one final thought on st. pat's '08

as much as i hate to scoot on past my easter post before the holiday has even come around, i was thrilled to finally get a picture of the whole gang from this year's st. patrick's day festivities and couldn't wait to share it with the zero people who read this blog. i have this same picture taken every year because it gives me a pretty accurate accounting of which friends are always by my side and which ones have gone off in some other direction (for whatever reason). i try to be a good and true friend and always hope that the people i love count me as such...and, even though the lot of us are hardly perfect (and spend too much time indulging in our various vices), i wouldn't trade one of my nearest and dearest for anyone else in the world. in honor of the holiday, and in the words of an old irish saying:

i have only two things in life to worry about: either i am sick or i am well.
if i am well, i have nothing to worry about,
but, if i am sick, i'll have only two things to worry about: either i will live or i will die.
if i live, i have nothing to worry about,
but, if i die, i will have only two things to worry about: either i'll go to heaven or i'll go to hell.
if i go to heaven, i have nothing to worry about,
but, if i go to hell, i'll be so damn busy shaking hands with my friends, i won't have time to worry.

slainte!

here comes peter cottontail?

so, we survived our annual kitchen st. patrick's day blow-out and now we're turning our sights to easter weekend and, hopefully, the end of the midwinter doldrums here at marigold. as is the case elsewhere in the f&b industry, spring brings with it increased business and an end to the months of cold, gray weather that tend to keep us northeastern ohioans holed-up in our caves.
the picture at left was sent to me by our graphic design guru, dana, over at thinking cap design. i instantly loved it because it's sort of inappropriate, while not being wholly so, and also because i loved peeps when i was a kid. i don't know if i could eat an entire one anymore since any sweet tooth that i once had seems to be gone entirely, but, boy, when i was little, it was nothing for me to knock down a pack of these in a couple of days. making things stranger, yet, i only liked peeps when they were stale. as soon as i got them on easter, i would poke holes in the peeps' packaging and wait patiently for the little marshmallow delights to achieve the strange, rubbery texture that my youthful palate so appreciated. i suppose i always had my own thoughts on what made food better...i'm just not sure when those thoughts became normal. i like that whoever did this thought to make the furniture out of starbursts, too (strawberry was my fave, but that's probably enough information about the candy i liked as a kid). anyway, i hope your easter basket overfloweth and all of your hidden eggs are found.

oh boy! it's almost here!!!

so, i've always had a big thing for st. patrick's day. it combines all of my favorite things in one: food, friends, all-day beer drinking, and a whole lot of fun and memories. a couple of years back, i decided to start a new marigold tradition by closing down the kitchen on this one day and taking everyone out to honor ireland's patron saint. we usually get started around 9:00am and go until common sense kicks back in and we head for home. the above picture is from last year and is awesome because pete (bottom right) is only in his third or fourth day at marigold. right now, he's loving his job...and i think he still does. if you're a client reading this, by the way, don't worry! we work as late as necessary on the day before and the day after to accomodate all of the awesome people without whom we'd be unemployed. i have a dream that someday they'll finally give st. pat's official holiday status (which it basically has in cleveland already) and free everyone to take a day to celebrate two really vital things: fun and friendship. i hope we see you out somewhere and, if not, raise a pint for us. we'll certainly be doing the same. slainte!

a kitchen action shot!

jason sent me this picture last night along with a few others and i liked it immediately. first, it shows everyone in the kitchen just kind of doing their own thing, unaware of the camera. ben's in the foreground making pasta for raviolis, ryan's walking past on the left side getting ready to deal with a whole bunch of our delicious rustic-style, flatbread-type pizzas that will be going into that stack of boxes, and pete, mike, and i are looking at whatever mike's holding...probably something that a bunch of unrepentant dorks would find interesting (a d&d module or star wars comic book?). i like the photo, too, in that it gives the reader a sense of the homeless guy/outdoor enthusiast chic that exemplifies a kitchen dude's wardrobe. also of note, you can see just the beginning of our pet sailfish, fitzwater, hanging above the chalkboard wall. i've always kind of liked the permanent vacation/waterfront bar vibe that having a large mounted fish brings to any informal room, so i felt fitzy was a natural fit for us...that and the fact that i'm not allowed to have him at home.

spice of life moves in!

this is my friend, ben. a couple of years back, ben started a catering co. that works solely with local, sustainable foods from ohio's farmers. by this winter, though, spice of life (ben's company) had reached a critical stage where it either needed help to grow or was going to fall apart. enter marigold. we've moved ben in and merged with his wonderful little company, from which i truly expect big things. i'm anxious to start working with yet another person that i respect as a chef and a friend and i know he'll make our offices a livelier place. i also like that it looks like he has adult braces in this picture. ha-ha ben.

what's the largest mammal you've ever mounted?

this is a delightful picture of ryan, mike, and i, decorating the threshhold to the marigold kitchen with yet another one of my odd "accent pieces". as much as i like the moose antlers, what i like better is what this says about our kitchen staff...being that we're a fun group who genuinely like to hang out with one another. ever since i managed my first kitchen as a chef, i've tried very hard to create an atmosphere where everyone shows up each day because they know it will be fun and that they'll be surrounded by good friends who genuinely care about them. i believe people work more productively in an extremely positive and comfortable environment. i think with marigold, i've finally succeeded in creating just such a place. thanks and love to jason, pete, ryan, mike, jakub, and ben. you guys are the best.

mr. fingerling

...unbeknownst to many people, the higbee company, pleased with the success of mr. jingling during the christmas season, decided to add a themed character to schill their wares during other times of the year. for st. patrick's day, they created mr. fingerling, a cheerful, ne'er-do-well, composed entirely of potatoes, who was constantly in search of a mythical pot of gold. this is his last known picture. the skewers that held him together were found in a garbage bin some time later, accompanied by a number of empty guinness bottles and cabbage cores.
poor mr. fingerling.

is this how it starts?

it was, to begin with, a simple comingling of interests. our graphic designer and web person suggested that our redesigned marigold website feature a blog (written by me). i, personally, was keen to post a comment on my friend rob's page, said commentary being verboten as i was no member of this blogging community. fast forward a simple and short sign-up period later and here i am, blogging for no one but myself (initially) and with the sole purpose (initially again) of sending along a brief well-wishing kind of message to a friend with whom we spent an exciting winter day of tubing and general conviviality.

so, as i mentioned only one short paragraph ago, this is all beginning with the simplest of intent and it may be there yet that it will always remain. i suppose that, like most metaphorical roads, it's not for the wanderer to know where this will lead. i'll just begin mapless and eager and see where i find myself. onward to destiny (or another abandoned cyber-project like the myspace page that i last looked at six months ago...too bad, though, as all of those girls with stripper names really seemed to want to be my friend.)