Smokey Attention.

It's a lazy Sunday.

I slept in past noon by 3 minutes, like I could do at a younger age, but it's very rare indeed nowadays. 7 or 8 hours of sleep is usually sufficient. Regardless, I awoke from an intense, movie-like dream where I was an elite soldier, but in one of those "we're going to have a good time during the war" units (like pirates, except government funded?). And then things went south outside Shanghai.....

I then arose from the final credits, which might've promised a sequel, to strong coffee (as always), reading (the girl with the dragon tattoo- yes, I'm a little late to the party), making sweet corn soup (with smokey Oaxaca chiles that were stored in the same bag as some chocolate couverture, and the chocolate has garnered some smokey attention that was pleasant) that I topped with smashed avocados, ricotta salata from Montana, and tortilla chips that got that pleasant, soggy nature I like.

Now I'm listening to the new Eels album, and readying for some parties I got invited to- one a pig roast, and the other a meatballpalooza.

And then there's this:

Pain.

Alright. I've been slacking of late in this place. I've been busy with my return to work- honestly things could be going better there, like being busier, so I've had to tool some things around in the hopes that we'll entice more people in, especially for happy hour and lunch. Come on down if you're in the Seattle area. I bet you will think the food is at least ok....

I've been mired down with at times crippling sciatica pain, which I've been dealing with for a month now, maybe more. I've been stretching, icing, massaging, and have started acupuncture. Sunday I layed low, and felt pretty good Monday. The problem is that I don't have a desk job- sitting eases the pain for me. So after say 6 hours of work, I start hurting, and then I'm there for 3 more hours (at least) and it sucks. Last night I had to run errands after I came home, and walking in the grocery store was hell. I came home, and hated life for a few minutes as things calmed down....it is epically lame.

Figuring out what the heck I'll be doing Labor Day weekend....beach perhaps...

Montuckey.

I am back to the real world. It's mighty real indeed.

Bozeman, the epic journey, the wedding, the Hemingway Week, was many things: short, memorable, tiring, bourbon-ey, beefy, cooler than expected, boot-buying, and enjoyable. Mostly the last.

Drove over with a large car-load, got a speeding ticket about 40 miles shy of the line, stayed in a large house, cooked my way through a whole steer, played nails in the mountains, roasted Dustin, got woken up by Dustin unloading his gun (2nd time a Calery has done this to me...), cooked some more, cooked a little bit more, went to a wedding with a beautiful bride that let me dance with her in my red-seersucker "summer playsuit," swam in the Gallatin river, and drove home with a stop for fried chicken, another stop for nectarines and corn, and a final stop for mountain rock blasting (rawk blasting would have been preferred!)

Browse these pics if you haven't....

Now I've returned to work, where I have to make some changes to some things, and so I embark on that job....

Hasta La Bye-Bye.

I am headed out early in the morning for Bozeman, and I still have much to do!

Will probably do some blogging at some point, but no promises kids.

Have fun. Be back in Seattle in a week.

Hemingway Week.

Not too much to speak of going on this week. I'm laying rather low, to save my energies for my Hemingway Week next week.

I have good friends getting married next week, Jackie and Dustin, over in Bozeman Montana. While my dad pointed out that it means ending the week blowing my brains out, that is not exactly what I meant. What I meant was the imbibing and writing part. So do I need to asterisk, or list caveats after I proclaim Hemingway Week*?

*I will not even shoot a gun.**

**well, it is Montana....

Peak Flavor.

Here's the new menu:

Now with corn, truly ripe tomatoes an sweet peppers, food life is at it's peak in the NW!

Ferns.

Yes.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Steve Carell from Between Two Ferns

Geoduck Grand Champion.

You may now only refer to me as "The Grand Champion", or "His Holiness The Grand Champion." (With or without a French affect)

My dad and I won this year's Andrews family reunion bocce ball tournament, crushing and destroying opponents with suregeon-accurate precision and ruthless antics. I last won in 1998, so it's been a long time coming for the 2nd hoisting of the glorious trophy which represents the pinnacle of athletics. Actually, I wasn't super into the bocce ball stuff when it started, the weather was so glorious I wanted to be dragged behind a boat on an inner tube instead...

