Still a little in limbo...

Stan was meeting with the engineer today at 11:00 to see what needed to be done to bring the building up to earthquake code (for 2014). I have not yet heard from him about that, but he is asking his family about delaying when I start paying the lease. I was supposed to start paying it on May 1st.

I got my approval from County Sewer as well today. So I had to pay about $400 to subit for approval, then another $250 for the variance to have a grease trap vs a grease interceptor (which is $40k, so thank god it was only $250!) then another $90.00 for a pro-rated yearly sewer fee. A very nice man (John Ortega) came out and checked it all out in person to see if a grease interceptor was possible (it wasn't). County Sewer are VERY nice, very helpful and easy to work with.

My room mate also took a charcuterie platter to her boss, who is the owner of the Peasant and the Pear restaurants and offshoots and he loved it. It makes me feel really good when a really good chef likes my stuff :) Stein and I spent two solid days in production to make the four varietals of sausage we plan to offer to T-Rex, in addition to the dry cured stuff I already have on hand. The chocolate chili sausage is everyone's favorite... but it doesn't taste like chocolate at all, so I am going to have to call it something else. And NEXT time, I am adding WAY more chocolate.

I also have evrything ready to go for ABC... I've had it for a couple of days. I don't feel like I am in that much of a hurry any more, since lord knows what is happening to my time line any more. But I need to really avoid that kind of thinking. I would rather be over prepared, than anything else.

I am also really excited because, as you guys know, I was worried about finding the right smoker. I really need an alto-shaam smoker because it doesn't go over 220 degrees so it doesn't need to be always under a hood. It can be wheeled over to the hood for smoking etc. But... I'd only seen them new (and $6000 to $11000 in cost). The one at the school is an older model and the handle is broken, but it is perfect for me. So I asked Chef Brion and Chef Paul if I could buy it off the school (they are getting all new equipment shortly as they are buidling a whole new HRM building) and they said yes! I think I will end up paying about $500 for it. That is the final peice of the puzzle I was really worried about and you cannot imagine how relieved I am.

It felt good to be back at school. I really love that place and my instructors. I also felt great teaching the sausage class and I hope they ask me to do it again. It is probably very different going to a public Jr. College for a culinary degree than one of the expensive schools, but I feel like the guys (Chef Brion, Chef Paul, Mr E, Claude and Chef Chris) give you 110% if you are serious about what you are doing... I just love those guys and had such an amazing experience there. Mr E helped me figure out how to deal with my one unit of co-op I need, which is also a huge releif.

Samantha took pictures of us making the sausages at the school, so if she posts them soon I will pull a few here.

So the week was a mixed bag... a total nightmare with the Building Dept, but I am getting some really encouraging interest in my products, I get to spend a snuggly weekend in the wine country with my gorgeous man, and two of my amazing children, plus a bunch of my sausage-geek friends (we are having the first meeting of the Saluminati) and our extended peer group, plus Brion's totally awesome parents. I hope next week will bring some peace and clarity to my path. It will be interesting to cook so much at a camping event. Well, not really cook... more like... plating, cutting etc. It will be a lot of cold foods.

Stein and I also have some meetings next week for business insurance, workers comp insurance, plus a POS system. It should be pretty busy!