Charm watches

We met because he was keen to tell me about changes to the restaurant: the fact that for some time now he has been attempting to effect a compromise between pub food and a more upmarket dining experience.

Massimo was discovered, if you like, by the owners of the establishment, the unerringly shrewd Mooneys, on a golf course in the Mauritius where he was working as a chef; after a stint running his own restaurant on the Gold Coast , they offered him the opportunity of manning the stoves of the Byron Bay pub. The wood-fired oven has been there for fifteen years, the last six of which have been in the capable hands of Peppe Abruzzese who turns out what are arguably some of the best pizzas in the Shire from an enormous blackboard menu. Only recently, however, has Massimo been allowed the freedom to serve up his own particular style of Italian food rather than just wheel out burgers and schnitzels. Moreover, he heads a purely Italian team: apart from himself and Peppe, there are five Italians in the kitchen and two outside.

Annie and I are served by an especially cute young one the night we dine: two women of a certain age dimpling at his Latin charm. The room is almost unrecognisable. Dim lighting, tables set with white cloths, tiny candles on each. The pool tables, covered and transformed into elegant centrepieces upon which repose more fat candles, glassware and an arrangement of copper pots

Craig Brush hadn't seen this kind of crowd since Elton John came to town.
The general manager of Germain Arena in Estero is used to selling out minor league hockey games and concerts, not speeches.
But Monday saw one of the biggest rock stars in American politics come to Southwest Florida for the first time.
'It's obviously something different than we've ever done before,' Brush said.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin packed Germain Arena with a frenzied crowd Brush estimated to be close to 8,000 people for a 20-minute speech emphasizing her folksy charm. Her brand of politics, blending policy with personality, has been the base of her appeal all over the country and not surprisingly the Republican stronghold of Southwest Florida proved no different.
'Her style of campaigning, either for mayor, for governor and now for vice president evokes a real emotional response,' said Peter Bergerson, a Florida Gulf Coast University political science professor and occasional columnist for the Daily News. 'People are looking for that when they're voting. Personality always trumps policy.'
The thousands standing in a line that snaked all around Germain's parking lot Monday morning mentioned Palin's positions on issues like abortion, but her personality drew the best revues.
'She's just plain old common people,' said Ken Baker, 86, from Port Charlotte

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