So David Bowie was in for lunch today.  Not really.  But if he had he still wouldn’t have made the list of weird and wonderful things to happen at my little dive bar deli.  First, one of my guys lost the keys to open so I had to start earlier than planned.  The only reason that was an issue was that I had planned on hanging out at my eMac to see if I won a new smoker on eBay.  As it turned out I had to hang out on the old blackberry but I did indeed win.  I used my Uncle Harvey’s advice: “When in doubt, offer a multiple of chai (18).”  Can I get a ‘mazel tov’?

As many are aware I’ve been limping along using a Bradley Smoker.  Actually, thats not true.  I’ve been using 5 Bradleys because they break once a month.  Yes, I realise that if they read this they’ll void my warranty but so what.  No one reads this rantfest.  So here I am trying to make a go of this little business and the key to it all, the bloody smoker craps out every 4 weeks.  Its kind of like a girlfriend. Anyway, it failed me yesterday so I decided to scrape together some dough and take a flyer on eBay.  Got me a Cookshack.  Can you tell I just watched Apaloosa?

Anyway, I’ll have her shipped up here and loaded up into the deli in a week or so.  Until then I have my backup smoker going but demand being what it is, we’re running the smoker daily.  Plus I bought 4 huge turkey breasts today (or 8 because they come in pairs) so I need to make way in the smoker for double duty.  The new machine should be just the ticket and if things keep going as they have been I’ll be smoking day and night.

The other news today was that four of my key people are going to be less available than I’d like.  Adrian’s got a job at a bank, Richard is apprenticing to be a chef at George, Megan needs december off to study and Mike is going to be a pizza cook/film maker in Alberta.  The good news is that Heshy Goodfield, a bona fide butcher and meat mavin, is joining our crew as is Naomichi Kobayashi.  Maybe I should have entitled this posting: “The Unusual Suspects”.  

My point? The only constant we have in life is change. If that makes you angry or sad thats really too bad because from my experience things tend to work out just fine.  Life is short.  Too short for some and too long for those I owe money.  Out with the old and in with the new.

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