Better than Sleep

Welcome August!  Hard to believe that July has come and gone.  And to quote none other than Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  So here I am taking a look around, assimilating the tales of what has already happened, remembering my experience of my life as it is.

How easy it is to look back at times.  Hindsight is whatever we make it and how ironic that looking back seems easier than deciding what we make of each and every moment.  Either way both of these events help shape our life and continue to define our existence.  The last night I posted we had just finished one of our seven course wine dinners, entitled "All Things Pork".  We featured the worlds greatest pork, Mangalitsa Pig.  Mangalitsa, or "Wooly Pig" as it is known here in the U.S., is by far the best pork on the planet.  This same Pig is the type of breed used to make the famous Iberico Ham, as well as all of the world's best dry cured sausages.  It is a lard type breed that translates to an unbelievable amount of marbling.  The pig was so amazing, I fell in love with it.  Yes, that's right, I have fallen in love with a pig.  I mean the fat alone is so pure, so luscious, so clean, you can actually whip it like cream or butter and it will stabilize.  How brilliant is that?  Here is the menu, utilizing all Mangalitsa Pork, from Tuesday, July 20th:

*Cured Pork Tenderloin, Ice Wine, Stone Ground Mustard, Whipped Lardo, Frisee
*Pork Belly, Candied Ginger, Root Beer, Fennel, Microgreens
*Smoked Ham Hocks, Sweet Peas, Sage, Tuscan Kale, Black Truffles
*Seared Rib Loin, Apple, Cardamom, Calvados, Turnips
*Roast Sirloin, Grape Tomatoes, Polenta, Black Truffles, Swiss Chard
*Pork Shoulder, Brandy, Pork Jus, Parnsips, String Beans
*Pickled Watermelon Granita, Spiced Tuiles, Sabayon

Needless to say this pork dinner was a mouthwatering affair, literally, with the juiciness of this tremendously flavorful meat drenched everyone's palate to the point of ooooo's and ahhhhh's.  The Pork Belly dish was especially phenomenal, so good it would be illegal if the authorities got a hold of it.  Luckily it was a one time deal, at least for now, so we can continue to be renegades exploring the sinful combination.

The rest of the week included a very busy period, pretty much non-stop action for the rest of July, including a seven course Chef's table on Sunday for 4 people (28 plates).  I was feeling a little more festive than usual and with some friends in town I opted to join several folks on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  By the time a day off rolled around on Monday, I needed a day off from both work and play!  So naturally when I jumped in Whitefish Lake it felt absolutely amazing.  How wonderful it is to be able to swim in such clean and refreshing water.  I felt as if I were a frog returning to the water after a long hard journey on dry land, leaping into the cool depths of tranquility.

The next week of work was also very busy.  In fact, we set a new record for sales this July!  We are elated with this newfound sense of growth.  Even better is that we are doing it all without a record increase of staff.  So the challenge has increased, yet at the same time, so has our productivity.  I had another chefs table on Wednesday night, this time for 8 people, 5 courses.  That would mean 40 plates coming from me, in front of the guests, not too shabby!

Thursday, July 29th, was the introduction of yet another wine dinner, this time a five course affair.  Before I get into the details of this particular dinner, allow me to address the title of this blog.  I opted to travel to Polson to experience Debra's wonderful Anusara Yoga practice, a three hour vigorous practice from 8-11am.  This meant I woke up at 6am, after going to bed at 1:30am, and drove 1 and 1/2 hours to Polson for the yoga class.  The yoga worked out to be monumental for my mental health, I realized that if I just prioritize my yoga practice, it is actually better than sleep!  Shortly after the class I drove back to Kalispell and picked up our locally grown tomatoes from the farm, then to Produce Depot in Whitefish for more locally grown produce, and finally out to Terrapin Farm for the rest of the locally cultivated products.  Catching onto a theme here yet?  We featured an all local dinner, five courses, every ingredient coming from the Flathead Valley.  Most of the items were picked that day and served later that night, basically as fresh as it gets.  I was in a vibrant mood for most of the afternoon until I hit a wall of exhaustion and was forced to indulge in a 30 minute power nap before continuing the marathon schedule of prepping for the dinner.  The menu was:

*Squash Blossoms, Tomatoes, Broccoli, Summer Squash, Lemon Basil
*Smoked Ham Hocks, Salt Pork, Sweet Peas, Sage, Kale
*Elk Loin Carpaccio, Baby Beets, Mustard Greens, Beet Greens, Arugula, Huckleberries
*Leg of Lamb, Garlic Scapes, Lavender, Lamb Jus, Carrots, Fava Beans, Snap Peas
*Flathead Cherries, Puff Pastry, Burnt Sugar

The menu was executed well despite being slightly behind regarding the setup.  We managed to pull it together, as we always do, pulling it off without a hitch.  The next night was then our busiest night of the summer so far.  And it was one of those nights where we were painfully busy, specifically in the kitchen, absolutely struggling to maintain pace.  We fell behind early and were never quite able to fully recover.  Towards the end of the night we were doing far too many things to order, like butchering meats, chopping garlic, making caramel, shrimp stock, and various other projects that I could bore you to death with listing them all.  In short we were totally screwed!  It was near the end when I ordered two shots of Patron from our Maitre D, something I never do, for myself and the other line cook, as we danced between four stations trying to put out the many fires that were blazing all over our kitchen.  Firefighting is a good way to describe the craziness that ensued from about 7:00pm on.  The bigger the blaze the higher the priority.  From 30 minute dessert tickets, to 1 hour bar tickets, to 25 minute appetizer tickets, to "oh my god we are so screwed", to "jesus f**king christ, not again", to "well this is clearly not the position we ever hope for", to much worse things that I don't feel comfortable typing.  Thankfully after the Patron took effect, we yielded to what was and proceeded to finish the job of pumping out dishes with tactful humility.  We accepted that it was going to be a wait to produce food and we just accomplished what we could, without trying to cut off anyone's head in the process. 

The next night I had a chef's table, the third one this week, relieving me from the chaos of the line for a night.  And with only two people doing a five course menu, 10 plates sounded a whole lot better than 28 or 40.  It went off without a hitch.  Remarkably, I was able to take the last two nights off of work, including a full day off today!  I have a friend in town visiting from New Orleans.  How wonderful it is to be frolicking in the mountains, eating Sushi at Wasabi, breakfast at Rising Sun, dinner at Three Forks Grille, and soaking in the time that was all of a sudden available.  Thank god for Sous Chefs!!  And a good, solid, crew!  I'm back at work tomorrow, surprise, but not without a grand smile on my face!