Perhaps Grace Kelly dined here, or at least nearby or at least she drove up here from time to time. Driving a sports car on the fabled corniches roads of the French Riviera, sometimes the destination would be a village, a restaurant, a terrace with a view – a platter of fine food and wine to accompany.

In the village of Mougins there are many good to great restaurants.

25 years ago in Mougins the feted Michelin star’d Moulins de Mougins offered a 12 course taster menu.

Twelve tiny plates with a visual work of art described by pate, glazing, vegetable, duck, cherries, cheese, lamb, sorbet and so on. Not mixed together of course, that was the key.

Each plate introduced itself visually and to the taste buds, so clearly as to describe a country, a region, fully and completely. The next plate another place, and so on to the twelfth.

Each plate was brought at the right moment, when words were beginning to run out or be repeated to try and describe the full-on experience of the last.

Each plate was introduced as if it were a new guest who had flown in, arrived at the restaurant and sat down to join the party with stories of the journey traveled.

Moulins de Mougins, The Mill of Mougins, in those hills now feted for food and entrepreneurship (yes it is alive in this part of France)- where new things are both tried and tasted while at the same time others are invented and delivered to a waiting world.

What a dream – a dozen woven tastes that I remember with delight and enthusiasm today.

Happy eating!

[ Originally published on TheExplorateurPortfolio.com October 2011 ]

Customer service on the 1st day of April

The 6 Spring Rules of Great and Astounding Customer Service

1). RETAIL: Always ask the customer if he or she has any money or credit cards immediately they walk into a store. The same on all websites. After all it’s the money that counts!

2). WEBSITES: On a website home page have an agreement to be clicked on before anyone can go further or onto other pages, agreeing that they do have the money to buy any product you may offer them and that they are definitely not “just browsing”

3). HOTELS: If a customer tells you it is cold in his or her hotel room hand them a “packing list” reminding them to bring clothes for all climates and temperatures “so you won’t be cold next time you stay with us”. Expect a thank you or smile and if not given ask if they understand English (or any other language the list may be offered in).

4).AUTOMOBILES: When a customer brings a car in for service and the car is making a rattling sound more similar to juggling cutlery in a kitchen tell them to leave the technical stuff to you and not mention such trivia as only you know what is a “good sound” and a “get ready to junk it , we’ve got some good deals on new cars this week” sound.

5). REAL ESTATE: When showing a house to a prospective buyer – don’t let them find fault with crumbling plaster, noisy plumbing or broken and missing floorboards. These are insults. You know full well such things are “typical features” that add “character” to a home of this style.
If they persist, say “I presume then, that you are not a SERIOUS buyer at this time”.

6). NEW PRODUCT: Got a new product? Best to tell your customer that not only can they not live without it they will fail and be spurned by all if they don’t have it and you know exactly the sort of person they are if they don’t buy.

It is possible that everything else you ever knew about Customer Service was wrong and that April is a great month to put these ideas into practice, to become a beacon of wisdom and new “techniques”

Re-printed from CreteTravel.com blog (April Fools 2010)

An astonishingly timely hotel concept launches today with the opening of the first 7 hotels in the newborn X-Hotels™ chain. This infant in the worldwide hospitality scene is expected to grow fast – there will be 30 X-Hotels open within 6 months and brand-linked cafes and restaurants under the X-Presso™ and X-Delectable™ names will start appearing on every continent by year’s end.

After the record breaking success of 5 Star Raft Hotels (only one problem occurred with a 5 Star Raft Hotel that is still un-tethered and floating in a non-constant elliptical pattern in the south China seas) X-Hotels chairman and CEO Goodnight Sleep will preside over the launch today which will be screened live at Wi-Max cinemas worldwide (3D glasses provided).

