Retrofit and Life in General

Went down to TCP today and the road was marked off with caution tape while they were working on the retrofit. I peeked in and saw the steel beam has been put in place. They had to put it in thru the roof. I am sure this was really upsetting to my landlord, who has positively freaked out every time something has had to come in through the roof, or any holes have had to be cut into the roof. I am only thankful it wasn't one of the people we'd hired as it is so upsetting to him and I am never sure what to say. It seems obvious to me why holes must be cut in the roof for ventilation systems... oh well, at least we are closer to the end than the beginning.

I dreamed last night that I was in my kitchen and everything had been cleaned and was all shiny and ready to go. Oh how much I long for that time!

I took a picture of the steel beam, it is HUGE. I can see why it was not a good idea to start the ADA stuff until it was in, I suspect the door is going to need to be in a totally different place from where we thought it might go. I have given up trying to plan floor layout until the dust settles. HOWEVER the good news is, the retrofit is projected to be done this Friday, including covering the beams with sheet rock! YAY!

Since I met the contractor Stan has hired to do the ADA work and gotten his business card, I think we should be able to call him some time next week and see what the time trajectory will be on him completing his work, then we will just have to finish the floors and get the kitchen permitted! (sort of, I am sure there is more, but those are the biggies)

Here is a picture that was posted on the Montrio's Bistro web site of the Compass Star salumi they are carrying (pictured are the finocciona, andouille and Nduja). We are SUPER excited about how pretty it is. I think Chef Tony Baker does plate composition courses for other industry professionals.

Stein and I went out to check on the newest batches of Salumi in the curing fridge. It is a new one for us so we need to constantly monitor to make sure there is no bad mold residual in the workings and the good molds take hold. It is extraordinarily wet. Like I've never had a fridge that maintains humidity like this one. This is AWESOME for salumi... but it is going to totally mess with my drying times. We always let clients know what our lead times are (typically 2-6 weeks for simple stuff, 3-12 months for more complex items) and stuff is drying a lot slower and I am not having to mist anything with water... there is no way the Capicolla is going to be done in two weeks though. But that is the downside of making a natural product :)

A nice slow drying process yields a much better salumi without the dark red overly dried out ring on the edges of cut slices so a wet fridge is great. Big manufactures have to control humidity as much as temperature.

I've been trying to get through this blog all day (it feels like great progress is being made on my projects)... but I keep getting distracted. Stein and I filled out the paperwork for Compu-pay today (which is my payroll company), I also printed out all of my hazardous chemical information and put it in plastic sleeves in a binder and got some of the prep lists put together for Christy's wedding this weekend. I am pretty stoked about the food and I think people are going to be really pleased. (knock on wood, of course)

As always there is not enough money to do everything, and I had to pay for my business insurance today ($575 for a half a year), but I am pretty happy about the progress on one of the more complicated aspects of the remodel. It is starting to feel like the future is blank vellum... I will soon dip my quill to ink the next chapter of my life.