How's business? September

We have good days, at least once a week sales top 400 rmb.  Other days I need to stay open until 9 p.m. to bring in the last sales to top 100 rmb.  A few days a week I go home to nap in the afternoon, and then come back in time to relieve the night person who has to go home at 8 p.m. in order to catch the last bus.

On weekends I've begun the practice of coming in at 6 a.m. so that by 10 a.m. we can have baked goods on the shelf.  I don't know that it has been helping, but I think eventually it will pay off.

One good profit maker is 'veggie pie'.  For a late afternoon produce, I'll cook some veggies and wrap them somehow in dough.  I finally found a nice recipe in Rose Beranbaum's book for 'Sicilian vegetable pie'.  I have adapted that, which instructs for one long tube that is sliced at the dinner table.  I use her crust, more or less, and then make wraps three inches long.  I fold them lengthwise and tuck the ends under.

The first time I baked them I foolishly used steam.  They came out dark brown with scorched spots.  Never mind, Tina was on night shift and she sold them.  Customers turned their noses up until she cut one open and gave out samples.  They all sold out.

The next time I did them they were a nice light gold color, favored by the Chinese.  They too sold out.  The first time I used broccoli florets and jerusalem artichokes.  The second time I used the rest of that broccoli with the jerusalem artichokes, without affecting their popularity.

Tina has found her niche as the night person.  She watches the foot traffic outside our windows, and will go out and pull people in.  She is canny, and can sell damaged breads (when Peter rips the tops off by putting the lids on backwards, or I do the same by trying to remove the lid too soon).

I've started making Portuguese Sweet Bread.  Nice.  It reminds me of Pannetone without candied fruit. The recipe says you can put a shaped loaf in the fridge for next-day baking.  I tried that, but had to throw out the unbaked loaves.  The proof box (retarder) I use is cheap.  The bottom tray gets very hot, the top tray is cool.  In other words, it provides very uneven heat.  Those two loaves were on the bottom, and the heat was too intense for them.  Perhaps if I had tried to bake them sooner, it might have worked.  The recipe says they need about 4 hours to warm up before baking them after refrigeration.  These two loaves should have been baked no more than 2 hours after the cold.  Even then, who knows.  Now I will bake four loaves in one day.

In fact, I'm beginning to think that I have too many empty racks, and that is a psychological drag on business.   Either I remove one rack, or better yet, fill them up.  I think I will bake a lot of white bread and put that in brown paper bags and cover the shelves with those.  Then have the actual fresh-baked stuff on the top shelves.  I've been waiting for the money from the States before initiating that plan.  I'll talk it over with my staff and see what they think.

I am discouraged.  Money problems weigh me down.  How to increase sales?  The foreigners in Xin Bei have not caught on to my distribution system.  No one has used it yet, not even my faithful customer Ann Marie.  I think I must make a greater effort this week, to fill that basket again on Friday, maybe even again on Saturday.  I hate to make that trip, and it usually requires me to take an expensive taxi home, but I must do marketing.  Mind you, earlier I said I start work at 6 a.m. on the weekends.  It is difficult, then, to make the long ride north to Xin Bei early enough to be able to catch the last bus home.  Otherwise, I would not have time for a nap.  By 3 p.m. I am usually exhausted.  The question is, is the basket visible?  Has it been moved?  Have the menus and business cards run out?  I need to check these things for myself, no matter the effort.

The one time I did go, with the basket, Xiao Lan accompanied me.  It made the trip much more pleasant, and the weight of the loaves lighter as each of us took a handle.  But we must return to the shop by 5 p.m. when Tina leaves, or the place will be unattended.

Onus of being a company

The paperwork came through fast, once I signed all those papers.  The business visa was issued.  Actually, my passport contains a residence permit, and the stated purpose of my residence is written on there.  I presume it says 'business', though I haven't had it translated yet.

Now for the commercial bank account, and the much needed infusion of cash.

It took over an hour, going from one desk to another and back again, at the bank.  Then we needed to hop on the ebikes and go around the corner to the 'Peoples Bank of China', the equivalent of our Federal Reserve Bank.  Once back to the Agricultural Bank, I finally was given my passport back.  The clerk showed me a blue plastic card I needed, for doing transactions; she tucked it into my passport.  I noticed the large letters in English 'SAFE'. That's about all I saw.  The woman from the agency took control of it before handing me back my passport.

Then they told me there were regulations about how to use the money.  I needed a 'contract' for everything I purchased, not just a receipt.  What?  It was a bank worker who tried to explain to me, the official English speaker in that department.  I had no idea what she was saying.  I asked a number of times for a handout where all these rules were written.  Each time I was more insistent, and finally I was handed a much photocopied document in Chinese.  No English.

Me:  I need to pay back a loan.  What kind of documentation do I need?

Her:  Oh, you can't use the money for your personal needs.

Me:  This money was borrowed in order to rent my office, while I was waiting for these funds to arrive.

Her:  Oh.  [looking at her companion, rolling her eyes, looking up to the left.  A shrug of shoulders]

This is going to be very complicated!  I need to buy that water heater, I need to make improvements in the shop to increase storage capacity, to buy a much needed food processor, you know, personal stuff like that. I am registered as a consultancy, so how can I justify buying flour and any of the above listed things?

The Chinese are so very excellent at fudging all this sort of stuff.  I need to find the right person.  Shirley would have been that person, but now she's gone and opened her own business and is way too busy.  I will just have to keep looking.  I know the Lord will provide me with just the right person.

Candice came to my store yesterday. I taught her often at Web.  She was in the habit of texting me on Skype whenever she found me online.  It became a bother.  Her written English is not much better than her spoken English, which is barely understandable outside of the basic social chats.  I couldn't remember what work she did, but I had a niggling feeling.  So I told her I was looking for an accountant.  She said she was a certified accountant, and would love to help.  Later that day we had a long exchange on Skype texting.  Much of it was unintelligible.  She was trying to tell me how to use my account.  Hence, she is not exactly the right person to explain things to me, but once I understand the rules myself, she may well be able to translate what I want into what needs to be written.  As long as I know my needs clearly, I think she can fulfill them.

I am thinking about scanning the instructions and sending them to Su, the lovely lady at my wine tasting.  She loves translating and interpreting.  She may be willing to translate this document for me.  The obvious question is, why is there not already an English translation?  I think the answer is, there is but it is not widely circulated.  The instructions are in large type and bulleted, covering a little over two pages.

I think I might go to Monkey King and ask Lisa about this.  She surely must have to help Alex do his reports, and her English is quite good.

The other odd thing is that I need to transfer between 100,000 rmb and 101,000 rmb.  Not more, not less.  One Forex website said that equaled $15,831.  Well, but what about fees, and variable exchange rates.  I thought, well, round it off to $16,000 to be sure.  But when I ran that through a Forex converter, it was over the $101,000 limit!

All very interesting.  I remember a favorite expression of my dad's:  Makes you want to shoot your grandmother.  [He never knew his, as she was in Italy, just as I never knew mine because they passed away too soon]

Wine Tasting Evening

It was a long day of baking.  I arrived at six, and worked through until about 3.  Went home for a quick shower and nap, and returned after 5:00.  There were plenty of volunteers to help with the peeling of fruit, cutting of cheeses, and other tasks.  Tina and Peter were off duty, but they insisted on attending anyway.  Ricky came down from downtown a little early and helped supervise some of this.  She is an American whom I recently met.

Tina collected the money for me, and got people to sign in and leave a phone number.

I had hoped for 30 people, in which case I would have brought benches from home and extended the party to the outside.  In the end around 20 people came. It was crowded enough, though in a good way.  The acoustics suck, with such tall ceilings.  I really must find a way to install cheap baffling.

Funny how we only got this picture of the cheese platters before the event.  You can't see much for the shiny plastic wrap. Not of the subsequent photos included any food; only wine and people.

Rachel was working at Web, but her mom and dad came and set up the wines, the glasses, and stayed in the kitchen to serve.  I think her dad (silly, I don't know his name.  Chinese don't use names much) could have livened things up with wine information, but he doesn't speak English.

