Monthly Archives: October 2008

I was reading at the bus stop, saw the bus turning about the corner … I stood up, and next it went past me?  My first reaction – my gosh.  My reaction the next second – I can continue to read and was to complete 2 chapters over the  1 1/2hr I was at the bus stop – I was too early and waited 40min for the bus that went past me, then another 40min for the next.

I had planned to visit another pastry outlet this weekend – to have a breather, relax over my book and have a dose of caffeine.  I planned to visit a Mexican bakery cafe, never been to one…   Outside the cafe, a hand written sign read that the cafe was closed for renovation and apologised for the inconvenience.  Oh?

Undeterred, I decided to go Empire Cafe instead.  It was crowded, I decided not to go in as I was looking for a comfortable place to nua (a.k.a. idle), to hibernate, be myself and read, and have my dose of caffeine.  A block down I found Agora – a Greek cafe or maybe more of a late night drinking place – it has outside seating, garden-like, with shrubs and trees creating a shade separating the road and the garden cafe.  The cafe doesn’t serve food, has a limited range of Greek pastry bites and coffee during the day, and drinks at night.  Anyway, I liked the spot outside.  Most of the people there were there alone having late morning breaks and a read, there were 2 ladies working on the laptop.

“You want to have The New York Times?  I am done with it.”  A guy turned around and handed me the papers.  Thank you, I have a book with me.  “What are you reading?”   I was reading Food Jobs – 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers by Irena Chalmers.  What do you do?  Where are you from?  What did you do before?  What would you be doing when you go back to Singapore? etc.  At the end of our conversation 2 hours later, I finally learnt that he is Bertrand Clerc, a Swiss who adopted Houston, Texas as his home 15 years ago.  He is a diamond setter.  I did a google search on “bertrand clerc diamond“, … he was featured in Texas – Beyond the Alps – 8 Swiss Artists exhibition.  From the article, I read that there are 9 Swiss Artists known to the Swiss American Houston Society residing in Texas, and 8 of them agreed to participate in the exhibition,  “… each artist expresses him/herself in a very different way and yet, their work side by side, reminds us of the cultural wealth of the small country that is their home land.“  I checked out his work on the website of one of his clients “Ernesto Moreira”, … cool, simple elegance.  He asked me to view the Smith Gem Vault collection at the Houston Museum of Natural Science if I have a chance.

“Geneva, nice place … why did you leave and make Houston your home?“  Because it is different living and visiting there.  The home town he described with explosive property prices reminded me of my own home in Singapore, coupled with high cost of living … Most do not own their own home in Geneva - a standard home cost about US$1.5mil?  Home prices were driven artificially high by expatriates brought in by MNCs.  He chose living the quality of life in Houston even though “Geneva has the alps“.

I like the term he used about “Qualified Hands” in his diamond cutting trade, what he described reminded me of the French chefs I know at the Culinary Institute.  Being great in their craft.  In Switzerland, their apprenticeship started between 16-18, for about 7 years or so … how familiar…  The current education system is not supporting the country’s needs for good craft-men, as most would go for their bachelors,  education is free and paid by taxpayers.

We spoke about his industry which I drew some learning as well.  I asked if he caters to direct clients, he does not.  He shared the factors to consider about doing wholesales or retail business ~

1.  Know your own character.  He prefers not to deal with customers who do not know the craft, and dislike the resulting headache in such discussion.  He deals with professionals in the trade.  Usually he would work with the designers in wholesales contracts.

2.  Retail dollars > Wholesales dollars.  Know what is the typical margin and volume for each plus overheads.  In wholesales, there is a constant flow of contracts, but be cautious of the risk of depending on a single big client.  He advised that for wholesales market in any industry, to consider saturation (if the market is accounted for by large players already) or if there is still room for entry.

How he charge clients depends on uniqueness and complexity of designs, and the estimated hours he would spend.  For some complex designs, he can only provide an estimate to the hours he would spend to complete the job. 

Food for thought.  We may arrange to meet again for late morning coffee on one of the few Saturdays I have left in Houston.

~

Reading my book and enjoying my second cup of coffee.  A guy had earlier recommended I try either Triple Bean Vanilla or Texan Pecan.  Good recommendation.  I have Triple Bean Vanilla for my first cup and Texas Pecan for the second.  These were the most flavourful coffee I have had in all the cafes I visited in the last 14 weeks (huh?  4 weeks have past for level 2 … my gosh.  Ike really made my time here fly faster).  I ordered a Baklava and Pistachio Caramel – both are very sweet and nutty.  The pistachio caramel tasted better with each bite, though I didn’t like it at first.  I didn’t get to finish it…

“Sir, you are making too much dust.  Do you have to do it now?“  The guy sharing my table said to the man sweeping the area.  He literally swept dust into the coffee, my leftover bites and onto the books we were reading … and I guess it should be all over us since my little note book was covered with a layer of dust.  A moment ago, I heard some rustling sound, and I thought the strong wind blew dust onto the book I was reading, I just dust it off, … then more… I looked up.  The same man was standing on the 2nd storey shelter opposite us, sweeping dried leaves and dust down the aisle, onto us.  I forgot about the coffee I just refilled, only remembered my book and brushed the dirt off – I do not like spots on my book.  Oh my coffee?  I looked in and there were some black spot floating in it.  I covered it with my little note book I had with me.  The guy sitting across me smiled and I guessed we decided to live with it then.  Then I guess it really got to us he continued sweeping the aisle.  Stirring up more dust, he replied “I am sweeping so that the wind does not blow dust towards you” … Oh, that was sincere and helpful??!!  I found it funny.  Anyway he completely ignored us, continued stirring more dust till he was done with sweeping the aisle pavement, mumbling to himself.  Other than the dust, the environment was conducive for late morning drink and a good read.

Felt better for the day.  Still recharging my battery.

~

Linda and George, the Singaporean couple we met a week earlier, had proposed lunch at Nonya Grill tomorrow and adjourned to their home at Pearland for desserts and coffee after.  Decided to give it a miss to continue recharging …