A revolutionary and discriminatory pricing system will use data gained from customer’s internet search preferences to fix a price that the Psycho-Pricing™ system shows they will at that moment, be willing to pay. No more crude REV PAR and revenue management systems. Where one guest is “happy” to pay 300 dollars another may pay only 37 all the way on up to the X-Presidential Suites – that’s what they’ll be quoted. Prices might vary for these 400 square meter dens of luxury and convenience, from 200 to 357,000 dollars per night.
In most cases check-in will take place after each guest has been amply welcomed at the hotel bar – experience shows that this “conditions” guests to be a bit more free-spending, thus agreeing to a higher per night room price.

Rooms will all be equipped with rainforest™ shower heads to give a “real meaty shower” avoiding the dribbling faucet experience justified in a lot of feverishly eco-obsessed hotels today.

X-shaped pools improve swim-flow during peak swimming hours.

A new active social policy from X-Hotels means we won’t charge any sales taxes, VAT or hotel taxes – we just don’t charge them, we don’t believe in them. So we take care of squeezing this money back out of the politicians so you don’t have to pay it when you stay at an X-Hotel, why should you?

With an XtraFast™ growth strategy, the chain is expected to quickly become the world’s first “Too Big to Fail” hotel chain and part of the pitch to investors has been this very approach and the top goal to find its own way to benefit from Geithner/Bernanke-Care.

Modeled on the original English pub system of Public bar and Lounge bar – X-Hotels will be designed to operate well in areas of the world where rival warlords would never be seen drinking together….from Check-in counter and lobby areas, to cafes, restaurants and bars there will be “two sides” to everything – designed by renegade UN peacekeeping officials-turned-architects.

Why the name “X-Hotels”? CEO Goodnight Sleep says “it’s obvious really, X is the next letter available in the one letter brand market and we decided on a name that’s easy to remember, write and say – or at least have fun trying. Also we decided to take it before anyone else got there”.

We will also theme some elements of each country’s X-Hotels to provide the ideal haven, For example in the UK guests will be able to enjoy the total lack of surveillance cameras and also be provided with dummy camera toys in case withdrawal symptoms set in. In the USA “no change” zones will be provided to offer peace and quiet and a chance to really relax in the Homeland.

In the larger X-Hotel Resorts there’s a new Gordon Brown room for those who wish to be on a deprived diet or think “pain and suffering, guilt and misery are good for longevity”.  Specialist misery therapists will give you the best “reduction and deterioration” treatment anywhere.

These larger leisure properties will also have an Obama-Care™ Spa Courtyard and Lounge offering a self service set of therapies (had to be self-service because no doctor or qualified professional was willing to appear within the walls of this new offering) . The Deluxe X-massage Self-Massage can only be imagined!

Proof of the future success for X-Hotels is seen in the large number of enthusiastic TripAdvisor reviews prior to the opening of the first hotel.

The first 7 X-Hotels:

X-Hotel Bleeker street, Manhattan
X-Hotel Adobe, Santa Fe, NM
X-Hotel Monterey Bay, CA
X-Hotel Miraflores, Lima, Peru
X-Hotel Leicester Square, London
X-Hotel Ronda , Andalucia, Spain
X-Hotel, Kano, Nigeria

In July the X-Hotel Rangoon will bring luxury back to Burma.

A NASDAQ listing is planned for early April 2011

X-Hotels™ = Xceptional Xhilarating Xciting and Xtraordinary™

- – -

X-HOTELS
For further details contact (On 1st April 2010):
Frank Opignon – press, push and pull
Eggs Welldone – commercial contracts

- – -

Having to buy, invent, dream up & magically conjure up gifts for Roger, I have always been on the lookout for unusual, original gifts. Here’s a list of ideas I have used or saved for future use:

• A personalized caricature portrait (www.sprattiart.com). This looks amazing & of high quality. It is also very original! Cost: around $275
• Or, even his own comic book, starring him as the superhero you know he is. From yourcomicworld.com. You can choose the subject and describe his traits & habits…the comic artists will do the rest. Cost: $700-$1100
  