Xiao Lan is our dishwasher.  On Friday and Saturday she works the night shift, from 12 to 8.  So she arrived at work at noon wearing that pretty dress.  It is her name on my bakery business license.  I now have a second business license, in my own name, but that's another story.  We could not have opened the bakery without her amiable cooperation.

I baked many different kinds of breads, in small batches, hoping to sell some and get people started on new bread addictions.  

I had five kinds of cheeses.  A small round of Camembert and one of brie.  Then a few platters of cubed Ementaler, Edam and a mild cheddar.  I selected a good variety of breads.  I think lean breads go best with wine and cheese, so I had only one enriched bread in the lot.  That was the New York Deli Rye, which has onions in it.  The other breads were pain a l'ancienne, and the rest were sourdoughs.  I had a simple rye sourdough; a sunflower rye sourdough ring; a hardy dense whole wheat sourdough round.

It's just as well I can't find the picture of the sunflower ring.  It's the second time I've made it, and I still haven't got it right.  At least, the appearance is lacking, but not the flavor.

A pregnant couple wanted to come.  They are a lovely young white South African couple who would liven any party.  I reduced her admission price and prepared a special fruit drink for her.  I cut up apples and pears, peeled oranges, and a few slices of an unripe nectarine.  Tina was slicing, and after a few got into the mix she asked me about it.  The remainder of the nectarine went back into the fridge.  To that mixture of sliced fruits we added cinnamon sticks and a few whole cloves.  I covered the fruit with water and let it soak for a most of the day.  When I finally tasted it, it was sour.  I added a dollop of honey, and that did the trick.  It went into the fridge until 7 p.m., when it was then poured into two pitchers.  There were actually two abstaining from alcohol, but as the night wore on more and more people shared in it.  There was still a lot left over.  On Sunday I started work at 3 a.m. in order to prepare some special orders, and drank a whole pitcher of it by myself while working.  It made my body feel great!

South Africa on the left, Australia on the right.

I was pleased that Su and her husband Ge did come.  It took a while for them to integrate into the group, but once they did they fit right in.  They excused themselves a little after nine, and Ricky hitched a ride home with them.  The buses stop running north at 8:45.  Fortunately, it wasn't much out of the way for the couple.  

On Thursday I experimented with baking crackers and bread sticks.  We set them out on display.  The breadsticks sold out, but not the crackers.  I sealed them in a tin overnight, and was able to serve them Friday.  They were a hit.  

In the end, there was a lot of cheese left over, and sliced breads.  The stragglers finally got the signal to move on at 10:45, and I packed them off each single or couple with a sack of leftover cut bread.  No one bought a loaf, and only one couple bought a bottle of wine.

Financially it was disappointing, but it was a social success.  People enjoyed themselves, even suggesting that we do this once a month.  They were not much impressed with the wines, to hear tell. I need not have spent so much money on fine wines.  I could just as easily picked up a selection at Tesco, the evening would have been equally successful.  And I would not now be stuck with a large inventory of expensive wines.  I was forced to buy five cases, and received two more as a gift.   Among 20 people only 10 bottles were consumed.   I thought about doing it again in a month, but it feels more like a party.  So how could I charge people?  Then I realized that if we met at a restaurant we would also have to spend a lot of money.  I could hit on an admission fee that was both reasonable and economically sound for me.

 As I say, there was plenty of cheese left over. 

I'm having to add cheese dishes to use up that cheese.  These two are cheese scones and quiche.  The Chinese do not like the quiche.  They are used to sweet custard tarts which are ubiquitous here in Changzhou.  So they see this and expect it to be sweet.  Another reason is that it is cold.  They don't like to eat cold food.  So I only managed to sell two slices to the rare foreigner who walked in Sunday.  The rest became my meals for two days.

The scones will be no problem to sell, I think, but they only use cheddar.  I must find some use for the Edam.  I did put a notice on our Changzhou ex pat page saying that I'd share cheese with others.  By buying bulk I get a better price and selection than others can get, so I can resell it.  That worked, one person came in and bought 900 gms of Edam, another said she wanted Parmesan.  I haven't bought the latter, though would dearly like to.  Now I am motivated.

Would I do it again?

It will take time to see if as a marketing tool it is effective.  Perhaps I should have done more to encourage them to buy loaves while they were there.  They were in a party mood, not a shopping mood, however.  As for sheer fun, it was well worth all the preparation.  I had a good time.  I am not averse to trying it again in a month.  October 1 is a national holiday, people will be off from work.  Some will try to travel, but other of us more experienced China hands know better than to try to buck the traveling crowds and increased travel prices.  Perhaps it will be a good time to get just a small group together.  So very hard to predict.  Lori will be down from Beijing, staying on my couch.  (I would so love for her to stay in my spare bedroom, but that is now dominated by a 70 pound useless bread slicing machine that the vendor will not take back; but that's another story.) It might be easy to get a bunch to come down and visit with her.  We were a tight group when she worked here in Changzhou.

I don't know if it is difficult or easy to leave comments.  If anyone knows anything about acoustics, I'd appreciate suggestions on how to improve the acoustics in my place, without spending thousands.

exhaustion

Our 'night man' Johnny left to go back to college.  Each of us is having to take turns staying until 8.

It was my turn to stay, on Tuesday.  I had called Su, the wife of that lovely couple I met that night I was stranded outside Metro.  I reminded her of the wine tasting, and suggested she and her husband come, that I'd love for my foreign friends to get to know them.  She said that was the day they were sending their daughter back to college in Beijing, so maybe they'd be tied up.  But she did say she and her husband would like to come visit the shop.  They said they would come one evening.

We find that we do most of our selling in the evening.  Xiao Lan should have finished work at six.  Rachel finished at Web and came down, ready to go.  But her son had come around 5:00, and was playing a computer game.  Six o'clock came and went, and they still hadn't gone.  He was sitting at the selling counter, making it difficult for me to settle down there.  I asked them when they were leaving.  Rachel said they were waiting for their brother to finish his computer game.

I was thinking that I was very tired, and there wasn't that much to sell anyway, and I wouldn't mind closing shop early and going home.  I had brought a book to read, so once they finally left, after 6:30, I read for a little while.  Seven o'clock seemed a reasonable time to 'close early'.

The book, a thin forgettable mystery novel, had me pleasantly engrossed until a customer walked in.  I served the customer, and then Su and her family walked in.  We were talking away, when Jimmy walked in.  Rachel had told him that I needed to turn in my passport on Friday for a new visa, so he came to assure me that his wife would be working at the police station that day.  I introduced him to my new friends.

Other customers walked in, so I served them.  Jimmy chatted with Su's husband.  The family stayed until closing.  There were waves of customers.  I tried my best to keep up.  When Tina balanced the sales log the next day, she said I must have forgotten one sale because there was a 37 rmb discrepancy. Everything sold out, except of course the ciabatta.  One Chinese customer said she'd like to try one, but I told her it was chewy and she probably wouldn't like it.

During the lulls I was able to chat with this family.  They told me that they brought their daughter to meet me because I was an example to the young.  They had been telling her about my story.  She seemed a lovely girl, and expressed interest in hanging out at the bakery next summer to learn baking.

It was past 8 o'clock when the place emptied out.  Weariness swept back over me.  I looked at the sales log, which needed to be balanced.  I opened the cash draw and dropped it in.  I cleaned up the crumbs, put away the remaining three scones, locked up and went home.

I took a Sominex, put in my ear plugs, and lay down for a good night's sleep.

Wednesday was supposed to be my day off.  Rachel was free in the morning, and so we planned to go to Metro together.  I needed help with the heavy bag I'd be coming home with.  This trip was especially to buy the things we'd need Friday at the wine tasting.  Serving platters, cheese and sausage.

Tuesday night Jada texted me.  She had arrived from Shangdong.  After years and years in China, she was finally 'going home'.  A spinster in her 40's, she is from Hawaii.  She looks Asian, being half Filipino and half Chinese.  She has had endless trouble working as an English teacher in China.  One problem was that she didn't look Caucasian.  In some types of schools that's a problem.  Another problem is that she has psoriasis, so she tends to dress funny to hide her peeling arms.  But the biggest problem is her personality.

Back when I worked at Changzhou University we had tried playing badminton together, a game we both wanted to learn.  This lasted quite a few months.  We stopped playing during the summer, because it was just too hot.  We resumed again in the fall.  But on one of the last times we played, I was chatting away, so glad to have someone to chat with.  She admonished me not to talk during the play.

