Hiatus-ish
Suddenly and weirdly, for the first time in my working life, I'm not working in a kitchen. Life has intervened in the past six months and I'm currently running a tiny dive bar (my first front of house job ever). I won't lie to you guys, despite the relative freedom, I kind of hate it, especially having to talk to every damn customer who walks in the door. I feel bad that I haven't been posting too much here to Kitchenese, but it's hard to feel like I'm a real cook when I'm not really cooking, besides the occasional dinner party. I watch my time-lapse videos and wonder if that's really me and if I can still hustle when I need to again. I have a few Taormina memories still to post, and I'm looking into the sparse amount of kitchen work here in the mountains, but odds are good that I won't be back on the line until next year when we move back to Hawaii. And that really bums me out. I miss having a crew. I miss the heat and the stress, I miss the order and the chaos. I miss having my hands involved so intricately in my work. I miss plating. I even miss hearing the damned ticket printer. When I sleep, I'm still there, working in the literal restaurant of my dreams four or five nights a week. I used to hate my work dreams, but now I find them oddly comforting.