hell week at marigold

well, it's monday afternoon and we're almost through with hell week(end) here at marigold. this shot that i took of the finished foods cooler on friday night barely begins to show the massive volume of food that we have to prepare over and around this weekend every year, not to mention all of the supplies, beverages, dry goods, etc., etc. that go along with being exceptionally busy. i am, however, pleased to report that things have gone exceptionally well thanks to an extraordinary amount of hard work and extra time on the part of the entire staff. chris at our local, sustainable foods division, spice of life, set the record for the weekend, working something like 34 hours straight, which he rounded out on sunday afternoon with most of a bottle of maker's mark and some whip-its. rock on, brother! on our part, we hit a lot of homeruns over the last few days, including our annual lunch for case law school's commencement that serves around 1,700. it's a bunch of work, but always worth it. as tradition dictates, jason, ryan, and i went over to the barking spider tavern (the official bar of the marigold catering kitchen staff) after the event (at 1:30 in the afternoon) and threw down a couple of beers (5 each?). we laughed and talked for a while about the events of the past few days and enjoyed what turned out to be a fairly warm and sunny afternoon. afterward, we all headed for home to get ready for today and the last couple giant events of this little stretch (until next weekend). right now, i have to sign off and head over to a benefit for the rape crisis center for, gosh, like 500 or something. it's been a busy amount of business, but it pays the bills and keeps all of us reprobates gainfully employed. yay marigold!

perfect after a long day...

another week, another awesome shoot with the dinner:impossible gang. symon and i ended up flying into philly together and sharing a car to our hotel, the radisson at warwick plaza. the driver, who a) drives for a living in philadelphia and b) had a gps system installed in the suv, managed to get lost and turn our twenty minute trip into an hour and twenty minutes. needless, to say, it was great to finally arrive at the hotel around 10:30pm monday night, after first stopping at the Windham and Hyatt as our driver attempted to find the correct location by using some method of dead reckoning. i enjoyed some room service and turned in for the evening so i wouldn't be too lethargic for the shoot on tuesday. the only obstacle to a good night's rest? the sleep number bed. for whatever reason, radissons all proudly offer these ridiculous beds, the basic premise behind them being that, by using a control pad, the recumbent inhabitants on either side of the mattress can adjust it to their preferred firmness. essentially, the system relies on a glorified air mattress packed in lots of padding. it sucks if you're sleeping alone, because, if you wish to move beyond your side (rolling, stretching, laying diagonally, etc.), the other side of the bed must be on something of an equivalent setting. if this is not done correctly, the sorry somnolent simply rolls into a mattress valley or up against a mattress hill. so, ultimately you're forced to wake up and fuck around with the controller until both sides are the same. i certainly found it irritating. anyway, the shoot went great and we were done early enough to head out with some members of the production company for a few pints at a philly microbrewery called nottinghead's. prior to the beer drinking, though, i feel like i was thirsty all day during the shoot and i took this picture in the hotel bar because it showed two of my favorite beverages in the world: pellegrino and beer. this shot records the end of the night before i wandered up to my room, pretty well in my cups, and fell asleep, only to wake up an hour later when my side of the bed deflated entirely. stupid bed.

you've got to know your limits...

my good pal, tim bando, took this great picture of me over the weekend on location at our latest shoot for dinner:impossible. having enjoyed a lifetime of body image issues, i found the sign pretty humorous and suggesting the shot definitely fell in line with the tone of my generally self-deprecating humor. the shoot itself was a blast and, with tim, michael, and i a good ways past our physical prime, definitely proved to be a real challenge. if nothing else, it's hard to believe that we actually get paid and have the opportunity to be on national television, just for doing what we would be doing anyway (more or less): cooking, joking around, and getting to hang out with some really awesome brothers-in-arms. i wish i could tell more here, but i have a feeling that i'm probably not supposed to. anyway, they said that this shoot might be used for the first episode to air in july, so i've got my fingers crossed.