saturday

good morning daddy.

first off, my right leg really hurts today. Fuck, sometimes I think about if a magic fairy granted me one wish what would it be...definitely, without a doubt, no question in my mind that I would say to take the pain away from my hip and back.

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, it's Saturday. I am baking a Pear Lemon Zest Cake with Sage Syrup for a restaurant in Nolita called Lovely Day. Flannery and I met for coffee at 10am, then we had a meeting with a possible intern, Kevin O'Connor. He was tall. He was also very calm, well dressed, seemingly intelligent, and best of all...HE WAS ON TIME!!! I mean exactly on time. The buzzer rang at 11am on the dot. In my book he scored a lot of points at that moment. We will see what he thinks and if he wants to come and work for us to manage our web presence as well as be a prep chef in the kitchen. His background both in school and his other externships is pastry so I feel like him and I are on the same anal / exacting wave length. After Thanksgiving he is gonna give us a ring to discuss coming in for a trail. Lord knows we need the help right now with all the huge parties we are doing for the holiday!!! fuck. I just got a little stressed. Now I am anxious. Ok. It passed.

Right now I am listening to this band "Future Islands." Daniel introduced them to me and at the dinner party we did last night the hostess had them on her play list. The song playing is "Little Dreamer." it's a good one. The lead singers voice is pretty magical.

So last night's dinner party... wow. Sometimes I really love what we do when we have an opportunity to cook for a fantastic and interesting group of people. Last night was one of those nights. The setting was a hip, modern yet comfortable one bedroom apt in the Financial District. The building was relatively new, a lot of floors, a lot of douche people(this did not include the people we worked for). Champagne was flowing. The music selections were perfect pairings with the food (both husband and wife work in the music industry). Bottom line, we were able to hang out and cook for these very appreciative folks. They were all very knowledgeable about the food world and it was evident they were all "foodies," I mean that in a good way. We were back in the kitchen unloading by 12. Completely exhausted and hungry from not eating all day, you forget that just tasting things during a 13 hour work day doesn't really cut it sometimes. We both made ourselves different bowls of soup based on what was stocked/left over from previous jobs. Flannery had a cauliflower soup with micro micro watercress, toasted pine nuts, olive oil drizzle, cracked black pepper. I, on the other hand, had roasted butternut squash soup with micro arugula, sriracha(asian hot sauce) and a couple bites with peanut butter which was mind blowing! My bowl of soup is at the top.

So where does my day go from here? Well, the cake is cooling, but once that is ready I will deliver it downtown and then I think I am gonna meet up with Mia. We will probably hang for a while. Later I am gonna hang out with Flan, Quinn, and Brit. They are coming over to hang left over fois gras mousse terrine with bruleed top and cranberry gelee. Similar application as the one we had at Jean Georges when you and Marsha were here. After wine and liver we will be heading to a gallery opening of a dear friend and soon to be boss of Quinn's. The show is all oil portraits in a very animated colorful style. Kinda of oil versions of my watercolors, just to give you an idea. After that I am going to meet up with Daniel to go over to Kevin and David's apartment for Jack's birthday. Damn, that sounds like a jam packed day when I write it all down. I love you and miss you.

xo