Sunday- A Day Off, Not So Much
1:30 am: Almost done. Dishes stored. Floor reset. Countdown to square 1. Chimes. TEXT: “Chef, my ex is acting all crazy again, I want to come in but he will probably follow me. Can you come and open with me?” This f*cking guy again? Somebody needs to kick his disrespecting okole. No ha (breath/life), no aloha. REPLY: “Sure, be safe.”
2:15 am: Pillows from heaven. Bed, finally. An Angel? Wife’s voice, “you know you have to go and meet her.” Drifting. “I already said I will. How was the kid’s performance?” They practiced on the Grille’s private terrace the other day. Parents know, kids assume we don’t see. “They did really good, I’ll show you the videos in the morning.” What was life before video?
5 am: There is a time too early for coffee. Here it is. Awake in darkness. Roll down the Waimea hill. Tiny lights of a waking island. Road Warriors. Triathletes on mid-morning sessions. Resort workers arrive from across the island. Tourists gather to stroll. Sprinklers land water spots on rental cars.
5:30 am: Park & scan. “Morning Chef!” All clear. “Morning, I can see your crazy ex is not here. Let’s get set this morning, we have a 20pax (person) at 11am. Tonight at 6pm is a party of 60 so we can also start prep.”
6:30 am: Office e-mails. “Aloha Chef, I know I said we were going to have 60 but it will probably be less, is that ok?” REPLY: “Not a problem, how many less?” Sent.
8 am: Kitchen fired up. Eggs cracking. Cooks focused. Honey brushed on bacon slices. Time for me to butcher. Get out ahead of dinner service. Chop, chop.
10:30 am: Check-in. No unread e-mails. Check-in. “How does the private dining room look? The party of 20 will be in soon.” “Good, all set Chef, but I cannot work it. I am slammed in the main dining room. Can someone else do it?” Do the shuffle. “Ok, I will take the drink orders and we will have Lisa take the food.”
11 am: Restaurant is slamming. Seats full. Bar full. 20 top welcome. Food almost done. Time saver: drink orders. “Aloha, can I get you drinks to kick off?” Maybe 10 minutes. “Oh, no. We are just having water and we are starving.” Ok maybe no minutes, ducking wonderful. Food is close. “Alright, we are keeping the food warm and it will be right out.”
11:10 am: Back in the kitchen, “How long until the food is finished?” “5 minutes Chef.” Not bad. “Ok, good job guys, once this food is out it’s on to prep the 109’s (bone-in ribeye). There’s a 60-top tonight but it will probably be less. I’m just waiting to see the final number.”
11:30 am: E-mails. No final number. Be ready for anything. Wife calls, wants to know how long till I leave. “Sorry Hun, I might as well stay and finish up for this party tonight. Go ahead and take the kids to Hilo.”
11:45 am: “Chef, what else do we offer gluten-free?” You worked here for one year and you still do not know what gluten free is? “Local catch, wrap, and we have the gluten free pasta.”
12 Noon: Chimes. TEXT: “Aloha Chef, Mike here, are we still meeting to finish taxes?” REPLY: “Sorry Mike, I had to go in again this morning, let’s do next week.” Great, I’ve cancelled on family, taxes, what’s next? Back to prep.
1:30 pm: Throw 2 prime ribs in the oven. Need time to rest, the meat and me.
2:30 pm: Unopened e-mail: “Aloha Chef, I am really sorry but we only have 18 people arriving for the party.” Profuse profanities. 18 out of 60. I have enough food for 60 people. REPLY: “I have food for 60 people, we will need to discuss the charges.”
3:30 pm: Emerge from the office. Looking for initiative, not so much. Dining room still not set. Bartender sampling wines with a vendor. Staff gaggling about anything but the party. “Oh, hell no! You guys need to get your shit together. The dining room isn’t going to set itself and clean that bar.” I need focused people, now, right now. “You, Wino, take your bottles before I throw them out the door.” Half-kidding, or was I?
Some regulars are in for happy hour. They gesture to me and say hello. Enjoying themselves. Entertaining High Maka Makas and 1933 Mai Tais. Mai Bacon, BBQ sauce. James Bond marathon. Casino Royale.
5:30 pm: Dining room set. Time to party. A few guests take pictures in the foyer and out on the green. Coordinator arrives. “Hi Chef, I am sorry about the reduction in numbers. What will be a fair charge for dinner tonight?” “You guaranteed 60 people so I think you should pay for 40. I have your food bought and most of it cooked or prepped. It’s not like I can use it for something else.” Here comes the rebuttal. “40? I was thinking more like 20. My boss is not going to be happy about this. You will need to talk with him.” 20? You’re kidding, what an insult. “Sure, just come in the kitchen when he arrives and we can straighten this out.” He is not my boss.
