I've stopped having bad cooking dreams with unending ticket machines and order-fire everything.
The hair on my left arm has grown back.
I've worn heels more than once in two months.
I spent an amazing month with family and friends in North Carolina and 10 gorgeous and memorable days in New York.
I'm cooking more at home than I have in years. Lucky Peach magazine yielded a glorious ramen broth and noodles that we ate for days.
I wrote and executed my first menu for which total strangers paid actual moneys (8 courses!) and I didn't go down in flames.
I taught my first cooking class (also, no flames).
I've continued to keep my hands busy via catering gigs and helping prep for Jeff's awesome supper club.
I miss seeing my work friends, I miss the intense veg prep and butchery, I miss the butterflies-in-your-stomach buildup to service, I even sorta miss doing the dance. But I don't miss pushing out hundreds of covers with sweat burning in my eyes while running on coffee and a bad sandwich. Does that make me lame?
How I spent my summer vacation
Jeff in blue crab heaven in Folly Beach, SC
Some of the best tacos I've had exist in Greensboro, NC
We carried her outside because she loved the outdoors. RIP, Garbanzo
Mom on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Plating grilled squab with smoked cherry gastrique. See the rest of the pics and menu here
Making the Momofuku ramen recipe from Lucky Peach magazine
I make weird faces when I teach
In Jeff's parents' backyard in the Hudson Valley for his nephew's viking-themed first birthday party
Peels for lunch, where we met Shuna Lydon (thanks, David!)
Momofuku Noodle Bar. Pork buns were totally worth the hype
This avocado at Prune blew my fucking mind
Sylvia and Jeff mean mugging for dim sum
Embracing full tourist mode