Friday night I left work and headed down to the house outside Allyn, and slept out on the deck, with a nearly full moon lighting the bay. It was warm and summer out. Saturday was a day of hijinks, the aforementioned bocce ball, geoduck hunting (which is muddy and fun and wild), volleyball, cooking, hot tubbing....life is tough.

I did all the cooking this year, which was a first, and I went pretty big:

-Sockeye Salmon with Quilicum beach scallop ceviche

-A small farm pork rib roast (Pork Prime Rib) with roasted apricot-dijon-coriander (seed) bbq sauce

-Perfect potato salad

-White beans with braised fennel and arugula

-Ripe summer tomatoes, pickling cukes and celery salad with a sweet sherry vinaigrette

-Geoduck a la Plancha de Washington, a Spanish affair with chorizo, tomatoes and green onions

(cleaning the geoduck was odd.....)

-Brown sugar poached apricot buckle (I forgot the mint whipped cream I had planned)

And then I spent the night out there again, and it was another fine evening. The place really is fine..... I plan on heading out there again sometime this summer, as it's only an hour away, and it really is underused according to the relatives that own it. So y'alls invited!

Lots.

It's been a weekend of lots. Lots of friends, lots of bloody marys, lots of highlife, lots of outside sitting, lots of ducks, lots of life.

The party went rather well- lower turn out than I'd hoped for, but whatever. More booze for the serious folks. That rolled downhill into hanging out all day and night with friends.

Which rolled right into a brick wall of pain Monday morning. I went into work to do a few things, rather slowly, and then headed to Capitol Hill to hang with Gregor, visiting from Edinburgh. We travelled from Cafe Presse, to the P-I, to Art of the Table's happy monday, to King's in Ballard. Sun followed us the whole day, and naturally fine conversation flowed. I was rather beat afterwards, and woke up early today to play paintball with people from work. It was going really well (minimal pain incurred via high velocity paint), when 5 minutes before the end, I wrecked my back. I am pretty hurt, and need to get into better shape once I heal enough to...

But there's a new kitchen at work- new equipment! New refrigeration and heat and storage and tables! I am loving it tomorrow (if my back is ok!) I've never cooked with brand new stuff except culinary school. Will take some pics tomorrow....

///.

I am scheming/plotting/getting ready for the bloody mary party/soire/shin dig on Sunday.

Who knows what special treats/delights/culinary train wrecks will happen/be presented/change the world?

We will find out/expectorate.

Weekend Roundup.

I had a weekend of enjoyment, after a long and tiring week (6 days, 60 hours).

I enjoyed a summer eve on Saturday, outside mostly, in the fine weather. I love sitting around outside in the summer air at night. The coolness is lovely.

Sunday was, of course, the World Cup Final. I attended a party, and watched a rather dull game, full of fouls that will tarnish the legacy of this Dutch side. But Spain won in the end, and I liked to see that, since it means essentially FC Barcelona are the world champs....

And then I headed up to Vancouver, to see not only Beth, but her parents, and her boyfriend Chris, who is around for a few months too. It was enjoyable and an honor to see the parents, and we went to Lynn canyon, a place I'd like to explore more, and laze in the river. We then returned to their posh hotel and had high tea. Tea sandwiches are so odd. They range from insipid to spongey, to archaic, to too rich. English genteel ladies were/are/will be odd. But the tea was lovely, as were the biscuits that they called scones.....

Returned to Seattle last night, and after a large Chinese bbq dinner, I got pulled over, for expired tabs in my brother's car. I knew this. The 1st officer was nice, and just wanted to make sure my record was clear. He took my license, and another cop returned and asked me if I was "DOC active." I became confused, she become angry, and then asked me if I had a parole officer. I guffawed, which incensed her more. I've never been arrested, contrary to what you may think! They got their issue corrected, and let me go after too long. (wrong birthday- a entry level mistake I think....)

