Boneta is doing dine out so I’m working 6 days for 2 weeks and on Sunday I’m doing a stage at a bar to learn some cocktail techniques. I don’t have internet at my house right now, so I’m sitting in the back of the truck in a parking lot to get a signal.

Kyle and I booked two days off together so that we could go spring camping on Hornby Island. It is a pretty hippieish island, there are no cops on the island and it takes 3 ferries to get there. We parked the truck and hiked up a trail to pitch out tent on a bluff over looking the water. There was beautiful low mossy ground cover and in the moss was so many tiny mushrooms and itty bitty flowers trailing over the side of the cliff.
We had a fire on the beach with some of Kyle’s friends that are living on the island. We left the fire and hiked through the blackness with just a tiny flashlight. It should have been the safest we’ve ever felt but paranoia was begining to set in, ‘the fear’ if you will. I found myself in the tent holding my opinel knife, the truck keys and an extendo bat from Kyle’s truck listening to every sound. I was in a beautiful fairytail forest but I’m not used to being completely in nature and it took some getting used to. It wasn’t animals I was scared of, I kept imagining local bushmen who could sneak up silently and take you in the night. I fell asleep eventually and the morning was beautiful.

The next day we went out in search of farm fresh eggs. We decided to buy from the farmer who advertised organic eggs. It is so nice to be able to get eggs right from the chicken. After breakfast we went to some beaches to play in the tide pools. We used a crow bar to pry some oysters off the rocks and ate them. We spent the rest of the day hiking around the bluffs. I stopped and quieted my thoughts on a bed of moss at the edge of a cliff until an eagle soared over me, it is so quiet on the island that you can hear the birds wings flapping. I took this as a sign that I was ready to go into the forest to find some spring mushrooms. I found some morels.

Rosemary flowers are sweet and flavorful, and I put them in salad. They taste like rosemary only alot softer.

I went off the pill and went into the woods for two days amd now I’m feeling better.

I’m losing it a little. I’ve been having some dark times. Some extreme ups and downs. I’m trying to go on ‘the pill’ again. It makes me feel like not getting out of bed, then when I do I either have waves of anxiety or I feel like there is an empty hole inside me pulling me down. I ‘ve been struggleing to explain my behavior at work, prep is hard. I wonder if the guys are losing respect for me. The only upside is that no matter how bad I feel or how hard it is for me to keep it together during prep, I never let my mood affect my service, ever. This is new for me, at Feenie’s if I was falling apart it was bad, but now I’ve matured as a cook, service is business. Jeremie is so great, he says he took me on for better or worse. He’s just shocked at how low I can get during prep, but we all get through it as a team. I’m giving ‘the pill’ one month and if I’m not adjusted by then I’ll stop it. Another symptom is claustrophobia, so on my day off I drove off to the woods to try and feel better.

Mushroom arancini, with truffle mayo. Duck liver pate with cranberry jelly.

I’ve been interested in how to make bitters lately because I think I need to add it to my list of skills. I want to be a skilled restauranteur someday and having basic cocktail knowledge is part of that. I decided to go to a bartender that makes house made bitters so I went and saw Lauren Mote. I don’t know very much about bitters except that I like them. I think there are traditional ways to make bitters and other simpler ways, but I’m just still wrapping my head around the whole process.

I went out and foraged for some things I’ve been doing tests with for spring. Cherry blossoms and fir tips. Then I brought them to Lauren and asked her to teach me how to make bitters out of them. I had such a good day in the sun collecting the stuff, inside the dark bar we put the first phase of the bitters into action. I’ll keep you posted on how they evolve and turn out.

It was the last Saturday night with Scotty and Katrine at Boneta, so the Boneta kitchen rolled over to Diamond where we were hosted by them for some cocktails. The cocktails there are very good. I don’t know much about cocktails but I know that they are all different. Some are boozy, some are refreshing, some are classic. When done properly they can be a beautiful thing, flavorful, well balanced and complex.

I’m on Garde manger right now. I wanted my first week to be a flawless transition, it hasn’t been bad but it hasn’t been flawless. My one down fall was not checking on the station before my first day on it. I should have kept an eye on what was in house and what needed to be ordered, for my first day. I’m playing catch up and everyone is helping me but I feel like a dumb dumb. I have to do a lot of things tomorrow.