From the latter part of 2012 i was thinking what 2013 would bring in my life both professionally and in my little family life.
My Exec Chef came to meet me in October when he asked me what my plans were once i get my Permanent Settlement in the United Kingdom , to which without much thinking i said that i was open and free to go any new assignment he gave me. The next month we managed to get our Permanent Residence on 24 November 2012 and then what a busy and a lovely Christmas period we had at Brasserie Blanc....Leeds
As Christmas approached near it was time to pack my bags to fulfil what i had promised my dad couple of years before.So with full of joy and ad reline i left for my holiday to India where i hosted had a fabulous Retirement treat for the family . As Vidya and Ved were in The US they enjoyed Christmas and New Year in their own little way with her sister and brother in law and friends
When i came back in January was when i got a sure shot go ahead from my boss who open a brand new Brasserie Blanc in Farnham which is in the borders of two beautiful counties Surrey and Hampshire. I didn't really think much to be quite honest as i had assured my boss i will take it up we started packing. It was very hard for me to ask Vidya to quit as i knew that it would take some time for her to find a new job again but as usual as she always has been supporting me all these years she put my career ahead of hers and resigned... Now was the challenge to relocate and the distance between Leeds and Farnham was more than 250 Miles . It was a stressful travelling to Farnham from Leeds about 6 hours for finding accommodation and the most important thing was to recruit a team for the Kitchen in the month of January where except snow nothing is visible but nevertheless it wasn't meant to be easy first of all
The biggest excitement at that time was a new challenge which i have never been through before, conducting interviews talking connecting with chefs from places i never heard of and then to identify them for the restaurant was a big experience .
February 8th saw the opening of the door for Brasserie Blanc Farnham and will never forget this day in my life. At 8 am that morning Castle Street{where the restaurant is located} was packed with vehicles and waiting with around 250 big bulky boxes of stuff {equipments, liquor, wines} etc not at all exaggerating.Myself and Sam {The General Manager} went inside the building and all the building contractors,electricians, ventilation company, fire alarm systems etc etc all wanted to load me and Sam with so much information that it was just impossible to digest and remember. Nevertheless we listened to all of them and then these boxes were staring at us to be taken inside the building. So me, Sam, Pradeep{my Sous Chef},Mike, Karen {my lovely assistant managers} and our lovely OPS team Iris and Chef Mark and our boss Chef Clive got all the stuff in the building and it was 5pm by the time all the boxes were in.
This was the humble begining of 2013 in my life packed with challenges and new surprises everyday
To continue .... the story shortly
