Today is a walk in the park

I know it’s a cliché. But that doesn’t make it less true.

It may also be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Today I have things in order, an outline, a plan. Mise en place for life. I couldn’t operate without it.

Luckily for me, I’m officially a pandemic unemployed chef. Now I only have to worry about my real life being together, as opposed to my real life + my work life. Kids with swim practice 3 times a week? No problem. Cleaning slimy fish tanks right before dinner because someone was crying about a comatose fish? Cake walk. Being a regular Cinder-fucking-rella with the house-wifey stuff? Please.

All of that is a total breeze compared to when I used to do the above and simultaneously prepare for a work day which may or may not consist of a 1,400 person event in Central Park with 3 plated courses and passed hors d’oeuvres.

Sure I miss my work family. I miss the action of cooking 600 racks of lamb to perfection in the basement of the New York Public Library with nothing more sophisticated than aluminum boxes and sterno. I miss timing my serve out for that said lamb to see if 5 lines of 120 plates will be under 22 minutes.

But today I am choosing to fully embrace this new low key lifestyle. The mise en place for life has just been cut down significantly, and that may not be a…