I am not a morning person. Some of you may know this about me, but I would like to clarify:

I am not a morning person.

Today was the restaurant's first brunch. It went well, although people weren't exactly lined up at the door. 29 covers, between ten and two. We did some French toast, steak and eggs, omelettes, etc. Actually, Trevett did the omelettes. That was the deal. I don't do omelettes anymore--not since working in that grocery store. I'm scarred for life.

It was, however, fun to do breakfast cookery professionally. I think I'd like to do it for a short time in between real jobs someday. The normal, nine to five schedule is rather nice, I have to admit, though, and if I ever did it permanently it would allow me to still do intense line cooking while having more of a life. I dunno. Social lives are overrated.

strange, strange day

Wednesday are usually my early night, but leaving Legume at 5:00 is an entirely new thing for me. We weren't actually open today, but I headed to the restaurant at ten to get caught up for the daunting week ahead. There's a busy Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then we've got to get up early as hell to cook our first brunch at 10:00 AM. The following day is the extravagant New Year's Eve dinner, which features a pretty ambitious tasting menu. Preserved foie gras with cornmeal crepes and prunes, the usual pork terrine that I do except with black truffles, roasted quail, scallops, etc. It's going to be amazing. It's just going to take a lot of work, such as butchering forty or fifty quail, and they're awfully little.

I think it's going to be challenging, although nothing compared to some of the tasks I've been charged with in my cooking career. I'm only nervous about the brunch. Breakfast cookery is something I learned briefly but never did professionally--it's going to be a lot faster and more demanding than any of the groggy morning-after meals I've created.

The week off will follow any stressful nights I have this week anyway. Not that I'm just pushing through work from weekend to weekend or anything, but admittedly I'm excited to experience a week the way other people do, and without the exhaustion that goes along with the holidays. Plus, it's going to snow!

fotographs

Ah, the kitchen. Note my growing collection of empty beer cases.

This little darling's name is Angelina.

The party roof.

Alice.

...and the workingman's Formula hub, no-name 13T cog, and cheap KMC chain. One of my track nuts is completely stripped, and I'm waiting for more--until then I can't take this wheel off.

The living room.

The garage.

fixed gear mountain bike

So, despite the lack of real winter here so far, I'm riding around with my studded tires--people I've talked to have said I should just put em on now, and ride until I see green grass again. It's a whole different bike. Generally, I avoid things like sewer grates, big potholes, curbs, and small animals, but now the bike rolls over all kinds of crazy shit. It's basically a 29er mountain bike at the moment, so I've been experimenting with jumping onto curbs and riding through the park to get to work. It's actually pretty awesome. At first the incredible amount of rolling resistance made me a lot slower, but it's not bad now that I'm used to riding thicker tires that're larger in diameter and at a lower pressure, at the same 39x13.

Christmas is here, finally. I get a vacation. And really, this is just vacation part one. The entire first week of January is mine to do whatever the hell I want, whether it's riding to Cleveland or sitting on my couch with a bunch of forties. The riding to Cleveland thing is actually a pretty realistic idea, too. The weather of late has been in the high fifties, with sunshine, although today it's raining quite a bit. I'm wishing for an ice storm like the one we had during the Christmas party. This time, instead of falling on my ass, I plan to roll past all the awful traffic...

crazy mocha? what?

I've changed coffee shops today, on this wonderfully icy day off. Crazy Mocha in Oakland. Coffee's good, internet's free and doesn't require a username and password, it's easier to get a table and the barista is in the top three hottest women in Pittsburgh, maybe even top two, and the music here is good indie rock instead of festive and annoying Christmas stuff. So, it's a nice change of scene.

I saw, while locking up--no joke--a black and gold track bike with a bandolier full of 7.62mm bullets as a top tube protector today. It changed my life.

Last night I seriously fell on my ass, riding to and then from the Legume Christmas party. It hurt, although not nearly as much as falling when it's just dry concrete. I'm not bad at the falling part--when you skid out on the ice it's really just a matter of holding your bike with one hand, and sliding onto the road with your other side, as opposed to letting the bike totally leave you and breaking your tailbone with the shock. Not to mention, if you hold onto the bike and dismount properly, without landing on the wheels with all your weight, you won't hurt anything; Alice remains unscatched from the recent trauma (she's a strong, strong girl). The bad part is, I've only ever fallen twice, and last night I fell two times in a three-hour period. So, it's time for snow tires. I ordered two 700x35 Innova tires with aggressive tread and carbon steel studs as soon as I got home last night. They should be here Wednesday. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about riding on ice like it's pavement.

The part I am pretty good at so far is staying warm. It's amazing how you don't need many layers, just very thorough protection for your extremities. Yes, I am riding in L.L. Bean hunting boots.

On that note, ow. My butt hurts.

an eventful weekend

It's been rainy lately. Not my favorite type of weather. I prefer when all the rain is frozen, and therefore has a tougher time of making me wet.

Luckily, fenders are a beautiful invention--full fenders, painted silver, with mudflaps. I'll put up some pictures soon. Alice is a classy lady.

This is just a heads up from me, but riding bicycles in the snow fucking rocks. Especially little red fixed gear bicycles named Alice.

KMC: kill my children

Broke a KMC Z chain the other day taking Alice up a hill. Pin broke right in half. It's the third chain I've ever snapped, and I'm not sure if it's the fact that a fixed drivetrain takes a lot more abuse or that KMC has been nicknamed Kill My Children by fellow cyclists. Anyway, the chain ended up being too short after removing the damaged links, and I didn't have spares, so I went to Kraynick's today to get another one.

I got the exact same chain, but it cost me a ridiculous seven dollars. I set out today expecting to spend 30 bucks on a new component, and this guy's bike shop, which is like what my garage will be like in heaven, has a million of these BMX chains lying around. It's incredible.

Anyway, despite the fact that it's the same chain, I feel better about this one--I installed it, so I'm familiar with what links I broke and reattached. Plus, I didn't use the convenient master link, so that should make the chain much stronger.

On the subject of bikes, the rides are getting a little more icy every day, so I'm being forced to become a better rider. Jumped off a curb the other day into a sheet of ice, and luckily managed to pull the back wheel out before I skidded out, but it was a scary sensation. I'm changing my tires from IRC slicks to Bontrager Turbos today, which are strong as hell, provide good traction, and are a lovely 20mm wide.