A pity relationship is hard to sustain, of course.  This one finally came to a head, and we agreed not to be friends.  I was relieved.  As time passed I knew I had made the right decision, when I realized I didn't miss her friendship at all.  She was active on Facebook, and so I knew that her contract was not being renewed and she'd need to find a new job.  The job she eventually found took her away from Changzhou.

She continued to text me, with updates on management moves at her new company.  Sometimes I replied, but often there was no response required.  She then began phoning me. Once I answered, but the other times I just let it ring.  I just didn't have the energy to listen to her whiny voice.

I learned through FB that she'd be leaving China, going back to Hawaii.  I think she trumped up some family illness, to keep face.  But I think she was terminally lonely and fed up.  She texted me that she'd be coming to Changzhou to close a bank account and buy dollars.  Her bank was in the same shopping area as my shop, so she said she'd stop in.

The sleeping pill kept me resting until after seven.  I got up, made some oatmeal to take with me (I love it with milk, and there's none home but lots at work), and arrived after 8.  Tina texted me to tell me that my 'Facebook friend' was waiting for me at the shop.

Once at the shop I was kept busy supervising Peter and Tina, eating my breakfast, starting the ciabatta, sorting out the til, and making a list of what we'd need at Metro. In between, I chatted with Jada.

Rachel came, and we headed out to Metro.  It is a long bus ride, with a change of bus.  We finished shopping around 11:30, with a huge Metro bag so heavy that even with the two of us we could barely move it.  No way we could walk all the way to the next bus stop.  We called a taxi, and as luck would have it there was one at the gas station which is at the entrance to the Metro service road.

Once back at the shop I looked at what was being baked and thought it would not be enough if we had traffic similar to the previous night.  I took some sourdough barm out of the fridge, thinking I could begin something for tomorrow anyway.  I made a cheese sandwich.  I used bread we bought at Metro!  I had bought a small loaf of rye bread, to see if I could figure out how it's supposed to taste.  Once the meal was eaten, I realized that the lethargy I'd been feeling since Sunday was still with me, in spite of one good night's sleep.

Thrice weekly I fill a standing order for the German restaurant upstairs for three flavored ciabatta.  Wednesday was a scheduled delivery day.  I had started the ciabatta before going to Metro, and Peter had taken it through the shaping phase.  I had not yet initiated Tina into this process.  Once in the proof box, the ciabatta needed lots of time until it swelled.  Tina saw that I was busy talking with some foreigners that had come in, asking for directions.  She took the initiative to put the ciabatta in the oven, which she had turned on some time earlier in anticipation.

I was unaware of this.  She came to me and mumbled something about steaming the ciabatta.  I said the ciabatta could wait a few minutes.  In a moment the guests left and I walked into the kitchen.

The ciabatta were in the oven!!!  And Tina had not turned on the steam, which can only be useful when done immediately upon putting them in the oven.  By the time she came to ask me, it was already too late, even if I had understood what she had done.

I blew my top.  This is the sort of thing the sweet thing always does.  She wants to be helpful, so she jumps in even if she doesn't know what she'd doing.  The oven temperature had not been turned down when the bread went in, which is supposed to happen as soon as the steam button is released.  But of course, she doesn't know that, because I've been training Peter, not her, in ciabatta making.

I had long ago told her that she needed to be aware of everything going on, so that if one baker gets distracted with other business the dough making that was interrupted wouldn't be ruined.  So she did as she thought she had been told.  I now need to teach her how to interrupt me and remind me what's cooking, and ask for instructions.  Poor girl.  I can't figure it out.  Is it because she isn't quite that bright?

Soon after that I went home.  Yu Xiao Mei was cleaning the house.  I remember this happened last week as well. Fortunately, she had started in the bedroom.  She closes the cats in there while she cleans the rest of the house.  I was able to go in there, close the door, and read until I fell asleep.

I slept a good sleep for a couple of hours, then got up, made a salad and watched a movie.  I had no trouble going right back to sleep at 9 o'clock.

Rachel asked me to dinner at her house on Thursday night, because it was her birthday.  I thought of all the things I had to do to prepare for the wine tasting event on Friday.  Most of all, I needed to get to bed early and get a good night's sleep.  She lives far outside of the city.  I wanted to turn her down, but how could I?  It was her birthday.  She persuaded me that someone would be there with a car and could drive me home.  A number of the other staff and teachers at Web would be there (all Chinese) and they were looking forward to sharing the evening with me.

If only I found it easier to fall asleep in the afternoons, like the Chinese do so easily.  I'm going to have to work harder at getting adequate sleep.  The thing is, it seems to me that soon I shall have to begin work at 6 a.m. so that we can open our doors earlier than 12 noon.  The other thing that needs fixing is the afternoon slump.  There is at least three hours in the afternoon when everyone sits down and plays on their computers. the baking is basically done, and afternoon walk-in customers are rare.

Forming a company

I knew that I needed to file with the city government as a company in order to get a business visa.  I had been to the government office to find out the procedure.  They were very helpful, and along with all the instructions they also gave me the name of an agency whose business is to process these applications.

I had asked Rachel to phone them.  She spoke a long time with them, but she must have been very busy with Web at that time because she did not give me much of a translation about what I needed to do.  She fed me bits and pieces, from which I could not lay out a plan.

Three weeks passed.  It was soon time again to try to renew my Hong Kong obtained tourist visa.

I went to Rachel and explained how time sensitive this whole thing was, and how helpless I felt not being fluent enough in Chinese to do it myself.  She was spurred on to tackle it.  We went in to see the agent, and got the ball rolling.

Two weeks earlier I had requested from my home bank a wire transfer of almost all the money in my US bank account, to carry me over in the bakery until business finally caught on.  I checked once at an ATM machine, and got a strange result.  It looked like too much money had arrived in my account.  Silly me, I did nothing.  Eventually, though, I checked again.  Apparently, the first read out had a computer glitch so that the decimal point was not in the right place.  No money had arrived.

Calling my bank in the States requires careful juggling of time.  They are about 15 hours behind me.  I finally hooked up with them, and asked about my funds.  It took a while to figure it out, but I had made a mistake.  I had looked up the SWIFT code of my bank online, instead of going to the bank and asking them for it.  I confused the Agricultural Development Bank with the Agricultural Bank, and sent the wrong SWIFT code. I held on the line quite some time until my bank managed to track down the funds.  They indeed were in Changzhou, but at a bank where I had no account.  The money would be returned to Seattle, and resent using the correct SWIFT code.

This last phone conversation took place a day before Rachel and I went into the meeting with the agent.  At that meeting I learned that funds transferred from my US account to my private China account would not count.  I had to first open a local commercial account, and then have 100,000 rmb wired into that account from the States.

I juggled the time difference again and called the Seattle bank back.  I asked if the funds had yet been received, they said no.  I then instructed them to hold them in the States until I called back with a different bank account.

That was lucky.  Sending money back and forth obviously includes a lot of fees.  I was relieved that I had stopped the money from bouncing around, generating more fees.  But there still remained a problem.  I was planning to transfer 60,000 rmb.  That left me 40,000 short.  The obvious solution was to find a local Chinese business person, a student of Web, who had that kind of cash in the bank and who was willing  to lend it to me for about ten days.  That was not a pleasant thought.

Amazingly, about two days after I went to the agent's office to sign the papers (no exaggeration, about fifty pieces of paper needed my signature; they don't except photocopies, so eight copies have to all be signed, and there were a few sets of those), they emailed Rachel to say that the Foreign Investment Management office had approved my application.  Now I need only pay the fees and get the gilded certificate, and I can then apply for a business license which I need in hand when I apply for the visa.  Did I mention the current visa expires September 9?  When it was issued I was told that I could not get any more renewals of tourist visa.  It has to be the business visa, or another trip out of the country.

In the end, I find myself short about $4,500.  Doesn't seem like much!  And in fact, if they would allow me to pay the $1,300 fees after I transfer my funds, I'm short even less than that.  It will be interesting to see where those funds come from.  As I say, I only need to hold the money in my Chinese account a few days, long enough for them to verify that it arrived.  Apparently, they don't have a system to continue monitoring it.