• Does he paint or take good photographs – create a calendar of his art or photo work, buy it for him – and alternatively list it for sale, publicly, on his behalf  (if you are sure he would love it). There are many options for this, here are a few places to start: lulu.com, digilabs.net, createagift.co.uk (I have used all three, results were good), gettingpersonal.co.uk, photobox.co.uk  Cost: around $20-$25 Shameless plug: Roger’s Art 2011 calendar on lulu.com
  
• Is he crazy about his dog, cat, canary…whatever? He must have taken hundreds of photos of it. Make a coffee table book out of his pet’s photos & buy it for him.  Same websites as above apply. Cost: $30-$70
• Or, you can even create fabric out of his artwork (& buy it for him) . www.spoonflower.com Cost: $18-$32 per yard

• Does he like colourful things – which are hard to find? Have a look at Etsy.com, for all sorts of handmade clothes, accessories, cosmetics – and you can shop by colour! Cost: $-$$$
• Do you have more than enough words to express how much you love him? Put them into a love song for him. www.tailoredmusic.com From the website: “You can set your lyrics to a variety of genres, including Jazz, Pop/Rock, Country, Alternative, Classical, and more. When you’re ready, our studio musicians will record your songs and email the MP3 & WAV files to you. The process usually takes 5-10 days.” Cost: $199-$299
• Conspire with his family (get the photos and info) and create his family tree, which he can share online. www.myheritage.com. Or, on the same website, upload his photo and show him which celebrity he most looks like!
• Does he sell a lot of stuff on eBay? Buy him this portable photo studio, to improve his product photos and sales. Cost: $49.99
• Does he shoot a lot of videos for YouTube or his own video channel? Get him a clapper board, so he feels like a true director! Cost: $10
• I am not a Harry Potter fan, but this Kymera Magic Wand Remote Control looks too cool to pass. Cost: $49.95
• Does he type a lot & finds it tiring? Buy him the (apparently) world’s most ergonomic keyboard from safetype.com It looks very odd, but they make a very convincing case, and it’s money-back guaranteed. Cost: $189-$295
  
• I love this clever pen! The Pulse Smart Pen is simply revolutionary – one of these gadgets that make everyone go “wow!”. Just watch the example usage videos and count your wows! It records everything you hear and links it to everything you write, so you can replay it and not miss a word. The ultimate note-taking aid. Cost: $145-$170 for the Pen (comes with 2 ink cartridges), $7.95-$24.95 for a special notebook or journal pad, if you would like to offer a complete package.
• Does he like to eat & shop for healthy foods? Two ideas: Buy him the 100 Healthy Food Magnets – each food magnet includes key nutrients, calories, fat, fiber, and protein information. Cost: $22.95 Or, buy him The World’s Healthiest Foods book. We have it – it has great nutritional information & recipes, it is a very useful reference and inspiration. “Heal with food”. Cost: $39.95
• Humour – who doesn’t want to laugh? Buy him the New Yorker’s Complete Cartoons book. That’s a book with more than 2,000 cartoons and two CD-ROMs with all 68,647 cartoons ever published in the magazine. Cost: $49.95
• Does he have favourite quotes? Or does he write short poems? Get him a Lightpoem from shapeways.com. Worth browsing, as it has some other amazing gifts you can make, which they manufacture with 3D printing. Free shipping worldwide (appreciated).  Cost: $70-$95
  

Last-minute possible(no shipping necessary):

• Give him his own typeface! If you can get a sample of his handwriting, you can submit it online and then get the typeface (font) and give it to him to install on his computer. He can then type on his PC with his handwritten characters. Cool, huh? www.frontifier.com Cost: 9$

• Is he interested in improving his writing skills?  Give him a writing course as a gift. E.g. www.writingclasses.com Cost: $125-$545 Or, if he is into travel writing, check out Matador Travel Writing School:  matadoru.com Cost: $125/month for 3 months, or $350 one-time payment
• Is he interested in turning himself into a brand? Buy him a “Brand-Me” course from Design Aerobics. (They have other cool design stuff for gifts too, from $ to $$) Cost: $69
• Does he enjoy jokes and satire? Buy him a JibJab.com membership, and/or create a movie starring him. It’s easy! Cost: $12 annual membership, plus about $5 per video download.
• Does he like to send e-cards to his friends & family? I normally prefer real greetings cards, but Jacquie Lawson’s e-cards are an exception. They are so beautiful, almost magical. (Roger – who hates e-cards – loved them!). Just preview “The Dancing Piper” or “Santa’s Flight” in the Christmas cards section and you’ll see… Cost: $12 for a year’s membership.
  
