creme and sugar, personified

What is amazing sometimes, is how if you envision something you can make it happen. Now, I have yet to work this mojo with places to live, but with jobs? dammit. i made toasted farro ice cream today - his idea, my manipulation of ingredients, and it is pure awesome. THAT IS WHAT I HAVE WANTED.  A  fucking chef who says "hey, what about THIS?" and I say "ok" and make it awesome.
Fuck reprographics. Seriously. Yes, the hours are hard, and the cleaning is continual, but dammit, tonight, as a guy sat at my station and watched a chessecake go out and went ""Wow, that looks amazing, I'll have that" and then proceeded to text his girlfriend to show her? Yeah. I love that shit. Dunno, maybe it's the failed actor or director in me, but, goddmmit, i love when people go "Wow" and this isn't even the best iteration.
The GMB ate the buttermilk panna cotta I made, and wolfed it fucking down."That is incredible. I could eat the shit out of that" sooooo, clearly his palate leans towards the creme...good to know, cause that, thanks to CG is my forte. Though, I'm aching to do a caramel thing....anyway, still working on timing, but it's coming.
I love this city, but cannot wait to be close enough to use public transport. You fuckers drive like idiots. Holy shit. And the rain, STILL only makes it worse WTF Seattle? Jesus. I will say this, at least Californians know how to merge. Grrrr. Just a couple more weeks. Got some good leads, so will be looking into them shortly. Foot of Capitol Hill, I swear, but am seriously gonna take a look at the building Dawn and I were in so many years ago....they are renting and appear to be independant....so, fingers crossed and stuff.

night moves

It ended up being four for dinner last night - the Q's came too - and my face hurts from all the smiling and laughing - got to see their lovely office, on 12th, and visit with their delightful dog Fisher, an Aussie mix who's 13 now, but getting long quite well, if a little grey in the muzzle :)
When Ms Q asked where I was living and I said I'd be doing that next month, she grabbed my arm and was all "You have to move close to us!!" which would be awesome, but...they live on the Hill. North Cap, but still...sigh. Just don't think I could take that much hipster on a daily basis. We'll see.
Also, Saturday, went down to the Off Ramp (it's called El Corazon now, but it will forever be the Off Ramp to me, no matter what sign they hang or color they paint shit) to see KevSecs, and a few others play an all ages show. One of the other performers was Tim from the band Avail, who I hadn't seen in years - they were from Virginia, and we had played several times with them. It was fun, I got a chance to say hi once again to one of my favorite musicians, congratulate him on his van acquisition (he did a Kickstarter thing to raise money, and has been touring the shit out of the US ever since) and have a great, low-impact night.The all ages thing though - really amazing to be around that energy again, they don't seem as jaded as their 20-something big brothers, not as negative either...dare i say, a bit smarter? Dunno. Small, specialized sample in that room, certainly.

I am so happy to be back in a restaurant where when a regular customer mentions that he loves foie gras, and is bringing guests, GMB does an app. It wasn't the best, or most creative app i've ever seen (I even had a moment, where I got to regale him with tales of the foie gras sundaes, and literally, he leaned into me in disbelief. Pure fucking aweome), but sooooo good to be in this space. I feel like...damn I don't even have words right now...also, my very, very dear old pal Dawn, from Chicago is gonna come to town, and we are gonna hang out! She's gonna crash with me (just even more incentive to find an awesome spot) and I will get a tattoo that will fix the original Hopey one (which is getting blurry, and bothersome)....so stoked. Yeah. That's really all - I was going to pontificate about lackluster servers, and the heat of service (we were crazy busy tonight, but it was fun - even though I'm totalled right now), but mostly, I just want to sleep well, dream big, and have a good day tomorrow off - seeing Lia for sushi at some point, and beyond that? We'll see.

ephemera...

Just some random notes...great night tonight - just me andThe Matt that Matters (TMM) on the line, we got hit with a lot of tables, and everything went according to plan. Northwest debut of the CFC with apricots and red raspberry/red wine redueaux; hit with staff, but incompetent servers couldn't sell. What I wouldn't give to have Craig and Gena in this house. Hopefully, maybe Johnny will be on board tomorrow and he will be able to do it justice. Later, GMB came in on his day off, and while he refused to frigging try the CFC, he was willing to look at a photo. He'll look longingly at it tomorrow before I get there, surely :) He also made a point to give me kudos for my personal dinner pizza I was making, and also to take me aside, and...well, tell me how fucking awesome I am. Apparently, everyone has good things to say about me.
The reality: acting like a responsible adult goes a long way in this industry. Just saying. But....I have some love-based skillz.
Finally, another Kinko's alumni who has undergone some crucial change has made contact, and here's the thing about being back in my Town: my friends here are so varied, so diverse, so fucking talented. It's amazing to be back in their universe. I think I had a hard time in California thinking I had failed, based on choices I had made, but the reality is: my life is my own. What I have chosen is where I am. And you know what? I'm not ashamed. I am not sad. I love what I do, where I am, and who I know. Need to find place to live, but probably not until mid-July, tho as I keep plying my sister in law with desserts, my nephew with playing French and robot wars, and my brother with esoteric discussions about genetics and stuff, I should be fine. Schedule works great, and looks like I might actually get to see Chelsea play - it's not my Gunners but it's something....Euro-wise, Ireland and Croatia play on Sunday, at 11:30am...wonder if there are any IRE fans who'd be willing to hit a pub (George & Dragon are showing it live at 11:30am) before noon - I wouldn't have to be at work until 2:30...so it could be perfect....I mean, I couldn't have many beers, but maybe one would be ok...;) Plus, the Euros! Supposed to be way better matches than the World Cup, and I even enjoyed listening to those matches on the radio - stoked for the summer!