Finished off the night with a nice 7 hour nap....

VanDreams.

For some reason, I got this idea in my head of an epic, trans-America road-trip. An almost circumnavigational one. When I tried to get directions from google maps, it blew the entire system of computerized map-makers up, and left a smoldering pile of rubble behind. That is the level of epic-osity.

In a conversion van no less. I've looked into it.....the vehicle of perfectness doesn't exist though: a 2 captained chaired, bed, cooking area, entertainment system in a diesel, made in the 90's. And it's painted green as an alligator. And it flies.

A flying Wani-Van! (A WV, not a VW.)

Anyways, this is what I think of when I have a spare moment and walk to the store for coffee in the morning. Besides, the new menu debuted to much acclaim- I am far happier with this one than the past ones. It needs an appropriate wine list, which I have to sort out now....

Heads Up Cuz.

When I was camping, I concluded that my NZ Immigration debacle had one last gasp: a letter to the Immigration minister. (Read it if you care....)

I tried to impart on him that the best chefs in the world never went to school, that cooking is a craft, and cannot be measured by a degree. A subtle petition for myself was perhaps laid out, but I expect nothing to come from this, other than a "Thanks for the heads up cuz." (It is NZ, and they speak like that there, even MPs from Northcote!)

So, yeah. I have given up on doing things the right way, the correct way. Are there other options? Yes. But I haven't really given too much thought to those ways, as other things around these parts require attention. Bottom line is this: money. I need it, and am saving up for the eventual return to Wani-san Glory. (That's my band's name, number one hit: Wani-san no groly. Inside joke: for Trever).

Happy 4th of July everyone. Freedom isn't free, and neither is the movement to another nation! (I just had the idea that if the US conquered NZ, I could live there then!)

July.

This is my new July dinner menu:

I also have a blown-up kitchen with Russians in it at the moment, and a breakfast menu with bacon-pancakes on the menu. And I am staying in this Friday evening, 'cause Thursday was big, oh so big. Sleep!

Alone In The Wild.

I went out there, but not to the Pacific like I had intended. The ferry line was too great, the day had advanced too much for me to wait that time, and the allure of Sunday morning's World Cup games was far too enticing. So I went out Saturday (For the 1st time in 2 weeks! Breakfast shift tends to make you not want to go out!) with Dustin to the bar of choice. Now the bar of choice has the bartender of choice, who brings the beer of choice. That's why they're all choice-as, bro. And when that happens, and you go home late, and wake up early, and watch games, and are "crudo" as they say in Mexico, then camping is very hard.

So I failed a 2nd night to go. But I had a plan of attack that I followed for today:

Wake up early. This was important. Drive up into the mountains. Also important. Walk up the middle for of the Snoqualmie river, where no one else was, and make lunch, eat with bears, and ponder, study and examine life, my life that it has become. And so I did.

Conclusion: not much new. If I have a desire to return to NZ, it's DesireLite. I have little fight left in me: exactly one piece of correspondence to the Minister, just to rile some feathers, because I instigate. If I return to NZ, to live legally, I need to find a job beforehand, which I am in a pretty fine position to do so now, as I am the chef of a hotel restaurant. That's pretty good. Or, I can write up a business plan with another kiwi, and explore that option. I had thought of that when I was living in the Hutt last, and it seemed difficult, far fetched, and potentially risky for another person. But, hey, who wants to open up my Lewis and Clark themed American Bar? It's cool. I promise.

Also, I defined what my goals are for the current position, both short and long term. I have no qualms about my current positions; it's whatever I want it to be, and it pays me decent for the work load. And I have a life separate from there.

But future adventures? I dreamed about those, with places falling onto my paper from my pen rapidly. I need more money, or a patron. I look in your direction!

Wellington, WA.

First off, I just found out about Wellington Washington. I just saw it on google maps....

I am going camping, after watching the US beat Ghana on Saturday, and after working the opening breakfast shift (it will be the last one in this stretch!) I was looking on the map- thinking about the Wenatchee area, and saw the Wellington name around those parts.....

