Opening a Restaurant. day two {for me}

Day One Here.

Day 2 (Wed):
buy NY Times & SF Chronicle on way to BART, arrive at 10 with laptop, write copy for help wanted ads, do research on press releases, begin to write press release, look at cookbooks for inspiration, check in with chef, joke with sous, greetings to owner, follow up with GM, have intriguing discussion with someone who has known the owner for many years, meet spice purveyor-- talk about vanilla beans and why they should never be cheap, cinnamon fine points {will the real cinnamon please stand up?}, dried rose petals, the concept of dehydrating edible/ aromatic flowers ourselves (very interesting indeed...), smell samples of wild spice blends, meet dry goods & small wares salesman, meet bread bakery salesman and taste and look at far too many breads at once with management team,

eat quirky lunch of lamb and okra,
    begin craving chocolate,

place sugars order, attempt to discuss pastry menu with chef to no avail-- we are both being pulled in a million directions, I yell at chef for a hot moment about this but make a date to leave the restaurant to have this meeting with him tomorrow, meet our dedicated "junior sous" and talk Latino cook politics, exchange "do you know such and such from so and so restaurant during this and that year?", check in first small wares order, see a new Kitchen-Aid in a box as well as a coveted Vitamix (happiness washes over me), leave restaurant after only 7 hours to go home and get some much-needed laundry done, pick blackberries and tiny Asian pears from neighboring yards on way home from BART (feeling exceptionally happy & grateful to be living in Northern California and away from a city!),

come home and eat cardamon-candied orange peel and pink peppercorn ice cream from Ici with Shuna's famous hot fudge sauce to meet craving which began hours earlier, tweak help wanted ads, send emails to 2 local photographers about doing work for the restaurant's website, eat a quick supper of tortilla soup and Mexican Hot Chocolate at Tacubaya,

watch (& catch up on) Top Chef with raucous friend,

1 am: attempt to create some order with a written time-line, finesse and make current Shuna Lydon BIO, create restaurant email account, send ad copy to friend at local city college culinary school, finesse time line in a Word document & send to chef with email covering:

1. photographer for management team website photos & website issues

2. ads and where we want to place them

3. press time-line

4. and attach word doc with overview time-line

(I like lists. I love writing things down. I am in lust with order, organization and open communication-- both spoken & visually)

(WED) day two: 10 am to 5 ish pm.
meals eaten: 3

attitude on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best:  8

highlights of day two:

 seeing okra in a large saute pan

    doing laundry

    eating blackberries in my neighborhood

    coming home

    knowing that I got a lot accomplished that day

    watching TV

    seeing my house fill with thick orangey golden light and see a sun setting over Mount Tam and the Bay in the distance.

going to bed at: 2:30 am

 

Comments

[Heather]

ach, how coy. And where is this marvellous place. Looking forward to when you unroll that detail as well. Like good burlesque, right? Kidding. Love the details of the lists--so rich. Sounds like you're full of purpose and brimming with cool ideas--and eschewing cassia bark in favor of true cannela, si? thanks for sharing, heather

[Kung Foodie Kat]

how do i always manage to miss out on the Ici trips?

*sigh*

[rachel]

Yay for you! Would be happy to buy you a congratulatory cone at Ici if you ever have the time again!