Taking oneself seriously...

does not require one to be overly serious.

Food is my primary profession now -- it is how I express my joy to the rest of the world. Cooking my food is my art, if I let myself be that bold. And it's how I get food on the table as well. So it's all about the food.

So to go along with this committment, I need an outlet to play and this be it for now. Perhaps public sometime, now it's just ruminations for the audience of one. A place to talk about what I do, where I do it, who I encounter and how it affects me.

The first subject matter is presentation.
Very recently, a certain small glass case was purchased to show off my daily wares at the front of the house. It's basically a petite cake plate on a stem that will definitely show off a housemade sweet.No pressure there.

First off, it is supposed to house a dessert that changes everyday. Houserules -- no daily dessert for more than three days in a row, at least 14 different desserts each month.
Secondly, it's GOTTA look fresh or no one will buy it.
Thirdly, it's all in the details. And honestly, I get that this is going to keep me in a place of making sure I'm happy with the dessert. Cuz if I'm not it ain't gonna be comfy having it on display.
What do I do if I wanna do a trifle in a stemmed glass? Are people gonna get used to seeing the dessert and miss it if it disappears? Or not order it ahead of time..

Because, you see, underneath all of this is insecurity. I don't always (usually) think my stuff is good enough. I get raves from suburban customers and most people at least enjoy them... but, you know they never look... perfect.

For me, less than classically trained, working in a small, small kitchen with less than ideal temperature conditions, less than commercial equipment, and a lot of trial and error, picture perfect is almost impossible.

Honestly, whimsically, it would be interesting to see what Torres or Faulkner could get out of my kitchen and equipment. Might prove to me whether or not I need to get an internship as my next gig... But somewhere in here, I think it has to do with my
faith in me.

So, we'll see what comes out of this experiement I'm calling Life.
I hope y'all enjoy the adventure as much as me.

I ran away from home today...

and wrote a nice long post about it that got deleted and has been recreated without the panache of the first post.
Sigh.
I don't suppose it was truly running away as I took nsyo with me.
We went to see the river otters at the aquarium. There's something about they way they fluidly move through the water, the way they cuddle and play, the way they rip flesh off of fish with those pointy, little teeth. It's all just damned amazing.
So we had to go check it out.
And then I *had* to drag the nyso off with me to Carmel for food.
First thing I noticed was that there is now a chain restaurant on Ocean Ave. Oh my. And a chain beauty store. This is a bit different than letting Saks in... Right?
And then, to drive by and realize that the restaurant I loved was gone. Sad but true and turns out its been gone awhile. New place called La Bicyclette that is owned by the same people that have Corkscrew in the Valley and Casanova. Interestingly enough, they owned that cafe in the 70s -- but that's another story.
This one is about where we went instead. Cantinetta Luca is a bit closer to Ocean Ave and seemed new.
Turns out it was quite a bit newer than we thought and sister restaurant to L'auberge Carmel.
We sat at the chef's counter and had a fun night. A bit of prosecco, a bit of dolcetto, a bit of food and cheese. A very well put together tiramisu (in a cup, all equal layers each 1/2 inch thick. Hmmmm....) and then a lazy tired drive bay to the Bay.
All in all, I'd go there again. But since it took me three years this time....

So, we chose