Translator.

I remember when I was in high school, and discovered that there were internet translators around. Did they work? No! Did I utilize them? Yes, sometimes! But did I understand that they were maybe fine to get the general idea of the text? Maybe!

This should've been out there, letting me know I shouldn't of been using them.

My test: "The Alligator is Amazing". The result: "Strange Crocodile" (10 results), "Awkward Alligator" (25 results), and "Set School" (Max results). So yeah. Where do I get a UN translator job between North and South Korea? Imagine: "They said what about my skiing?!?" (I put in missile defense......)

I Am Crazy.

I do have to say that the more I think about this damn recipe below this, the more I have to make it. Am I ill? Or crazy? One thing that I've noted in my repetitious reading of the recipe is the assumption that the executor of said recipe has a very high level of skill and strong technique. I mean, hey, just make a perfect consomme....

Other than that, my weekend was swell, and I look forward to next weekend's national holiday being spent possibly in Oly.

Lark Pie.

I got placed into my hands a book of such appeal and luster to my culinary soul that I had to share it with you.

The recipe that takes the cake is surely this:

Lark Pie.

First half of the recipe.

Second half of the recipe.

The pie. Note the lark's heads. You may also substitute other games birds, such as Corsican blackbirds, etc.

What about this wonderful Spiny Lobster en bellevue Parisienne? Note the truffle, butter lettuce, and lemon crown on sword garnish/coup de grace.

And the lovely Chicken Galantine on a metric ton of chopped aspic.

And this is what was once the height of fine cuisine. Now all these things would be either too heavy for our tastes, or too decadently expensive. That Lark pie is at least a $250 starting point cost, and that's using non-perigord truffles.....to refresh your memory, it's a meat pie with 2 types of sausage forcemeat, then it has 12 larks wrapped in bacon, each filled in with foie gras wrapped black truffles. This is a recipe I may have to try one day.....

NZ.

See this? This is a poorly written explanation of my feelings on the subject.

Dancin'.

Off day. I like it. Slept in, got a massage that made me yelp like a kicked puppy, and then had lunch at La Carta de Oaxaca. Pozole of course.

Now I'm listening to music I got from the library, such as Rush's fantastic 1977 album, A Farewell to Kings.

And now, as previously promised, an excerpt from my poetry journal from high school.

The Dancin' Outlaw

Now here's the strangest thing you ever saw

A guy named Jesco, the dancin' outlaw.

Go to West Virginia, take a ride

and find his trailer, a double wide.

He likes dancin', dancin' with special shoes,

when he was young he sniffed an assortment of glues.

It's hard to understand him, his accent's thick.

Yessiree Bob, he's a bonafide hick.

When he gets in trouble with his old wife he goes and buys her,

not a diamond ring, but a 12 pack of Budweiser.

The night his dad was shot, he was full of fear,

'cause he and his attacker had been drinkin' beer.

In the neck went the bullet.

Thank god it didn't mess his mullet.

Besides dancin', just for fun,

he shoots squirrels with his shotgun.

His sister is crazy and drives in muck

in her old, rusty, duct-taped pick 'em up truck.

Their parties are crazy! You should see this!

They get drunk and sing to Elvis!

He's crazy, his wife picks at his head,

he makes threats: he'll shoot her dead.

His life is strange, but I only know one thing:

Jesco is the tap-dancin' king.

______

Yes, it's always amazing.

Yup.

I did it. I worked hard this week, and last, to bring in new purveyors, write the menu, and work on the 1st stages of a new vision for the restaurant at work.

It got pulled off rather well- there was only a slight hiccup, but nothing major.

We will be fine tuning it over the week, and then around the 1st of June, we'll change some stuff up on it again.

It's my food, my menu, my everything:

Say Cheese.

I have a lot to catch up with and say here, so this may be longer than brief....

Roundup:

Friday night, drank with the boys, in Fremont, which has changed to a younger crowd in my perception. I don't know what that says about me, but the taco truck makes you sick, and the girls look good.

Saturday night, downtown, at places such as: The Rendezvous, Shorty's (with pinball and hot dogs), and Bad Juju. And then the evening went downhill.....

Sunday was a sleep in, coffee outside on the lawn, phone catching up, working on new menu stuff, and then a walk around the niceties of Seward Park followed by pizza, and drinking rose at Dustin and Jackie's house. Summer may be here in a slight capacity....

I have a co-worker who is going to Europe next week, and he has a few rubber days he can do whatever he and his wife would like to do. We were talking about this, and suggested that if he does indeed go to Paris, that Versailles is a must do. I then mentioned I had pictures probably from my time there- they'd suck, since they were taken on my "non-disposable-disposable camera" as Aki christened it, which I got when I was like 13. I looked for those pictures tonight, in the plastic storage container that holds many odd moments from my life.

From my high school graduation road trip to the bay area for baseball, to being a dork playing basketball inside the house with my brother (we both have Sonics jerseys on!), through my two trips to Europe, through Japan, with some NZ thrown somewhere in that envelope, and now there's Mexico (that's a dead bull), a sunrise on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and then I think that's a whole set of me and my friends rolling in the Dart, starting some odd time-loop over again. It's all there, some of my life's more amazing moments. I love it, and lament that we rarely print images anymore. Additionally, the majority were film based; the richness is forgotten.....

But I scanned a couple, because, well I can, and I love it.

I might have been 17. Note the hair. Please.

Aki and I were the ever-optomists.

From my modeling portfolio, which has only 5 photos remaining in my possession.

The time I met Morgue and Leon. See what happened? They RUINED ME.

A bull is about to die, in San Miguel de Allende.

And then finally, I found my old poetry class notebook. I will save this amazing stuff for the next post!

Like Woah.

Mummmmuhmmm.

I am so tired. I have so many ideas floating around in my head, I am unable to link a solid night's sleep together into one go. I wake up, have them jumping around, and I begin to ponder the idea. Then, I realize it is 2:10 am, and I need to sleep rather than worry. So, I have my ipod dock right next to my bed, and last night, I am pretty confidant I finished an hour long podcast after starting and shuffling it 5 or 6 times. Crazy.

But, I have purveyors to get pinned down, I have samples to get in, I have costing to do, as well as the actual job at hand. This is the fact: it is a hotel, and has to be open 365 days a year, and I need it to shut for a week.

Woah.

Changes.

I am working at home today on the new restaurant stuff. Taking over tomorrow morning officially.

Going to be changing, over the next few weeks, and even months (hopefully not so much the latter):

-Menu. This is going to be nice, simple, clean, high end, traditional café style food with local sourcing. A half step down from fine dining, because we'll be using great technique. This goes into effect the 12th.

-Name. I have some secret ideas.

-Aesthetics, such as menu design, going up to overall look and lighting, to service ware.

-Attitudes. This is the trickiest, hardest part, but I am going to make people take responsibility for their actions, and engrain in them pride and hard working. I am there to take command, and call people out. People aren't going to like it, but changing from being lazy and messy is something people resist, because it's easy. My dad suggested I read legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson's book about leadership of many great players with different approaches to work ethics. Interesting idea....

I have to get a move on some stuff. Enjoy your day.