Passion

I’ve become quite comfortable with Brunch now. I, as always, arrived early for work and started at it right away. I’ve taken to writing a little something each day I work on butcher paper. I am keeping them all and will someday publish them. I had an internal argument as to whether or not to share an example with you here and guess what; the writing won. As I have shared here, none of this would have been possible with out the love and support of my friends and family. C, especially, has been my guardian angel. She has stood by me when no one else would. She is a true marvel in the world and I am fortunate to know the love we share. Most of what I’ve written so far has been a tribute (albeit nowhere near adequate) for the love, support, guidance and little (read necessary kicks in the ass) pushes along the way. I love you C;

Finally

Finally,
At peace with myself,
The internal dialogue a consistent strife,
Keeping me from me,
Has quieted,
Being replaced by the fan fare of trumpets,
Heralding my awakening,
Signaling a bright future,
Personal,
With love as my guide,
And too personal,
As in the kitchen,
I’ve come to find,
ME;

You are my beacon,
The prism of my soul,
Without whom none of this would be possible,
As I start another day,
Stepping into my future,
Now,
I am reborn,
As too is our love,
And I am grateful.

When I write it takes me about two or three minutes to produce something like that. I don’t think about it before or during. It is more like I am a conduit and the universe, God, or whatever you would like to term it, is flowing through me. It is my fervent desire that food becomes the same way for me. Not thinking about it (as I find that we are often in the way of ourselves) but instead further building on my intuition with food. Grasping all the knowledge I can so that I can become what I’ve always said I wanted to be. A RESTERAUNTEUR.

So I set up for brunch and then ran out for a smoke as again I was in the front of house. Brunch delivers me the opportunity to come face to face with some of Reservations clientele. As I mentioned last week at brunch, again this week, one man and a woman both mentioned that I was beaming. Asking why I gave them the same answer I gave last week; “How could I not be, I’m living my dream!”

The funny thing about dreams is that everyone has one. But not everyone is willing to do what it takes to make his or her dream a reality. Taking that first step that brought me into the kitchen was not easy. BUT, the moment I put on my whites for the first time. I knew. I KNEW that I was where I belonged and since then I have been reassured many times both by others and by that once really ugly voice inside of me that now sounds like my angel (C). That voice has made all the difference in my life now. I’m no longer running away from myself. From what I want. From WHO I AM!

After brunch was over we naturally ripped it down and cleaned the kitchen. I had asked Head Chef if he wanted to go for a beer after I was done work and he said he had a meeting but that he would love to after it was over.

I went over to our sister restaurant to let Head Chef know that my cell was dead but that I was going to go over and have a drink. He suggested that I have a seat at the bar (I asked if it was okay for me to have a drink there as in my contract it says that I can’t drink at work). He said sure. I had a Makers Mark. Haven’t had one in years but just felt like it.

After that Head Chef and I walked towards our next destination. He asked about what my challenges were and was quick to quiet them. I’ve come to realize that the make up of great chef is a complicated mish mash of a million different skills. If I had to mathematically equate it it would look something like this (in no particular order);

Passion (to the power of 10)+
Drive+
Knowledge+
Intuition+
Daring+
Wisdom+
Compassion+
Strength+
Task masker+
Drill Sergeant+
Fearlessness+
Problem Solving+
Creativity+
Attention to detail (squared)+
Desire =

A GREAT CHEF!

It will be interesting to see how that formula changes over time and I out right apologize for anything I’ve overlooked. But I think you get the idea.

Of course it is Valentines this week and we will be very busy. We have a couple of really big functions as well so I will be working from 10 to close everyday. I believe that this week is going to be the closest to what summer looks like (though I may be wrong) at Reservation and I am excited to see it.

Adelle Davis once said; “We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.” What are you? What do you want to be? I can answer it. I want to be a Great Chef.

I hope you all have an inspired day and tomorrow. Tomorrow I am going to write a bit about Heston Blumenthal and my feelings towards what it is he does.

A la prochaine!

SDM