outside the doors

I took a few more photos at work last week.





There is a certain high profile Texan with a lot (more) free time on his hands, headed back to central Texas as we speak. He is apparently expected to stop by for a round or two. Stay tuned.

Not Much

There's a lot of Kleenex in the trash at our house these days. I've got Cedar Fever, the ultimate middle finger from the state of Texas, which plagues me with itchy, runny nose and 2,458 sneezes a day for three months at the beginning of each year. And poor Joseph woke up this morning with a sore throat, clogged everything and a swollen neck.

I got off work before 7 tonight and don't have to be in until noon tomorrow, so I was feeling like I needed to do something with my Friday night. The exciting plan I came up with for a wild Horseshoe Bay night: visiting Joseph (even feeling crummy, he's still so handsome) at Lorraine's
And making chicken noodle soup. I used a whole leftover smoked chicken (from Christmas), which cooked down in the broth for a while before I added the noodles. Mmmm, Mmmm good, I do believe that's what those Campbell's people said.

******

This is the (nearly) full moon on the back deck at Austin Golf Club. I'm going to take more pictures of the club, but here's a few. It's pretty amazing out there. A small stone building on 5,000 acres

A grrrrrreat day at work

A seriously awesome sixth day at a new job! Here's what happened.

Since my arrival I had been noticing several aspects of the food & beverage department that needed to be adjusted or improved. I mentioned a few of them to my boss, she agreed, and then asked for the rest of my suggestions. The next day I presented her with each aspect that I thought needed improving and my suggestion for how to do so.

One of my suggestions required restructuring the entire kitchen and hiring another cook, another would include rearranging the f&b responsibilities amongst the staff in a totally different way. She agreed with each one and she promised to stand behind me about all of them to the staff. The only hurdle before presenting and implementing my changes was to present a summary to the GM and the board of directors for approval.

It took about 45 minutes for them to agree all the way around and approve of each and every one of my suggestions. We are ordering new uniforms, redefining staff job descriptions, training servers on proper table service and changing the employee meal program. The best part though... I got to bring in my friend David, the baker from 909, to be the NEW COOK! He came in and was hired today! It is so AWESOME that I have someone in the kitchen now who is on the same page (culinarily) as me as I'm making these changes at the club. SO KICKASS! Also, he's got a baby and a pregnant wife, and it makes me pretty frickin' happy to have helped him get a great job! And, if you wish to scan back to the days of Cafe 909, you will read that I absolutely adore working with David. And he's my bread tutor, so I can get more sourdough lessons!!!!

I called my dad on my way home to tell him about my day. He was happy/impressed/proud/supportive, you know, all that dad stuff. At the end of the conversation he said, "Make sure you let me know when Ben (Crenshaw) knows your name." I said, "Dad, I'm pretty sure he already does." He laughed and said , "Ben Crenshaw knows your name?" And that is when I knew he was really proud of me. :)

See, it was a great day at work.

too tired to blog

Jumping head first into a new job with very long and very early hours has taken it out of me. I'm beat, from head to toe, exhausted. I have seen Joseph for only a matter of minutes since Christmas night when I went to bed. I won't see him for any considerable amount of time until tomorrow night, when I get home from work. That's going to be the biggest adjustment for us, making our lives mesh together when we're on completely opposite work schedules. We'll figure it out and make it work, I guess. He has told me how proud he is several times and has assured me that he'll help me keep it all together, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm really happy with my new job and looking forward to getting comfortable and familiar with the club and my position. I feel really well suited for the job and confident that, once I have a better understanding of how the place runs, I will be very successful there.

I'm slightly overwhelmed in knowing that I will have only 7 days off in January, as I have had the past 67 days off. My priorities are suddenly very different and my free time almost completely non-existent. I can deal with the early mornings, I almost prefer it once my body adjusts, but a sunrise on the way to work and a sunset on the way home seems really emotionally draining to me. It's going to be a change for Joseph too, he is used to having his laundry done, a homemade meal every night and a not-stressed-out me waiting for him at home. Now he's facing an empty house all day and a sleeping me at night when he gets home. He will also have to pick up the slack for a lot of what I simply won't have the time to do anymore. I am anticipating some growing pains for us, as a couple and a household in the next few weeks. We've always been on the same schedule, and actually worked together for quite a while, so this is definitely a brand new challenge. The job is worth it, a step in the right direction for us, so we'll manage somehow.

That's all for now. I have to go do yoga. I couldn't even try to wrap my mind around running when I got home, even though Cooper is begging, in dog-speak, for some much needed exercise (chasing his tail in circles, something he has not done in 6 years, which I know is his way of coping with an abundance of energy). Although I'm totally tired, my body feels too blubbery to not do anything and I know I'll feel better tomorrow if I do even just 25 minutes. So, off I go to my pink yoga mat. Sorry Cooper, you're going to have to wait until Tuesday for a run.