5:45 pm: The coordinator enters new territory. “Chef, may we enter? This is Michael.” The decision maker. Game face on. “Hey Michael, I was explaining about the cost of the party and I will still need to charge you for 40 people.” “Are you sure? Look, I have my own business, you can charge me for all 60.” Day. Made. “Thank you very much.” Hand shake. Hand shake. Party time. “Howard, he loves McCallan 12. Get him a double neat and whatever he wants to drink tonight. It’s on us.”
The party sits down to the meal. They love the food. Paired with three bottles of McCallan 12 year aged single malt Scotch whisky. They appreciated us and we returned the gesture. Great Scots & Mahalos!
11pm: E-mail rundown. Clean kitchen. Go home.
Hell of a day off.
Hey! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
My happiest days off involve a couple hours spent in relaxed concentration at the pottery studio, then lots of time sitting in the sun and reading with the company of the cat, spouse, and copious pots of tea.
Very revealing bless you, I do think your current audience might want a whole lot more content such as this continue the excellent work.
Somewhere in the past few decades, a day off became more about catching up, running errands, and planning for the next week than about actually enjoying the day.
” Your style is really unique in comparison to other people I have read stuff from Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this page ” plain dye duvet covers
” Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your article post I like to write a little comment to support you ” zip up mattress covers uk
” What’s up, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post It was funny Keep on posting! ” cotton duvet protector
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
When a school-girl I always envied those students who went to school five but not six days a week, as we did.
I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m happy to convey that I have a very good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to do not forget this website and give it a glance regularly.
Some genuinely superb posts on this web site, thank you for contribution.
I constantly emailed this webpage post page to all my contacts,
for the reason that if like to read it next my contacts will too.
Hi! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to look
it over. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking
and will be tweeting this to my followers!
Excellent blog and great design and style.
Some really rattling work on behalf of the owner of this internet site, utterly outstanding articles.
Its such as you read my thoughts! You seem to grasp
a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you could do with a few percent to drive the message house
a bit, but other than that, that is fantastic blog. A great read.
I will certainly be back.
I’m amazed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and interesting, and let me
tell you, you have hit the nail on the head.
The issue is something that too few men and women are speaking intelligently about.
Now i’m very happy I stumbled across this in my
hunt for something relating to this.
Howdy! This post couldn’t be written much better!
Going through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept talking about this. I will forward
this post to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a
very good read. Many thanks for sharing!
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this article! It is the little changes that produce the greatest changes.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
I simply want to tell you that I am new to blogging and seriously savored this web site. Very likely I’m planning to bookmark your website . You really have amazing writings. Kudos for sharing your blog.
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been running
a blog for? you made running a blog glance easy.
The whole look of your web site is great, as smartly as the content!
I do trust all of the ideas you have presented in your
post. They are very convincing and can definitely work.
Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for starters. May you please prolong
them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.
Really informative post.Much thanks again. Will read on…
Great blog you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find quality writing like yours these days.
I honestly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
Very nice article. I absolutely love this site.
Keep writing!
After research a number of of the blog posts on your website now, and I actually like your approach of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will likely be checking again soon. Pls take a look at my website online as effectively and let me know what you think.
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive learn anything like this before. So good to seek out someone with some authentic thoughts on this subject. realy thanks for starting this up. this web site is one thing that is wanted on the internet, somebody with a little originality. helpful job for bringing something new to the internet!
very nice publish, i definitely love this web site, keep on it
Wow, this piece of writing is pleasant, my sister is analyzing these kinds
of things, thus I am going to convey her.
A person necessarily assist to make seriously posts I might state.
This is the first time I frequented your web
page and so far? I surprised with the research
you made to create this actual post extraordinary.
Fantastic process!
Hello! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to give
it a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will
be tweeting this to my followers! Excellent blog and terrific
design and style.
Hey I am so grateful I found your weblog, I really found you by accident,
while I was searching on Digg for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just
like to say thanks for a remarkable post and a all round
interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to
browse it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS
feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do
keep up the excellent work.
“Excellent web site. Plenty of helpful info here. I’m sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you on your sweat!”
Hey very interesting blog!
xvcA7X Valuable info. Lucky me I found your website by accident, and I am shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
Highly descriptive blog, I loved that bit. Will there be
a part 2?
Hi there, neat website you’ve got going here.