My visa expires Sept. 9.  On Sept. 6 I was informed that the business license had been granted, again at lightening speed.  So I took the passport to the police station.  However, I was informed that there was still one document lacking.  I called Su to interpret for me.  Once I discovered the problem, I called the agent I'm paying, and she spoke with the policeman.  We agreed to meet at the appropriate government building.  It was now 3:00, but the offices stay open until 5:30.  We got the missing document, and I tried to speed back to the police station.  However, my ebike was out of juice.  I was not far from the bakery, when I called Rachel and asked if I could swap bikes.  No problem, she said.  My bike died as I reached the bakery door, no exaggeration.  With this bigger, faster back I was back on my way to the police station.  In the end, the application was accepted, and I paid the 800 rmb.  Once it comes back, hopefully on Wednesday week, I will then be able to go to the bank and set up the account, and order the wire transfer.  I thought that I was desperate for that infusion of cash, but actually we've been limping alone fine.  Soon I'll need to buy a water heater, though, as the weather cools.

Have you read 'Poorly Made in China'?  It gives further insight into how appearance is more important than substance, to the Chinese way of thinking.

health inspectors

I look forward to the weekends, because I anticipate foreigners coming into the shop.  This is Tina's and Rachel's day off. On Friday we do all the preferments and other preps, so Saturday morning is easy for me and Peter by ourselves.

But this Saturday we got a surprise.  A Chinese man came in, speaking rapidly.  Peter wasn't up to the translation.  I grabbed my phone and dialed someone who could translate.  This took time.  This man began looking over his shoulder, walking back and forth between me and the front window.

I had called Shirley, who spoke with the man.  Then she told me what was up.  This man was from the sanitation and health department, and he was going around giving folks the heads up that tomorrow official inspectors would be coming around.  Changzhou is once again pushing for the 'civilized city' certification.  I thought they had already received it, so I am puzzled.

Shirley advised me to call Jimmy.  He is the Web student who is a manager in the city's health department.   I explained to Jimmy that his colleague was here, and could Jimmy speak with him.  Then I handed him the phone, and he spoke with Jimmy. After an animated conversation, I once again was handed the phone.  While Jimmy was explaining to me what was going on, the man actually walked outside, looked up and down, and came back in.  I suppose we were detaining him longer than he anticipated, and he was anxious to continue his Paul Revere mission.

The problem was, each worker needed to have a health certificate.  Peter smartly told the man that he left his home. Xiao Lan was the only one who had one, and she wasn't due in for another hour or two.  So we had nothing to show, at all.

On the phone, Jimmy told me to call Tina and tell her not to come into work tomorrow.  He sent Peter home to get a photo (no, Peter did not actually have a health certificate at home).  I had a photo handy, and turned it over to Jimmy.   Peter borrowed my ebike and returned quickly.  Jimmy took our photos and said he'd be back.

Xiao Lan finally arrived while Jimmy was there, and she inserted her little health booklet into the plastic sleeve with the shop's official health/sanitation certificate.

Some foreigners did actually come in.  At the same time Jimmy arrived.  Since neither Peter nor Xiao Lan speak English, I had to speak with the customers.  I explained the products, and eventually got around to talking about the wine tasting.  Eventually they left, and Jimmy asked what they were talking about.  Perhaps he wondered why I ignored him.

Jimmy had with him health certificate booklets for Peter and me.  He slipped them into the plastic sleeve along with Xiao Lan's.  Now we were official, all except for Tina.

Later, when Peter and I were alone, I thought it interesting that he pointed out to me these certificates were 'jia de', or fake.  In stating the obvious, it seems he takes it less in stride than I do.  He is a straight arrow, perhaps more for lack of opportunity than from moral conviction.

The afternoon was slow, so I was thumbing through the recipe book under the sourdough section.  I know people like breads with sunflowers in them, so I was happy to find a rye sourdough sunflower bread.  I got a cup of barm out of the fridge and fed it, and left it overnight.

Sunday came.  We had planned a lot of baking.  Our staffing, though, was slender.  Johnny had finished work with us and headed back to college.  Xiao Lan and her daughter Rachel both take Sunday off, a family day with dad.  We were on a new schedule now, with people taking turns doing a night shift to compensate for the loss of Johnny.  This meant that Peter had a half day today, from 7 to 11.  And now, no Tina.

When I arrived around 8, Peter had the kitchen lit up with energy.  He had two bowls filled with recipe, the oven was baking the cinnamon buns, and the proof box held a couple more bowls.  I wonder if he arrived before seven!  It normally takes the cinnamon buns a couple hours to warm up and rise enough to bake, after taking them out of the fridge.

I was trying different scenarios to get the evening shift taken care of.  Peter must have called Tina, or perhaps she called him to find out what was going on.  At any rate, Peter was unwilling to return in the evening to close at 8.  He wanted Tina to do it.  And apparently, she wanted to do it.  At any rate, Peter left at 11, after making a quick trip to the supermarket across the street to replenish our egg supply.

The day progressed with no inspectors in sight.  So I called Tina and asked her to come in at 5.  I must say, it was a quiet afternoon.  No one came into the shop.  I had not brought my computer.  I had only the cook books to amuse myself.

I did bake the sunflower recipe.  It didn't look much like the book photo!  I did have to improvise some, because the recipe called for a soaker of coarse rye, which I don't have.  So I used some biga from yesterday, and threw in a handful of rye flour.  It is supposed to look like a large doughnut, with a square superimposed on it by pressing down on the dough four lines before baking.  After the fact, I noticed that the instructions direct you to put flour into the lines after you've pressed them, so they won't fill back in.  Mine filled back in.  Also, the center hole I made was way too small, so that it looked like a belly button.  Now, if I can get someone to buy it and let me slice it and take a taste...  But no more foreigners came into the shop after that.

Around 4 I was in the kitchen putting something together for tomorrow, having been inspired by the cookbook to actually, finally, try making french bread.  I heard noises at the front door.  Jeff Wugang, his wife Danny and their daughter came in.  They were on their way to the new Eagle Plaza a block away, for their daughter's dance recital.  They had some time to kill, so we sat and chatted.  It was nice to see them.  I think the last time I had seen Danny was when we all had gathered to eat at a Japanese restaurant near their home.  It was so long ago that Gregg and I were still together.

Of course, I had more recently seen Jeff.  He was the one who had turned me on to the Bali coffee investment plan, and had been with me at the dinner a month ago, with those people.

I sent them home with a few scones.  The scones were dropping off in popularity, and I could see we'd have a lot left over.  I was happy to share them.

At one point in the lonely afternoon, I had to go to the bathroom.  What to do?  I now have a standing order with the German restaurant upstairs to provide them with three 12" ciabatta three times a week.  They were ready to be delivered, and the German restaurant has a nice western toilet.  Problem solved!  I put a note on the 'open' sign saying I'd be back in five minutes.  I took the elevator up to the third floor, and killed two birds with one stone.

I doubt I'd been missed.

Tina arrived at five, and after she went to the toilet, I left.  Time to get back to the five cats.  Did I mention? I had been keeping mama cat and the dark calico at the shop.  Jimmy pointed out the obvious, that the two cats must not be at the bakery when the health inspectors came.  

August Moon

When I need a really good sleep I use earplugs.  They are in short supply, disposables, so I don't use them often.  Even with the earplugs, as dawn crept through the curtains I heard drums, bells and chanting.  I united my heart with the prayers rising on the wind, and kept my weary bones in bed.

At last I heard the rapid paced chanting and drumming that I now know is the final prayer, so I got up and looked out the window.  I threw on a dress and grabbed the camera. I took a picture from my bedroom window before I got in the elevator, knowing it would all disappear quickly.

The red cushions were filled with bowing neighbors just moments before, the table resplendent with fruit offerings and candles. The tree (lower right) obscures the offering fire, and the picture of the Buddha.  At the center of it all is Guanyi, whom the Tibetans believe is Avalokitishvara or Chengrezig.

The monks have removed their saffron robes (they must be hot) and pass items down from the elaborately constructed altar.  Soon I see these tables carried back to the elevators and apartments.

