i dunno, i just like smiling...smiling is my favorite!

so, today is the end of an era.  the end of my current time with bossman.  hopefully i won't ever have to go beg for my job back.  again.  hopefully this new thing will take off and become successful and busy and everything will be all good.  i don't really wanna think about what will happen if it doesn't.  i wanna be positive about the situation.  i'm really excited about this new restaurant still, and i know that with the crew we got, we have every chance in the world of being successful.  still though, it's an unknown.  but there's no reward without risk, right?

anyway, today is my last shift at the old place.  i bought boss a fifty dollar bottle of jameson 12 for being such a champ all these years.  i know he'll appreciate it, as he likes the whiskey like any good irishman.  it wouldn't surprise me if there was a card and maybe some cupcakes or something for me on my last day.  i bet jace made me cupcakes.  she's totally a grandma like that.  i bet if i showed up at her house she'd try to make me a sandwich and get me to put my coat on.  i'm gonna miss that crazy old bag.  i'm gonna miss everybody, actually, even the people that piss me off all the time.  they've got a great crew out there at the old place and even though it wasn't where i ultimately wanted to be, it's still a pretty good little restaurant that definitely has a place and purpose and loyal customers.  i wonder how noticeable my absence will be, aside from the noise level (i'm terribly loud and vulgar).  i'd like to think that with me being gone there will be a noticeable drop in the food quality but i think that's just my ego talking.  they'll be fine.  it's not complex food and they got good cooks so they'll be fine   still, i have been so loyal to boss over the years i can't help but feel just a little wierd about the whole thing.  i know it's gonna work out for me, and i'm super excited about the whole deal, but i've been working for boss for 11 years cause he's the best boss ever.

don't get me wrong, i've worked a couple shifts at the new place and i'm so goddamn excited about the possibilities there...also it's just...well, cooler.  it's downtown, and it's a bar, and it's in a gnarly old building that has all these hallways connecting all the bars and all these graffiti murals in the hallways.  the customers are a whole different chunk of the public that i haven't really had the chance to cook for yet, but know that they will be more receptive to the kind of food that i wanna cook.  for instance, tomorrow i'm cooking breakfast and lunch at the new place and i'm gonna make my carrot and coriander soup, which is really the greatest soup ever, and the one time i made it at old place nobody ordered it cause they all thought it was wierd.  the folks i'll be cooking for now will find the idea of a carrot soup intriguing and they'll most likely order it.  i hope!  it's a great soup, i first had it when i was in ireland after i scaled a giant rock in the middle of the sea, and it was an unforgettable food moment for me.  just absolute soup perfection. 

anyway, i'm rambling...i gotta stop by new place and talk to el chefe about valentine's specials before i head to old place to hammer out one last shift.  he wants all the cooks to come up with their own specials, he said he'd try or order anything we needed, but we also got a big box of fruit compotes and pastes and he wants each of us to incorporate one of the pastes in our dishes.  it's almost like a top chef competition!  i bet i lose...haha, i'm gonna have to pack my knives and go!

nah, i'll be fine...and i'm fucking excited to see what i can do when given absolute creative culinary freedom.  my first thought was just pinching a dish i had at a different restaurant a couple weeks ago, and even though i don't know exactly how they made it i'm sure i could at least duplicate it if not make it better.  but i should probably look for something else to do that's more my idea from start to finish.

i better get on that i think el chefe has to order stuff today so i gotta decide in the next hour.  hmm.  i'll let ya know.