Food Therapy

I would love to tell you what's been happening in restaurant life but I have had an unprecedented weekend off. Friday night we went to a dance concert that the GM's 1st ex-stepmom (one day we can get into her convoluted Northern California familial tree) puts on every year. She's a dance teacher and the show is a recital for her students. We normally go to the Sunday matinee but since we were leaving town we didn't have time. We had a blast, the little tiny kids were cute in a heartwarming/heartbreaking way and some of the older dancers were really wonderful. Two of the performers from the circus who did our 6th anniversary did a duet on the trapeze that gave me whiplash just watching it.

Food content: Had dinner at our local Thai restaurant. I love one of the owners. She's a very positive Thai woman. A few years ago while Fish & Game were visiting a number of local restaurants checking invoices to see if we were using poached (that's caught illegally, not gently simmered) fish she called me and asked if they had been to my place. I told her yes to which she replied, "OK then they're not just picking on Asians." The other owner (her husband) is a nightmare and thankfully wasn't there.

Then last night I went to mom's to see Donovan. She's the facility manager for the venue he played and has been very excited that he would be playing in her backyard. Donovan was some of my lullaby music as a kid and it was really sweet to see him with her. He did a decent show. If I hadn't had the music ingrained in me since early childhood I might have been a bit bored but I was glad to go. Plus, even though I knew this it was really easy to see the connection between Donovan and early T. Rex, particularly since Donovan had a conga player with him.

Food content: I wasn't entirely away from the restaurant these two days. I did prep in the morning and afternoon and had dinner before I left. Mustard mopped Eastern Carolina style spareribs with potato salad. I left during our first hour of service and a customer had already asked one of the waiters if the pig was from Eastern Carolina. I'm all for COOL (country of origin labeling) and knowing your sources but come on, this is getting out of hand. At Donovan I saw the owners of the pizza place across the street from us.

Got home way too late. Got up way later than I'd like. Anyway, we're off to SF and i think we really need this little break. The GM and I have been at each other for no reason, constantly. Not unusual, we live and work together and spend most of our time in a town which is beautiful, but small and sometimes stifling. We have noticed though we rarely have any conflict when we're out of town. I'm sure it has a lot to with not having to make decisions that affect our livelihood or our living space. At any rate we both recognize the need to regroup and realign. And the best way to do that is at the table.

With that, it's time to pack.