Yesterday Shirley came by the bakery to pick up her order of 15 cinnamon buns to take to Shanghai Monday.  She arrived after six, much later than she said she would.  I should have gone home, I had been there twelve hours, but it was the dishwasher's day off so I was sweeping up the accumulation of crumbs, washing the floors, and such.  I asked her where she had been all day. She said she went to her husband's family home in the countryside to make offerings, because it was 'the day of the ghosts'.

I took note of the phase of the moon on August 26, and noticed it was a waxing half moon.

Whatever this auspicious time is in the Buddhist calendar, my neighbors are marking it with prayer and burnt offerings to the dead.

I have noticed for weeks now that the little old ladies who sit under the eaves of the building were folding these papers, accumulating sacks of them.  This wall is part of the stairwell on the ground floor.  There's also a service closet, near the elevator, loaded with them.

This kind of open fire would be unthinkable in the States.  In fact, while I was standing there a wind blew cinder to the tree and shrubs.  But there were enough glowing embers remaining for one slow poke to place her offering.

I see I also captured the three-wheeled bike.  Those blue bikes, some of which have electric motors, many of which are still powered by foot pedaling, are ubiquitous.  You can also see a bit of a monk's saffron robe at the right edge of the photo, and the Buddha picture in front of the garbage can.  This picture was just before the gust of wind scattered the embers into the bushes, chased by ladies with straw brooms.

It seemed to take only moments before the tables were lined up to be taken back on the elevators to their apartments.  The monks pitched right in with the lifting and carrying.  That is a monk in the middle of the picture.

Ah well, it's supposed to be my day off today, Monday.  I can catch up on the zzz's later, I guess.  I may as well go in to the bakery and worked on the ciabatta.  We have a standing order for three 12" ciabatta three times a week.  Yesterday Peter, then Peter and I made two attempts.  We didn't get it right, wasted a lot of expensive filling in the process.  I'd better take care of it myself, or lose the account.

Improvements on the business end

August 23

Finally beginning to get a handle on the business side of things.  We are making progress getting our records into the computer.  Rachel translated our Metro (wholesale outlet, like Costco) invoices into English.  Next, Tina converted the prices into per gram and per ounce, of ingredients we use regularly in the recipes.

Tina

Tina is a handful.  With her round face and big bones she is not of the long lythe type of Chinese woman.  She tends to carry in her hand a round paper fan on a stick.  When I notice this I think 'vapors'. We have the air conditioner on usually, it isn't that hot in the bakery.  It seems to be a habit.

She is either giggly (me:  I think we baked this a little too long.  Her:  giggle.  Me:  The focaccia seems to be selling better than the ciabatta.  Her:  giggle) or pouty.  She sashays to the work table, puts her fan down,  and sighs. Her English is atrocious.  She mumbles a noun or two.  A moment later I'll ask her where something is.  She'll say she just told me.

"You did?  What did you say?"

"I said 'It's the sugar'."

"Telling me something goes like this:  Satina, I put the new sugar over here.'"

Nod.

But she'll do it again.

Now that Peter is working with us, she feels she is the teacher.  I left him on his own to figure something out, after reviewing the basics with him first.  I caught her standing across the work bench with him talking in Chinese instructing him.  I told him I wanted a sponge.  She was telling him to add a blanket to it.  (A sponge is a pre-ferment.  If we add a blanket of the remainder of the recipe's dry ingredients, we have committed to that particular bread.  If we leave it overnight without a 'blanket', the next day we can divide it and make many different breads with the added dry ingredients).  In a neutral voice I asked her to leave the kitchen.  She returned to the front of the shop where XiaoLan was cleaning.

Peter and I then figured we'd have to increase the amount of sponge to compensate for the added flour.  Fortunately a sponge can rest in the fridge for a couple of days, we needn't use it all up the next day.

I then spoke to Tina.  She is not the instructor, I am.  Although we are all students, I am the senior one and hence the instructor.

Obviously, she feels threatened by Peter.

I need to have a further talk with her.  She needs to understand the uniqueness of her contribution, so that she will not feel in direct competition with Peter.  She is quite insecure.

On the other hand, she is increasingly thinking on her own without asking me.  She is making some excellent decisions, and taking care of things without burdening me.

Too many cooks..

We seem to be overstaffed.  We could really handle things well without Rachel and her mom, XiaoLan.  Rachel's main help has been to work with me to get the company business license application completed, so that we will have that before my visa expires.  She also helps with translations.  Xiao Lan does an excellent job of keeping the floors, windows and work space sparkling clean.  I love it.  However, we three bakers could do our own pot washing, and during those down times waiting for breads to ferment or bake we could be doing the other cleaning.  Since XiaoLan's name is on the business license, it is a delicate situation to tell her to stay home.  I wish she did not require a salary.  At first, months ago, Rachel said her mom wouldn't want a salary, would just want to help out. But when it came down to it, she asked for a salary.

So I watch my money fly out the window.  I've paid for the wine for the wine tasting, and bought cheeses, and now my bank balance has become dangerously low.  I keep hoping for the September turn around, as the foreign teachers arrive.  If it doesn't happen, we'll be in serious trouble by December.

Therefore, getting sorted out to determine the cost of product is crucial at this point.  At the moment, our prices are random.  I noticed that the price of white bread has sunk from 16 rmb to 12 rmb.  I don't know whose that decision was, because without firm data to back up my decision I just stay out of it.

When a new item comes out of the oven, Tina will lean over the work table on her elbows, look at it and ask:  How much is it?  I turn the question back to her.  How much do you think we should charge?  I always price things cheaper than she does, so now I leave it up to her.  Soon I will have actual data, though.  It will be interesting to see if there is a significant change in price as a result.

Commercial customers

I sent another sample up to Johnny at Jolly's last week.  I made the loaf of bread larger, as he asked.  I standardized the size of the hamburger bun, I sent him a few sample buns.

I asked Tina to call today to get his response.  He said the buns needed to be softer!!!  This is not possible without chemical dough conditioners, so he is obviously not really interested in my bread.  He is just all talk.  As for the loaf, he said again he wanted the multigrain (but not for sandwiches.  The sandwich bread needs to be soft)

Today I bought a large attractive basket through Taobao.  I will send it to his restaurant with some breads for sale.  We'll see if he comes through on that side of the business.

Meanwhile, Klaus upstairs at the German restaurant has put in a steady order of three 12 inch ciabatta every two days.  Well, three times a week.  He also called with a special order.  He has a catering job, for which he needs hot dog buns.  He asked if I could do it.  I said, 'Of course.'

The next day I experimented, and we both were pleased with the results.  I priced them too low.  He doubled the price he'll give me, and ordered 180 to be cooled and ready by 10 a.m. Saturday.  That's about the income of a normal weekday.  That's Tina's day off, and the day I expect foreigners to drop in.  It will be an interesting, long day.  Rachel is also not available, because Saturdays are busy at Web as well.
  

Creating buzz

Not being tied down to a teaching schedule allows me more flexibility to attend ex pat events.

OIC
Thursday night there was an event right upstairs from the bakery, at the German restaurant.  There is a chain of schools in China that are built on the British model, and called 'Oxford International College'.  This one is k-12, although sometimes they just focus on high school and A levels.

Through Facebook, some of the 15 foreign teachers had already found my place.  To my surprise and mild disappointment, they prefer my white bread over the whole grain.  Business is business, however, and I am just happy to make a sale.  They invited me to their promotional event, where they hoped to create some buzz for themselves. Theirs is a new school in Changzhou, setting up in temporary quarters until they can build their own campus just a mile or so from my bakery.

The event was very poorly organized.  Once orders started going into the kitchen, it seemed they would never come out.  This is not normal service at the German restaurant, and so I thought something was amiss. During the evening I told Klaus that we needed to talk.  He, too, had something he wanted to talk with me about.  The next day I sat down with Klaus and we discussed our interests.  I couldn't help but bring up the previous evening, with empathy.  He explained how many times in the past two weeks they had changed their minds, about venue, menu, size and just about every aspect of it.  In the end he understood that there would only be about 20 people, and they would not be eating but just having drinks.  He staffed accordingly.

About sixty people showed up, and after drinking a while, they decided to order dinner.

