It's official: I will finally be doing my own Gypsy next month! I'm excited and nervous, but it will be a great experience. I've been planning the menu now for about a month and I just learned that we already have 14 guests booked, so there's no chance it will get cancelled for lack of attendance. A teeny part of me was hoping that would be the case, but there's no backing out now!

My menu will be themed around "She doesn't know what she's missing", using a hypothetical, hard-to-please client/bride who nixes every "suggestion" I give her for her wedding menu. It will be seven courses with three mini courses, for a total of ten. It's less food than I'm used to serving, but it will be fine dining restaurant-style service which I haven't done for a while. I'm up to it, but I'm going to give it a lot of thought an planning, including a practice run just to make sure I have the recipes right.

"She doesn't know what she's missing"

- or -

"The Bridezilla wedding menu"

Starry Nights themed amuse

1. "Too spicy"
Red curry mussels shooters

2. "Too green"
Guacamole with spinach chips and mojito

3. "Too fishy"
Salmon three ways

Starry Nights themed intermezzo

4. "Too gamey"
Duck with cherry sauce and lamb with mint sauce

5. "Too pedestrian"
Mini pot pie, mac and cheese, pizza

6. "Too expensive"
Beef tenderloin with truffled mashers and demi-glace

7. "Too sweet"
Starry Nights Elegant Lemon mini wedding cake

Starry Nights themed mignardise

A couple months ago, a Zen teacher and Aikido sensei in Los Angeles died. Reverend Kensho Furuya was the instructor of an Aikido school in California and the author of one of my favorite martial arts books, "Kodo: Ancient Ways". The book is full of great philosophical and martial arts stories and teachings.

I don't remember exactly how I found this book originally, but ever since I read it many years ago, I would check in occasionally at Rev. Furuya's web site for more lessons. Just last month I went to his web site to catch up on his postings, only to find that he had died in March. This was quite a shock to me, and I'm going to miss his wisdom. I find that the general philosphies he taught to be very inspirational for both my martial arts and cooking. Many people denigrated his teachings and his art as too academic and not practical or realistic, but I suppose the value is in what you take from it.

One of my favorite lessons he wrote in his book was the concept of the beginner's mind. I've also recently seen this idea encapsulated in the statment: "Knowledge is the greastest barrier to learning." And this is really what the beginner's mind is all about. The beginner knows that he or she doesn't know anything, so is open to everything. The educated or trained person begins to think they know things and hence their knowledge blocks them from learning more, because they think they already know everything they need to know. I try to remind myself of this concept as often as possible.

Talk about getting my ass kicked. Last night we had a wedding reception fror 80 people and it was a killer. I've never had so many people hover so much and devour the food so fast.

The event was supposed to start at 7pm, but guest showed up at 6:15. Denise told them the event didn't start until 7, so they asked if the bar was open. Uh, no. The event starts at 7pm, people! Then when we did serve the apps, they went through them all in about 12 minutes. It was incredible.

The pacing of the food going out to the guests kept all the staff frantically moving. As soon as the apps were done, it was time for dinner service. The client hadn't ordered a very broad menu and for the first time in Starry Nights' history, we were in danger of running out of food. After the guests ate, we had about two servings left. By this time it was barely 8pm. Based on when we got the food out and when Denise started clearing plates, that means in about 15 minutes 80 people ate a complete meal.

Oh. My. God.

Dessert, fortunately, was a little more sedate, but that's only relative. They still gorged on the desserts, and it wasn't until 9:30 that the entire staff got a break for their own dinners. Tonight really reminded me just how hard and exhausting this profession can really be.

On top of everything, last night was Denise's birthday. She had to work, and she worked very hard. But at about midnight, with three minutes left on her birthday, I found her sitting on a kitchen stool just wiped out. Not a great way to spend a birthday, but hopefully that will be the last time 7/7/07 falls on a Saturday and is a big draw for weddings.

The next biggest wedding and catering day will by 8/8/08. I can barely wait!