• Loves to visit stately homes & gardens in England? Buy him an annual membership to the National Trust (from the US – or from the UK). They have some of the most wonderful properties, gardens and tea rooms. We always visit some of them when in England. Cost: $55-$62.50 one-person annual membership ($80 for 2 people).
• Speaking of travel, who doesn’t love to browse & get the inside scoop on the most wonderful locations and hotels? Buy him a membership to exclusive services & guides, like Nota Bene, Indagare or Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report Cost: Nota Bene – $420/year, Indagare – $250-$1200/year, Andrew Harper -  $195/year, or $500/year (plus $400 initial setup)
• “Experience gifts” are a bit tricky if you don’t know the person’s schedule & tastes very well, but Isango.com offers some attractive, easy to gift activities & tours. Cost: $$-$$$
• Donating to charity in someone else’s name I find  presumptuous & unoriginal. If you must, I like Kiva.org, where you can make micro-loans to specific people and track the progress of the individual who receives your loan.  Cost: $25-$10,000
  
• If he doesn’t have it already – buy him his own domain (e.g. johnsmith.com) & web-hosting for it (www.godaddy.com – domain registration & hosting,  www.medialayer.com – hosting). If he always meant to start blogging but found it hard (technically) to get started, install WordPress on his domain (on your own, if you know how, or hire somebody to do it for you), and just give him the login codes. He will be able to start posting right away. Cost: $9.99 first year domain name registration, from $9.95/month web hosting, around $100 WordPress installation (note: GoDaddy.com offers an easy, WordPress quick-install option with their hosting).
• OK, you may find this silly, but we could not believe Outlook does not offer a “print selection” or “print from page x to y” option. What happens if you have to print some emails and they include pages-worth of previous correspondence but you only want to print the latest reply?  Finally, we found this little plugin that works well & fast:  Blueprint for Outlook. If he nagged about Outlook’s printing problem, he will thank you forever. Cost: $19.99-$49.99 for a single license.

Cheeky note: All the links above are direct, non-affiliate links. If my list is a god-send for you, feel free to tip me for the ideas!

Christmas snow scene illustration

I love Christmas!
It is such a wonderful time when most people are in a good mood and kinder than usual to each other. Smiles come easier, little hiccups are dismissed faster, we do more fun things with our friends and family, we play with children. If we are lucky, we get snow! What is not to like?
What, an atheist who loves Christmas? Yes, indeed.
Like Oriana Fallaci, I consider myself a “Christian Atheist” – meaning I appreciate some of the legacies and traditions – which I now enjoy in a secular way. I can and do thoroughly enjoy Christmas without going to church.

How I love to spend the Christmas break:

1. Take time off work – or reduce work to an absolute minimum (this usually follows a great “push” to finish projects before the holiday season, so the break feels even more deserved and precious).

2. Put up holiday decorations around the house – lots. And lots of candles.

3. Scout for the most interesting and evocative wrapping paper & ribbons and wrap Christmas presents.

4. Receive Christmas presents!!!

5. Read, read, read – especially the new books I received as presents (ah, the luxury of having time to read uninterrupted…)

6. Paint Christmas-themed illustrations, cards, snow-scenes…and generally have fun dabbing a brush into bright colours and mixing it up.