Last year Lori, the Rain Girl, was teaching at a similar local high school geared to a western curriculum.  That school contracted with outside agencies to staff their foreign teachers for science, math, history and English rhetoric and literature.  Lori taught the latter, also focusing on preparing them for their APs.  Through her I got a glimpse of the chaos that can arise when staffing is bi or multi cultural.  The Chinese have their way of doing things, and even if their curriculum is geared to the west, they will only minimally listen to the advice and suggestions of their western teachers.

So the OIC will have a long and painful learning curve as they try to integrate their staffs and present a unified face to the community.

The OIC team hoped the even would be a recruiting and sign up event, too.  But who were they recruiting?  They had told Klaus that he should talk up the event to his clients, and for each child signed up he'd get a bonus.  But Klaus's clientele are mostly bachelors!  The poor guys who have come from Germany and other European countries unaccompanied, and without domestic help.  They eat out frequently, and hang out at the bar to socialize with other guys.  Being new to the community, the OIC team had no feel about these matters.   They are groping about trying to get a hook into the ex pat community, to get their children signed up.  But few young families choose to live in Changzhou.  There were a few Chinese families at the event, no doubt friends of the Chinese staff.

During the evening I discovered that most of the foreign staff were already aware of the 'bread lady.'  A couple of them sat me down and went on about the school lunches.  They are not so open to the Chinese food, being greasy and full of MSG.  They long for sandwiches.  They proposed that I send out sandwiches to them each day.  They told me the man to talk to, to get it organized.

I did phone him, Desmond, the next day.  The ex pat staff pointed out this assistant head teacher as the mover and shaker among the Chinese staff.  He said I needed to send him a menu and a price list.  I did that.  Now we'll see how long it takes him to get back to me.

Meanwhile, since I don't want to get involved in baking meats, I spoke with Klaus about collaborating on this.  He said that they had approached him also on the same problem.  He could easily roast beef for me, and also chicken breasts.  I thought to offer tuna salad sandwiches, and a choice of either Edam or cheddar cheeses.  I have those two on hand already.  The suggested price was very high, at about 30 rmb per sandwich.  This was the price suggested to me by the ex pats, and Klaus agreed.  So we'll wait and see.

Klaus, for his part, wanted to talk with me about the change in his menu.  He asked me if I couldn't supply him with a long ciabatta, which he could slice up and serve.  I am not clear if this was to be something on the menu, or the free bread basket. I gave him a sample the next day, filled with sliced black olives, pesto sauce and a drizzle of olive oil, topped with a sprinkling of parmesan.  The dough was prepared with dried tomatoes baked right in.

Wine Tasting Party
Speaking of cheeses leads me to the second attempt at buzz-creating.  I have decided on doing a wine tasting party.  Rachel's dad is a wine distributor, so he has picked out three nice wines from France Oldenburg de Lafia.  I never heard of the winery, but that doesn't mean much.  I always buy the low-end wines. The distributor in Shanghai requires that I buy five cases!  I'm also buying a white Chinese wine (probably a Chardonnay) and a high-end Chinese wine of the same variety as the French wines, Cabernet.  I'm also buying Merlot for the sampling, from the same French winery.

For all this, tomorrow I must fork over 5,500 rmb to Rachel's father.  Now, I was hoping to invite 20 people to come, at 100 rmb per head.  That's only 2,000 rmb!  I went back to the Facebook page where I posted the event and raised the price per ticket to 150 rmb, and expanded the 'guest list' to 30 people.  If the weather cooperates, I should be able to have a small grouping of people outside as well.  I won't provide tables, but at least benches for seating.

The cheeses are pricey as well.  I'm planning on either an Edam or an Ementhaler, an Irish "Kerrygold" brand mild cheddar, and a tiny Camembert.  Then I'll have to bake up some breads to go with all of that.  Probably the lean, unenriched breads are the best.  Their simplicity should be a good backdrop for the other rich flavors of cheese and wine.  Should I also offer a sausage?  Please comment.  There is an abundance of what is called 'Taiwanese sausage' available in the supermarkets.  I could roast them in the oven and slice them alongside the cheeses.  I don't have a chaffing dish in which to keep them warm.  So should I bother at all?  And what about fruit.  Should I also have some grapes, sliced apples, and yellow mellons?

I don't want to go into debt for this, but I also want to make it elegant, a night to remember.  I'm hoping against hope that some of the people will want to walk away with some of these wines.  If I offer it at the price I'm buying it at (and I do hope I'm getting a better price than at a retail shop), they might be motivated to buy.  Then I have a better chance of breaking even.

He is gifting me with two cases of Australian wine.  I would love to savor them for myself, or save them for Christmas presents, but I suspect that I will have to find a way to sell them to earn back my investment in the evening.

The Monkey King
Just two nights after this, on Saturday, there was another ex pat dinner.  This group had met twice before over the past four or six months, though we are no formal group.  Again, a note is placed on Facebook, and we congregate.

AnnMarie came down from Xin Bei and asked if I could bring some bread for her.  So I did bring a bunch of bread, though the particular kind she wanted had sold out.  It is tacky to try to sell bread at an event like that.  I did it the last time, too, because the event was upstairs at the German place.  I'll have to refrain from doing it again.  This evening no one but AnnMarie bought.

This dinner was held at the new Italian restaurant.  Coincidentally, I met the head chef and the hostess at the police station when I went to renew my visa last time.  I saw that the chef, who is Italian from Sardinia, had a company business license.  Yet I would consider a restaurant to be the same category as a bakery!  So I asked them about it.  They gave me the phone number of an agency.  It is the same agency whose phone number I attained three weeks ago when I went to the appropriate government office myself.  Those people don't speak English, and so I had made no headway.

This time Rachel knuckled down and focused on helping me through the process.  Previously she had spoken to that agent on the phone and learned what I had to do, but never got around to sitting with me and going through it all.  Now we have all the wrinkles ironed out, and should be able to submit the application this week.  It will still take four to six weeks, which is longer than my visa.  The policeman told me that he wouldn't be able to renew my tourist visa again.  So around Sept. 9 things will come to a head again.

After the revelers left the Italian restaurant, I sat with Alex, the chef, and asked him what kind of visa he was able to get with his company license.  He was vague, and didn't remember exactly.  First he said it was a one-year business visa, then he called it a Z visa (work visa).  He makes his own breads for the table baskets, and of course, his own pizza dough.  The pizza is to die for.  I asked where he got his bread flour.  He said he buys it locally.  We compared prices.  My price, brought down from Shandong, is cheaper than his.  But is his flour really hard-wheat bread flour?  Well, the breads all tasted very good.  We'll have another discussion when we both have time, and find out more.  If I can buy 200 kgs and split the per kilo cost, shipping charges, and storage with him, it would be a bonus for us both.

His restaurant is called 'Monkey King'.  There has been a restaurant with that name in Xin Bei as long as I have been in Changzhou.  I am curious about the relationship between the two.

The cinnamon buns were a real hit; they sold out, all 13 of them.  Well, more like ten after we all sampled them.  I wanted to staff to know what they tasted like.  So I made them again Sunday, all in one day (the other batch sat in the fridge two days).  The dough came out very different!  There were only about seven.  I wonder if I somehow killed the yeast.  I don't know!  Never mind, not much foot traffic today, so they won't sell out.  What sold today is the carrot muffin, which I made a week ago and froze.

In the bakery this weekend
The focaccia was baked early in the day.  I should have waited, because that is usually a late afternoon item. Sitting on the counter all sliced up, they must be getting a little stale.  I should encourage the staff to offer to heat them up for the customer.  Our ovens stay warm enough to do this easily.

I tried making the miche again, but I believe I've lost my touch for the sourdough.  This batch died, and the dough never rose.  I use the whole grain flour for that, which is much more expensive than my usual flour, so it was a noticeable waste of money.  I shall have to get serious about sourdoughs again.  This is not something you can do slapdash, keeping a sourdough alive takes careful attention.  I still have a small amount alive, but I am starting another one now.  Tomorrow is the fourth day, after which it will be ready to build a barm.