In proper Wellington news, the point of this upcoming camping trip is to sort out what is next. Is it NZ? Is it a letter to Jonathan Coleman once again? Is it formulating a business plan that one of you kindly readers/friends and/or acquaintances down under want to "go in on?" Or is this really a proper sign that my place is here in Seattle? Or do I take it that I really need to explore somewhere else? India? Argentina? Costa Rica? Chicago? D.C? I have no well formulated ideas, other than I am burnt out and behind at work. No days off, short a man, and things back-logging because I have to cook everyday, and it takes my full attention to keep the train rolling down those tracks....

So, plant some seeds in my head to ponder on while I am away....

Irony.

.....And then there's this, brought to my attention by the Tallest Ninja, Ben Davie.

Really. It could be an elaborate prank of sorts.

Other than that, I am working very early, too early to cook breakfast, and then staying into the dinner service hours. For 12 days straight.

But then I will be rewarded with sweet nature time, in my tent, away from the stress and annoyance of trivial work matters!

Maybe.

I am exhausted. I am on the breakfast shift. Who wakes up at 5am regularly and is cool? It's harsh, especially when you have to pull a 12+hour shift, and it's for 12 days in a row.....

BUT, when this is over (the 26th), I'll skip town, camp solo, and ponder and/or mull the ideas that pop into my head regarding my future when I am sleep walking/blogging/cooking eggs.....

Here? Maybe. There? Maybe. We'll see... the nature sorts things out in my head for sure. Goodnight, I am going to bed before it's completely dark out.

Next.

Well, it came today: the news.

"Dear Mr Andrews

Thank you for your email.

I have completed the assessment of your EOI and I regret to advise that I am not able to invite you to apply for residence at this time. Please refer to my letter attached for further details.

I understand that my decision will come as a disappointment to you, however, we do not have the discretion to make exceptions to policy so must follow it as it currently stands.

If you would like to start a business in New Zeland you may be eligible to apply under one of the Business Categories below:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/invest/

For more information regarding other categories including Silver Fern Policies please visit our website at

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/

Kind regards

.....

So. A year and a half in the making, it is done. And I am right back to where I started: my only option is to start a business in NZ, which I need $100,000 for, and to employ 3 Kiwis.

Or, start a business with a Kiwi.

OR, marry one.

I am not surprised; I had a feeling this would be the answer once my NZQA assessment arrived. I can just imagine the case worker's relief of ridding me in her files. But I may be crazy at that. Now, what's next?

Awaiting.

Greetings. It has been a while since I posted. Either I've been rather busy, or nothing happens I feel.

Events of the last week:

-Work has been stressful with personnel issues, as well as many other things on my plate there.

-Friends of mine have graduated from the UW school of music. Congrats to Kenji and Emily.

-World Cup action. Spending time watching that, but not too much time, like waking up early to catch action. Maybe later this week, when I have to work breakfast shift at 6am anyways.

-My friends Morgan and Caroline are going to have a baby. Amazing! They can name it Alligator if they so choose....boy or girl. Congratulations to them as well.

-Received NZQA assessment. More now:

I opened up my envelope and found out two surprising things. First, I got a B on my internship, which I never knew. I can't figure out why- it was the only non-A I got in school. Maybe it is because I burned my foot?

And, secondly, my school was awarded a "level 3 certificate." That is not good for my NZ Immigration path. I needed a 4 for points. I wrote to notify my case worker the results, and to update some information, and I noted that it is unfortunate that I never actually get to have a face to face interview with anyone regarding my immigration application. Lament that fact, because everyone I know would think, "there's a swell fellow. He should live in NZ if he wants." So. I await her decision, which I am afraid she'll just laugh, and say, "good riddance to this guy!" I'm probably a thorn in her side.

Which leaves me waiting, but regardless, I need to save money, which I am doing so. Not at a prodigious pace, but fine enough. And perhaps a trip to NZ at least could be arranged after the beginning of the year- and a new baby to see to boot! So yes, I wait for the final verdict on my year and a half relationship with Immigration NZ.....