do you have a chicken for my table?

how not to spend Valentine's Day

When my husband booked February 14th off work, his office spent all of Thursday asking ‘ooh, where are you taking her this weekend?’.

The answer was:

Bristol.

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Not for a romantic getaway.

For two days of meetings.

You see, when I’m not a virtual assistant, I’m the operations manager* for my husband’s bakery. And, as I hit the 30-week mark, my maternity leave is edging ever closer.

Don’t get me wrong - I love Bristol. It’s a fabulous city, and it was home for six years. But there are few things less romantic than spending forty-eight hours discussing business function with your husband and his - er - distractable business partner.

It wasn’t what I wanted.

It wasn’t how most people spent their Valentine’s Day weekend.

But it was productive.

We covered how my maternity leave is going to be managed. Which policies need updating and how they can be better implemented. How we can get more social media content together and ensure it’s regularly uploaded. What kind of design ideas we’re thinking in terms of making our branding more cohesive. Which flavours are on trend and would be good later in the year. How consistency of product can be improved. When we’re going to bring in our new FOH manager.

But I also got to have a chat with the team. I got to watch them manage the front-of-house schedule and send staff home when the bakery was quiet. I watched them deal with a difficult customer and how they handled issuing a refund. I had a chat with them about how our new functional beverages are selling, and whether we should upgrade the free sanitary products we have available in the bathroom. I got to talk about safety, team values, and how to manage a customer who fancies one of our team members (the solution to this is obviously ‘ban him if he makes anyone uncomfortable’).

Was this the most romantic weekend ever?

No.

Do I feel more prepared for maternity leave?

Ish.

Is our front-of-house team happy, confident, and totally capable?

Absolutely.

*While my job title might be ‘Operations Manager’, a better term would be ‘general dogsbody’. If it needs doing and doesn’t involve actively weighing out flour, I’m the girl for you.

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highlights

Despite my husband being able to run a successful business, he’s absolutely awful at arranging anything in his own personal life - especially if it’s a special occasion. All of our favourite restaurants were (unsurprisingly) booked for Valentine’s Day, but it turns out that there are a few Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in Bristol. We managed to get a last minute table at Real Habesha up on Gloucester Road. A lively atmosphere, delicious house-made honey wine, and the best kik alicha I’ve ever had - we’ll definitely be back.

Being in the bakery for the weekend reminded me how much I’ve missed baking at home. My most recent craving has been donuts, but 1) I don’t like deep-frying things, and 2) they’re not exactly healthy. This recipe is super simple, and the added fruit makes me feel like there’s some kind of nutritional benefit to them. Warm out of the oven and rolled in cinnamon sugar, they’re packed with fairground flavours and perfect for colder days.

So Bristol might not have been the heady getaway I would have liked, but we are trying to book a babymoon at the moment. It turns out that getting a fit-to-fly certificate after the 28-week mark is harder than expected, as our GP practice doesn’t issue them. If you’re planning a trip away soon, and you’re in or heading towards your third trimester, I’d recommend approaching your maternity unit directly.

Has anyone else figured out how to manage their reflux? I feel like I’m popping antacids like Skittles. If anyone has a UK version of TUMS they can recommend, or just some tips on dealing with all of this indigestion, let me know - I’m getting really tired of waking up with a sore throat.