Saturday is Tina's day off.  Peter (the new baker apprentice), Xiao Lan (the dishwasher, Rachel's mother, and the name on my business license) and I were here without an interpreter.  It was interesting.  Difficult.  Today I have begun building a vocabulary list, for all of us to study.  I need a printer!  Perhaps tomorrow I can do something about getting my printer fixed.  That will help a lot as we develop menus and check sheets and such.

new workers, new opportunities

I've been too busy to update my blog!  Working seven days a week, long days at that.  And for what?  These dog days of summer have brought us no customers.

I'm biding my time until September, when things will get lively again.  I've arranged the wine tasting evening, with three kinds of red french wines, a comparable Chinese wine, and a Chinese white wine.  Still looking for glasses to rent.

There's a new school in town, the Oxford International College. It is a K-12 school.  They had a networking evening last night, at Jagerwirt's upstairs.  A number of people told me that the food the school serves is unpleasant, loaded with oil and msg.  They would like sandwiches.  They invited me to dialog further with their leadership about it.  I don't do meats, so I will have to collaborate with Klaus to fill this contract.

I met a nice guy, I think his name is Richard, who is the Math teacher.  He wants bread that is not enriched.  He is a vegan, except that he eats fish.

They want white bread and white sourdough loaves.

Meanwhile, Peter started.  Zhuan Xi'an, I think his name is.  I hired him as a baker.  He worked for 85 degrees bakery.  Of course, they are a big chain, sending pre-mixed doughs to each shop.  But he has experience with the kitchen equipment, and has a work ethic (to die for).

Tina is still as cute as ever, but I think I value her bookkeeping skills more than her baking.  She is fey.  We grease our bowls before putting the dough in to rise, for example.  She sprays the oil in, and then brushes it like its a piece of cloth floating lazily in a stream.  I demonstrate for her...swish swish swish and its done.  She prefers her gentle way.  In other words, working efficiently is not her forte, and she does not catch on to the concept easily.

Rachel and her mother work every day.  Rachel works part time. She has been spending a lot of that time helping me get my application ready to become a Chinese company.  Her mother is invaluable.  She is industrious, and she keeps the place spotless.  She plows through a mountain of bowls and bench scrapers, mops the floor ten times a day, and keeps the windows and glass spotless.  She's wonderful!  We miss her on her days off.

Speaking of which, we've been closing Mondays just because there isn't that much business, and also because I don't trust my team yet to spend a day without me.  They need still a bit more training.

I bought a fabulous book, on the suggestion of Peter Reinhardt, called the Bakery Trade.  It tells me so much about every level of starting a small bakery.

My repertoire is expanding.  I've tried the miche that is on the cover of Peter's book, the bakers apprentice.  It is a fabulous sour dough made of 100% rough whole wheat.  Crusty, chewy, tangy.

I'm expanding my ryes.  I haven't found one I like yet.  They are hard, dense, not good rise.  But I do use sourdough with them, to give them great flavor.  They never taste like I expect rye to taste.

Closed on Mondays

I closed the shop to give everyone a day off, and to get caught up on errands.  Still chasing down a good legal status for myself.

I need a statement from my bank saying I have money and am changing $100 every day.  Ridiculous!  But that's the requirement for a tourist.  Got to the bank around 11:20.  It was closed for lunch.  Bummer.  Too far to go home, the bank is near my shop.  I decided to drop in on my neighbor.  They just opened a tea shop.  Fabulous huge wood table, wood from Africa.  Amazing, I'll just have to include a photo.  We sat and drank different teas for an hour.

When I first arrived in China in 2001 I lived in Guangdong province.  Tea culture is very big there.  That is where I learned to sit in a tea shop for hours just sampling one tea after another, and making conversation.  So this interlude was like a blast from the past.  They have great black teas, as well, not just the usual green teas.  Teas from Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon.  And pu'er tea!  I never knew it could taste like that.  Pu'er may be like oolong that you may be familiar with.  Smokey flavor.  I usually steep it strong.  They steeped it weak, and I discovered new flavors.  They poured me a Ceylon tea mixed with mango, pineapple and I forget what other fruit.  A spectacular tea, quite pleasant on the tongue.

I went back to the bank at 1:00.  Nope, still closed, for another half hour at least.  Now, this is no small branch with three tellers.  This is a huge bank with back rooms for commercial accounts and international wires.  I went off and finally grabbed a bite for lunch, before returning.

I discovered that I had given my U.S. bank the wrong SWIFT code.  There's the Agricultural Bank of China, and the Agricultural Development Bank of China.  This wire was sent on July 25, and I'm only now getting around to checking on it.

So I am up at 2 a.m., calling Seattle to straighten out my mess.  They have to order a recall, and then resend the wire.  Good thing I'm not destitute, waiting on that money.  Had it arrived in a timely manner, however, I could easily have gotten a printout of my bank statement and taken it right back to the police station to process my visa.  The visa expires on Aug. 11, so I can't put it off anymore.  The bank I need to go to for the statement is a long bus ride away.  No local branch can give me a statement.  So I'll have to take more time off from the bakery.

My thinking is, the weekends are more important for the bakery business.  Mid week trade is just for the locals, and they like the sweet things that Tina does so well.  So if I spend Tuesday running around chasing a visa, no harm done.

I have a new worker starting Aug. 12.  He has experience at one of the better bakery chains, called 85 degrees.  I am eager to see what he knows, I suspect he can share a secret or two.  But of course, my way of baking is totally different, so there's a lot for him to learn.  His degree is in sports, he's currently wrapping up a job as swim instructor.  He is tall, whereas Tina and I are short.  He lives near enough so that, once he's trained, we can start opening the kitchen at 6 a.m., having bread on our shelves earlier in the day.  I just hope he melds quickly with our growing little family.  I suppose it takes a lot of luck to find a worker who actually stays.

Rye

I've not been pleased with the results from the rye flour.  I've got a good sourdough started, so on Sunday I began an experiment with a new recipe from Peter's book.

Did I mention that I emailed Peter for some advice, and that he answered me?  It was a thrill for me.  He seems very personable.

This recipe calls for mixing some rye flour into the sourdough starter, and then adding a lot of saute'd onions!  That mixture is still in the fridge, I should have used it yesterday but was too busy.  So today, Tuesday, I'll let it warm to room temperature and begin to make it. Can't wait to see how it will taste.

While at the police station, I ran into two people.  Usually when I go there, there is a foreigner and their Chinese helper.  I seem to be the only one to walk in there on my own.

This foreigner is Italian.  He had a certificate as a Foreign Owned Business.  Wow!  that's what I want.  I asked him what his business was.  He's opening an Italian restaurant downtown.  His helper speaks really good English, so I took her number.  I called her later, but she only referred me back to the agency whose number I already got three weeks ago.  They don't speak English.  Rachel has spoken with them for me, but so far I see no progress.  I want a form to fill out!  Instead I get a list of items, in Chinese, that I need.  Rachel hasn't translated the list yet.

I feel like I'm back to square one.  I think I need to call that woman again and see if I can't persuade her to help me more directly.

Dog Days of Summer

The edges of a typhoon system that passed through the South China Sea gave us a little relief with winds and the occasional shower.  But mostly, we are all slugs moving slowly in a sea of hot air.  Business is down all over.

I decided that, until we have more staff, we are closed Mondays.  It's just as well.  I need to renew my visa today, and check on a wire transfer of funds that is floating out in the electronic airwaves somewhere but after two weeks has not yet landed into my bank account here.  And of course, there are still things we lack in the kitchen.  There's a restaurant supply market at the east end of town, in an area called 'jiu long' or nine dragons.  It's a long bus ride, but I should be able to get everything there.  We need more towels, more bowls, larger plastic boxes.  I hope I remember everything, because I'd rather be sitting at home in an air conditioned room.  That is, I don't want to repeat this trip too often.

Strider, one of my former students at Changzhou University, has put an ad on the internet again to help me find more workers.  I found a guy who looks like a good candidate to learn to be a baker.  He starts Aug. 12.  He graduated from the Engineering college (equivalent to our AA) with a major in sports.  He's a swim coach.  He lives near enough so that I can ask him to open up at 6 am. each day, once he's trained, which will help enormously in our ability to crank out more items suitable to the Chinese lunch habits.

I've made a few trips up to visit Johnny at his restaurant, Jolly's, in Xin Bei.  He is very supportive, but although he doesn't want to admit it, in fact his business is way down too.  He keeps nit picking the things I bring him, but I think it is more that he just hasn't the customer traffic right now to support buying my bread.