HELL YYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I got the job! THE job that I wanted SO MUCH.

Starting Friday the 26th, I am the new Assistant Food & Beverage Manager at The Austin Golf Club. It's a great position for me and I am very, very excited. Austin Golf Club is an exclusive club with only 300 members owned by Ben Crenshaw. My previous experience at two other golf clubs, as well as FOH management and fine dining kitchen experience make me almost perfect for the position. It feels like, for the first time in my career, all of the different jobs I've had will provide valuable insight and finally be worth something.

I breathed the biggest sigh of relief after I hung up the phone. And then said, Hell Yes! You Rock, Amy! Here I am being happy right after I found out. Yes, look at the sunshine, it was 81 degrees today.

BEST PART:
WE DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE!
AGC is located in Spicewood, only 20 minutes from our house!

WE DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE!
AND I GOT A BADASS JOB!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!
And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cafe 909... The last days

I helped close down Cafe 909 last night. I won't tell you again how sad I am that such a delightful restaurant, with spectacular food had to close its doors. We managed to have a great time this past week and make the most of sending each other off to our new adventures. Because Chef is such a great guy (not a jerk, at all!) he sent the three cooks home with hundreds and hundreds, yes, hundreds of dollars worth of goods. I'm serious, I brought our big camping cooler and filled it completely full. Then I filled a milk crate with stuff too. I got tuna steaks, ribeyes, calamari, quail, spices (even saffron!), sauces, oils, orzo, polenta, wine, beer glasses, pounds of local cheddar and aged parmesan cheese, pistacio parfaits and the sauce goes with it, cheesecake, a spice cake and 1/2 gallon of spiced plums, and all the leftover ingredients from the line after service was over. We have so much food that I have decided to skip our traditional fancy dinner date for my birthday tomorrow and stay home and cook for us here. The food will be better than any restaurant in Austin and we have excellent wine, all here, all paid for. I will also use quite a big of the ingredients I brought home to cook for our Election Day Party on Tuesday. Chef is also going to send each of us all of his recipes, that's 25 years worth of culinary genius! and all his menus from the five years that 909 was open. I will keep those recipes for the rest of my life, they are priceless and Mark is very generous and kind to share them with us.

Here are a few photos from the the last night of service at Cafe 909.
My friend, Joe the Waiter

The view from where I stand before we opened for the last time
Shift Beer
Everybody, The End

Cafe 909 Tasting Menu

This week at Cafe 909, Mark did a Wine Pairing Tasting Menu. I did a little bit to help get it ready and then stood next to him watching, occasionally holding something or getting something. I got to see him really show off his talents, which are among the finest. He's been nationally recognized for a reason and I got to see it first-hand.

It is a true shame that his restaurant is closing next week. Cafe 909 is a gem of a restaurant in a sandy bowl of pebbles. It has been my pleasure to work there and learn from Mark Schmidt. I have only been working there a short nine weeks, and I don't remember it being so awesome when I worked there last year, but I have grown very fond of and close to the people I work with. David is the pantry guy, the professional baker who has been cheerfully guiding me in my sourdough journey. He's also my political tutor, updating me on statistics and answering so, so many questions. Mike is a worldly loner cook, back from 18 months in Ireland, about to go to NYC to cook with the very best, in Marble Falls for only one reason, which is to learn from Mark. I fit in someplace in the middle, inwittingly exposing how truly naive I am, making everyone laugh sometimes, being a chatterbox and keeping pace all the while with the two awesome cooks on either side of me. Mark can be a [jerk], but for the most-part, he is a kind and respectful leader, happy to help in so many ways. I am very sad to see this restaurant close, to be losing my job and to see the friendships that were developing end. I have warned them all that I'm not "Amy the Crying One" for nothing, I never fail to deliver tears in any (even slightly) emotional situation. I have the utmost respect for Mark and his wife Shelly for the way they run their business and the knowledge they have about what they do. It's been a while since I felt that way at work.

These pictures aren't in the right order and I am not smart (patient) enough to put them in the correct order right now. You get the point though. The man for whom the tasting was is the owner of a winery, and he brought some incredible vintage wines (1970-1992). The courses in the order they were served was this:
Japanese Flavors -oyster, escolar & kiwi tartar, eel, tuna sashimi
Seared Foie Gras, candied butternut, ginger
Sturgeon, grilled sardine, blood sausage risotto
Squab breast, carrot puree, most delicious sauce
Smoked lamb, lamb chop, roasted baby leeks, artichokes and cauliflower
Marcona almond stuffed fig, honeycomb, bleu cheese, olive oil

And those are David's cloverleaf Brioche rolls!