I'll try to be at least succinct if i can't be brief.
We were both pretty well fed up with our jobs, no children to hold us back. I got a job as Education Director at The Cooking & Hospitality Institute of Chicago. It involved getting the teachers (most of them accomplished Chefs) and the curriculum in order so that the school could pass its first-ever North Central accreditation. Quite a change in culture was needed. Anyway, while doing this, I began taking culinary classes.
I completed the Professional Cooking Program and the Baking and Pastry Program, the required Restaurant Management Courses and shipped in my Loyola gen ed credits...voila AA in Culinary arts (that's two years later).
At fifty, I quit the school and went to work in restaurants. Over three years, I worked at three places around our house in Lakeview.
Ruth had gotten her Irish citizenship as a result of her grandparents being from Ireland. I got, after a bunch of paperwork, the official okey dokey from the Irish government to emigrate, reside and own a business.
So we got here. In 1998, lived and owned a small lunch/dinner cafe in north County Cork... moderately successful. Just needed a bigger customer pool from which to draw. While here, I got my Irish Citizenship, Ruth and I both got our EU/Irish Passports, we got our Irish driving licenses. Moved business to Limerick 2001 and turned it into a breakfast/lunch diner. The difference was is that we perpared and served food American style (don't ask). I use fine-dining techniques to prepare the food, i.e. all food prepared from fresh, ala minute cooking, etc. So we became a diner with a big difference.
This was pretty successful til the economic downturn in 2008. We still had big spends per head; there were just fewer heads. We closed that at end of 2011. We then opened a VERY TINY bakery in 2012. We're currently muddling through with this. we'll probably retire at the end of this year when our lease is up.
That's the short, but complete version. Thanks for asking.
