in short, I was born and raised in Vietnam but I knew nothing about Vietnam.  So I joined the group in hope of learning a little more about my country and my people. Within 4 weeks, we traveled (by bus, plane, canoe, etc.) from one end of Vietnam to the other. Within 4 weeks we slept in 5 stars hotels (or was it 4?) to hard dirt floor packed with mosquitoes. Within 4 weeks, we laughed and we cried. Within 4 weeks --- well, I experienced and learned many things! :) and the things I learned have changed my life and will forever stay with me.



You see that little rod next to the canoe? That's what's people use as a bridge to cross but we coulnd't do it so they had to put the canoe there for us to walk over!







Looking at us from her house - amused :)





Collecting dirt to build a foundation



Creating a frame for a new house




Ok so we gave them lollipop - I know it's the worst thing to give to them because they don't have any kind of dental care but yeah it lits their face up so fast!!!!!






A hot pot meal after a hard day of work :) Yummy!!





This is one of the many MANY hot pot meals were served to us during this trip. We had it for dinner almost nightly and sometimes for lunch. So I started to miss it when I got back to Hawaii. I made it at home, I asked Jimmy's mom to make it for me and oh -- Jimmy's dad LOVES hot pot he said he can eat it everyday without getting tired!!! and so to ensure he could have access to hot pot anytime he like he has been one of our greatest supporter!! hehehe just kidding - he loves us!!  - Oh so the possibity of having access to hot pot everyday (cooks by Jimmy's mom?) and the possility of making some money on the side! I jumped at it. I started to convince Jimmy to jump in with me then we convinced Jimmy's mom, then she in turn convinced her friend - and so we got everyone on board! yay!!! :) So the birth of Hot Pot Heaven

Hot Pot Heaven

Hot Pot Heaven has been opened for almost three months and I have been wanting to start this blog since the very beginning but stress and the craziness of having a full time job and running a restaurant kept me from starting it until now. Things have been settled down a bit since we have a great teams to help us - these people are friends, family, and my past students. I will introduce them later in my blog - because each of them deserve a full post for themselves. They are the reasons why Hot Pot Heaven is running at this time.....

My boyfriend, Jimmy Tran, and I own this place. I will be writing this blog though I am not a native speaker like Jimmy. But he refused to help me. He said he hates writing (but you will see - one day I will make him write :)  I was born and raised in Vietnam. I came to the U.S. in 1999 when I just turned 16 so please excuse any mistake I made here and try your best to comprehend, ok?  :)

There are a few reasons why I want to start this blog. First, I hope it will help me release some stress. Second, I hope that Jimmy and I will later use it to reflect on our journey and make appropriate changes to improve Hot Pot Heaven. Last but not least, for any young people who are inexperience (LIKE US) and want to open a restaurant can have some sort of ideas (because Jimmy and I had NO IDEA) of the kind of hard work involve in running a restaurant.

Already, it's late and I am sick so I will try to get some sleep! Good night!