7. Watch Christmas movies (especially romantic comedies…a bit fed up with the, too “didactic”, sometimes right-down absurd, religious ones).
(Some suggestions: The Holiday, Holiday in Handcuffs, Love Actually , You’ve Got Mail )

8. Listen to great music on my stereo – especially Christmas songs & classical and romantic music.

9. Start the New Year’s calendar – usually featuring Roger’s art (like his 2010 calendar below)

Roger Art Calendar 2010   (Buy this on Lulu.com)

10. And of course, prepare my new year’s  resolutions.

How do you like to spend Christmas?

Re-printed from CreteTravel.com blog

The New 5 Star Raft Hotels group launches

We are delighted to announce the first of our new hotel brand – “5 Star Raft Elafonisi Crete”.

5 Star Raft will build and float super-luxury wood raft floating hotels. The first is the 5 Star Raft Elafonisi Crete. The new hotel phenomenon will be rolled out with hotels around the USA, Hawaii, The Falklands, Australia and Greece over the next six months for a fast-accumulating total of 112 hotels. After that another 375 5 Star Raft Hotels will open every 7 months.
Most will offer 75 “Deep-Luxury” dream suites, according to Overt Symptom the company’s president of operations and expansion.

Creating a new market, a new level of sophistication, service, luxury and sense of movement.

The demand for the vacation that “does everything” and suits the whole family, and confers bragging rights for inclusion in the “best holiday destination in the world” category, is increasing.

Few want to risk the expense of a once in a lifetime “luxury beyond luxury” vacation in today’s financial madhouse if by being stuck in one place, the very experience could be compromised by a deterioration in the location of a hotel…by changes in the surrounding landscape, or even weather.

5 Star Raft ® solves all problems, in fact it eliminates them. For example the 5 Star Raft Elafonisi Crete only stays in Elafonisi if the weather is good and the area is not too crowded.

If it rains the hotel sails to better climes, if it gets crowded it sails to a quieter bay.

If you wish to arrange a large family gathering vacation or a corporate retreat, just book the whole raft and we will bring the 5 Star Raft Hotel to a port near you.

5 Star Raft combines the romance of drifting on a raft with luxury that could only have been dreamed of:

- Teak wood floating virtual city – with nightly performances of world-standard operas, concerts, rap artists, poetry readings along with circus performers, movie premieres, and many more.

- A selection of 20 of the world’s best restaurants including Marine Puch’s, WaterBucks café, The Water Ivy, Floating Sushi, SoftShoeMama’s, Taglietelle Delight, RandomSteaks, DriftwoodCanapes, TheFloatingChampagneFlute, WhichWayWasabe, Ming’sDishes, CaptainAhab’sCatchItIfYouCan and more.

- 3 Members of staff for every guest – and the exclusive “ChangeThatOne” feature which means if you don’t like your waiter…change him and choose another, if the bartender won’t laugh at your jokes…call in your own substitute ‘tender’

- Make your time useful and educational – all 5 Star Raft hotels are stocked with at least 59 university professors chosen for their expertise, usually department heads from Stanford, Harvard, South Carolina Tech, Oxford, Cambridge, Beijing Institute of research and even the Falkland Island’s own Professor of economics – all waiting to give a lecture, a debate, personal coaching and tuition.

- Unique to the hotels is the sense-sensor ® fuelled by 73 high powered computer servers, after being injected with the Mood and Feeling intravenous submarine detector on check in…we will know exactly what you want, when you want it, whatever it is. And with our worldwide “what are they gonna’ want next?” network, you’ll never wait for more than 2 minutes 23 seconds for what you feel like doing, to be what you are doing! Think of that!

There is one thing that might be considered limiting about the 5 Star Raft Hotel concept (we are working to overcome this) – at the moment you can only book up to noon on April 1, 2009 because there’s a storm brewing around the 5 Star Raft booking center and we just can’t keep the internet and phone connecting wires plugged in after that time.

5 Star Raft Hotels – ready to float!

An April diversion of SuperbGreece.com and CreteTravel.com

By far the best, our very own  The New 5 Star Raft Hotels group launches on CreteTravel.com (some of my friends “bought” it!)

Then Guardian switching to Twitter-only version (!)

and Gmail’s Autopilot is just hilarious