making cocktails :: y = 1990; while (y <= 2001) { y+=1; }

to be followed carefully:

• take a (very cold) double cocktail glass, brush the border with a slice of lime (not lemon)
• place a layer of salt on a coffee saucer
• gently spin the border of the glass over the salt (a tiny layer of salt must stick to the border)
• get a shaker (boston style if possible)
• pour 7/10 of good Tequila (white not reposado)
• add 2/10 of Triple Sec (not Cointreau, it is too sweet)
• add 1/3 of freshly squeezed lime (not lemon) juice
• put 4/5 crystal ice cubes in the shaker
• shake vigorously for 7/10 seconds
• get a strainer and pour liquid in the cold glass

eso es todo lo que necesitas saber...

from a "caffe lungo" to Dublin

I started working quite young (it was 1990 and I was 15) as a bar back. It was hard enough at the beginning. I worked full time over the entire summer and during winter I went to high school. I worked over week ends and holidays. The hours were long and the pay was not so great, however, I felt really rich back then ;p)

After a short while, I realised there could be a career in the hospitality industry. As soon as the opportunity presented itself I got a job as a learner bartender at an opening Tex-Mex bar restaurant in the city center. It was 1994 and for almost two years I worked with highly qualified and experienced bartenders from which I learned a great deal.

I left school and the army call came to my mail box. In Italy it was still compulsory back then, unless you had the right connections... I didn't. However, in June 1996 I left for one year of military service in the paratroopers corp of the Italian Army. I jumped 11 times with the army and about a dozen times with civilian launches. It was good fun and a great experience, tough at times but great overall, and all was paid for.

When I got back in June 1997 (after 359 days in total) I still had my job at the Tex-Mex, however, a year later the owner of the Tex-Mex took an historical cafe' in the city center and asked me to go there and manage the bar and bar supplies.

However, while working in the Tex Mex restaurant, I had built a good connection with the Mexican consultant chef that was supervising the mexican food kitchen. In 1998 the chef opened an exclusively Mexican restaurant (first in town) that featured two floors, each with a fully furnished bar and kitchen, the top floor to work as taqueria with about 100 sits and the lower floor as a high quality Mexican restaurant with 350 seats. The chef offered me the position of bar general manager. My duties included the overall bar maintenance and organisation, all bar related supplies and supplier relationship and deals, handling bar-staff from general duties to work-related complaints and new staff recruitment. It was an incredible opportunity and I certainly contributed the the success of the venue for 3 years. I still visit and enjoy it every time I go back home.

At the beginning of 2001 I started looking around in the world. The internet and all new technologies, globalisation, global warming and you name it.

But the information I could get was very limited in my language, and I could not speak a word of English, so I figured I had to learn it.

I am not a good student, but I am a pretty brilliant field-learner. I spend a great deal of time self-learning, but the best way for me is to learn in the field by field experts. I am a sponge ;p)

So I decided to go where people speak English: UK or Ireland, my good fate brought me to Ireland and I am very glad of it ;p)