Run

is what I did tonight and it felt good. Sitting at home now I recall a long ago Tucson chef who cautioned about wanting to be slammed because it could come true. I prefer it over the doldrums any day. Keep the hands busy, the peeps happy, the food moving, the soundtrack shifting. Grand opening grilled burgers, fajitas, corn, cupcakes, fixins and whatnot kept all hands on deck this evening. It is the first time (at least since I have been part of the machine) that there has really been a sense of all being in it together and it was, for the most part, graceful. The knife was solid tonight and it felt really really really good to be moving with intent and necessity that has been missing.

Arrived home to a message from the W that he was kicked out of the kitchen tonight- four on the books requires no where near a full crew- hourly gets booted. I somewhat fear for the world of fine dining in this changing economic landscape. How can we keep the momentum that has been started so that the world continues to demand food that is good instead of merely passable? This does not mean that every time one sits to eat there must be x number of courses with y number of unknown ingredients, simply that it must taste good, make us feel good, be shared with those who appreciate as well.

This, in turn, brings on thoughts of relationship along the same lines (and from that same message). How is it possible to have a shared thread when there is little comprehension (maybe I mean compassion) for needing that which us cooks crave (solitude) outside of the hive. It really is a hive with every individual feeding the queen; the people who love us, yet are not drones, rarely grasp the innate desire we have to provide nectar. When we cook at home the sensations define it all. When we perform for the world, there seems to be resentment for our absence. Time to start my own guerrilla kitchen? Any takers for guest chefs?