I've cultivated a nice sour dough culture.  The taste is good.  Now I have to work on shape and presentation.  I suppose it all has to do with having the right equipment.  This kind of dough is very soft.  The only way to create a nice shape is to support it firmly in something like a mold, from hours of proofing all the way into the oven without ever removing the support.

I made a nice cheese-garlic round loaf.  This will be a nice addition to the menu, once I have regular western customers.

I have a few of my former Web students who make it a point to come in regularly and each time try something different.  I love their spirit!

Another best seller among the Chinese is the cinnamon raisin loaf.  The westerners also buy it, the few who come in.  It's easy to make, I enrich it with whole wheat and oats yet keep the white soft texture.  It bakes up into a nice tall loaf and looks attractive.  We've posted the pics at our web site.  I don't have them on this computer, but you can follow the link:  grandmasnook.com, and then click on the link there which will take you to our blog.

Tina is maintaining the blog. She is such a blessing!  I told her to take the day off today.  She asked if I'd mind her coming in anyway, because she is worried about discouraging the local customer base we're nurturing.

Saturday is her regular day off.  She has Japanese lessons in the afternoon.  I came into the shop that day before 8 bursting with energy and purpose.  The day before I had prepared a large dough base, enough for twenty loaves.  I also had other things on the back burner, like my rustic bread and also the sourdough.

With that huge base, which is made from 50% flour and 100% water fermented overnight with yeast, I was able to come up with a large variety of breads.  For example, 1/4 rye flour, 1/4 rough whole wheat.  Or another using oats, a special Canadian wheat that smells like chocolate, and again the rough whole wheat.  I was able to make three cinnamon loaves with that base as well.

It was a mad house in the kitchen, with all the equipment, doughs, flours and other ingredients spilling out across the work table.  I haven't a large enough plastic box for overnight proofing, so the dough always explodes and seeps out onto the under pan.  I had to keep that messy pan on the table for most of the afternoon, as I gradually dipped into the dough to concoct some other bread.  Xiao Lan is Rachel's mother, and it is her name on my business license.  She has taken the position of our kitchen slave (for a salary).  I kept her sink full the whole day!  When she wasn't washing and drying pots, scrapers, pans, she was mopping up the floor, cleaning surfaces as I moved from the big work table to the small work table and back again.

Some breads I baked the same day.  I good number of them I put in the refrigerator to be baked on Sunday morning.  On Sunday I augmented that start with another batch of a type of bread that doesn't need the overnight fermentation.  I figured that the weekend might bring us in a bit more traffic, so I wanted to have as much on the shelves as I thought would sell.

One hiccup.  On Saturday night I asked the night shift guy to put certain breads in the freezer.  I figured we'd have them for Tuesday, since we're closing Monday.  On Sunday when I came in, Tina had those loaves put back on the shelves already!  The guy had put them in the fridge, not the freezer, and Tina without thinking took everything out of the fridge.  It was frustrating.  At the end of the day I had to throw that stuff out.

Tina wanted to make cranberry butter cookies.  She was well on her way when I arrived at 9.  I was a little worried that she was getting bored with making scones everyday.  They are our best seller, so I don't want a day to go buy without them on the shelf.  We compromised.  After her cookies were done, she'd make scones.

I decided I also needed to make a focaccia.  Customers are coming in asking for that, too.  On Friday I made one that was pizza-like.  I added minced sun-dried tomato to the dough, then before baking I brushed it with garlic olive oil, added pepperoni, and then five minutes before it was fully baked I pulled it out of the oven and added grated cheddar.  That flew off the shelf.

Sunday's was a simpler one.  I soak chopped dry mushrooms, and add them to the dough along with a couple cloves of garlic.  Then I saute fresh mushrooms with five spices seasoning, and add that as a topping before the final proof, along with a layer of olive oil.  I need to find the name of that mushroom.  I love it!  It is all stem, and no head.  It is meaty, with a nice taste.  I chopped it fairly fine before cooking it.

Before I left on Sunday night, I prepared a large biga.  This is a pre-ferment that can sit in the fridge for up to three days.  When I come back to work on Tuesday I can immediately begin some new loaves and have them on the shelf pretty close to noon, when we open.

In our first five days of business we grossed about 1,400 rmb.  Not much, but by gosh it's a start.  It helps to figure out what the customer likes, as well, at least until the westerners start coming in September.

You may not have a sense of salaries.  I pay Tina 2,000 rmb a month; she asked for less.  The new guy will start at 1,800 on probation, and then in three months (sooner if he does well and business has increased) I'll move him up to 2,000.  The kitchen slave makes 1,800, as does the night counter man, who is only working during his summer vacation.

The rent for the shop is 25,000 rmb per year.

I am thinking about publicity.  One vendor came in and made an arrangement with us that he would offer his customers coupons to our shop.  I think it happens on the phone.  Technology beyond me.  For the coupon we offer I think it's 10% off a loaf of bread, and rolls 'buy three get one free'.  We'll see if people start coming in flashing their phone screens at us, asking to redeem the 'coupon'.

I would like to do a wine tasting party at the end of August.  I once ran into a distributor of the Greatwall brand of Chinese wine.  I hope I can find his card again, it's been probably a year since I bumped into him at a supermarket.  I'll have to invest in some good cheeses at Metro (our Costco equivalent), and carefully choose breads.  I'll sell tickets, limiting the number of guests.  This will bring in the westerners who are returning back from their vacations, and hopefully also reach some of the new arrivals.  I need to find the 'tipping point'.  I'm reading that book by Malcolm Gladwell.  Of course, I don't want to find it too soon!  It's important that I have a well-trained staff that can actually crank out volumes of breads, to satisfy the demand when it finally builds.

Opening Day

Anticlimactic might be the right word.

I was in the shop by 3 a.m., getting the doughs, which were started yesterday, on their way to baking.  But not using bread enhancers, all those chemical short cuts used by all other bakeries here, leaves me with a long slow process. By ten there was still no bread on the shelves, though at least one of the ovens was full.

The place looks empty, after all that baking. Yet at the end of the day I may still throw away bread, or try to flog it tomorrow morning as 'day-old'.

It's hard to keep motivated to get up every morning and come to the shop.  How long will it take to build up a customer base?  The summer is vacation time, so there aren't many ex pats around.

I'd like to hire and train two more bakers.  Don't see how I can actually build momentum without more workers, and it takes time to train them.

I have one worker who I think is very good.  She has a college degree, baking experience in a big factory, and some kind of training around running a bakery.  But she is a giggly flighty youngster, for all that.  It's hard for her to gain confidence enough to be decisive.  I seem to repeat myself an awful lot, on basic matters that I consider fundamental.  Even simple matters of hygiene.

I don't know what Tina's future will be, but we have instantly become fond of each other.  She is a dear girl, making the frustrations far more bearable.

Now it's the end of the day, 5:00.  The workers left, except one guy who'll hang out with me until 8, in case some customers notice us on their way to the German restaurant upstairs.

Tina left without starting any breads for tomorrow.  In all fairness, she asked me for tomorrow's 'menu', but I didn't know what to tell her  What's the point of baking when no one comes to buy?

So I'll have to get off my duff here, no rest for the wicked, and start thinking about tomorrow.

Conclusion to a long tale

Briefly put, my investment money was returned to me.

I sat in their offices for about an hour, as they tried to transfer the money into my account.  And this was the source of all their problems.

The way my name was entered into the bank account was a bit odd.  It seems that the bank ran all the letters together, without a space.  Each time the coffee company accountant tried to deposit money into my account, it bounced. She or he did not follow up, until I called them in May last year, and again in July, to get my interest payments.  It took them some days each time to get my money deposited.  Yet no one did any follow up, no one made a notation for the next time.

So the basic problem begins and ends with incompetence.  That is what Mr. Yang said at the dinner; it's a management problem.

I'm not saying that this kind of incompetence can't happen in America, but here it is commonplace.

Anyway, I am happy that now I can pay off all my creditors.  This has been slowed down by the simple fact that I came down with a bug, possibly the flu, Friday and have been fairly immobile since.  A happy ending is a happy ending; all goodness.